- unitid
-
{"value"=>"23053", "type"=>"local_mss"}
{"value"=>"Sc MG 473", "type"=>"local_call"}
{"value"=>"b18029127", "type"=>"local_b"}
- unitdate
-
{"value"=>"1936-1987", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1936/1987"}
{"value"=>"1970-1987", "type"=>"bulk", "normal"=>"1970/1987"}
- unittitle
-
{"value"=>"Maxine Sullivan papers"}
- physdesc
-
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"27 boxes, 1 oversize folder", "unit"=>"containers"}, {"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"10.34 linear feet", "unit"=>"linear_feet"}]}
- repository
-
{"value"=>"<span class=\"corpname\">Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division</span>"}
- abstract
-
{"value"=>"The Maxine Sullivan Papers document her career as a jazz performer. The papers contain correspondence from both professional and personal contacts, legal contracts, newspaper clippings, performance flyers, posters, and programs, sheet music, and some financial and organizational membership records. Some materials pertain to her third husband, Cliff Jackson."}
- langmaterial
-
{"value"=>"English"}
- origination
-
{"value"=>"Sullivan, Maxine, 1911-1987", "type"=>"persname"}
- bioghist
-
{"value"=>"<p>African American jazz soloist Maxine Sullivan was known for her cool and arresting \"whispering voice,\" soothing style, gentle rhythmic phrasing, and intricate swing delivery. She became well known in the late 1930s for her swing performance of the Scottish traditional ballad <span class=\"title\">Loch Lomond</span>. The song became her signature piece and catapulted her career. During this period Sullivan performed as the main act at the Onyx Club on 52nd Street in New York City, alongside bassist John Kirby and his band. Sullivan and Kirby married in 1938 but were divorced three years later. In 1950, Sullivan married pianist Cliff Jackson. Excluding a ten-year break she took from show-business in 1957, Sullivan's career spanned four decades. Sullivan was also popular with jazz enthusiasts outside of the United States and she toured internationally several times.</p>"}
- scopecontent
-
{"value"=>"<p>The Maxine Sullivan Papers document her career as a jazz performer and span the years 1936-1990, with the bulk of the material coinciding with her \"comeback\" period of the early 1970s until her death in 1987. The collection consists largely of holograph arrangements and sheet music, along with song lyrics and song lists for performances filed in the Music series. The breadth of Sullivan's career, professional circle, demand, international renown, and fan base are revealed in the Correspondence series which contains letters from her friends, admirers, and professional contacts, and the Printed Matter series, which consists of newspaper and magazine clippings, press releases, programs, and posters and flyers advertising performances.</p> <p>Insight into other aspects of Sullivan's life is provided through the Personal papers which document Sullivan's charitable activities and her efforts with The House That Jazz Built community project; this series also contains biographical information often used to introduce her at performances; ephemera from her personal and professional life; and folders on her children, Orville Williams and Paula Morris, and friend, Jeni Le Gon, the tap-dancer and actress. The Cliff Jackson series documents the pianist's professional career.</p>"}
{"value"=>"<p class='list-head'>The Maxine Sullivan papers are arranged in seven series:</p>\n<ul class='arrangement series-descriptions'>\n<li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/23053#c1572828'>Personal papers</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1936-1987</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>The Personal papers hold material documenting various aspects of Sullivan's life, including biographical information often used to introduce her at performances; a copy of the chapter on Sullivan in <span class=\"title\">The Street That Never Slept</span>; awards; a manuscript of a play Sullivan wrote; and correspondence and other material chronicling her involvement in various charitable and professional organizations, including the Negro Actors Guild. Also documented are Sullivan's efforts with The House That Jazz Built (THTJB), the non-profit jazz music community center dedicated to the memory of her third husband Cliff Jackson. The ephemera from THTJB include membership and donation forms, handwritten notes from Sullivan to friends, fund-raising materials, and a board listing for the organization. Other ephemera in the series include personal, business and membership cards, invitations, autographed publicity from trumpeter Charles McGee, and a Loch Lomond brochure presumably picked up on Sullivan's visit to Scotland in May 1948. The Family and Friends sub-series contain folders on her first husband, John Kirby; her children, Orville Williams and Paula Morris; and her friend, Jeni Le Gon, the tap-dancer and actress. Materials pertaining to Cliff Jackson are not included here since they are more substantial and therefore have been organized into a separate series.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/23053#c1572840'>Correspondence</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1937-1987</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This series contains letters from Sullivan's friends, admirers, and professional contacts. There are a few letters addressed to \"Gertrude\", presumably Gertrude French, Sullivan's mother. Although all of the letters are incoming and thus reveal little about Sullivan's private life or artistic process, the series does give a sense of the breadth of Sullivan's career including aspects such as her professional circle, demand, international renown, and fan base. The subject matter of the correspondence includes friends wishing Sullivan well; congratulating her on performances or simply catching up; requests for, and confirmations of, performances; and her participation in jazz festivals such as the Conneaut Lake Jazz Festival and Homestead Diamond Jubilee. Correspondents of note include Wilma Dobie, Prentiss Taylor, Ed Sullivan, Skitch Henderson, Clyde Bernhardt, Benny Waters, Al Vollmer, Eubie Blake, Parke Frankenfield, and E. Howard Hunt of Watergate fame (1970s correspondence).