Quick Links: Special Collections Research Center
- Special Collections Research Center Home page for the Special Collections Research Center, where Chicago Jazz Archive materials are housed and used. Email the Special Collections Research Center
- University of Chicago Library: Finding AidsSearch all SCRC online finding aids
- Chicago Jazz Archive Finding AidsSearchable contents listings of Chicago Jazz Archive collections.
- Contact SCRC Reference StaffAsk SCRC Reference Staff for assistance with CJA materials. They can help to arrange a research visit and answer questions about CJA collections and materials.
- Setting up a reader account at the Special Collections Research Center (SCRC)Reader accounts let researchers request materials materials prior to a visit.
- Scope Notes: The Special Collections Research Center Blog
- UChicago Maps | Parking: North CampusNorth Campus Parking map has links to Hyde Park and city maps.
Hours and Location
Monday through Friday: 9:00 am to 4:45pm.
Saturdays: 9:00am to 12:45pm (when classes at the University of Chicago are in session.)
The Special Collections Research Center is located on the first floor of Regenstein Library: 1100 East 57th Street, Chicago, IL 60637
Map of our Location
Introduction
The Chicago Jazz Archive was founded in 1976 to preserve materials on the birth and early growth of Chicago jazz. Over time, and benefiting from a relationship with the Jazz Institute of Chicago, the collections have grown to span more than eight decades of Chicago and general jazz history. The collections include recordings, publications, photographs, articles, posters, programs, ticket stubs, and other ephemera of musicians, clubs, record companies, and jazz organizations. In 2007-2008, the collections of the Chicago Jazz Archive were transferred to the Special Collections Research Center. These changes have made it possible for the Library to provide expanded access to the Chicago Jazz Archive, utilizing the facilities, services, and staff of the Special Collections Research Center. The Chicago Jazz Archive collections are available for research in the Special Collections Research Center. Collections are organized into logical groupings by the name of the original collector and in some cases by subject. You can search the collections by keyword using the archives and manuscripts online finding aid database or by browsing the Chicago Jazz Archive collection list.
Quick Links: Periodical and Dissertation Indexes
- ARSC Journal (Association for Recorded Sound Collections)Free full-text of ARSC Journal 1967-1994 (full text on IIMP from 1998). Free online index.
- Greenwood Press Jazz Periodicals: Jazz Session [Chicago]
- Greenwood Press Jazz Periodicals: Music and Rhythm [Chicago]
- Music Index Online
- IIMP: International Index to Music Periodicals
- WilsonWeb WilsonWeb contains both Reader's Guide Full-Text and Reader's Guide Retrospective.
- America: History & Life
- ProQuest Dissertations and Theses
- Foreign Dissertations at the Center for Research Libraries
Quick Links: Specialized Sources
- American Federation of Musicians Chicago Chapter Files - Chicago Public LibraryHeld at Harold Washington Library, Music Information Center. Useful for learning more about individual musicians and union history.
- American National Biography
- ArchiveGrid
- Digital Sanborn Maps These fire insurance maps can be helpful when researching jazz venues. See the index on the Library's Maps website Also available on-site at the Newberry Library, see the
Libraries and Archives tab in the toolbar above. - DownBeat MagazineInformation on jazz artists from the Downbeat.com website.
- DownBeat Magazine Critic and Reader Poll ResultsResults for the Downbeat magazine Critics' Poll and Reader Poll Results, from Downbeat.com
- Walter Henri Dyett Papers - Chicago Public Library Many of Chicago's most celebrated jazz musicians studied with Capt. Walter Henri Dyett at Wendell Phillips or Du Sable High School. The Dyett papers are held at the Vivian Harsh Collection of Afro-American History and Literature.
- Find A Grave - Millions of Cemetery RecordsUseful when researching individual musicians
- A Guide to pseudonyms on American records, 1892-1942 / compiled by Allan Sutton; 1993.
- Heritage Quest Online Census materials useful for locating individual musicians.
- Jazz Discography The Lord jazz discography. Only 2 users at a time -- please keep sessions short, and remember to log out when you're done! Print discographies can be found in the library catalog and in the Chicago Jazz Archive collections in SCRC.
- Jazz on the Screen: A Jazz and Blues Filmography by David Meeker (Performing Arts Encyclopedia, The Library of Congress)1,000 major jazz and blues figures in over 16,000 cinema, TV, and video productions. From the Library of Congress.
