{"value"=>"<p>George Avakian's personal papers were compiled by his personal assistants with his approval. The papers hold personal and business correspondence; datebooks; a scrapbook; documentation of Avakian's military service; clippings of articles about Avakian, as well as interview transcripts; publicity autobiographies; a book file containing outlines, ideas, and essays intended for Avakian's unfinished memoir of his career; published and unpublished writings and speeches; unpublished fiction; and awards and honors Avakian received.</p> <p>Writings are in the forms of typescripts or computer prints, though a few are handwritten. The designation of \"published\" and \"unpublished\" for Avakian's writings can be loose: some articles designated as published may only have appeared once in a newspaper or magazine and never republished since, while portions of writings designated unpublished may have appeared or been heard publicly in edited or altered form, for example on recording liner notes, or in lectures and other public presentations. Researchers are advised to examine Avakian's writings carefully regardless of their published or unpublished status, and to remain aware that short essays, liner notes, anecdotes, explanatory notes, commentary, and the like appear throughout subseries I.B, often under other topical names.</p> <p>The scrapbook documents Avakian's early career as a jazz journalist and producer from 1938 to 1940. It holds clippings of his columns in <span class=\"title\">Tempo</span>; cards and letters from musicians such as Mary Lou Williams, Freddie Green, and Sidney Bechet; letters from discographers Hugues Panassié and Charles Venables; and memorabilia from concerts and other events, including a signed note from Duke Ellington.</p> <p>Avakian's time in the military is represented by his army files, which hold correspondence, service records, and writings. Among the unpublished essays is Avakian's account of visiting the city of Hiroshima ten days after the atomic bomb was dropped on it, and a description of the campaign in the Philippines. The Hiroshima essay, and a rejection letter from <span class=\"title\">The New Yorker</span>, is located in box 5, folder 18, and in box 119, folder 7.</p> <p>Correspondence in the army files is substantial and covers many topics discussed elsewhere in the collection, such as particular jazz musicians, discographical issues, and jazz history. Correspondents include James Thurber; the jazz discographers Charles Delaunay and Ralph Venables; the journalist Leonard Feather; the composer and jazz historian Bill Russell; and several serials which published Avakian's writing during the war, including <span class=\"title\">Down Beat</span>, <span class=\"title\">Esquire</span>, <span class=\"title\">Jazz</span> magazine, and <span class=\"title\">Hot Jazz Booklets</span>.</p> <p>This subseries also contains a separate correspondence file, dating from 1939 to 2012. It holds a mixture of personal and professional correspondence on a wide variety of topics, and includes letters from Avakian to musicians and colleagues regarding personal recording projects; World Pacific, Warner Brothers, and RCA matters; letters written from and regarding the Soviet Union; and personal letters from Edward R. Murrow, Leonard Bernstein, Felix Rosenthal, Ted Curson, Lakshmi Shankar, Andre Kostelanetz, Arthur Godfrey, Maria Schneider, and W.C. Handy, among many others. The file also includes family letters.</p>"}