HJA. Hogan Archive of New Orleans Music and New Orleans Jazz

Record Group

Identifier: HJA

Staff Only

The Hogan Archive of New Orleans Music and New Orleans Jazz supports the research and study of New Orleans music and culture of the late 19th and 20th centuries forward. Holdings include archival collections, sound and video recordings, sheet music, photographs, and printed materials. The musical cultures of New Orleans that are represented include, but are not limited to jazz, ragtime, rhythm and blues, blues, gospel, Creole songs, and other forms of Black American popular music. The Hogan Archive was founded in 1958 when Richard B. Allen, a Tulane University graduate student, embarked on a jazz oral history fieldwork project for his thesis. Dr. William Ransom Hogan, the chair of the Department of History at the time, wrote the initial Ford Foundation grant proposal that funded the project. Tulane administered the formation of the Archive of New Orleans Jazz as part of the Department of History. In 1965, the Archive became a department within the Howard-Tilton Memorial Library and in 1974, following Hogan’s death, it was renamed the William Ransom Hogan Jazz Archive. It was renamed in 2020 to the Hogan Archive of New Orleans Music and New Orleans Jazz.

Found in 18 Collections and/or Records:

Al Hirt papers

Collection

Identifier: HJA-003

Scope and Contents

This collection comprises materials donated by the family of trumpeter and band leader Al Hirt documenting his musical career between 1959 and 1977. It includes programs and brochures, scripts, photographs, correspondence, fan mail, business papers and press clippings.

Dates: 1959-1977

Found in: Tulane University Special Collections

American Federation of Musicians Local 174-496

Collection

Identifier: HJA-001

Scope and Contents The American Federation of Musicians Local 174-496 Records include members' records, former president Dave Winstein's correspondence, meeting minutes, financial and property records, legal documents, publications, photographs and scrapbooks. These records date from 1904 to 1992, but are not complete. Membership applications for 1921-1922 are missing, as are the board minutes for 1918-1922. Other types of information might be duplicated in several ledgers, and still other bits of...

Dates: Other: Majority of material found within 1904-1992

Found in: Tulane University Special Collections

Antonia Compass Picou papers

Collection

Identifier: HJA-013

Abstract

Antonia Compass was the third wife of jazz clarinetist, Alphonse Picou. This small collection of her personal papers from 1942-1961 includes incoming correspondence addressed to both Antonia and Alphonse Picou, financial and legal documents for several properties that she owned (including Picou’s Bar) as well as some personal documents. Of note is a letter from Lizzie Miles addressed to “Tony” (Antonia) and “Pic” (Alphonse).

Dates: 1942-1961

Found in: Tulane University Special Collections

Dominic James "Nick" LaRocca papers

Collection

Identifier: HJA-007

Scope and Contents

The collection contains newspaper clippings, fliers, posters, programs and other publicity materials, along with photographs, books, test pressings of O.D.J.B. records, correspondence and sheet music. The collection also includes five scrapbooks, created by Nick LaRocca.

Dates: 1885-1961; Other: Majority of material found within 1915-1961

Found in: Tulane University Special Collections

Don Ewell collection

Collection

Identifier: HJA-005

Scope and Contents

This collection contains materials related to and collected by pianist Don Ewell, documenting his personal and professional life. Materials comprise correspondence, photographs, clippings, A/V media, sheet music, books, and ephemera. Item subjects also include noteworthy New Orleans-associated musicians such as Louis Armstrong, Bunk Johnson, Lizzie Miles, Jelly Roll Morton, Nick LaRocca, Edward "Kid" Ory, and more.

Dates: 1894-2004, [bulk 1950s-1970s]

Found in: Tulane University Special Collections

Don Marquis Collection

Collection

Identifier: HJA-002

Scope and Contents The Don Marquis Collection is primarily comprised of the research materials that Marquis generated in connection with his book, In Search of Buddy Bolden, First Man of Jazz (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1978). These include letters, interviews, photographs, material on venues associated with Bolden (Odd Fellows Hall, Union Sons [Funky Butt] Hall, Lincoln Park, Johnson Park), notes on Bolden's sidemen and contemporaries, and material on East...

Dates: Undated

Found in: Tulane University Special Collections

Hogan Archive Oral History Collection

Collection

Identifier: HJA-033

Scope and Contents The Hogan Archive oral history collection consists of several hundred interviews, culled from over 2,000 reels of taped oral history recordings with musicians, family members, and observers that document stories surrounding the emergence of jazz and its related music and culture in New Orleans from the late 19th century forward. It is the largest collection of jazz oral history extant, and the recordings are from 1948-1997, with the majority from the 1950s and 1960s.In 1958,...

Dates: 1943-2002

Found in: Tulane University Special Collections

Laurraine Goreau collection

Collection

Identifier: HJA-059

Scope and Contents The Laurraine Goreau collection contains audio cassettes and reel to reel tapes of recorded interviews and performances, interview transcripts, photographs, publications, research files, ephemera, and manuscript material related to Goreau's research into the life of Mahalia Jackson for her 1975 authorized biography of Jackson, 'Just Mahalia, Baby.' This collection also contains Goreau's personal photographs, clippings from her regular column in the New Orleans States-Item, ephemera, and...

