Jack "The Rapper" Gibson was a pioneer in Black radio, as well as an innovator, a leader, and a mentor to many in the radio and music industries. His work as a Black radio deejay spanned the early days of Black radio in the 1940s through the Civil Rights Movement, and included stints at WERD-Atlanta, WLOU-Louisville, WMBM-Miami, WCIN-Cincinnati, and WABQ-Cleveland. After retiring from radio in 1961, he became a successful music industry executive working for Motown, Decca, and Stax Records. In 1976, he launched the industry magazine Jack the Rapper, the oldest Black trade publication targeted to radio, and for the next twenty years organized the annual "Jack the Rapper’s Family Affair," a Black music convention drawing generations of performers and music industry executives. His professionalism, continuous fight for racial equality and justice, and endearing human qualities made him a legend in the industry. This collection documents his long career in radio and music through personal correspondence, clippings, memorabilia, photographs, publicity materials, airchecks, interviews, lecture materials, and over 500 issues of his trade magazine "Jack the Rapper's Mellow Yellow."
Content types:
Two-dimensional moving image, Performed music, Spoken word, Still image, and Text
Formats:
Analog audiocassette, Open reel tape (unknown material), VHS (including SVHS and VHS-C), Optical disc (Including CD, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD, DVD-R, DVD-RW, VCD), Text document, and Photographic print
Based in Newark, Delaware, Dreamstreets is a magazine featuring local poetry and writing with an irregular but persistent publishing history since 1977. After appearing once a year, and then in several issues per year, in 1984 the magazine began using radio station WXDR to broadcast performances of its poetry and fiction. Contributors to Dreamstreets also performed at various literary events and poetry readings. Steven Leech is the editor and publisher, with regular contributors such as e. jean lanyon, Douglas Morea, and Phillip Bannowsky.
Content types:
Performed music, Spoken word, Two-dimensional moving image, Text, and Still image
Formats:
Text document, Open reel tape (unknown material), Analog audiocassette, VHS (including SVHS and VHS-C), Photographic print, and Microfilm
Extent:
Approximately 23 recordings, microfilm, 7 feet
Repository/Collector:
University of Delaware Library, Special Collections
Ishmael Reed, African-American novelist, poet, and publisher, was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on February 22, 1938. Reed moved with his mother to Buffalo, New York in 1942. His mother worked in various wartime industries and Reed attended public schools, graduating in 1956. He also played violin and trombone and began writing a newspaper column on jazz for the Empire Star Weekly when he was thirteen. He enrolled as an evening student at Millard Fillmore College, the night school division of the University of Buffalo, and worked as a clerk at the Buffalo public library during the day. His writing ability was quickly recognized, and he moved into the bachelor of arts program at the University of Buffalo. He withdrew in 1960 because of a "dire shortage of funds" (Gates) and a "wide gap between social classes" (Gates). To escape "the artificial social and class distinctions that he associated with American university education," (Gates) he moved to Buffalo's Talbert Mall Project. Daily exposure to systematic poverty cycles in the projects led him to political activism in the civil rights and Black Power movements.
Content types:
Performed music, Spoken word, Two-dimensional moving image, Text, and Still image
Formats:
Pressed LP disc, LaserDisc, Open reel tape (unknown material), Analog audiocassette, VHS (including SVHS and VHS-C), Betamax, Text document, Photographic print, and Microfilm
Extent:
Approximately 20 recordings, microfilm, 65 feet
Repository/Collector:
University of Delaware Library, Special Collections
The papers of Senator John J. Williams span the dates 1946- 1988, with the bulk of the collection representing the years of his career in the U.S. Senate, 1947-1970. The collection consists of nearly 150 linear feet of papers and also includes scrapbooks, books, photographs, and film and sound recordings. For the most part, the arrangement of the collection reflects the original filing series of Senator Williams's office. The collection is divided into 25 series which are organized under four record subgroups. The first three subgroups--Legislative Staff/Office Files, Constituent Correspondence and Cases, and Administrative and Personal Office Files--consist of series that document the work performed in office by Senator Williams and his staff. The subgroups reflect the functions of the Senator's work and include series typical of a congressional collection. Duties reflected in the Legislative Staff/Office Files include committee, legislative, and investigative work. The Constituent Correspondence and Cases subgroup includes materials created in response to the concerns and interests of constituents, and those filed on receipt of issue-related opinions from the general public. The Administrative and Personal Office Files reflect the management of the office and the Senator's personal schedule. The fourth subgroup, Personal, includes series of files and other formats that document the personal activities and opinions of Senator Williams. The material in these files supplements information about his Senate career in the first three subgroups. There is also material from the 1970s and about Mrs. Williams and Senator Williams's family life.
Content types:
Spoken word, Text, Still image, and Two-dimensional moving image
Formats:
Disc (unknown material), Edison dictation disc, Open reel tape (unknown material), Analog audiocassette, Motion picture film, VHS (including SVHS and VHS-C), Text document, and Photographic print
Extent:
149 boxes (149 linear ft.), 4 oversize boxes, 45 volumes of scrapbooks, 11 reels of microfilm, 6 films, 4 videotapes, 15 audio-recordings, 15 audiocassettes
Repository/Collector:
University of Delaware Library, Special Collections