The collection is open for research. Only reference copies of audiovisual materials may be used.
Collection Rights:
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.
Collection Citation:
Floyd Levin Jazz Reference Collection, 1880-2010, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Sponsor:
Processing and encoding funded by a grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources.
This series is the largest, and most significant, series within the collection. It is divided into three subseries: 5.1, General Materials, 1880-2010, undated; 5.2, Obituaries, 1941-2004; and 5.3, Interviews, 1969-2001, which make up the bulk of Floyd Levin's extensive collection related to individual jazz artists, though more materials related to any given artist may be found dispersed through the collection's other series. This series contains a large number of photographs, both taken by and acquired by Floyd Levin, newspaper articles, oral history transcripts, personal and professional correspondence, personal papers, and other ephemera related to jazz artists both obscure and internationally recognized. The collection documents other closely related musical genres including blues, and swing. Subseries 5.1, General Materials, 1880-2010, undated, is arranged alphabetically by the name of the artist as created and maintained by Levin. Subseries 5.2, Obituaries, 1941-2004, is arranged in the chronological order that Levin created and includes material written by him and other renowned jazz experts for mainstream and general publications. Subseries 5.3, Interviews, 1969-2001, is arranged in alphabetical order by the name of the artist.
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Only reference copies of audiovisual materials may be used.
Collection Rights:
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.
Collection Citation:
Floyd Levin Jazz Reference Collection, 1880-2010, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Sponsor:
Processing and encoding funded by a grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources.
Floyd Levin was a Los Angeles textile manufacturer who turned his passion for jazz into a second career as an influential jazz journalist and historian. The collection consists of research materials including biographical files. In addition, there are numerous photographs that were taken and collected by Levin.
Scope and Contents:
Research materials on jazz, jazz artists, jazz festivals and jazz organizations compiled by Levin over several decades. The richest portion is the series of biographical files on jazz artists, with emphasis on lesser known but influential artists, and includes such things as obituaries, memorial programs, press releases, concert programs, and newsletters. Photographs are also widely found in this series, many of them inscribed to, or taken with Levin and his wife Lucille, as well as posters, recordings, letters and other correspondence, awards and plaques, Levin's writings, business cards, newspaper articles, advertisements, and miscellaneous ephemeral items. 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.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into 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, Photographs, 1939-2001, undated
Series 10, Audiovisual Materials, 1964-1997, undated
Floyd Levin (1922 - 2007) was a Los Angeles textile manufacturer who turned his passion for jazz into a second, contemporaneous, career as an influential jazz journalist and historian. 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 NMAH 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 in 2007.
Provenance:
Donated to the Archives Center in 2011 by Floyd Levin's widow, Lucille Levin.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Only reference copies of audiovisual materials may be used.
Rights:
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.
The collection is open for research. Only reference copies of audiovisual materials may be used.
Collection Rights:
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.
Collection Citation:
Floyd Levin Jazz Reference Collection, 1880-2010, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Sponsor:
Processing and encoding funded by a grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources.
The second largest series within the collection and relates to jazz music, jazz festivals and performances, recording studios and producers, and, to a lesser extent, jazz artists. Subseries 1, Business Cards, undated, contains the business cards of jazz artists, producers, critics, jazz club and foundation presidents as well as the cards of personal contacts that Levin acquired over decades in the field. Subseries 2, Ephemera, 1949-2002, undated, contains marketing materials and ephemera that Levin received in the mail as well as at events that he attended. Subseries 3, Fake Book, undated, contains an over 5,000 page book of jazz compositions collected by Charles B. Anderson and given to Floyd Levin. Subseries 4, Jazz Festival and Performance Programs and Posters, 1949-2006, undated, consists of the programs and posters collected by Levin at the numerous concerts he attended, and Subseries 5, Record Producers and Distributors, 1908-1995, undated, documents individuals who worked as producers, as well as for-profit and nonprofit record labels.
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Only reference copies of audiovisual materials may be used.
Collection Rights:
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.
Collection Citation:
Floyd Levin Jazz Reference Collection, 1880-2010, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Sponsor:
Processing and encoding funded by a grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources.
This subseries is the single largest portion of the collection. While the majority of these materials consist of photographs, (many inscribed to or taken with Floyd and Lucille Levin), newspaper articles, reviews, concert programs, and other materials useful for research are also within this subseries. There are general marketing materials; photographic negatives, slides and transparencies; correspondence of all kinds; biographical accounts and even personal documents such as copies of birth and death certificates of jazz artists. Other ephemera, some of which is three-dimensional, includes photocopies of record covers, memorabilia from jazz concerts and events, and the personal belongings of such legendary artists as "Barney" (Albany Leon) Bigard, Louis Armstrong and "Duke" (Edward Kennedy) Ellington.
This subseries also reflects the longstanding personal relationships Floyd Levin formed with many of the artists found in the collection, among them, "Barney" (Albany Leon) Bigard; Louis Armstrong; Joe Darensbourg; "Wild" Bill Davis and his wife, Anne Stewart Davis; "Montudie" (Edward Bertram) Garland and "Rosy" (James) McHargue. Personal correspondence, photographs and ephemera from private events demonstrate the dynamic social activities the Levins enjoyed within the jazz scene. Those artists with whom Levin was personally acquainted are also some of the best represented within this series, along with other notable jazz musicians and composers such as "Jelly Roll" (Ferdinand Lemott) Morton, Milt Hinton, and "Duke" (Edward Kennedy) Ellington. While Levin's collection is also 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.
This subseries is arranged alphabetically by artist or band name, followed by a collection of photographs of artists for which Levin had minimal materials, arranged by the first letter of their last name or band name. Following these are photographs and negatives of unidentified artists, and photographs and slides which feature multiple musicians.
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Only reference copies of audiovisual materials may be used.
Collection Rights:
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.
Collection Citation:
Floyd Levin Jazz Reference Collection, 1880-2010, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Sponsor:
Processing and encoding funded by a grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources.
The collection is open for research. Only reference copies of audiovisual materials may be used.
Collection Rights:
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.
Collection Citation:
Floyd Levin Jazz Reference Collection, 1880-2010, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Sponsor:
Processing and encoding funded by a grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources.
The collection is open for research. Only reference copies of audiovisual materials may be used.
Collection Rights:
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.
Collection Citation:
Floyd Levin Jazz Reference Collection, 1880-2010, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Sponsor:
Processing and encoding funded by a grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources.
Contains catalogs and other marketing materials of record labels and distributors of various significance, as well as photographs, correspondence, and newspaper articles relating to individuals, such as Milt Gabler, who worked as producers. Featured record labels within this subseries are Decca Records, Gennett Records, Folkways Records, Library of Congress, and Smithsonian Recordings. This series is arranged alphabetically; better known labels are organized individually, while lesser known corporations are grouped together by letter.
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Only reference copies of audiovisual materials may be used.
Collection Rights:
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.
Collection Citation:
Floyd Levin Jazz Reference Collection, 1880-2010, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Sponsor:
Processing and encoding funded by a grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources.
The collection is open for research. Only reference copies of audiovisual materials may be used.
Collection Rights:
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.
Collection Citation:
Floyd Levin Jazz Reference Collection, 1880-2010, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Sponsor:
Processing and encoding funded by a grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources.