The Higginson Collection was gifted to the LaBudde Special Collections Department in August 2009 by Marcia Higginson and Charles Higginson, daughter and son of Fred Higginson. The collection consists of two handwritten documents of great value and historic significance. These one-of-a-kind documents survived from the first recording dates for Kansas City jazz pianist Jay McShann and his band, which included alto saxophonist Charlie Parker, then only 20 years old. The recording session happened in late 1940 and was supervised by Fred Higginson of radio station KFBI in Wichita, Kansas.

The first document is a sign-in sheet containing the signature and instrument played of each band member, and represents one of the earliest known signatures of Charlie Parker. The second document contains the songlist and corresponding band personnel for the two days of recording, November 30 and December 2, providing primary source information about the discographical details of the session.

Music from this historic session may be heard in the Marr Sound Archives, where a commercially-issued 12” vinyl record containing these recordings is housed and available for on-site listening.