</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/23053#c1572851'>Financial records</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1969-1990</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This series includes contracts for radio, Broadway, and other appearances. The bulk of these contracts is from the 1930s through the 1950s and provides additional information on Sullivan's professional engagements apart from what is found in the Correspondence series. The Miscellaneous folder contains receipts of share purchases, bills for publicity services, Sullivan's expense records for 1969-1971, investment account statements, and association dues.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/23053#c1572855'>Printed matter</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1937-1993</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>Printed matter consists of clippings that span Sullivan's entire career; posters and flyers advertising performances in her later years; press releases; programs; and covers of some of her record albums. There are two scrapbooks in the series which, in addition to a few photographs, contain clippings of Sullivan's early career (1936-1939) and include reviews of <span class=\"title\">Swinging the Dream</span>, Sullivan's CBS radio show, and Sullivan's performance at the 1939 World Fair. Also in this series is a collection of printed matter concerning other jazz musicians and events, including tickets for the 1972 tribute to Louis Armstrong, an issue of the <span class=\"title\">Jazz Catalyst</span> (1979), and a program from the memorial held for Dizzy Gillespie at the Transfiguration Lutheran Church. There are also newsletters and programs from jazz societies and jazz clubs from around the country, including the Duke Ellington Society, Women's Jazz Society, and one produced by Maxwell Glanville.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/23053#c1572869'>Music</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1937-1993</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>The Music series makes up the bulk of the collection and consists largely of arrangements; it also contains published sheet music, song lyrics, and song lists for performances. The arrangements are organized alphabetically by song title; they generally include the arranger's holograph sketches and vocal scores as well as copyist instrumental parts. Some of Sullivan's vocal parts contain her annotations in the margins. There are several arrangements for her most well known songs such as \"Loch Lomond\", \"Annie Laurie\", \"Surprise Party\", \"Molly Malone\", and \"If I Had A Ribbon Bow.\" There is also one song, \"I've Got a Right to Sing the Blues\", arranged by Sullivan. Sheet music autographed by the composers is listed with arrangements; otherwise, sheet music has been organized separately in alphabetized folders with titles listed in the appendix. Also included in this series are composition books for what appears to be a music course Sullivan took.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/23053#c1573442'>Scripts</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1947-1986</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>The small Scripts series consists of scripts for radio programs, and ads and a script for the Broadway musical, <span class=\"title\">My Old Friends</span> in which Sullivan performed and for which she received a Tony Award nomination.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/23053#c1573445'>Cliff Jackson</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1930-1970</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This series documents the pianist's professional career. The correspondence in this series is mainly incoming from friends and professional contacts. There are a few letters that cite legal action against Jackson for financial defaults. Also in the correspondence are condolences sent to Sullivan after Jackson's death. The remainder of the series consists of contracts, song lists and lyrics, and scores, including a collaborative piece between Jackson and two other musicians called \"I've Got The Motion.\"</p></div></li></ul>\n", "type"=>"arrangement"}
- arrangement
-
{"value"=>"<p>Arranged into seven series: I. Personal; II. Correspondence; III. Financial records; IV. Printed matter; V. Music; VI. Scripts; and VII. Cliff Jackson</p>", "supress_display"=>true}
- acqinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Gift of Ed Poteat, May 2007.</p>"}
- separatedmaterial
-
{"value"=>"<p>Transferred to the Art and Artifacts Division: Plaque and sketch</p> <p>Transferred to the Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division: Recorded sound material. For more information, please contact the Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division at schomburgaudiovisual@nypl.org or 212-491-2270</p> <p>Transferred to the Photographs and Print Division: Photographs, color transparencies, and slides</p> <p>Transferred to the General Research and Reference Division: Five issues of <span class=\"title\">Jet</span> Magazine</p>"}
- processinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Processed by Edwina Ashie-Nikoi in February 2009.</p>"}
- relatedmaterial
-
{"value"=>"<p>Additional papers of Maxine Sullivan are located at three other repositories:</p> <p>A body of papers is at The Bronx County Historical Society. This collection, donated by Ed Poteat, the donor for the Schomburg's Sullivan papers, largely documents her involvement in the Bronx community, including the development of The House That Jazz Built.</p> <p>A transcript of an interview with Sullivan conducted as part of their Jazz Oral History Project is held at Rutgers University's Institute of Jazz Studies; a copy of the transcripts is located in the Schomburg's Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division's Oral History Collection. The transcript is particularly rich in its detail of Sullivan's recording career and collaboration with other artists.</p> <p>The Homestead Library has a relatively small collection that consists of photographs, slides, and a birthday wish on White House stationery from former president Ronald Reagan. Sullivan's hometown library also received these materials from Ed Poteat.</p>"}
- date_start
-
1936
- keydate
-
1936
- date_end
-
1987
- date_inclusive_start
-
1936
- date_inclusive_end
-
1987
- date_bulk_start
-
1970
- date_bulk_end
-
1987
- prefercite
-
{"value"=>"[Item], Maxine Sullivan papers, Sc MG 473, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library"}