Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Guide to the Floyd Levin Jazz Reference Collection

Summary

Collection ID:
NMAH.AC.1222
Creators:
Armstrong, Louis, 1901-1971
Blake, Eubie (James Herbert), 1883-1983
Darensbourg, Joe, 1906-1985
Davison, Bill
Ellington, Duke, 1899-1974
Garland, Ed
Levin, Floyd, 1922-2007
Levin, Lucille
Morton, Jelly Roll, 1890-1941
Wilson, Buster
Dates:
1880-2010, undated
Languages:
Collection is in
English
. Some materials in
French
,
German
,
Japanese
,
Spanish
, and
Swedish
.
Physical Description:
42.5 Cubic feet
110 boxes, 12 oversize folders
Repository:
Collection compiled over several decades by Floyd Levin, Los Angeles textile manufacturer who turned his passion for jazz into a second career as an influential jazz journalist and historian, consisting of materials relating to jazz artists, festivals, and organizations.

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
Research materials relating to jazz artists, festivals, and organizations compiled by Levin over several decades. The richest portion of the collection is the biographical files on jazz artists, with emphasis on lesser known but influential people, and includes obituaries, memorial programs, press releases, concert programs, and newsletters. Photographs are also widely found in the collection, many of them inscribed to, or taken with Levin and his wife Lucille, as well as posters, sound recordings, interviews, letters and other correspondence, awards and plaques, Levin's writings, business cards, newspaper articles, advertisements, and ephemera. Artists who are strongly represented include one-time Ellington Orchestra clarinetist "Barney" (Albany Leon) Bigard, who was a close personal friend of the Levins and whose personal papers are in the collection; Louis Armstrong; "Jelly Roll" (Ferdinand Lemott) Morton; "Wild" Bill Davison; "Duke" (Edward Kennedy) Ellington; Joe Darensbourg; Edward Bertram "Montudie" Garland; "Kid" (Edward) Ory; "Eubie" (James Herbert) Blake; and "Rosy" (James) McHargue.
While Levin's collection is remarkable in that it documents lesser-known jazz artists, particularly in and around California, it suffers from a significant lack of information on female jazz musicians. Materials on such influential artists as Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington, and Bessie Smith, among others, are much more limited.
The collection is arranged in ten series: Series 1, Personal Papers; Series 2, Correspondence; Series 3, Research Materials; Series 4, Writings; Series 5, Artists Files; Series 6, Subject Files; Series 7, General Materials; Series 8, Jazz Organizations and Publications; Series 9, Photographic Materials; and Series 10, Audiovisual Materials.

Arrangement

Arrangement
The collection is arranged in ten series.
Series 1, Personal Papers, 1920-2010, undated
Series 2, Correspondence, 1948-2006, undated
Series 3, Research Materials, 1914-2006, undated
Series 4, Writings, 1949-2006, undated
Series 5, Artists Files, 1880-2010, undated
Subseries 5.1, General Materials, 1880-2010, undated
Subseries 5.2, Obituaries, 1941-2004
Subseries 5.3, Interviews, 1969-2001
Series 6, Subject Files, 1916-2004, undated
Series 7, General Materials, 1908-2006, undated
Series 8, Jazz Organizations and Publications, 1943-2010, undated
Series 9, Photographic Materials, 1939-2001, undated
Series 10, Audiovisual Materials, 1964-1997, undated
Subseries 10.1, Audio Cassette Tapes, 1970-1997, undated
Subseries 10.2, Compact Discs, 1966-1994, undated
Subseries 10.3, Audio Reel-to-Reel Tapes, 1964-1973, undated

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
Floyd Bertram Levin a Los Angeles textile manufacturer who turned his passion for jazz into a second, contemporaneous, career as an influential jazz journalist and historian was born on September 24, 1922, in Minneapolis, Hennepin, Minnesota to Samuel William Levin (March 4, 1901 - March 1986) and Florence Herman (March 22, 1901- August 3, 1981). His numerous reviews, profiles, and articles were published in magazines such as Down Beat, Jazz Journal International, Metronome, and American Rag. He also authored Classic Jazz: A Personal View of the Music and the Musicians (University of California Press, 2000), which like his articles - chronicled his first-hand encounters with countless jazz musicians. In 1949, he co-founded the Southern California Hot Jazz Society, the second-oldest jazz appreciation club in the country. Levin led the drive to create the Louis Armstrong Park and statue in New Orleans in the 1970s. During his career, he conducted scores of oral history interviews with jazz musicians, which he donated to the National Museum of American History's Archives Center and to Tulane University's jazz archive. He received several awards for his work, including the Leonard Feather Communicator Award, given annually by the Los Angeles Jazz Society. Levin died on January 29, 2007, at the age of eighty-five in Studio City, Los Angeles, California.

Administration

Author
Elizabeth Livesey, Rebekah Keel, Vanessa Broussard Simmons, and Craig Orr
Sponsor
Processing and encoding funded by a grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Donated to the Archives Center in 2011 by Floyd Levin's widow, Lucille Levin.
Processing Information
Collection processed by Rebekah Keel, intern, 2016; Elizabeth Livesey, intern, 2016; Justine Thomas, intern, 2016; Cooby Greenway, volunteer, 2016; Marian Tatum-Webb, volunteer, 2016; Ramona Williamson, volunteer, 2016; and Vanessa Broussard Simmons, archivist, 2016.

Using the Collection

Preferred Citation
Floyd Levin Jazz Reference Collection, 1880-2010, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Conditions Governing Access
The collection is open for research. Only reference copies of audiovisual materials may be used.
Conditions Governing Use
Reproduction restricted due to copyright or trademark. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.

Related Materials
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Ramsey Lewis Collection, NMAH.AC.1126
Earl Newman Collection of Monterey Jazz Festival Posters, NMAH.AC.1207
Pat and Chuck Bress Jazz Portrait Photographs, NMAH.AC.1219
Floyd Levin Jazz Reference Collection, NMAH.AC.1222
Francis Wolff Jazz Photoprints, NMAH.AC.1238
Al Celley Collection of Duke Ellington Materials, NMAH.AC.1240
Chuck Stewart Jazz Photographs, NMAH.AC.1321
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James Moody Papers, NMAH.AC.1405
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Arhoolie Records, CFCH.ARHO
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Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Advertisements -- 20th century Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
African American music -- 20th century Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
African American musicians Cultural Context Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Audiocassettes Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Audiotapes Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Awards Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Biography files Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Black-and-white photographs Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Black-and-white photographic prints -- Silver gelatin -- 1950-2000 Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Business cards Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Clippings Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Concert programs -- 20th century Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Correspondence -- 20th century Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Ephemera -- 20th century Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Festivals Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Interviews Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Jazz Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Jazz musicians Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Journals (periodicals) -- 20th century Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Newsletters -- 20th century Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Obituaries Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Personal papers -- 20th century Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Posters -- 20th century Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Photographs -- 20th century Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Popular music -- African American influences Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Signatures (names) Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Writings Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sound recordings Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

Archives Center, National Museum of American History
P.O. Box 37012
Suite 1100, MRC 601
Washington, D.C. 20013-7012
Business Number: Phone: 202-633-3270
Fax Number: Fax: 202-786-2453
archivescenter@si.edu