Black Studies Collections

Guide to African American reference

Guide to Afro-Caribbean reference

History, Philosophy and Newspaper Library

Internet Links

Networked databases

Online Library Catalog

Subject bibliographies



African Americana Library News rss

Hines' Jazz Archive to Berkeley
Dec 9, 2009
Campus musicians receive gift from pianist Earl Hines' estate

Moreland-Springarn Research Center
Nov 11, 2009
Allegations that the research center could close due to an inadequate budget

Black Educator's papers to Emory
Oct 15, 2009
Ulysses S. Byas Was First Post-Desegregation Black School Superintendent

Shakur papers to Woodruff Library
Oct 9, 2009
Tupac's mother donates his writing for research

Octavia Butler collection
Oct 7, 2009
Huntington receives sci-fi writer Octavia Butler's collection

Donation of Rare Jazz Photographs

Feb 26, 2009

 

PRESS RELEASE

(Source: Oberlin College, 153 West Lorain Street, Oberlin, Ohio 44074; (440) 775-8474; www.oberlin.edu)



OBERLIN, OHIO (February 20, 2009) - Frank Kuchirchuk, a retired photographer who took live performance photographs of some of the greatest jazz artists during the height of their careers, has donated his entire collection of jazz images to the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. The Frank Kuchirchuk Collection of Jazz Photography contains some 200 images, most of which are negatives that have never been seen by the public. The collection will be cataloged and archived within Oberlin's Phyllis Litoff Building, which is currently under construction and scheduled to open later this year. A selection of the photographs will be displayed within the building, which will house Oberlin's Jazz Studies Department and its academic programs in music history and music theory.

Kuchirchuk, 84, lives at the Ohio Veterans Home in Sandusky. He was moonlighting from his day job as a photographer for the International News Service (INS) in the early 1950s when he took the photos, nearly all of them at Lindsay's Sky Bar, a famous Cleveland nightclub. The images provide a fascinating glimpse into the performance styles of numerous jazz legends, among them Dizzy Gillespie, Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker, Art Tatum, Stan Getz, Lester Young, Coleman Hawkins, and Anita O'Day. Kuchirchuk's photographs are unique precisely because they capture the energy of a live performance; they are not portraiture, publicity stills, or session shots. And one other important factor sets them apart: most of them have never been printed or published.