The Institute of Jazz Studies (IJS) is the largest and most comprehensive library and archives of jazz and jazz-related materials in the world. It is located on the fourth floor of the

John Cotton Dana Library The John Cotton Dana Library, referred to simply as the Dana Library, is the third largest library of Rutgers University and the main library on its Newark campus. The library collections focus on business, management, and nursing. The fourth flo ...

at Rutgers University–Newark in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area. It also houses over 30 instruments used by prominent jazz musicians. In 2013, the Institute was designated a Literary Landmark by New Jersey's

Center for the Book The Center for the Book was founded in 1977 by Daniel J. Boorstin, the Librarian of Congress, to promote literacy, library, libraries, and reading and an understanding of the history and heritage of American literature. The Center for the Book is m ...

in the National Registry of the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

. It is the fifth place in New Jersey to be given this designation, after the

Newark Public Library The Newark Public Library (NPL) is a public library system in Newark, New Jersey. The library system offers numerous programs and events to its diverse population. With eight different locations, the Newark Public Library serves as a Statewide Re ...

, Paterson Public Library, the Walt Whitman House and the Joyce Kilmer Tree, which is located at

Rutgers University–New Brunswick Rutgers University–New Brunswick is one of three regional campuses of Rutgers University, New Jersey's public research university. It is located in New Brunswick and Piscataway. It is the oldest campus of the university, the others bein ...

. Major collections housed in the Institute include the Jazz Oral History Project, the

Mary Lou Williams Mary Lou Williams (born Mary Elfrieda Scruggs; May 8, 1910 – May 28, 1981) was an American jazz pianist, arranger, and composer. She wrote hundreds of compositions and arrangements and recorded more than one hundred records (in 78, 45, an ...

collection, the Women In Jazz collection, the

Benny Carter Bennett Lester Carter (August 8, 1907 – July 12, 2003) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, trumpeter, composer, arranger, and bandleader. With Johnny Hodges, he was a pioneer on the alto saxophone. From the beginning of his career ...

Audio collection, and the Benny Goodman Audio collection.

History

In 1952, the Institute of Jazz Studies was founded by

Marshall Stearns Marshall Winslow Stearns (October 18, 1908 – December 18, 1966) was an American jazz critic and musicologist. He was the founder of the Institute of Jazz Studies. Biography Stearns was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Edith Baker Wins ...

, a jazz scholar, literature professor, and author. Stearns had a plan for a jazz institute as early as 1949, which he thought to call the "Institute of Modern American Music". It was originally located at his apartment at 108 Waverly Place in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. Marshall Stearns described the Institute of Jazz Studies' mission in 1953 as the following: Stearns negotiated transfer of IJS to Rutgers University in Newark, New Jersey, in 1966. He died before the final transfer took place. In 1967 the Institute materials were moved to the Newark campus of Rutgers University in New Jersey. Charles Nanry, a sociologist, worked part-time as its administrator. It was first located in the Dana Library (1972), then moved to Bradley Hall (1975). The Institute was formally affiliated with the John Cotton Dana Library at Rutgersin 1984. The current expanded facilities in the library opened in 1994. Over its 60 years of existence, the Institute has acquired significant collections of periodicals as well as books, records, and archival materials from several musicians, photographers, and journalists. Major collections include the personal papers of

Victoria Spivey Victoria Regina Spivey (October 15, 1906 – October 3, 1976), sometimes known as Queen Victoria, was an American blues singer and songwriter. During a recording career that spanned 40 years, from 1926 to the mid-1960s, she worked with Louis A ...

Abbey Lincoln Anna Marie Wooldridge (August 6, 1930 – August 14, 2010), known professionally as Abbey Lincoln, was an American jazz vocalist, songwriter, and actress. She was a civil rights activist beginning in the 1960s. Lincoln made a career out of deli ...

Annie Ross Annabelle McCauley Allan Short (25 July 193021 July 2020), known professionally as Annie Ross, was a British-American singer and actress, best known as a member of the jazz vocal trio Lambert, Hendricks & Ross. Early life Ross was born in Surr ...

