Institute of Jazz Studies, 1949 - 1966

Marshall Stearns papers, artifacts, and audio recordings is the paper trail documenting the ascension of jazz as a discipline worthy of its international impact on the twentieth-century musical and cultural history. The scope of Stearns's grasp of jazz as an art form emanating from African-American roots was intellectually grounded and prescient in how the music came to be appreciated both in the history of music and its multifaceted musicological roots.

Beginning in the mid-1930s, the collection represents a logical progression of Marshall Stearns's missionary zeal to chart the course of a music very much in flux when he entered his influential period of writing, programs and, finally establishment of the Institute of Jazz Studies. (It is obvious that he welcomed these changes and did not isolate himself within competing style wars of the era.) This intellectual journey, which is reflected in the arrangement of the collection, is essentially chronological.

The collection includes many examples of Stearns's published writings and typescripts; research and topics files, especially those associated with his book Jazz Dance as well as others on jazz, rock and roll and other aspects of performance and black culture; correspondence, lecture notes, scripts, printed material, photographs and tape recording of his programs and symposia; relatively minimal business and other records of the Institute of Jazz, but hundreds of letters to Stearns and the staff of IJS between 1953 and 1966 expressing interest in its work and seeking access its resources; and clippings and letters to Marshall and Jean Stearns; and even some writings and lecture notes on Geoffrey Chaucer and Dylan Thomas reflective of his career as a professor of medieval literature.

The Guide to the Marshall Winslow Stearns Collection (1908-1966) consists of 15 linear feet of materials in 25 boxes. Information on Stearns' activities is found in manuscripts, published writings and his two books. Interviews and research topics files relating to the books are arranged alphabetically and chronologically by topic where newspaper and periodical clippings are concerned.