Lena Horne audio and moving image collection

id
11841
origination
Horne, Lena
date statement
1944-1984
key date
1944
identifier (local_mss)
188240
org unit
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division
call number
Sc MIRS Horne 1990-04
b-number
(missing)
total components
10
total series
2
max depth
2
boost queries
(none)
component layout
Default Layout
Extended MARC Fields
false
Extended Navigation
false
created
2025-04-04 19:27:36 UTC
updated
2026-05-01 20:00:51 UTC
status note
(missing)
Display Aeon link
true

Description data TOP

unitid
{"value"=>"188240", "type"=>"local_mss"}
{"value"=>"Sc MIRS Horne 1990-04", "type"=>"local_call"}
unitdate
{"value"=>"1944-1984", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1944/1984"}
unittitle
{"value"=>"Lena Horne audio and moving image collection"}
physdesc
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"5 audio_recordings", "unit"=>"audio_recordings"}]}
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"3 video_recordings", "unit"=>"video_recordings"}]}
repository
{"value"=>"<span class=\"corpname\">Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division</span>"}
abstract
{"value"=>"Lena Horne (June 30, 1917- May 9, 2010) was a singer, actress, dancer, and civil rights activist. The collection consists of three moving image recordings featuring Horne, including two promo reels for the broadway musical <span class=\"title\">Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music</span> and the short film <span class=\"title\">Boogie-Woogie Dream</span>; and five commercially released vinyl records."}
langmaterial
{"value"=>"English"}
origination
{"value"=>"Horne, Lena", "type"=>"persname"}
bioghist
{"value"=>"<p>Singer, actress, dancer, and civil rights activist Lena Mary Calhoun Horne (June 30, 1917- May, 9, 2010) was born in Brooklyn, New York. Horne began her career in 1933 performing at the Cotton Club in Harlem. In 1935, she joined Noble Sissle's Orchestra as a singer, and later the Charlie Barnet Orchestra. She toured extensively in the United States and Europe. In the early 1940s, Horne performed at New York's Café Society before moving to Hollywood. There she signed a contract with MGM Studios, becoming the first African American to sign with a major studio.</p> <p>Horne's film debut was in <span class=\"title\">The Duke is Tops</span> (1938, re-released in 1943 as <span class=\"title\">The Bronze Venus</span>, with Horne given top billing). She later starred in <span class=\"title\">Boogie-Woogie Dream</span> (1941), featuring pianists Pete Johnson and Albert Ammons. She appeared in other films including her two biggest roles in <span class=\"title\">Stormy Weather</span> (1943) and <span class=\"title\">Cabin in the Sky</span> (1943). Horne announced her retirement in March 1980, but starred in a one-woman Broadway show called <span class=\"title\">Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music</span> in 1981. At the time, it was the longest running one-woman show in Broadway history and won many awards, including a Special Tony Award (1981) and two Grammy Awards (1982).</p> <p>Horne was one of the most popular African American performers of her time. In 1984, she received a Kennedy Center Honor for lifetime contribution to the arts, and, in 1989, she won a Grammy Award for lifetime achievement. Horne died from heart failure at the age of ninety-two in New York City.</p>"}
scopecontent
{"value"=>"<p>The collection consists of three moving image recordings featuring Horne, including two promo reels for the broadway musical <span class=\"title\">Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music</span> and the short film <span class=\"title\">Boogie-Woogie Dream</span>; and five commercially released vinyl records.</p>"}
{"value"=>"<p class='list-head'>The Lena Horne audio and moving image collection is arranged in two series:</p>\n<ul class='arrangement series-descriptions'>\n<li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scl/188240#c1788696'>SERIES I: PERFORMANCES</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1944-1984</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>The series includes three moving image recordings in which Lena Horne appears, arranged chronologically. They include two promo reels for the Broadway musical <span class=\"title\">Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music</span> (1981) and the short film <span class=\"title\">Boogie-Woogie Dream</span> (1941).</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scl/188240#c1788700'>SERIES II: COLLECTED VINYL RECORDS</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1979-circa 1984</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>The series includes five commercially released vinyl records collected by Horne, arranged alphabetically by album title. Two of the records have inscriptions to Horne from the artists, which is indicated in the items' descriptions.</p></div></li></ul>\n", "type"=>"arrangement"}
acqinfo
{"value"=>"<p>Gift of Lena Horne and Sherman Sneed (manager), 1990.</p>"}
separatedmaterial
{"value"=>"<p>See the Manuscripts, Archives, and Rare Books Division for the Lena Horne collection, Sc MG 326.</p>"}
{"value"=>"<p>See the Photographs and Prints Division for the Lena Horne photograph collection, Sc Photo Lena Horne Collection.</p>"}
{"value"=>"<p>See the Art and Artifacts Division for the artifacts.</p>"}
{"value"=>"<p>See the Jean Blackwell Hutson Research and Reference Division for books from this acquisition.</p>"}
processinfo
{"value"=>"<p>Collection inventoried by <span class=\"name\">Nathan Evans</span>. Collection processed and described by <span class=\"name\">Ornella U. Baganizi</span>, archivist. Finding aid published in <span class=\"date\">2025</span>.</p>"}
accessrestrict
{"value"=>"<p>At the time of publishing, one 16mm film is not available pending digitization.</p>"}
relatedmaterial
{"value"=>"<p>Horne Family research collection, Sc MIRS Horne 1989-97.</p>"}
{"value"=>"<p><span class=\"title\">The Hornes: An American Family</span> (1986) by Gail Lumet Buckley, Sc E 86-286.</p>"}
{"value"=>"<p>Lena Horne portrait collection, Sc Photo Horne, Lena.</p>"}
sponsor
{"value"=>"An anonymous donor funded preliminary processing for this collection. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation supported a research library-wide grant for the digitization, and funded the Schomburg for the description and production of the finding aid as part of The Next Century of Black Studies Project."}
revisiondesc
{"value"=>"Item extent notes updated to facilitate public access by Ornella U. Baganizi.", "date"=>"2026-05-01"}
date_start
1944
keydate
1944
date_end
1984
date_inclusive_start
1944
date_inclusive_end
1984
prefercite
{"value"=>"Lena Horne audio and moving image collection, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division, The New York Public Library"}

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