Skip to main content Skip to main navigation
heart-solid My Visit Donate
Home
Press Enter to activate a submenu, down arrow to access the items and Escape to close the submenu.
    • Overview
    • Museums and Zoo
    • Entry and Guidelines
    • Maps and Brochures
    • Dine and Shop
    • Accessibility
    • Visiting with Kids
    • Group Visits
    • Overview
    • Exhibitions
    • Online Events
    • All Events
    • IMAX & Planetarium
    • Overview
    • Topics
    • Collections
    • Research Resources
    • Podcasts
    • Stories
    • Overview
    • For Caregivers
    • For Educators
    • For Students
    • For Academics
    • For Lifelong Learners
    • Overview
    • Become a Member
    • Renew Membership
    • Make a Gift
    • Volunteer
    • Overview
    • Our Organization
    • Our Leadership
    • Reports and Plans
    • Newsdesk
heart-solid My Visit Donate

Maceo Jefferson Papers

National Museum of American History

Maceo Jefferson Papers
There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page .
Finding aid
There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page .

Object Details

sova.nmah.ac.1370
GUID
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8ab7f8cfe-f932-402c-ac60-d770a11eadf4
Creator
Jefferson, Yvonne Runtz
Jefferson, Maceo
Donor
Cargill, Thomas
Cargill, Darlene Johnson
Names
Washingtonians, The.
Occupation
Composers
Composers -- 20th century
Topic
World War, 1939-1945
Music -- 20th century
Concentration camps -- France
Jazz musicians
Banjoists
Provenance
Donated to the Archives Center in 2015 by Jefferson's grand-nephew Thomas Cargill and his wife Darlene Johnson Cargill.
Creator
Jefferson, Yvonne Runtz
Jefferson, Maceo
Donor
Cargill, Thomas
Cargill, Darlene Johnson
See more items in
Maceo Jefferson Papers
Biographical / Historical
Maceo Buchannan Jefferson was born on July 14, 1898 in Beaufort, South Carolina to Reverend Paul William Jefferson and Julia Rose Singleton. The oldest of five children, Jefferson showed an early aptitude for both banjo and guitar. He enlisted in the Navy on April 6, 1917 and was released from service on December 24, 1919. According to the 1920 census, Jefferson lived in Portsmouth Monroe Ward, Portsmouth, Virginia as a laborer with the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad. During this time, he played with Gus Perry at the Limelight's Nightclub. Jefferson then moved to Norfolk, Virginia for two years before moving to Washington, DC. As noted in his resume, while in the District of Columbia Jeffersone, he performed with the J. R. Branson Orchestra in a dance hall on U Street and the Roscoe Lee Orchestra at the Better Old Club. He married Riccolin E. Sutherland on October 21, 1922. Jefferson spent another two years in a nightclub in Washington, where he met Duke Ellington and joined his band, the Washingtonians. By early 1923, Jefferson had joined Wilber Sweatman, and worked in a succession of nightclubs and theaters in New York, Brooklyn, and New Jersey. He also accompanied singer Ethel Waters on a recording session for Columbia Records. In 1926, he joined the Lew Leslie Blackbirds Plantation Orchestra and went on a European tour in 1927 with the band and singer Florence Mills. Jefferson joined Leon Abbey's band in 1928, and eventually relocated to Paris, France. During this time, he performed with several jazz bands and musicians including Louis Armstrong before returning to New York where he played in Willie "The Lion" Smith's band and toured with W. C. Handy. The late 1930s and 1940s found him back in France where he married a Parisian woman, Yvonne Josephine Stephanie Runtz, in 1937. Jefferson toured with different bands in France, England, Scotland, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, and Italy until the end of May 1940. In June, he drove a truck for the American Hospital of Paris to the base hospital of Angouleme for which he received no salary. From August to November, Jefferson worked for the American Red Cross as a driver transporting the sick and, injured, and distributing medicine and food. Jefferson resumed his musical career arranging, composing, copying, and playing music from December 1940-December 1941. His career took a dramatic turn when the Nazis, under the Vichy government, imprisoned him, three days after the United States declared war on Germany. Jefferson spent twenty-seven months in prison camp stalag 122 in Compiegne, France and while imprisoned led an orchestra. In 1944, the Nazis released and sent Jefferson back to the United States where he lived in New York before relocating to Bridgeport, Connecticut. In the latter part of his life and musical career, he focused on composition and developing new arrangements for old songs. He never fully regained his health after his time in the concentration camp. Jefferson died on June 15, 1974 in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
Extent
8 Cubic feet (26 boxes)
Date
1800s-1974
Archival Repository
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Identifier
NMAH.AC.1370
Type
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Hymnals
Programs
Correspondence
Legal records
Marriage certificates
Business records
78 rpm records
Passports
Sheet music
Music
Photographs
Contracts
Clippings
Birth certificates
Citation
Maceo Jefferson Papers, 1898-1974, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged into seven series. Series 1: Personal Papers, 1891-1978, undated Series 2: Correspondence, 1909-1976, undated Series 3: Business Records and Performance Materials, 1932-1971, undated Series 4: Legal Records, 1920s-1970s, undated Series 5: Music Manuscripts, Published Sheet Music, and Folios, 1891-1972, undated Subseries 5.1: Jefferson Compositions, 1920-1972, undated Subseries 5.2: Compositions by Other Composers, 1921-1971, undated Subseries 5.3: Sheet Music, 1891-1970, undated Subseries 5.4: Folios, Songbooks and Instruction, 1870s-1950s Series 6: Photographs, 1800s-1960s Series 7: Recordings, undated
Processing Information
Collection processed by Jack Barral, intern, 2019; Lauren Finkle, intern, 2019; Caroline Kleiner, intern, 2019; Abigail Phelps, intern, 2019; Erin Wiebe intern, 2019; and Vanessa Broussard- Simmons, archivist, 2019.
Rights
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Genre/Form
Hymnals
Programs -- Concerts -- 20th century
Correspondence -- 20th century
Legal records -- 20th century
Marriage certificates
Business records -- 20th century
78 rpm records
Passports
Sheet music -- 20th century
Music -- Manuscripts
Photographs -- Black-and-white photoprints -- 20th century
Contracts -- 20th century
Clippings -- 20th century
Birth certificates
Scope and Contents
The collection documents the life and career of jazz musician, arranger, songwriter, and bandleader Maceo Jefferson. It includes biographical documents such as birth and marriaige certificates and passports; letters, mostly relating to the music business and including carbon copies of letters sent by Jefferson; photographs, many inscribed, including photographs of performers from the early jazz era; a hymnal used by Jefferson; several pieces of published sheet music written by Jefferson; concert programs, including a hand-made one for a concert given inside a Nazi internment camp where Jefferson was detained for two years; lyrics to songs; some business records, many in French; legal records; recordings, including 78 rpm records; and music manuscripts, which comprise roughly three fourths of the collection. Additionally, Jefferson's wife, Yvonne Runtz Jefferson, was a costume designer, and there are photographs relating to her work in the collection.
Restrictions
Collection is open for research.
Related Materials
Materials in the Archives Center Duke Ellington Collection (AC0301) Duncan Schiedt Jazz Collection (AC1323) W. C. Handy Collection (AC0132) Gottlieb and Bodansky Family Papers (AC1245)
NMAH.AC.1370
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8ab7f8cfe-f932-402c-ac60-d770a11eadf4
NMAH.AC.1370
ACAH
Record ID
ebl-1503512114455-1503512114457-0

