About the Project
The Vanderbilt Libraries acquired the John Birks “Dizzy” Gillespie collection through the NMAAM-Vanderbilt University Collections Initiative. Dizzy Gillespie was a renowned jazz trumpeter, composer, and bandleader. The collection contains materials including photographs, address books, letters, posters, audiovisual materials, correspondences, and a collection of several scrapbooks from the Middle East Tour. This fellowship continued a mapping project of the Middle East Tour scrapbooks using ArcGIS StoryMaps, historic maps, primary source material, and other source material to visually communicate the historical context in American surrounding this tour, the musicians and tour life, and Dizzy’s contribution as a band leader. Fellows reviewed the past project and expanded on the various mapping, historical, and bibliographic components to design a cohesive, interactive StoryMap engaging jazz students, researchers, and jazz advocates and educators with the special collection and other source material. Fellows developed the StoryMap, demonstrating uses for students and researchers, and developed a jazz ensemble performance inspired by the archives the interweaves musical performance of tunes from the tour while moving through the StoryMap.
Mentors
Kate Linton; Stacy Curry Johnson
Fellows
Shivan Kundra; Charles Ruble; Nathan Solomon
Project
Coming soon!