{"value"=>"<p>This collection consists of personal and professional material of Nat King Cole, such as correspondence, programs, and advertisements. Additionally, there is printed matter, such as clippings and articles; scrapbooks; and scores, which is the largest series. Finally, there is material related to Cole's wife, Maria Cole, such as scrapbooks, biographical material, and drafts for a book.</p>", "supress_display"=>true}
{"value"=>"<p class='list-head'>The Nat King Cole papers are arranged in seven series:</p>\n<ul class='arrangement series-descriptions'>\n<li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/22329#c1125204'>Personal papers</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1937-1996</div>\n<div class='series-extent'>.4 linear feet</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>The series includes biographical profiles; vital records, such as a joint passport issued for Cole and his wife Maria Hawkins Ellington Cole; an NAACP membership card; and a season pass issued by the Los Angeles Dodgers, of which Cole was a devoted fan. There is an invitation to his wedding to Maria on Easter Sunday 1948, which was the Harlem social event of the season, receipts for the reception, and deeds and other correspondence for the purchase of his house in the all- white Hancock Park neighborhood of Los Angeles that same year. The series also includes lists of honorary and active pallbearers at his funeral, following his death from lung cancer in 1965; and ephemera, such as tickets, menus, and calendars.</p> <p>The correspondence is sparse and some appears to have been originally included in scrapbooks. There are two letters from President Dwight D. Eisenhower and a telegram and thank you letters from Senator John F. Kennedy during his campaigns for the Senate and the presidency. In 1958, Kennedy notes that \"I am aware of the difficulties which surround your attending such affairs and so I am doubly appreciative of your having taken the trouble to be among my well wishers.\" There are also cards and letters from well wishers during Cole's final illness in 1964-1965 (although most of these are located in the Scrapbook series.).</p> <p>Material relating to Cole's adopted son, Nat Kelly Cole (1959-1995), is also found in this series and includes a school yearbook and a detailed proposal for a biography of his father.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/22329#c1125223'>Professional papers</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1938-1988</div>\n<div class='series-extent'>1 linear foot</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>The series contains correspondence, production materials for performances, scripts, discographies, and song lists. The correspondence, some of which may have originally been mounted in scrapbooks, consists of letters from notables and others, including President Dwight D. Eisenhower, King Hussein I of Jordan, Eddie Cantor, Rep. James Roosevelt, and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Felix Schnyder, generally thanking Cole for performances and recordings or suggesting songs to be recorded. One from the entertainer Jayne Mansfield in May 1963 notes that \"I am appearing in Birmingham [AL] at present - for this week - and it is a very bad situation here - tensions are high - and a lot of foolish people around.\" Additional correspondence, particularly congratulatory telegrams, may be found in folders containing production materials for specific performances. The performance materials also include programs, reviews, itineraries, menus, advertisements, notes, and ticket stubs.</p> <p>There are programs from many of Cole's foreign and United States tours dating from the 1940s and 1950s, a command performance for Queen Elizabeth II in London in 1960, his performance at the Inaugural Gala for John F. Kennedy in 1961, and his <span class=\"title\">Sights and Sounds</span> revue of the 1960s. A 1962 Urban League benefit concert commemorating his 25th anniversary in show business brought congratulatory telegrams from President John F. Kennedy, Richard M. Nixon, Jack Benny, Lionel Hampton, Johnny Mercer, Bobby Darin, and Kirk Douglas, among others. Scripts include films and television shows, such as <span class=\"title\">China Gate</span> and <span class=\"title\">This Is Your Life</span>, which honored Cole in 1960; guest television appearances; and three scripts from his 1956-1957 television series. Additional material may be found in the oversize boxes. The series does not contain any substantial material concerning Cole's various business ventures.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/22329#c1125260'>Printed material</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1940-1995</div>\n<div class='series-extent'>.2 linear feet</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>The series is comprised largely of newspaper clippings and magazine articles, arranged chronologically, documenting Cole's career and family life. They range from his early performances and recordings in the 1940s through foreign and domestic tours, including some racial incidents in the 1950s, to his final performances in the 1960s, and the tributes in the years that followed. Most of the clippings concerning Cole's final illness and death may be found in the Scrapbooks series. There are also advertisements and several booklets and pocket-sized brochures about his life and recordings. Additional material may also be found in the oversize box.