Due to the fragile condition of the scrapbooks, microfilm copies are available for use or interlibrary loan in the NMAH Library (catalog number: mfm 1174, rolls 1-16).
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. Taken as a whole, the bound and unbound news clippings in series 8 and 9 provide insight into the growth of Ellington's popularity and social status, as well as the changing musical, social, political, and racial dynamics of the United States after World War II.
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 several scrapbook volumes.
Of interest are articles documenting the boycott and cancellation of an Ellington concert by the local chapter of the NAACP in Richmond, Virginia, in February 1951 (Box 17), Mercer Ellington's musical career (Box 35), Ellington's 70th birthday party and presidential concert at the Nixon White House (Box 62), the premier of "The River" at the new Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. (Box 73), foreign press coverage of Ellington's and the Ellington Orchestra's international tours, including those to Europe (Boxes 1, 10, 18, 21-23, 30, 47), the Middle East (Boxes 33-34), South American (Box 57), Southeast Asian (Box 66), and the Soviet Union (Box 73), articles written by Ellington (Box 2), the New Yorker three-part series on Ellington (Box 13), Ellington's views on segregation (Boxes 17, 25-26), the Sacred Music concerts (Boxes 41, 50-54), and the tribute to Ellington, "Duke Ellington . . . We Love You Madly" (Boxes 74-75).
Mounted congratulatory letters addressed to Ellington commemorating the tenth anniversary of his premier at the Cotton Club can be found in box 47. Among them, are letters from Chick Webb, Helen Oakley, Glenn Burrs, Andre Kostelanetz, Victor Young, Cab Colloway, Ferde Grofe, Louis Armstrong, Xavier Cugat, Rudy Vallee, George Frazier, Sammy Kaye, Irving Mills, W.C. Handy, Abel Green, Joe Higgins, and M.H. Orodenker.
Box 31 contains unbound, mounted clippings that have not been microfilmed. Please consult the reference archivist for information regarding their use.
Due to the fragile condition of the scrapbooks, microfilm copies are available for interlibrary loan or use in the National Museum Of American History Branch Library (catalog number: mfm 1174, rolls 1-16). Phone #202-633-3865
Box 1 1/11/30-3/22/31 & 12/23/43
Box 1A 1/11/30-8/22/31
Box 2 2/13/31-9/3/32
Box 3 4/15/31-3/2/51, 66pp.
Box 4 9/30/31-8/6/34 & 11/14/31-9/30/33
Box 5 5/28/32-9/20/34
Box 6 1/11/33-8/1/33, 51 pp., smaller, burgundy scrapbook
Box 7 1933 & 4/8/39-4/12/39
Box 8 8/10/34-9/12/36, 65 pp.
Box 9 9/12/36-4/16/38 & 12/23/43, 75 pp.
Box 10 3/5/38-11/1/38, 34 pp., includes 38 loose clippings
Box 11 2/7/42-3/27/43 & 1943
Box 12 5/13/42-12/31/42, 26 pp., quite poor condition, xeroxed
Box 13 5/9/42-6/1/44 & 6/1/44-8/1/44, 37 pp., larger, G.B. Evans, Publicity
Box 14 8/1/44-11/12/44 & 9/15/44-1/14/45, 37 pp., larger, G.B. Evans, Publicity
Box 15 1/14/45-1/29/45 & 1/30/45-3/1/45, 37 pp., larger, G.B. Evans, Publicity
Box 16 11/6/43-10/20/58, 96 pp.
Box 17 1/27/51-4/16/56, 67 pp.
Box 18 5/4/55-4/16/66, 61 pp.
Box 19 4/16/56-8/19/58, 79 pp.
Box 20 9/7/58-7/54???/62, 47 pp., smaller, black, softbound, laced
Box 21 10/1/58-12/15/58, 71 pp.
Box 21A 10/29/58-11/27/58, 60 pp.
Box 22 10/29/58-7/52???/59, 57 pp.
Box 23 7/24/59-3/4/60, 74 pp.
