The Center for Black Music Research Collection contains materials reflecting many areas of black music including composers, ethnomusicologists, music researchers, music journalists, scores, published music, and audiovisual collections across all genres. These collection guides, or finding aids, provide access to information about held archival special collections. Each guide describes the organization and scope of a collection and offers content information, allowing researchers to discover relevant information.
Many musical works listed in these collection guides are handwritten; those listed with a publisher's name are printed. Please check the guides for more information
Additional collection guides will be added as they are completed.
To make inquiries or ask questions, please contact archives@colum.edu
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Guide to the Melba Liston Collection
Columbia College Chicago
The Melba Liston Collection primarily documents her careers as arranger, composer, and educator rather than her accomplishments as a trombonist. It contains lead sheets to her own and other people’s compositions and manuscript scores of many of her arrangements for Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Clark Terry, and Mary Lou Williams, among others. One extensive series contains numerous arrangements for Randy Weston, and her late computer scores for him are also present.
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Guide to the Patsy Ford Simms Collection
Columbia College Chicago
Patsy Ford Simms is an internationally recognized arranger, composer and clinician who began writing and arranging out of necessity due to the lack of choral octavos for the junior high/middle school voice during the first decade of her teaching career. The collection contains original sheet music, arrangements, concert programs, press clippings, catalogues, and recordings.
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Guide to the Paul Eduard Miller Collection
Columbia College Chicago
Paul Eduard Miller was a jazz critic and journalist who wrote from Down Beat and Esquire, and hosted a Chicago radio show called “This is Jazz”. The collection contains typescripts of his published and unpublished writings, radio scripts, playlists, photographs, sound recordings, and copies of his publications.
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Guide to the Paul Freeman Collection
Columbia College Chicago
Paul Freeman was a conductor, composer, and founder of the Chicago Sinfonietta. The collection contains conductor scores, recordings, and other materials related to his conducting performances with the Chicago Sinfonietta and other orchestras.
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Guide to the Paul Robeson Centennial Project Records
Columbia College Chicago
These records chronicle the Chicago centennial project in honor of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Paul Robeson, actor, athlete, singer, and activist, headquartered at Columbia College Chicago; one of many such local committees who came together globally.