, and

James P. Johnson James Price Johnson (February 1, 1894 – November 17, 1955) was an American pianist and composer. A pioneer of stride piano, he was one of the most important pianists in the early era of recording, and like Jelly Roll Morton, one of the key ...

Publications

A special column in ''The Record Changer'' jazz magazine was the initial, temporary place of publication for the Institute of Jazz Studies scholarship. The ''Journal of Jazz Studies'' (JJS) was published from 1973 to 1979. ''Annual Review of Jazz Studies'' (ARJS) publication began in 1981 as a continuation of JJS. Today, the ''Journal of Jazz Studies'' is an open-access online journal. The online journal continues and expands upon the tradition of the original JJS/ARJS as the longest running English-language scholarly jazz journal. It is open-access and peer-reviewed. ''Studies in Jazz'', a monograph series with Scarecrow Press, publishes books related to jazz.

Events and scholarship

In addition to its publications, the institute also hosts ''Jazz from the Archives'', a radio show on

WBGO WBGO (88.3 FM, "Jazz 88") is a public radio station licensed to Newark, New Jersey. Studios and offices are located on Park Place in downtown Newark, and its transmitter is located at 4 Times Square in Manhattan. The station primarily plays ja ...

radio that airs every Sunday and a Jazz Research Roundtable.

Jazz Archives fellowship

Since 2012, the Institute has also hosted an annual Jazz Archives Fellowship. The fellowship is open to graduate students of

library science Library science (often termed library studies, bibliothecography, and library economy) is an interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary field that applies the practices, perspectives, and tools of management, information technology, education, an ...

or recent graduates with an interest in jazz or African American studies. It is supported by the Morroe Berger - Benny Carter Jazz Research Fund, an endowment established by musician Benny Carter in 1987 to provide grants to facilitate jazz research by students and scholars. The Fellowship Program is also funded by private funds. In 2014, the fellows focused on the collection of

Ismay Duvivier Ismay Blakely Duvivier (August 27, 1903 – February 6, 2004) was an American dancer and nurse, born in Saint Croix. Her collection of Harlem Renaissance and later jazz memorabilia and photographs, from her own and her son's careers, is now held ...

, a dancer, and her son George Duvivier, a bass player.

Morroe Berger–Benny Carter Jazz Research Fund

In 1987, the institute began funding up to ten grants of $1,000 each year. The fund was started by musician

in memory of Morroe Berger. Berger was a professor of sociology at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

until his death in 1981. Half of the awards are designated for students in the Rutgers–Newark Master's Program in Jazz History and Research and half are awarded to scholars from other institutions. The awards are for visiting the Institute and performing independent jazz-related research. To date, over 70 awards have been granted.

Original Board of Advisers

* Louis Armstrong * Philip W. Barber *

Benjamin A. Botkin Benjamin Albert Botkin (February 7, 1901 – July 30, 1975) was an American folklorist and scholar. Early life Botkin was born on February 7, 1901, in East Boston, Massachusetts, to Lithuanian Jewish immigrants. He attended the English High Schoo ...

* Dave Brubeck * Dan Burley *

Al "Jazzbo" Collins Albert Richard "Jazzbo" Collins (January 4, 1919 – September 30, 1997) was an American disc jockey and musician who hosted ''The Tonight Show'' in 1957. Career Born in Rochester, New York, in 1919, Collins grew up on Long Island, New York. In ...

Harold Courlander Harold Courlander (September 18, 1908 – March 15, 1996) was an American novelist, folklorist, and anthropologist and an expert in the study of Haitian life. The author of 35 books and plays and numerous scholarly articles, Courlander specialize ...

* Stuart Davis * Roger Pryor Dodge * Duke Ellington *

Ralph Ellison Ralph Waldo Ellison (March 1, 1913 – April 16, 1994) was an American writer, literary critic, and scholar best known for his novel '' Invisible Man'', which won the National Book Award in 1953. He also wrote ''Shadow and Act'' (1964), a collec ...

Nesuhi Ertegün Nesuhi Ertegun ( Turkish spelling: Nesuhi Ertegün; November 26, 1917 – July 15, 1989) was a Turkish-American record producer and executive of Atlantic Records and WEA International. Early life Born in Istanbul in the Ottoman Empire, Nesu ...

