Series eight of the Duke Ellington Collection consists of 77 scrapbooks containing domestic and international newspaper clippings and magazine articles that were compiled by Burrelle's Press Clipping Bureau for the Ellington Organization between 1931 and 1973. The news clippings include announcements of Ellington performances and jazz festivals, performance and record reviews, information on Ellington's foreign and domestic tours, discussions of Ellington's composition style and his management of the Ellington Orchestra, music popularity polls, obituaries, tributes, and essays concerning the social issues of importance to Ellington. In addition, there are advertisements, programs, invitations, itineraries, letters and telegrams. As Ellington's performing career progressed, the scrapbooks document a change in the press from simple announcements of concerts and record releases to longer and more laudatory articles praising Ellington's activities and his music, beliefs, and lifestyle. The scrapbooks are arranged chronologically by the beginning span date of each volume.
Most volumes cover only few months while others span several years.
Overlapping dates occur generally because the articles were compiled and mounted in the scrapbooks in the order they were received by Burrelle's, without regard to time lags incurred due to location of origin or frequency of publication. Volume numbers refer to individual bound collections of mounted clippings. Each microfilm roll covers multiple volumes of scrapbooks. Mounted congratulatory letters addressed to Ellington commemorating the tenth anniversary of his premier at the Cotton Club can be found in volume 45. W.C. Handy, Abel Green, Joe Higgins, and M.H. Orodenker.