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/22329#c1125272'>Scrapbooks</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1938-1968</div>\n<div class='series-extent'>4.5 linear feet</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This is perhaps the richest series in the collection. Most appear to have been compiled by Maria Cole's sister Charlotte Hawkins Sullivan, who cared for the Cole children and managed the household while Maria traveled throughout the world with Nat. (Scrapbooks that were totally or primarily comprised of photographs have been transferred to the Photographs and Prints Division. These include \"Around the World with the Coles\", \"The Cole Children\", and a 1948 wedding album). Many of the scrapbooks were in fragile condition with photographs, telegrams, clippings, and programs falling off the pages. These were dismantled and foldered. Loose photographs were generally separated and given to the Photographs and Prints Division, while printed material in the scrapbook was retained. Titles on the cover or first page of each scrapbook and any significant captions have also been retained. Two scrapbooks which primarily concern Maria Cole's life and career are located in the Maria Cole series.</p> <p>The scrapbooks document the significant events of Cole's life and career with clippings, articles, correspondence, and ephemera dating from 1943 to 1965: his wedding to Maria in 1948; travels in South America, Japan, and Europe; the celebration of his 25th anniversary in show business in 1962; and his final illness and death. They are filled with information about Cole's various trios, recordings, and concerts, and several contain published sheet music from the 1940s. The scrapbooks also document the Netherlands opening of the film <span class=\"title\">St. Louis Blues</span>, in which Cole starred as W. C. Handy; protests over his purchase of a house in the exclusive Los Angeles neighborhood of Hancock Park; the Nat King Cole Cancer Foundation; and his family. There are souvenir albums from his 1959 South American tour and President John F. Kennedy's 1961 Inauguration.</p> <p>\"Happy 25th Nat King Cole\" covers a 1962 testimonial dinner held by the Urban League honoring Cole's 25 years in show business. It includes letters and telegrams from such notables as Bing Crosby, Sammy Davis Jr., Pearl Bailey, Louis Bellson, Lloyd Bridges, Dinah Shore, George Burns, Gracie Allen, and many others. There are also clippings about Cole's revue at the Greek Theater in 1961 entitled <span class=\"title\">The Merry World of Nat King Cole</span> (which developed into the <span class=\"title\">Sights and Sounds</span> revue the following year.) \"Nat 'King' Cole and the King Cole Trio\" contains material from 1945 to 1959 and includes clippings about concerts and tours; Maria's first return to show business in 1955; and a 1958 Hill Toppers Charity Guild fashion show held in the Coles' garden.</p> <p>An untitled scrapbook covering the years 1945 to 1964 contains photographs of Cole with celebrities, including Sammy Davis Jr., Louella Parsons, Dean Martin, Sid Caesar, Bing Crosby, his All Stars baseball team, and music trios. The book also includes the published sheet music for \"The Best Man\" and \"The Frim Fram Sauce.\" There are certificates for honorary citizenship of Nashville in 1955, membership on the California Governor's Committee on Entertainment in 1959, and founding membership of the Hollywood Museum Associates in 1962. There are also articles, clippings, and correspondence, including letters from Henry Ford and Carl T. Rowan; a press release for Cole's NBC TV show in 1956; and a program from his 1960 London command performance for the Queen.</p> <p>Of particular interest in the untitled scrapbook is Cole's May 1959 open letter to the press concerning his tour of South America. He believed it had generated much good will and should have been considered a part of the United States \"Good neighbour Policy\" [sic] toward Latin America, but instead had been \"virtually ignored\" due to the press's bigotry. He wrote that \"the Negro news seems limited to racial problems and lynchings, or the so-called social upheavals\" instead of toward \"contributions that are made by anyone to help international unity and goodwill, whether made by black or white U. S. citizens\".