Box 24 3/1/60-10/9/60, 64 pp.
Box 25 10/2/60-6/22/61, 68 pp.
Box 26 6/18/61-10/14/61, 60 pp.
Box 27 10/14/64-4/28/62, 64 pp.
Box 28 4/12/62-9/23/62, 69 pp.
Box 29 9/24/62-3/3/63, 63 pp.
Box 30 1/11/63-3/1/63, 47 pp.
Box 31 2/21/63-7/13/63, 61 pp.
Box 32 7/15/63-9/26/63, 63 pp.
Box 33 8/28/63-1/11/63, 65 pp.
Box 34 9/27/63-1/25/64, 66 pp.
Box 35 11/14/63-7/4/64, 37 pp.
Box 36 1/24/64-5/18/64, 66 pp.
Box 37 5/20/64-9/30/64, 68 pp.
Box 38 9/6/64-12/22/64, 63 pp.
Box 39 12/10/64-5/30/65, 67 pp.
Box 40 5/5/65-7/27/65, 67 pp.
Box 41 7/1/65-9/30/65, 57 pp.
Box 42 9/17/65-1/20/66, 64 pp.
Box 43 12/25/65-2/27/66, 68 pp.
Box 44 2/25/66-5/3/66, 64 pp.
Box 45 4/18/66-8/1/66, 68 pp.
Box 46 7/14/66-11/5/66, 65 pp.
Box 47 11/2/66-5/9/69, 65 pp.
Box 48 12/15/66-5/8/67, 65 pp.
Box 49 3/28/67-6/19/67, 67 pp.
Box 50 4/6/67-4/30/68, 65 pp.
Box 51 5/22/97-9/2/67, 66 pp.
Box 52 9/1/67-11/28/67, 66 pp.
Box 53 10/13/67-2/19/68, 67 pp.
Box 54 1/13/68-3/2/68, 66 pp.
Box 55 5/2/68-7/6/68, 67 pp.
Box 56 7/3/68-8/15/68, 66 pp.
Box 57 8/8/68-1/1/69, 71 pp.
Box 58 8/16/68-10/26/68, 67 pp.
Box 59 10/26/66-1/11/69, 67 pp.
Box 60 1/10/69-4/6/69, 78 pp.
Box 61 4/7/69-6/29/69, 66 pp.
Box 62 4/25/69-5/20/69, 67 pp.
Box 63 6/7/69-9/18/69, 67 pp.
Box 64 9/11/69-12/12/69, 66 pp.
Box 65 11/22/69-4/4/70, 66 pp.
Box 66 12/10/69-8/21/70, 55 pp.
Box 67 3/21/70-6/30/70, 79 pp.
Box 68 4/17/70-12/18/70, 69 pp.
Box 69 5/14/70-9/27/70, 66 pp.
Box 70 12/11/70-3/23/71, 68 pp.
Box 71 3/18/71-6/16/81, 67 pp.
Box 72 5/1/71-8/17/71, 66 pp.
Box 73 8/14/71-12/2/71, 65 pp.
Box 74 9/1/71-2/19/72, 68 pp.
Box 75 1/16/72-5/4/72, 67 pp.
Box 76 2/1/72-7/31/72, 64 pp.
Box 77 5/2/72-10/15/72, 67 pp.
Box 78 10/5/72-1/30/73, 66 pp.
Box 79 1/13/73-3/10/73, 68 pp.
Boxes 80-84 Presentation Albums, 68 pp.