Dates: 1940-1985

Found in: Tulane University Special Collections

Louis Prima collection

Collection

Identifier: HJA-041

Scope and Contents The Louis Prima collection contains business records, correspondence, publicity materials, photographs, sheet music, and posters documenting the life and five-decade musical career of Louis Prima. Collection materials date from the 1920s through the 2010s and document Prima’s personal and professional activities, including the business operations of Prima Magnagroove Records, Prima Enterprises, Pretty Acres Golf Club, and Prima’s active touring and performance schedule; the collection...

Dates: 1910-2010

Found in: Tulane University Special Collections

Lynn Abbott collection

Collection

Identifier: HJA-092

Scope and Contents This collection contains recorded interviews of New Orleans gospel quartet singers and musicians interviewed by Lynn Abbott in the early 1980s to 1995 as research for his 2013 publication about gospel quartets. This collection also contains vinyl LP records ranging from 1960 to 1980 collected by Abbott of local New Orleans church choirs and other religious or gospel groups from the city. Abbott’s interviews document the Black acapella gospel quartet singing tradition in New Orleans, Alabama,...

Dates: 1960-1995

Found in: Tulane University Special Collections

Mina Lea Crais papers

Collection

Identifier: HJA-060

Scope and Contents

The Mina Lea Crais papers include the records of various businesses run by Mina Lea Crais and her husband, Bill Crais, including the Vieux Carre Music Shop, Carnival Records and Mecca Magazine. The collection also contains the personal papers and scrapbooks of Bill Crais, photographs of friends and events, numerous clippings, programs and brochures (primarily jazz related) as well as materials documenting the New Orleans Jazz Club (NOJC), of which both Mina and Bill were longtime members.

Dates: 1953-2005

Found in: Tulane University Special Collections

Paul Barbarin Collection

Collection

Identifier: HJA-011

Scope and Contents

This collection was found in and separated from the Danny Barker Collection, which was salvaged from Danny and Blue Lu Barker’s flooded Seventh Ward home in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Dates: 1921-1969

Found in: Tulane University Special Collections

Ray Bauduc Collection

Collection

Identifier: HJA-035

Scope and Contents The Ray Bauduc Collection contains over 400 sheet music compilations; personal and professional photographs from his performances and tours, including reproductions for his proposed manuscript and other publications; over 200 personal and commercial albums and tapings of live performances and milestones; scrapbooks and assorted clippings; instructional manuals that he authored or referenced when studying and reading music in the 1950s; an unpublished manuscript and extensive tour logs;...

Dates: 1900-1987

Found in: Tulane University Special Collections

Robert Palmer Collection

Collection

Identifier: HJA-027

Scope and Contents The Robert Palmer Collection at Hogan Jazz Archive, still in process, includes: some 8,000 LPs; 900 books; 300 interview transcriptions, 250 interviews on cassette tape; 1200 commercial and promostional music cassette tapes; 200 photographs; appointment calendars for 1975, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1987, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, and 1996; 10 linear feet of vertical files; 3 linear feet of letters and correspondence; 4 linear feet of manuscripts and rough drafts; 20 linear feet of...

Dates: 1975-1996

Found in: Tulane University Special Collections

Tad Jones Rhythm and Blues Collection

Collection

Identifier: HJA-056

Scope and Contents

Multiple boxes of 45-7" Phonodiscs, 33-12" Phonodiscs, Album Covers

Dates: Other: Date acquired: 04/05/1990

Found in: Tulane University Special Collections

The Legend of the Dew Drop Inn documentary interviews by Julia Dorn

Collection — Box 1

Identifier: HJA-093

Scope and Contents This collection contains video interviews conducted by filmmaker Julia Dorn in 2004 and early 2005 for her independently produced documentary, The Legend of The Dew Drop Inn. The unfinished film was intended to have a running time of 55 minutes, and incorporate oral history interviews to detail the historical, social, and cultural impact of the Dew Drop Inn complex, which included one of the foremost Black entertainment venues of pre-integration New Orleans during the 1940s, 1950s, and...

Dates: 2004-2005

Found in: Tulane University Special Collections

Tim Kelly papers

Collection

Identifier: HJA-012

Scope and Contents

The collection consists of materials related to Kelly’s music career and his career in music industry sales from 1923-1982. It includes scrapbook pages, clippings, correspondence, telegrams, photographs and some ephemeral material. Most of the telegrams were sent from listeners to the Buddies Blue Melody Boys via Radio WFAA in Dallas, Texas, however several personal telegrams can be found interspersed throughout Series II of the collection.

Dates: 1923-1982; Other: Date acquired: 06/02/2012

Found in: Tulane University Special Collections

Vernon "Dr. Daddy-O" Winslow collection

Collection

Identifier: HJA-055

Scope and Contents

This collection contains commercial recordings from mid-20th century rhythm and blues and gospel artists, as well as recordings of live broadcasts, interviews, and other radio segments played by, hosted by, and/or featuring radio disc jockey Vernon "Dr. Daddy-O" Winslow for his "Jivin' with Jax" program for WWEZ AM New Orleans. Portions of this collection have been digitized. See Additional Description below for more information.

Dates: Majority of material found within 1950s

Found in: Tulane University Special Collections