{"value"=>"<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>"}