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Creator
Kerr, Thomas H., Jr., 1915-1988
Call number
Sc MIRS Kerr 2006-20
Physical description
3 video_recordings. 11 audio_recordings
Language
English
Preferred Citation
Thomas Henderson Kerr, Jr. audio and moving image collection, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division, The New York Public Library
Sponsor
An anonymous donor funded preliminary processing for this collection. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation supported a research library-wide grant for the digitization, and funded the Schomburg for the description and production of the finding aid as part of The Next Century of Black Studies Project.
Repository
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division
Access to materials
Appointment preferred: Request an in-person research appointment.

Thomas Henderson Kerr, Jr. (January 3, 1915 - August 26, 1988) was a composer and musician. The collection consists of eleven audio recordings and three videos relating to Kerr's career, dating from circa 1940 to 2002.

Biographical/historical information

Composer and musician Thomas Henderson Kerr, Jr. (January 3, 1915 - August 26, 1988) studied piano from an early age. His compositions include works for piano, voice, organ, choir, and chamber ensembles.

Kerr was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and attended Howard University for one year before transferring to the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. He taught at Knoxville College, Tennessee, before becoming a professor of piano and chair of the Piano Department in the School of Music at Howard University from 1943 to 1976. For over thirty-five years, Kerr also served as the organist at Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ in Washington, DC. He performed at venues such as the National Gallery of Art and the Phillips Collection, and he appeared twice as a concert soloist with the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, DC.

Kerr died in 1988 after being struck by a car. His second wife, Hortense Reid-Kerr, was also a professor of piano at Howard University, and has lectured on, performed, and cataloged his musical works.

Scope and arrangement

The collection consists of eleven audio recordings and three videos relating to the career of Thomas Henderson Kerr, Jr., dating from circa 1940 to 2002. The original formats of the audio recordings include 10-inch record, compact cassette, and open reel, with many items containing two parts. They include performances of works by Kerr; a 2002 symposium about his music including panel discussions and performances; a 1988 interview conducted by Hortense Reid-Kerr with Roque Cordero, a Panamanian composer; and compilations of works by Black composers including Duke Ellington, Ulysses S. Kay, Hale Smith, and William Grant Still.

The Thomas Henderson Kerr, Jr. audio and moving image collection is arranged in two series:

  • SERIES I: COMPOSITIONS AND PERFORMANCES
    circa 1940 to 2002

    The series contains three audio recordings and three videos featuring the work of Thomas Henderson Kerr, Jr., dating from circa 1940 to 2002. They are organized chronologically. The recordings include two 10-inch records of performances by Kerr; an audio recording of a performance of Kerr's 1951 composition Concert Variation on a Merry Xmas Tune: "Good King Wenceslas" on the organ by Mickey Thomas Terry, a music scholar; and three videos of a 2002 symposium honoring Kerr, featuring performances of his works and panel discussions about his compositions.

  • SERIES II: COLLECTED RECORDINGS
    circa 1940 to 2002

    The series contains eight audio recordings likely collected by either Kerr or Hortense Reid-Kerr, on which neither Kerr nor his work appears, dating from circa 1940 to 2002. They are organized alphabetically by title. The recordings include an interview with Roque Cordero, a Panamanian composer, conducted in 1988 by Hortense Reid-Kerr, a music scholar and Kerr's wife. The series also contains compilations of works by Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Hale Smith, and other Black composers and jazz musicians.

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

Cynthia Reid, September 2006.

Processing information

Collection inventoried by Nathan Evans. Collection processed and described by Lyric Evans-Hunter, archivist. Finding aid published in 2025.

Separated material

See the Manuscripts, Archives, and Rare Books Division for the Thomas Henderson Kerr, Jr. papers, Sc MG 763.

Using the collection

Location

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division
515 Malcolm X Boulevard, New York, NY 10037-1801
Third Floor

Access to materials

Appointment preferred: Request an in-person research appointment.