Microfilm
Roll 1
Volume 1, 1931, April 5 - 1951, February 4;
2, 1933, February 1 - 1933,
December 15;
3, 1934, August 13 - 1936, September 9;
5, 1936, September
12- 1936, April 16;
4, 1938, March 3 - 1939, May 10 (click here to see a sample from this volume)
Roll 2
Roll 1
Volume 6, 1941, May 9 - 1942, December 31
Roll 2
Volume 13, 1943, November 6 - 1956, October 20;
8, 1944, June 1 -
1944, August 1;
9, 1944, August 1 - 1944, November 12;
10, 1944,
September 15 - 1945, January 14;
11, 1945, January 14-1945, January 29;
12,
1945, January 30 - 1945, March 1;
14, 1951, January 27 -1956, April
16
Roll 3
Volume 16, 1956, April 15 - 1958, August 19;
15, 1955, May
4 - 1967,
February 18;
17, 1958, August 1 - 1962, July 24
Roll 4
Volume 21, 1958, October 4 - 1959, February 1;
20, 1958, October
29 -
1959, January 10
Roll 3
Volume 18, 1958, October 29 - 1959, July 27
Roll 4
Volume 22, 1959, July 23 - 1960, March 7
Roll 3
Volume 19, 1960, March 1 - 1960, October 13
Roll 4
Volume 23, 1960, October 2 - 1961, June 23;
24, 1961, June 18 - 1961,
October 16
Roll 5
Volume 25, 1961, October 13 - 1962, April 28;
26, 1962, April 12 - 1962,
September 23;
27, 1962, September 22 - 1963, March 3;
28, 1963, January
11 - 1963, March 16;
29, 1963, February 21 - 1967, February 21
Roll 6
Volume 30, 1963, July 15 - 1963, September 27;
31, 1963, August 28 -
1963, November 28;
32, 1963, September 27 - 1964, January 25;
33, 1963,
November 14 - 1964, July 4
Roll 7
Volume 34, 1964, January 24 - 1964, May 19;
35, 1964, May 20 - 1964,
September 30;
36, 1964, August 29 - 1964, December 22;
37, 1964,
December 10 - 1965, June 2;
38, 1965, May 5 - 1965, July 27
Roll 8
Volume 39, 1965, July 1 - 1965, September 30;
40, 1965, September 17-
1966, January 20;
41, 1965, December 8 - 1966, February 27;
42, 1966,
February 24 - 1966, May 3;
43, 1966, April 18 - 1966, August 1
Roll 9
Volume 44, 1966, July 2 - 1966, November 5;
45, 1966, November 2 -
1969, May 9;
46, 1966, December 15 - 1967, May 8;
47, 1967, March 28 -
1967, June 19;
48, 1967, April 1 - 1968, May 3
Roll 10
Volume 49, 1967, May 22 - 1967, September 2;
50, 1967, September 1 -
1967, November 28;
51, 1967, October 13 - 1968, February 19;
52, 1968,
January 13 - 1968, March 2;
53, 1968, May 2 - 1968, July 6
Roll 11
Volume 54, 1968, July 3 - 1968, August 15;
55, 1968, July 31 - 1969,
January 1;
56, 1968, August 16 - 1968, October 26;
57, 1968, October 26 -
1969, January 11;
58, 1969, January 10 - 1969, April 6
Roll 12
Volume 59, 1969, April 7 - 1969, June 29;
60, 1969, April 25 - 1969,
May 20- 1964;
61, 1969, June 7 - 11 1969, September 18;
62, 1969,
September 6 - 1969, December 12
Roll 13
Volume 64, 1969, November 7 - 1970, July 26
Roll 12
Volume 63, 1969, November 22 - 1970, April 9
Roll 13
Volume 65, 1970, March 21 - 1970, June 30;
66, 1970, April 17 - 1970,
December 18;
67, 1970, May 14 - 1970, September 27
Roll 14
Volume 68, 1970, December 11 - 1971, March 23;
69, 1971, March 18 -
1972, June 16;
70, 1971, May 1 - 1971, August 17;
71, 1971, July 15 - 1971,
December 2
Roll 15
Volume 72, 1971, September 1 - 1972, February 19;
73, 1972, January
16- 1972, May 4;
74, 1972, February 1 - 1972, July 31
Roll 16
Volume 75, 1972, May 2 - 1972, October 15;
76, 1972, October 5 -
1973, January 30;
77, 1973, January 13 - 1973, March 10
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