Floyd Levin Jazz Reference Collection
name: label: Creator
content: Armstrong, Louis, 1901-1971
label: Creator
content: Blake, Eubie (James Herbert), 1883-1983
label: Creator
content: Darensbourg, Joe, 1906-1985
label: Creator
content: Davison, Bill
label: Creator
content: Ellington, Duke, 1899-1974
label: Creator
content: Garland, Ed
label: Collector
content: Levin, Floyd, 1922-2007
label: Donor
content: Levin, Lucille
label: Creator
content: Morton, Jelly Roll, 1890-1941
label: Creator
content: Wilson, Buster
topic: label: Topic
content: African American music -- 20th century
label: Topic
content: Jazz
label: Topic
content: Jazz musicians
label: Topic
content: Popular music -- African American influences
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Donated to the Archives Center in 2011 by Floyd Levin's widow, Lucille Levin.
creator: label: Creator
content: Armstrong, Louis, 1901-1971
label: Creator
content: Blake, Eubie (James Herbert), 1883-1983
label: Creator
content: Darensbourg, Joe, 1906-1985
label: Creator
content: Davison, Bill
label: Creator
content: Ellington, Duke, 1899-1974
label: Creator
content: Garland, Ed
label: Collector
content: Levin, Floyd, 1922-2007
label: Donor
content: Levin, Lucille
label: Creator
content: Morton, Jelly Roll, 1890-1941
label: Creator
content: Wilson, Buster
culture: label: Culture
content: African American musicians
setName: label: See more items in
content: Floyd Levin Jazz Reference Collection
abstract: label: Summary
content: Collection compiled over several decades by Floyd Levin, Los Angeles textile manufacturer who turned his passion for jazz into a second career as an influential jazz journalist and historian, consisting of materials relating to jazz artists, festivals, and organizations.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Floyd Bertram Levin a Los Angeles textile manufacturer who turned his passion for jazz into a second, contemporaneous, career as an influential jazz journalist and historian was born on September 24, 1922, in Minneapolis, Hennepin, Minnesota to Samuel William Levin (March 4, 1901 - March 1986) and Florence Herman (March 22, 1901- August 3, 1981). His numerous reviews, profiles, and articles were published in magazines such as Down Beat, Jazz Journal International, Metronome, and American Rag.  He also authored Classic Jazz: A Personal View of the Music and the Musicians (University of California Press, 2000), which like his articles - chronicled his first-hand encounters with countless jazz musicians.  In 1949, he co-founded the Southern California Hot Jazz Society, the second-oldest jazz appreciation club in the country.  Levin led the drive to create the Louis Armstrong Park and statue in New Orleans in the 1970s.  During his career, he conducted scores of oral history interviews with jazz musicians, which he donated to the National Museum of American History's Archives Center and to Tulane University's jazz archive.  He received several awards for his work, including the Leonard Feather Communicator Award, given annually by the Los Angeles Jazz Society.  Levin died on January 29, 2007, at the age of eighty-five in Studio City, Los Angeles, California.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 42.5 Cubic feet (110 boxes, 12 oversize folders)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1880-2010, undated
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.1222
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Advertisements
label: Type
content: Audiocassettes
label: Type
content: Audiotapes
label: Type
content: Awards
label: Type
content: Biography files
label: Type
content: Black-and-white photographs
label: Type
content: Black-and-white photographic prints
label: Type
content: Business cards
label: Type
content: Clippings
label: Type
content: Concert programs
label: Type
content: Correspondence
label: Type
content: Ephemera
label: Type
content: Festivals
label: Type
content: Interviews
label: Type
content: Journals (periodicals)
label: Type
content: Newsletters
label: Type
content: Obituaries
label: Type
content: Personal papers
label: Type
content: Posters
label: Type
content: Photographs
label: Type
content: Signatures (names)
label: Type
content: Writings
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The collection is arranged in ten series.

