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Collection Overview

William P. Gottlieb: Photographs from the Golden Age of Jazz contains over 1600 photographs of celebrated jazz artists. The collection documents the jazz scene in New York City and Washington, D.C. from 1938 to 1948. Gottlieb was a jazz writer for the Washington Post and later a jazz writer-photographer at Down Beat magazine. During his career, Gottlieb took portraits of jazz legends including Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Billie Holiday, Dizzy Gillespie and Thelonious Monk. This online collection presents Gottlieb's photographs, annotated contact prints, selected published prints, and related articles from Down Beat magazine.

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Special Features

There are currently no Special Features for this collection.

Historical Eras

These historical era(s) are best represented in the collection although they may not be all-encompassing.

• The Great Depression and World War II, 1929-1945
• Postwar United States, 1945-early 1970s

Related Collections and Exhibits

These collections and exhibits contain thematically-related primary and secondary sources. Also browse the Collection Finder for more related material on the American Memory Web site.

• African American Odyssey
• American Life Histories, 1936-1940
• California Gold: Folk Music from the Thirties, 1938-1940
• Creative Americans: Portraits by Van Vechten, 1932-1964
• Hispano Music & Culture from the Northern Rio Grande
• The Leonard Bernstein Collection, ca. 1920-1989
• The New Deal Stage: Federal Theater Project, 1935-1939
• Washington As It Was, 1923-1959
• Voices from the Dust Bowl

Other Resources

Recommended additional sources of information.

• Gottlieb's Life and Work
• Recent Articles: Jazz Giants and The Faces of Jazz
• Down Beat Magazine Articles (1946-47)

Search Tips

Specific guidance for searching this collection

To find items in this collection, search by Keyword or browse by Name Index that identifies people in the photographs; the Subject Index that lists topics covered by the photographs; and the Venue Index that identifies places where the photographs were taken.

For help with general search strategies, see Finding Items in American Memory.

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Last Updated: 11/03/2009