Duncan P. Schiedt Photograph Collection

Object Details

GUID

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep81f29a1f3-28db-4274-babb-fe5a9ee71064

Photographer

Schiedt, Duncan P., 1921-2014

Occupation

African American musicians

Topic

African American music -- 20th century

African Americans -- Photographs

Blues musicians

Jazz

Music

Musicians

Jazz

Jazz -- 20th century -- United States

Jazz musicians -- 1940-1980 -- United States

Sound recordings

Provenance

Donated to the Archives Center in 2014 by Duncan Schiedt's daughter and son, Leslie Michel and Cameron Schiedt.

Photographer

Schiedt, Duncan P., 1921-2014

Culture

African Americans -- 20th century

African Americans -- 1900-1950

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Duncan P. Schiedt Photograph Collection

Sponsor

Processing and encoding funded by a grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources.

Summary

Consists primarily of photographs on jazz either created or collected by jazz scholar and professional photographer Duncan Schiedt.

Biographical / Historical

For over sixty-five years, professional photographer Duncan Preston Schiedt combined his love of jazz with his love of photography. Born in 1921 in Atlantic City, New Jersey to Jacob and Kitty Schiedt, he later moved with his family to New York City. In the mid-1930s, he discovered the two loves of his life. Ironically, he first heard jazz or "swing music" as it was then known in a radio broadcast while attending a boys' school in England in 1936. Back in the States by 1938, he was enthralled when a friend showed him his basement darkroom and taught him how to develop film. He soon bought his own camera and began taking pictures in the Times Square movie palaces, nightclubs, and big band shows of New York. In World War II, he served as a cameraman in the Army Air Force, where he recorded atomic bomb tests in the western Pacific area, including Bikini Atoll. In 1950, Schiedt married Betty Benjamin and moved to Hollywood where he worked at the Atomic Energy Commission's film laboratory for eight months. After returning to civilian life, he worked as a photographer in advertising in New York before moving in 1951 to Pittsboro, Indiana, where his parents had relocated. He had two children, Cameron and Leslie. Thereafter, his interests in jazz and photography merged and became more than a hobby, as he transformed himself into one of the country's leading jazz historians and photographers. He traveled the country to photograph performers in movie houses, night clubs, big-band shows, jazz festivals, and other venues. Schiedt always shot in black and white, since to him that was the essence of jazz. As he wrote in the introduction to his book, Jazz in Black and White: The Photographs of Duncan Schiedt, "Jazz is a black and white music. Its range, from blinding brilliance to deepest shadings, seems to demand the drama that black and white can so easily provide. Consequently, when I take a photograph of a jazz subject, I see it in those terms." He processed all his own film in his own darkroom so that any picture bearing his name was totally his own work. His photographs have been exhibited in numerous galleries, including the Birmingham Civil Rights Museum, the Chicago Public Library, the Indianapolis Museum of Art, and the Pensacola Art Museum. While shooting, Schiedt also interviewed his subjects, and those interviews added to his ever-growing scholarship in the field. He was the author of three books, The Jazz State of Indiana, Twelve Lives in Jazz,and Jazz in Black and White: The Photographs of Duncan Schiedt, and co-author of Ain't Misbehavin': The Story of Fats Waller. His photographs and articles have been published in the leading jazz periodicals and magazines. Over the years, he also amassed a first-rate collection of historical photographs of jazz musicians. Both his historical photographs and his original work were featured extensively in Ken Burns' Public Broadcasting Station series "Jazz." Duncan Schiedt died on March 12, 2014.

Extent

65 Cubic feet (124 boxes)

Date

1900-2012, undated

Archival Repository

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Identifier

NMAH.AC.1323

Type

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Black-and-white negatives

Black-and-white photographs

Black-and-white photographic prints

Motion picture film

Oral history

Photographs

16mm motion picture film

Sound recordings

Scrapbooks

Citation

Duncan Schiedt Jazz Collection, 1900-2012, Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Arrangement

Collection is arranged into five series. Series 1: Background Information and Research Materials, 1915-2012, undated Series 2: Photographic Materials, 1900-2012, undated Subseries 2.1: Historical Photographs and Negatives, 1915-2012 Subseries 2.2: Artist Files Photographs, 1900-2000, undated Subseries 2.3: Subject Files Photographs, 1916-2002, undated Subseries 2.4: Roscoe Allen Photographic Prints, undated Subseries 2.5: Individual Instrumentalists Photographic Prints and Negatives, 1938-1990, undated Subseries 2.6: John Minor Negatives, undated Subseries 2.7: Indianapolis Theater Photographic Prints and Negatives, 1935-1956, undated Subseries 2.8: Theater and Vaudeville Negatives, 1910-1948, undated Subseries 2.9: Glass Plate Negatives and Copy Prints, undated Subseries 2.10: Publicity and Festival Negatives, 1930-1962, undated Series 3: Charles T (Ted) Grubb Papers, 1919-1999, undated Series 4: Scrapbooks, 1901-1950, undated Series 5: Audiovisual Materials, undated

Processing Information

Collection processed by Alex Jeffries, intern, 2016; Anne Morgan Jones, volunteer, 2016; Brittany Lewis, processing assistant, 2016; Corey Schmidt, intern, 2016; Elizabeth Livesey, processing assistant, 2016; Franklin Robinson Jr., archivist, 2016; Holly Nelson, intern, 2016; Marian Tatum Webb, volunteer, 2016; Michaela L. Feltman, intern, 2016; Nelse Greenway, volunteer, 2016; Ramona Williamson, volunteer, 2016; Rebekah Keel, processing assistant, 2016; Rebecca Kuske, intern, 2016; and Vanessa Broussard-Simmons, archivist. Collection digitized by Noah Stewart, digital imaging technician, 2018.

