In Search of Very Early DownBeats
Jun 25, 2012 Books/Magazines
OK, the Jazz Collector community gets a chance to solve another difficult challenge. I have been contacted by a researcher from the Oxford English Dictionary and he is searching for DownBeats between 1934 and 1936. He has found all DownBeats in some form from 1937 on, but no luck on the earlier ones. “The purpose of all this is that the Oxford English Dictionary likes to record the earliest uses of words and phrases, and DownBeat is full of interesting and new terms for the time,” he writes. He doesn’t need the issues, just access to the content. So here it is, we have a chance to contribute once again to the historical record. If you have any ideas — or if you have any of these issues — please respond to this post. Thanks.
June 26th, 2012 at 9:17 am
Have him contact the Yale School of Music in New Haven. They have all the early editions on microfiche(!)
June 26th, 2012 at 3:18 pm
Hi Rich – According to the online catalog of the Yale School of Music, they have Down Beat on microfilm from 1937 onward, but no issues from the first three years. Did you see any issues there from 1934-6? And did you see them on microfilm or microfiche?
Thanks,
Ammon
June 27th, 2012 at 9:35 am
Hi Ammon, I was there a number of years ago doing research on Carl Kress. My memory says that they have COMPLETE years of Downbeat from 1937 on – BUT – they have earlier issues on microfiche. You probably have to sweet talk someone to actually go look in the archives for you.
Hope this helps!
Rich