Scope and Contents The Allan Bell Collection was purchased by LaBudde Special Collections from Nancy Rooks in September 2008. The collection originally was acquired from Allan Bell by Ron Rooks, Nancy’s late husband and owner of Music Exchange record store in Kansas City, Missouri. Material chronicles from 1961 to 1976 Bell’s theatrical and music agency America’s Best Attractions (ABA) situated in North Kansas City, with the majority of material concentrated between 1965 and 1973. Divided into five series...

Scope and Contents American Dance Band Music Collection Finding Aid (PDF).The American Dance Band Music Collection consists of commercially published stock arrangements and instrument charts for thousands of popular titles, 1800s-1960s. The collection contains music charts for various instruments for a given song. While several titles contain a complete set of parts, most are incomplete but...

Scope and Contents The Arthur B. Church – KMBC Radio Collection was donated to the University of Missouri-Kansas City in 1996 by Arthur B. Church, Jr. The collection relates to KMBC radio and television stations in Kansas City and its owner and operator, Arthur B. Church, dating primarily between the 1920s and the early 1950s.The collection is broken down into seven series. A timeline provides day-to-day and year-to-year information about the operation of the station. Business correspondence, ledgers...

Scope and Contents The Barney Kessel Collection was donated to LaBudde Special Collections in May 2016 by Phyllis Kessel.The manuscript collection contains a vast array of manuscripts and other materials spanning the length of Kessel's life and career. Materials contained in the collection range in date from the early 1920s to the mid-2010s. Content includes correspondence, business and personal documents, notes, interview transcripts, posters, promotional material, full scores, parts and...

Scope and Contents The Bob Wills Tiffany Transcriptions Collection was gifted to the UMKC Libraries in 1999. The collection consists of Bob Wills Tiffany Transcription audio discs as well as related promotional print material. Bob Pinson of the Country Music Foundation recommended and directed to UMKC an extant set in the possession of a producer’s wife.Print material is housed in LaBudde Special Collections and includes a leasing contract for radio stations, cued radio scripts, sheet music and a...

Scope and Contents The Brian Thurn Collection was formed by various purchases from Brian Thurn Antiques of Kansas City, beginning with the initial acquisition in January 2006. The collection consists of photographs, posters and miscellaneous material that primarily reflect aspects of the African-American cultural experience during the 20th century, particularly in and around Kansas City. Some material has been removed from this collection to form discrete collections: Ernest Daniels Collection (jazz...

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The Clete Huske Collection was a gift of Michael J. Fagras, who donated a selection of his personal record collection to the Marr Sound Archives in December 2014. As part of that donation are scrapbooks housed in LaBudde Special Collections containing clippings of a multitude of musical artists taken from various jazz and blues publications.

Scope and Contents Dana Suesse Collection was gifted to LaBudde Special Collections by Peter Mintun in January 2015. Boxes 3-6 were later gifted to LaBudde Special Collections by Mintun in 2021. The collection relates to Suesse’s life and career, and includes promotional and publicity material, original and photocopied music, and scripts for comedies and musicals written by Suesse. Rounding out the collection are two dozen photographs that provide a concise representation of Suesse at different ages of her...

Scope and Contents The Dan Conn Collection was a gift from the Dan Conn estate in June 2010. Conn was in the music industry and the collection strongly reflects his occupation. Included are magazines, album covers, promotional material and much memorabilia. The highlight of the collection lies within the plethora of posters, primarily related to musical artists and events, and a rare 12” LP promotional copy of Bruce Springsteen’s album Born to Run, featuring the original cover that used a graffiti-style font...

Scope and Contents The Danny Mayo Collection was established in LaBudde Special Collections, consisting of a small amount of non-audiovisual materials from the collection, after Mayo’s sound recordings were given to the Marr Sound Archives by Deborah Dooley in 2014. The assorted ephemera include posters, liner notes, a few images, the framed gold album Ozark Mountain Daredevils, and other miscellaneous items.Recordings from the collection are searchable in the UMKC Libraries catalog. ...

Scope and Contents The Dave E. Dexter, Jr. Collection was gifted to the UMKC Libraries by Dave Dexter prior to his death in 1990.Housed in LaBudde Special Collections, the manuscripts collection includes correspondence, writings and photographs. Dexter's correspondence with Capitol Record executives and other individuals provide pertinent information concerning the recording industry. His prolific writings are reflected in numerous formats from record liner notes to typed drafts and published works,...

Scope and Contents The David Dean Conn Collection was a gift of the David Conn estate in July 2010. The collection contains materials related to Conn’s music profession while working at the Music Exchange record store and Handleman Music Distributors, both located in Kansas City. Included are correspondence, press packets, music catalogs, periodicals and posters. There are also photographs and some limited edition prints by artist Gary Huston. Some of the highlights of the collection are related to Conn’s...