- NEJRC: Pronunciation GuideJazz pronunciation guide from the New England Jazz Radio Cooperative. Allow for regional variation.
- Oxford Music Online The Encyclopedia of Popular Music and Grove Onlline
(which includes Grove Jazz) contain biographical information. Grove Online has info on jazz clubs in the Nightclubs section, which is arranged by city.
Quick Links: Jazz dictionaries
- Barrelhouse words : a blues dialect dictionary / Stephen Calt; 2009.Blues and jazz share vocabulary.
- Cab Calloway's Jive DictionaryCourtesy of the Calloway family and Cab's estate.
- Dan Burley's jive / edited by Thomas Aiello; 2009.Contains two works by Dan Burley in one volume: Dan Burley's Original Harlem Jive (1944) and Diggeth Thou? (1959). Burley was a journalist, he worked for several African-American publications 1920-1950, including the Chicago Defender, Ebony, and Jet.
- Jazz talk / Robert S. Gold; 1975.
Contact for Chicago Jazz Archive |
Special Collections Research Center |
Subject Specialist |
 Scott Landvatter Contact Info Bibliographer for Music and Dance Room 362 Regenstein Library Phone: 1-773-702-8447 Send Email Links: Profile & Guides |
Quick Links: Newspapers
- ProQuest Historical Newspapers Atlanta Daily World
- The Broad Ax (Chicago) [microform]
- Proquest Historical Newspapers Chicago Defender
- Chicago Reader | Articles & ArchivesFree access to Reader Archives goes back to 1987.
- Chicago Tribune Index Search [Free]Allows a free keyword index search of both the historical Chicago Tribune (12/1/1852 - 12/31/1984) and the period 1985-present. Previews are free, however there is a charge for full text of the articles.Useful for searching for citations to a particular person or venue for those who have limited or no access to the full text Historical Chicago Tribune.
- Photographs from the Chicago Daily News:1902-1933, Chicago Historical Society (American Memory, Library of Congress)
- Historical Newspapers OnlineLinks to free newspapers from the library at the University of Pennsylvania. There are papers listed from several different states, including Illinois.
- Jazz Advertised, 1910-1967: a documentation/ Franz HoffmannIf the online Chicago Defender is down, this is the go-to source for advertisements featuring jazz in Chicago. The index to this 7-volume set contains listings of clubs and theaters. Vol. 1-3 New England Papers; Vol. 4-6 Chicago Defender; Vol. 7 NY Times. Index.
Quick Links: Chicago Jazz Images
- Photographs from the Chicago Daily News:1902-1933, Chicago Historical Society (American Memory, Library of Congress)
- Chicago Postcard Museum Images of Chicago buildings, including places of amusement. This online museum has NO PHYSICAL LOCATION. The museum's Information Kiosk contains info about dating postcards and conditions for downloading and use of its images.
- Curt Teich Postcard Archives Part of the Lake County Discovery Museum, The Curt Teich Postcard Archives and Library is the world's largest public collection of postcards and related materials. Many of the Archive's Chicago Postcards can be seen via the Illinois Digital Archives Before visiting it's best to contact the archive about your research needs.
- Chicago Reader Photographs: Performance Collection, Newberry Library Series 1 covers Dance and Drama 1972-2006. Series 2 covers music, including jazz, 1960's-2006; bulk 1980-2000.
- Gottlieb Jazz Photos on Flickr from LCWilliam Gottlieb's photos are now in the public domain, though privacy and publicity rights may still need to be cleared before the images can be used.
- Jazzography: A Portrait of the Chicago Jazz Festival at 30 | Jazz Institute of ChicagoPhotographs by Chicago jazz photographers Lauren Deutsch, Michael Jackson, Javet Kimble, Marc PoKempner, and Scott Pollard.
- The Jazz Loft ProjectSeveral Chicago jazz musicians played at the Jazz Loft in NYC, including Wild Bill Davison, Eddie deHaas, Bud Freeman, John Gilmore, Johnny Griffin, Andrew Hill, Ira Sullivan, and Wilbur Ware.
- Duncan Schiedt PhotographyDuncan Schiedt is a photographer who also has a major jazz photograph collection that includes many Chicagoans.
- Jazz in black & white : the photographs of Duncan Schiedt / Duncan Schiedt; 2004.
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