The Anne Potter Wilson Music Library, as part of the Heard Libraries at Vanderbilt University, is partnering with the National Museum of African American Music (NMAAM) to purchase archival collections. The Academic Archives Purchasing initiative is a faculty funding opportunity through the Provost’s Office to support the expansion of the Libraries’ collection of books, scores, sound recordings and material objects related to African American music. One million dollars will be spent over the next four years to support research and teaching related to African American music. The collections will also be used to support student learning experiences such as Immersion Vanderbilt and the Buchanan Library Fellows Program. Items acquired by the Heard Libraries will be made available to researchers and loaned to NMAAM to support their exhibit program and educational events.
Four archival collections have already been purchased as part of this initiative. The first is the John Birks “Dizzy” Gillespie Collection, and includes photographs, autographs, personal records, appointment/address books, signed LPs from fellow musicians, and scrapbooks that document the life and career of Gillespie. In 1956, the U.S. State Dept. commissioned Gillespie to organize a band to go on tour of the Middle East, a tour which was well-received internationally and earned him the nickname “the Ambassador of Jazz.” Included in this collection are three scrapbooks that document his trip. The second collection consists of two costumes worn by Janet Jackson during her “Rhythm Nation” tour made by Richard Tyler and purchased at auction. The third collection contains costumes, journals that document musical activities, and CDs of the country musician Rissi Palmer. The most recent acquisition is the collection of Yusef Lateef consisting of musical instruments, music manuscripts, pedagogical materials, business and personal records, and drafts of his method book and biography.
For inquiries about these collections, please contact the Director of the Wilson Music Library at Vanderbilt, Holling Smith-Borne at holling.smith-borne@vanderbilt.edu.
Photo caption: Nelson Mandela, Dizzy Gillespie, and Hage Geingob, 1990. Courtesy of Vanderbilt University Special Collections.