  • Images 1 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • Archival materials 634 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • Audio 7 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • Sound discs (vinyl) 6 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • Sound wire reels 1 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • 1800s 1 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • 1810s 1 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • 1820s 1 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • 1830s 1 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • 1840s 1 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • 1850s 1 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • 1860s 1 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • 1870s 1 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • 1880s 1 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • 1890s 5 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • 1900s 6 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • 1910s 4 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • 1920s 21 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • 1930s 79 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • 1940s 81 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • 1950s 95 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • 1960s 63 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • 1970s 36 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • 1980s 1 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • 1990s 1 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • Maceo Jefferson Papers 634 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • Maceo Jefferson Papers / Series 5: Music Manuscripts, Published Sheet Music, and Folios / 5.1: Jefferson Compositions 418 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • Maceo Jefferson Papers / Series 5: Music Manuscripts, Published Sheet Music, and Folios / 5.2: Compositions By Other Composers 58 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • Maceo Jefferson Papers / Series 3: Business Records and Performances Materials 37 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • Maceo Jefferson Papers / Series 2: Correspondence 36 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • Maceo Jefferson Papers / Series 1: Personal Papers 28 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • Maceo Jefferson Papers / Series 4: Legal Records 15 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • Maceo Jefferson Papers / Series 6: Photographs 15 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • Maceo Jefferson Papers / Series 7: Recordings 8 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • Maceo Jefferson Papers / Series 5: Music Manuscripts, Published Sheet Music, and Folios / 5.4: Folios, Songbooks and Instruction 5 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • Maceo Jefferson Papers / Series 5: Music Manuscripts, Published Sheet Music, and Folios 4 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • Maceo Jefferson Papers / Series 5: Music Manuscripts, Published Sheet Music, and Folios / 5.3: Published Sheet Music 3 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • CC0 634 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • No 632 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • Yes 2 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • ead_component 634 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • Off My Feet

  • Certificate of death for Yvonne Jefferson

  • This Strange New Love

  • Styne, Jule

  • Rock a Bye My Rock a Bye

  • Port of Love

  • There's a Permanent Wave in Old Glory

  • Leavin' Town

  • O! Rosa Capriolla

  • Societe des Auteurs, Compositeurs et Editeurs de Musique

  • Baroque part one

  • Record book, loose materials

  • Printemps

  • Rain

  • Dickery Doc of Nursery Town

  • Moon Glow

  • The Naught Song

  • Breeze

  • Tick a Tack

  • Phantasmagorical

  • Untitled

  • J.P. Bamber, Cosway Galleries photograph mount

  • Malotte, Albert Hay

  • Got in the Middle Blues


  1. First page First
  2. Previous page Previous
  3. Page 3
  4. Page 4
  5. Page 5
  6. Page 6
  7. Current page 7
  8. Page 8
  9. Page 9
  10. Page 10
  11. Page 11
  12. Next page Next
  13. Last page Last

Discover More

arrow-up Back to top
Home
  • Facebook facebook
  • Instagram instagram
  • LinkedIn linkedin
  • YouTube youtube

  • Contact Us
  • Job Opportunities
  • Get Involved
  • Inspector General
  • Records Requests
  • Accessibility
  • EEO & Small Business
  • Shop Online
  • Host Your Event
  • Press Room
  • Privacy
  • Terms of Use