amistad research center

by Felicia D. Render, Archivist “The only thing I live for is my music.” —Howard Swanson Throughout history, people and groups honor their cultural heritage through artistic expressions of lyrics and music. They, in turn, are passionate about passing down their elements of sound – either through playing instruments, vocal melodic renditions of classical songs, or poetic tones and other unique ways of presenting culture. Musician and composer Howard Swanson became that vessel

Celebrating the accomplishments of African American classical performers and chronicling the rich musical traditions

Tucked away in the Amistad Research Center’s offsite storage facility is a collection you might not know about. The temperature and humidity controlled environment is home to ARC’s audiovisual collections. Among the reels of film and audio tapes, you’ll find shelf after shelf filled with a series of white boxes. If you were to pull one of these boxes down and open it, you would find a treasure trove of jazz and classical music records. This is the record collection of Harold

William Christopher Handy, more commonly known by his initials, earned worldwide recognition as one of the earliest musicians to write and publish blues music. During his life, Handy was called the “Father of the Blues” as a nod to the pioneering role he took in making the folksy blues of the American South accessible to a larger audience. The Amistad Research Center has two small collections of letters and sheet music produced by Handy later in his life. W.C. Handy was born

The Amistad Research Center is pleased to announce the acquisition of the family papers of long-time Mardi Gras Indian, Big Chief Donald Harrison Sr. The papers highlight the cultural contributions of the Harrison family of New Orleans, particularly the practice of masking in the Mardi Gras Indian tradition. Dating from 1977 to 2017, the collection is rich in ephemera and photographs covering lectures and performances by Donald Harrison Sr. and the Guardians of the Flame Mard

In 1993, the Amistad Research Center took on a project documenting one of New Orleans’ most vibrant and historic neighborhoods. Cheryl Q.W. Cramer and Clarence Jones, Jr. gathered community leaders together, and asked them to talk about the culture of their neighborhood in their own words. The result is the Treme Oral History Project collection. The project was funded by the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation with the purpose of documenting the musical heritage of Trem