Series 1, Personal Papers, 1920-2010, undated

Series 2, Correspondence, 1948-2006, undated

Series 3, Research Materials, 1914-2006, undated

Series 4, Writings, 1949-2006, undated

Series 5, Artists Files, 1880-2010, undated

Subseries 5.1, General Materials, 1880-2010, undated

Subseries 5.2, Obituaries, 1941-2004

Subseries 5.3, Interviews, 1969-2001

Series 6, Subject Files, 1916-2004, undated

Series 7, General Materials, 1908-2006, undated

Series 8, Jazz Organizations and Publications, 1943-2010, undated

Series 9, Photographic Materials, 1939-2001, undated

Series 10, Audiovisual Materials, 1964-1997, undated

Subseries 10.1, Audio Cassette Tapes, 1970-1997, undated

Subseries 10.2, Compact Discs, 1966-1994, undated

Subseries 10.3, Audio Reel-to-Reel Tapes, 1964-1973, undated
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Collection processed by Rebekah Keel, intern, 2016; Elizabeth Livesey, intern, 2016; Justine Thomas, intern, 2016; Cooby Greenway, volunteer, 2016; Marian Tatum-Webb, volunteer, 2016; Ramona Williamson, volunteer, 2016; and Vanessa Broussard Simmons, archivist, 2016.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Advertisements -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Audiocassettes
label: Genre/Form
content: Audiotapes
label: Genre/Form
content: Awards
label: Genre/Form
content: Biography files
label: Genre/Form
content: Black-and-white photographs
label: Genre/Form
content: Black-and-white photographic prints -- Silver gelatin -- 1950-2000
label: Genre/Form
content: Business cards
label: Genre/Form
content: Clippings
label: Genre/Form
content: Concert programs -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Correspondence -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Ephemera -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Festivals
label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
label: Genre/Form
content: Journals (periodicals) -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Newsletters -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Obituaries
label: Genre/Form
content: Personal papers -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Posters -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Signatures (names)
label: Genre/Form
content: Writings
label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: Research materials relating to jazz artists, festivals, and organizations compiled by Levin over several decades. The richest portion of the collection is the biographical files on jazz artists, with emphasis on lesser known but influential people, and includes obituaries, memorial programs, press releases, concert programs, and newsletters. Photographs are also widely found in the collection, many of them inscribed to, or taken with Levin and his wife Lucille, as well as posters, sound recordings, interviews, letters and other correspondence, awards and plaques, Levin's writings, business cards, newspaper articles, advertisements, and ephemera. Artists who are strongly represented include one-time Ellington Orchestra clarinetist "Barney" (Albany Leon) Bigard, who was a close personal friend of the Levins and whose personal papers are in the collection; Louis Armstrong; "Jelly Roll" (Ferdinand Lemott) Morton; "Wild" Bill Davison; "Duke" (Edward Kennedy) Ellington; Joe Darensbourg; Edward Bertram "Montudie" Garland; "Kid" (Edward) Ory; "Eubie" (James Herbert) Blake; and "Rosy" (James) McHargue.

While Levin's collection is remarkable in that it documents lesser-known jazz artists, particularly in and around California, it suffers from a significant lack of information on female jazz musicians. Materials on such influential artists as Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington, and Bessie Smith, among others, are much more limited. 

The collection is arranged in ten series: Series 1, Personal Papers; Series 2, Correspondence; Series 3, Research Materials; Series 4, Writings; Series 5, Artists Files; Series 6, Subject Files; Series 7, General Materials; Series 8, Jazz Organizations and Publications; Series 9, Photographic Materials; and Series 10, Audiovisual Materials.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Materials
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History

William H. Quealy Collection of Duke Ellington Recordings, NMAH.AC.0296

Sam DeVincent Collection of Illustrated American Sheet Music, Archives Center, Series 3: African American Music, NMAH.AC.0300.S03

Duke Ellington Collection, NMAH.AC.0301

Duke Ellington Oral History, NMAH.AC.0368

Robert Udkoff Collection of Duke Ellington Ephemera, NMAH.AC.0388

Ruth Ellington Collection of Duke Ellington Materials, NMAH.AC.0415

Herman Leonard Photographic Collection, NMAH.AC.0445

Ernie Smith Jazz Film Collection, NMAH.AC.0491

Frank Schiffman Apollo Theatre Collection, NMAH.AC.0540

Ella Fitzgerald Papers, NMAH.AC.0584

William "Cat" Anderson Collection, NMAH.AC.0630

Tad Hershorn Collection, NMAH.AC.0680

William Claxton Photographs, NMAH.AC.0695

Edward and Gaye Ellington Collection of Duke Ellington Materials, NMAH.AC.0704

Benny Carter Collection, NMAH.AC.0757

W. Royal Stokes Collection of Music Photoprints and Interviews, NMAH.AC.0766

Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program Collection, NMAH.AC.0808

Milt Gabler Papers, NMAH.AC.0849

Stephanie Myers Jazz Photographs, NMAH.AC.0887

Audrey Wells "Women in Jazz" Radio Series, NMAH.AC.0899

Leonard and Mary Gaskin Papers, NMAH.AC.0900

John Coltrane Music Manuscript, NMAH.AC.0903

Miles Davis Music Manuscript, NMAH.AC.0920

Bobby Short Papers, NMAH.AC.0946

Ramsey Lewis Collection, NMAH.AC.1126

Earl Newman Collection of Monterey Jazz Festival Posters, NMAH.AC.1207

Pat and Chuck Bress Jazz Portrait Photographs, NMAH.AC.1219

Floyd Levin Jazz Reference Collection, NMAH.AC.1222

Francis Wolff Jazz Photoprints, NMAH.AC.1238

Al Celley Collection of Duke Ellington Materials, NMAH.AC.1240

Chuck Stewart Jazz Photographs, NMAH.AC.1321

Duncan Schiedt Jazz Collection, NMAH.AC.1323

Ray Brown Papers, NMAH.AC.1362

Eubie Blake Letter and Music Manuscripts, NMAH.AC.1400

James Moody Papers, NMAH.AC.1405

Robert "Mack" McCormick Collection, NMAH.AC.1485

Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections

Arhoolie Records, CFCH.ARHO

Moses and Frances Asch Collection, CFCH.ASCH