</p> <p>Several other scrapbooks document Cole's final illness and death in Los Angeles in 1965. \"So Many People Cared\" (1964-1965) reads like a \"who's who\" of the entertainment world, with letters, cards, and telegrams wishing Cole a speedy recovery from Art Linkletter, Danny Thomas, Lionel Hampton, John Wayne, Louie Jordan, Diahann Carroll, Earl Hines, Billy Eckstine, Ed Sullivan, Jackie Gleason, Mickey Rooney, Johnny Mercer, Martin Luther King Jr., Frank Sinatra, and Count Basie. There is a handwritten note from Senator Robert F. Kennedy and a card from Jacqueline Kennedy. Also found are numerous telegrams, cards, and letters sent to Maria after Cole's death, including a note from Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey. Jack Benny sent her a copy of his eulogy. \"Condolences 1965\" contains a register of guests at the funeral and telegrams from Perry Como, Ray Charles, Gene Kelly, Cy Coleman, and Illinois Jacquet, among many others. There are letters from charitable foundations, public officials, entertainers including Johnny Mercer, Bing Crosby, Dorothy Chandler, and Johnny Mathis, and fans. Also included are cards and several original poems, such as one from actor Frank Silvera, who also directed <span class=\"title\">Amen Corner</span>. There are programs for memorials in other cities and certificates for posthumous enrollment in various religious societies nationwide. Copies of resolutions from the Los Angeles Urban League, the State Assembly of California, the United States Senate, and the House of Representatives are also found in the scrapbook. A third untitled scrapbook is also filled with clippings and articles about Cole's final illness and death.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/22329#c1125290'>Scores</a></div>\n<div class='series-extent'>33 linear feet</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>Scores is the largest series comprising arrangements of songs that Cole recorded and performed throughout his career; bound songbooks and published sheet music; and material from the musical revue <span class=\"title\">I'm With You</span>, which he attempted to bring to Broadway in 1960 but which closed on the road following negative reviews.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/22329#c1126605'>Maria Cole</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1943-1995</div>\n<div class='series-extent'>1.75 linear feet</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>The series contains correspondence, biographical material, scrapbooks, scripts, clippings, drafts, and agreements for her 1971 book, <span class=\"title\">Nat King Cole: An Intimate Biography</span>, as well as scores. Of particular significance in the Personal papers subseries are records and correspondence from her first marriage to Spurgeon N. Ellington, a decorated Tuskegee airman who was killed in a domestic airplane crash in 1945 following his return from overseas service in World War II. There is also a program and clippings from her third marriage in 1969 to producer Gary M. Devore, four years after Cole's untimely death. The series contains numerous telegrams and letters congratulating her on her return to performing in 1955 and again in 1965. Other correspondence discusses her various philanthropic endeavors, particularly raising funds for cancer research; membership on the Massachusetts Council on Arts after her move from California to Massachusetts; travels; political activities, including support for Gov. Michael Dukakis; and her efforts to preserve Cole's legacy. The Writings subseries contains material for her biography of Cole, published in 1971, including proposals, contracts, edited typescripts, and publicity material.</p> <p>The Scrapbooks subseries contain two scrapbooks which are devoted to Maria Cole's life and career. \"This Is My Wife\" contains her 1938 yearbook from the Palmer Memorial Institute in North Carolina, a school for African Americans founded by her aunt Charlotte Hawkins Brown (which Maria Cole was instrumental in preserving as an historic site in the 1980s), and clippings about Brown. Photos and clippings from the Coles' 1948 wedding, certificates and awards, a program from Nat's funeral service, and a script for one of Maria's shows are also included. Another scrapbook follows Maria's life from 1945 to 1968. It contains clippings, photographs, and correspondence about her wedding, including letters from Hattie McDaniel and Hazel Scott Powell. There are also clippings, good luck telegrams, and a program from the 1965 Broadway production of James Baldwin's <span class=\"title\">Amen Corner</span>, which Maria co-produced; clippings about Maria's various philanthropic efforts and Cole's death; and articles, letters, and photographs concerning Maria's second return to show business in 1965. The scrapbook also includes letters on various topics from political figures, including Robert F. Kennedy, George Romney, Hubert H. Humphrey, William W. Scranton, Robert Weaver, Edmund Muskie, Richard M. Nixon, and Carl Stokes.</p> <p>The Scores subseries contain five boxes of arrangements from her return to show business in 1955 and in 1965. Among the arrangers who worked with Maria were Pete King, Pete Rugolo, Nelson Riddle, Gerald Wilson, Charles Sanford, and Sid Feller. There are no scores dating from her days as a vocalist with the Duke Ellington Orchestra in the 1940s.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/22329#c1126706'>Oversize material</a></div>\n</li></ul>\n", "type"=>"arrangement"}