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Cronenbold was a member of the Texas Rangers, a western band that was active in the 1930s and 1940s and appeared on radio programs such as the Brush Creek Follies. The collection consists of recordings of the Texas Rangers and interviews with Cronenbold.

Scope and Contents The Evie Quarles Collection was gifted to the LaBudde Special Collections in May 2013. Inclusive dates are 1990-2008, with the bulk of the material ranging in date from 1997-2002. The collection includes programs, promotional material, miscellaneous ephemera, various blues publications,news clippings,and musical CDs, most of which are housed in the Marr Sound Archives. One jewel of this collection is Quarles’ book manuscript, Journey to the Blues. To illuminate that experience follows an...

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Contains studio recordings of the Kansas City rock band Royal Coachmen.

Scope and Contents The George Geelan Blues and Jazz Festivals Collection was donated in November 2005 to the Dr. Kenneth J. LaBudde Department of Special Collections by Sara Geelan, niece of George Geelan; it was delivered to the library by Cindy Terwilliger. The heart of the collection consists of over 1500 photographs and over 80 sleeves of negatives, dating from 1995 to 2003. These images primarily document area blues and jazz festivals, such as the Kansas City Blues and Jazz Festival; the Kansas City,...

Scope and Contents The Grand Emporium Collection was donated to Miller Nichols Library, University of Missouri-Kansas City, in Summer 2004 by Roger Naber and C. Herb Palmer, co-owners of the Grand Emporium (along with George Myers).Housed in LaBudde Special Collections, the manuscript collection primarily chronicles from 1985-2004 the venerable Kansas City nightclub at 3832 Main Street and consists of approximately 15,000 flyers, handbills, and posters; 4,000 photographs, negatives, and slides;...

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Collection consists of 45 RPM discs and audiocassette tapes of country music collected by Gregory Hermon.

Scope and Contents The James Mobberley Collection was donated to the UMKC Miller Nichols Library by Mobberley himself in November 2017.The manuscript collection contains a wide array of items from various aspects of the composer and professor’s career. The largest part of the collection is sheet music from Mobberley’s compositional output. There are physical copies of scores and parts for the bulk of the composer’s works from his days as an undergraduate up through the 2010s. This allows one to...

Scope and Contents The Jimmy and Jeannie Cheatham Collection was gifted to the UMKC Miller Nichols Library by Jeannie Cheatham in February 2009. The collection documents the personal and professional lives of Jimmy and Jeannie Cheatham. Also highlighted is the history of the Sweet Baby Blues Band, which was birthed by the Cheathams in 1983. Included are biographical information, correspondence, contracts, programs, album covers, music manuscripts, miscellanea, and several hundred photographs. A significant...

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The collection consists of cassette tapes and CD’s of live concerts at Penn Valley Park, Crown Center, Line Creek Park and the Cowtown Ballroom in Kansas City. The dates of the concerts range from 1973-1979. There is also a copy of the 2009 documentary "Cowtown Ballroom… Sweet Jesus" which was produced and directed by Heyen in the collection.

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The Kansas City Women’s Chorus Collection was a gift of Emily Marrin in August 2021 and consists of programs, posters, flyers, director’s notes, fundraising projects, newspaper clippings, and membership information including rehearsal notes and schedules. Materials are dated from the seasons ranging 2000-2016.

Scope and Contents The Kathe “Kathleen” Kaul Collection was gifted to the UMKC Libraries in January 2014 by Kathe Kaul.Housed in LaBudde Special Collections, the manuscript collection is divided into two series: Radio Broadcasting and Mutual Musicians Foundation (MMF). The first series consists of popular record surveys distributed by local radio stations, including WHB, KUDL, KBEQ, KCMO and KCKN. There are also surveys by Oklahoma-based radio stations KOMA, KWHP and WKY. Also included is various...

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This collection consists of many recordings that were accumulated since the founding of the Marr Sound Archives but the provenance and/or donors are unknown. There is limited information about the recordings in this collection. Much of the collection are lacquer discs of various music performances and home recordings. The collection also holds various test pressings, open reel tapes, cassettes, CD-Rs, and films.

Scope and Contents The Parody Hall Collection was a gift of David Sanger in February 2011. Contained in the collection is a wide assortment of promotional materials for events and concerts at Parody Hall, including flyers, posters and photographs of bands and other musical artists. A financial ledger chronicling the profits of Parody Hall concerts from 1982-1985 offers an interesting glimpse into the daily business of a performance venue. Posters and calendars, ranging from 1981-1988, paint a representative...