Digitized Film Posters from the Neumann Jazz Collection

258 film posters from the James R. and Susan Neumann Jazz Collection in the Conservatory Library’s special collections have recently been digitized and made available online.  This selection of items includes some of the rarest and most fragile of the more than 600 film posters and lobby cards in the collection.  Dating between 1936-1988, these films feature jazz musicians both visually on the posters as well as sonically on the film soundtracks.


Among the highlights are two versions of the 1957 film Satchmo the Great, based on Louis Armstrong’s work as a cultural ambassador for the US State Department, and a poster for the 1946 film That Man of Mine, featuring the all-female big band the International Sweethearts of Rhythm.

Additional items will be added to the collection in the future, including more film posters, as well as selections from the thousands of musicians’ photographs and autographs, concert and event posters, concert programs, sheet music, record catalogs, books, periodicals, and artifacts included in the collection. Together with the more than 100,000 jazz recordings that comprise the focal point of the Neumann Collection, these materials provide a thorough representation of the history of jazz from its origins in the early 20th century to the present.