Rights

Reproduction restricted due to copyright or trademark. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.

Genre/Form

Black-and-white negatives

Black-and-white photographs -- 1950-2000

Black-and-white photographic prints -- Silver gelatin -- 1950-2000

Motion picture film

Oral history -- 20th century

Photographs -- 20th century -- Black-and-white negatives -- Acetate film

Photographs -- 20th century -- Black-and-white photonegatives -- Glass

16mm motion picture film

Sound recordings -- Audiotapes -- Audio cassettes -- Music

Scrapbooks

Scrapbooks -- 20th century

Scope and Contents

Consists primarily of photographs about jazz either created or collected by professional photographer and jazz scholar Duncan Preston Schiedt. Materials also include research notes, films, and recordings of jazz. Collection is arranged into five series: Series 1: Background Information and Research Materials, 1915-2012, undated; Series 2: Photographic Materials, 1900-2012, undated; Series 3: Charles T (Ted) Grubb Papers, 1919-1999, undated; Series 4: Scrapbooks, 1901-1950, undated; and Series 5: Audiovisual Materials, undated

Restrictions

Collection is open for research.

Related Materials

Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution William H. Quealy Collection of Duke Ellington Recordings, NMAH.AC.0296 Sam DeVincent Collection of Illustrated American Sheet Music, Archives Center, Series 3: African American Music, NMAH.AC.0300.S03 Duke Ellington Collection, NMAH.AC.0301 Duke Ellington Oral History, NMAH.AC.0368 Robert Udkoff Collection of Duke Ellington Ephemera, NMAH.AC.0388 Ruth Ellington Collection of Duke Ellington Materials, NMAH.AC.0415 Herman Leonard Photographic Collection, NMAH.AC.0445 Ernie Smith Jazz Film Collection, NMAH.AC.0491 Frank Schiffman Apollo Theatre Collection, NMAH.AC.0540 Ella Fitzgerald Papers, NMAH.AC.0584 William "Cat" Anderson Collection, NMAH.AC.0630 Tad Hershorn Collection, NMAH.AC.0680 William Claxton Photographs, NMAH.AC.0695 Edward and Gaye Ellington Collection of Duke Ellington Materials, NMAH.AC.0704 Benny Carter Collection, NMAH.AC.0757 W. Royal Stokes Collection of Music Photoprints and Interviews, NMAH.AC.0766 Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program Collection, NMAH.AC.0808 Milt Gabler Papers, NMAH.AC.0849 Stephanie Myers Jazz Photographs, NMAH.AC.0887 Audrey Wells "Women in Jazz" Radio Series, NMAH.AC.0899 Leonard and Mary Gaskin Papers, NMAH.AC.0900 John Coltrane Music Manuscript, NMAH.AC.0903 Miles Davis Music Manuscript, NMAH.AC.0920 Bobby Short Papers, NMAH.AC.0946 Ramsey Lewis Collection, NMAH.AC.1126 Earl Newman Collection of Monterey Jazz Festival Posters, NMAH.AC.1207 Pat and Chuck Bress Jazz Portrait Photographs, NMAH.AC.1219 Floyd Levin Jazz Reference Collection, NMAH.AC.1222 Francis Wolff Jazz Photoprints, NMAH.AC.1238 Al Celley Collection of Duke Ellington Materials, NMAH.AC.1240 Chuck Stewart Jazz Photographs, NMAH.AC.1321 Duncan Schiedt Jazz Collection, NMAH.AC.1323 Ray Brown Papers, NMAH.AC.1362 Eubie Blake Letter and Music Manuscripts, NMAH.AC.1400 James Moody Papers, NMAH.AC.1405 Robert "Mack" McCormick Collection, NMAH.AC.1485 Anacostia Community Museum Archives, Smithsonian Institution The Renaissance: Black Arts of the Twenties Exhibition Records, ACMA.03-024 Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution Arhoolie Records, CFCH.ARHO Moses and Frances Asch Collection, CFCH.ASCH Smithsonian Institution Archives National Portrait Gallery (Smithsonian Institution), Department of Exhibitions and Collections Smithsonian Productions, Accession 04-062, SIA.FA04-062 Management, Exhibition Records, Accession 07-149, SIA.FA07-149 Smithsonian Resident Associate Program. Office of Public Affairs, Record Unit 632, SIA.FARU0632 National Museum of American History, Program in Black American Culture, Program Records Accession 98-136, SIA.FA98-136 Duke Ellington Collection Records, SIA.FA98-129 Smithsonian Productions, Accession 06-181, SIA.FA06-181 National Museum of American History, Website Records, Accession 15-323

Record ID

ebl-1562715820663-1562715820827-0