{"value"=>"<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>"}