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Institute of Jazz Studies
History

The world-renowned Institute of Jazz Studies is the largest and most comprehensive library and archive of jazz and jazz-related materials in the world. The distinctive and unique collections in jazz history and culture include a dizzying array of formats ranging from rare musical recordings and oral histories of jazz greats and lesser known figures to musical scores, photographs, films, research files, business records, personal correspondence and musical instruments that belonged to eminent jazz musicians. They document the legacy of this great American art form and have facilitated research by thousands of scholars, students, musicians, writers, members of the music industry and the media, and others. - Lynn Mullins, Director, John Cotton Dana Library, Rutgers University, Newark, New Jersey.

Highlights of the History of the Institute of Jazz Studies - click for summary

In 1952, the pioneering jazz scholar, writer, and activist Marshall Stearns, a professor of English at Hunter College, decided to incorporate his world-famous collection of recordings, books, periodicals, sheet music, photographs, clipping files and memorabilia as the Institute of jazz Studies. There was, Stearns noted, no place where interested students, scholars and collectors could do research on jazz; and so he made his collection, housed in his spacious apartment in New York’s Greenwich Village available by appointment. Assisted by volunteers and an impressive advisory board, he began to solicit musicians, record producers, journalists, and other acquaintances for donations of materials.

Slowly but surely, and especially in the wake of the civil rights movement, acceptance of jazz in the academy began to take hold. This interest, along with the growth of the collection, caused Stearns to begin the search for an institution of higher learning that would take in the Institute. His conditions for the generous donation were simple: a modicum of acquisitions (significant new books and records, subscriptions to major jazz periodicals, contacts with potential donors of materials), access to the collection without the red-tape restrictions common to special collections under university auspices (of key importance since the great majority of jazz researchers in the mid-1960’s had no academic affiliation), and a degree of autonomy, so that the fate of the Institute would not be jeopardized by changes in administrative policy.

Stearns selected Rutgers University as the permanent home for the Institute in 1966. Mason Gross, then president, had a keen interest in American popular culture, and there were knowledgeable jazz enthusiasts on the Rutgers faculty. Stearns unfortunately died in December of that year before seeing the transfer take place. It fell to Rutgers to continue the work he began without him. The initial part-time staff and basement housing was followed by several moves to larger spaces and the growth and development of an outstanding staff.

In 1984, the Institute became part of the Rutgers University Libraries and formally affiliated with the Dana Library at Rutgers – Newark. This action paved the way for the addition of a librarian, substantial growth in the collections, and a new emphasis on creating records for items in the collections. As plans for an extension to the Dana Library got under way, a new home for the Institute was included in the design. When it was unveiled in 1994, the new facility was hailed as stat-of-the-art.

The Institute was now better able to assist patrons, and the number of users grew, while the introduction of email increased the flow of queries considerably. A jazz instruction program established at Rutgers – New Brunswick was followed in 1997 by the master’s program in jazz history and research at Rutgers – Newark, the first of its kind, which would not have been possible without the Institute as a key resource. Jazz in the academy has come a long way since Marshall Stearns founded the Institute of Jazz Studies – a beacon then and a beacon still as the great American music called jazz continues to make living history.