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[nicowheadon]

📕📗📘📙#AAAMC Conference READY, take II! 🏛 @blackmuseums @conniehchoi @studiomuseum (at The Embassy Row Hotel)

[nicowheadon]

#AAAMC Conference READY! 🏛@blackmuseums (at The Embassy Row Hotel)

[aaamc-blog1]

Wade in the Water (SC 75) Finding Aid

Our finding aid for the collection Wade in the Water: African American Sacred Music Traditions is up and live!

The radio series Wade in the Water was conceived and hosted by Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon--a singer, composer, scholar, and social activist, as well as the founder of the group Sweet Honey in the Rock. Produced by NPR in collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution, the 26-part series focuses on the leading composers and lyricists, and on major sacred music traditions, including spirituals, lined hymns, quartets, and gospel music. This highly acclaimed series was the winner of a Peabody Award in 1994.

Our collection consists primarily of audiocassettes of the 26-part radio series Wade in the Water and a published box set that includes an Educator's Guide, publicity materials, and 4 audiocassettes compiled from the original broadcast series. The 4 audiocassettes were later reissued on CD, which are included in our general CD collection.

Contact [email protected] for additional information.

[aaamc-blog1]

Liner Notes #20 published!

The 2015-2016 issue of Liner Notes features the article “A Sound Disciple: The Life and Radio Career of Jacquie Gales Webb,” a profile and interview by Doug Peach about Webb’s impactful life and presence in the broadcasting industry. Webb recently visited Indiana University as the AAAMC’s guest to speak about her career. A description and photos of her eventful visit to IU is also featured in this issue.

This issue’s featured collection is the Ericka Blount Danois Collection. The Blount Danois Collection contains materials documenting her life as a writer, author, and journalist. The bulk of the materials relate to her book about Soul Train: Love, Peace, and Soul: Behind the Scenes of America’s Favorite Dance Show, which includes over 100 interviews recorded on audiocassettes with singers, dancers, and music executives affiliated with the show. Accompanying the collection profile is an in-depth interview of Ericka by Matthew Alley.

A one-on-one interview with prolific music writer and gospel music collector Opal Louis Nations can also be found in this issue. From R&B performer in England during his teenage years, to gospel music deejay in California, to writing about and producing music, Opal and interviewer Brenda Nelson-Strauss explore his love for and contributions to gospel and R&B.

Before you close the back cover, you’ll find details and photos from our Google Arts & Culture exhibits published earlier this year, as well as updates about our digital initiatives.

Come by the office and grab a copy if you’re not already on our mailing list! Or check out the entire issue in PDF format on our website here.

[aaamc-blog1]

Charles Coleman Papers (SC 9) Finding Aid

Our finding aid for the Charles Coleman Papers, 1929-1991 (SC 9), is now up and live!

Charles DeWitt Coleman, Jr. was born in Detroit, Michigan on January 29, 1929. He was the founder and director of the Coleman Studio of Music, later known as the Northwestern School of Music, and a member of the Artists Bureau of the National Association of Negro Musicians. Coleman was a pupil of Robert Nolan at the Robert Nolan School of Music and also studied with August Maekelberghe, Robert Cato, and Virgil Fox. He received his Bachelor of Music degree from Wayne State University in 1954, and was awarded the degree A.A.G.O. by the American Guild of Organists in 1955. Coleman later studied with renowned organist and composer Marcel Dupre from Paris, France and European piano pedagogy and organ with Lode Van Dessel of the Palestrina Institute. He conducted at many schools in the Detroit Public School System, as well as church ensembles of various age groups and faiths.

The bulk of the collection is made up of manuscript scores of works by Coleman, as well as printed scores of his choral music. See the finding aid at http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/findingaids/view?doc.view=entire_text&docId=VAD4977.

[aaamc-blog1]

The Black Composer Speaks (SC 35) Finding Aid

Our finding aid for The Black Composer Speaks, SC 35, is up and live!

This collection includes interviews and research materials used for the production of the book The Black Composer Speaks (1978), a project initiated by the Afro-American Arts Institute (now the African American Arts Institute) at Indiana University, and co-edited by Lida M. Belt, David N. Baker and Herman C. Hudson. The majority of the interviews were conducted by Lida Belt (Baker).

The original interview open reel tapes from this project have been digitized and may be listened to for research or educational purposes at the AAAMC.  See the finding aid at http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/findingaids/view?brand=general&docId=VAD5091.xml&doc.view=entire_text

[aaamc-blog1]

Blondell Hill Gospel Music Collection (SC 158) Finding Aid

The finding aid for Blondell Hill Gospel Music Collection is up and live!

The bulk of this collection consists of gospel songbooks, sheet music and song texts collected by Hill for use with choirs in Richmond, Indiana and Petoskey, Michigan. Programs, ephemera and photographs pertain primarily to the Gospel Volunteers choir and Harbor Springs, Michigan.

Blondell Harris Hill was born in Marianna, Arkansas on February 9, 1904. At the age of 19 she was recruited to attend Earlham College and moved to Richmond, Indiana. At Earlham she completed two years of study, including music, piano, and other required course work. She then married Roy Hill, whose mother owned the Mary E. Hill Nursing Home in Richmond, Indiana. Blondell Hill was active as a church musician and played for the Sunday School and the Sr. Choir at the Bethel A.M.E. church in Richmond. She passed her love of music on to her daughter, Rochelle, who sang in the children’s choir and the Jr. choir.

Hill also worked for the Leeds family in Richmond as a cook. They spent the summers of 1952-1956 in the resort town of Petoskey, Michigan, where Hill performed with a local gospel choir. Originally formed by a seasonal domestic worker from Dayton, Ohio, the choir was comprised of African Americans in the Petoskey area who came from Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Kentucky to work in the resort town.  Since there was no African American church in Petoskey and most of the domestics had been accustomed to singing in gospel choirs, the employers in the area made sure their help became familiar with the other Black domestics and directed them to a church that was preferred by the seasonal workers. Hill and her daughter both performed in the Petoskey Gospel Volunteer choir and are pictured in the photograph included in the collection.

Blondell Hill passed away at the age of 101 on August 26, 2005, and is buried in Earlham Cemetery, Richmond, Indiana.  Rochelle Hill Tinsley attended Indiana University, graduating with a BS in 1976 and an MS in 1978. See the finding aid at http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/findingaids/view?brand=general&docId=VAD4793.xml&doc.view=entire_text.

[aaamc-blog1]

What Must Be Done radio series (SC 157) Finding Aid

Our newest finding aid for the What Must Be Done radio series is up and live!  

The radio program “What Must Be Done” examined the conditions faced by African Americans and was moderated by pioneering civil rights attorney Percy E. Sutton. The series of 13 public-service broadcasts aired every Monday evening from 7:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. on WLIB radio in New York, beginning July 1, 1968 and concluding September 23, 1968. Produced by Peabody Award winner Sam Chase, the series was  based on a November 20, 1967 civil rights editorial in Newsweek magazine,  "The Negro in America: What Must Be Done.“  The article, initiated by legendary Newsweek editor Osborn Elliott, questioned traditional notions of journalistic objectivity as part of Elliot’s campaign towards "advocacy journalism,” in which facts are tempered by a subjective view or political stance.  Offering an in-depth report on the racial crisis in America, the article analyzed the underlying causes of the recent ghetto riots, the hostile reactions of whites, and the failure of Americans to make a total commitment to social justice.

The complete series has now been digitized, and there are CD copies available at the AAAMC for research and educational purposes. See the finding aid at http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/findingaids/view?brand=general&docId=VAD4979.xml&doc.view=entire_text