Leonard Feather Leonard Geoffrey Feather (13 September 1914 – 22 September 1994) was a British-born jazz pianist, composer, and producer, who was best known for his music journalism and other writing. Biography Feather was born in London, England, into an u ...

Norman Granz Norman Granz (August 6, 1918 – November 22, 2001) was an American jazz record producer and concert promoter. He founded the record labels Clef, Norgran, Down Home, Verve, and Pablo. Granz was acknowledged as "the most successful impres ...

Bill Grauer Bill(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States) * Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature * Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer * Bill, a bird or animal's beak Plac ...

* Maurice R. Green, M.D. *

W. C. Handy William Christopher Handy (November 16, 1873 – March 28, 1958) was an American composer and musician who referred to himself as the Father of the Blues. Handy was one of the most influential songwriters in the United States. One of many musici ...

* Melville J. Herskovits * George Herzog * Langston Hughes * Willis James *

Stan Kenton Stanley Newcomb Kenton (December 15, 1911 – August 25, 1979) was an American popular music and jazz artist. As a pianist, composer, arranger and band leader, he led an innovative and influential jazz orchestra for almost four decades. Though K ...

Lester Koenig Lester Koenig (December 3, 1917 – November 20, 1977) was an American screenwriter, film producer, and founder of the jazz record label Contemporary Records. Biography Koenig was born to a Jewish family in New York City, the son of Minna (Harli ...

* M. Kolinski *

Jacob Lawrence Jacob Armstead Lawrence (September 7, 1917 – June 9, 2000) was an American painter known for his portrayal of African-American historical subjects and contemporary life. Lawrence referred to his style as "dynamic cubism", although by his own ...

* Paul A. McGhee * Alan Morrison * Edward Abbe Niles *

Pearl Primus Pearl Eileen Primus (November 29, 1919 – October 29, 1994) was an American dancer, choreographer and anthropologist. Primus played an important role in the presentation of African dance to American audiences. Early in her career she saw the n ...

David Riesman David Riesman (September 22, 1909 – May 10, 2002) was an American sociologist, educator, and best-selling commentator on American society. Career Born to a wealthy German Jewish family, he attended Harvard College, where he graduated in 1931 ...

Curt Sachs Curt Sachs (; 29 June 1881 – 5 February 1959) was a German musicologist. He was one of the founders of modern organology (the study of musical instruments). Among his contributions was the Hornbostel–Sachs system, which he created with Er ...

* Edward Seeger *

Artie Shaw Artie Shaw (born Arthur Jacob Arshawsky; May 23, 1910 – December 30, 2004) was an American clarinetist, composer, bandleader, actor and author of both fiction and non-fiction. Widely regarded as "one of jazz's finest clarinetists", Shaw led ...

* Edmond Souchon, M.D. *

Lorenzo Dow Turner Lorenzo Dow Turner (August 21, 1890 – February 10, 1972) was an African-American academic and linguist who did seminal research on the Gullah language of the Low Country of coastal South Carolina and Georgia. His studies included recordings of G ...

* Clarence Williams *

Bernard Wolfe Bernard Wolfe (New Haven, Connecticut, August 28, 1915 – Calabasas, California, October 27, 1985) was an American writer. Biography Wolfe entered Yale University at 16 and graduated in 1935 with a degree in psychology. He then enrolled for ...

John Wesley Work III John Wesley Work III (July 15, 1901 – May 17, 1967) was a composer, educator, choral director, musicologist and scholar of African-American folklore and music. Biography He was born on July 15, 1901, in Tullahoma, Tennessee, to a family of ...

References

Bibliography

* ''The Record Changer'', July–August 1953 (special issue). * Kerlew, Clyde, "The Institute of Jazz Studies: From Academic Orphan to National Resource," ''Public and Access Services Quarterly'', vol. 1, no. 1, 1995, pp. 51–74. * Wilson, John S., "Collection of Jazz Recordings and Writings Given to Rutgers," ''The New York Times'', September 3, 1966, p. 12.

External links

Institute of Jazz Studies

New Jersey Center for the Book

{{Rutgers Rutgers University Libraries in New Jersey Jazz organizations Music archives in the United States Jazz music education Newark jazz Culture of Newark, New Jersey