BOULDER, Colo. — A nationwide search is underway for someone to catalog and preserve 1,400 boxes of famous jazz musician Glenn Miller's memorabilia at the University of Colorado Boulder, according to a news release from the school.
In 1923, Miller went to CU Boulder for three semesters before launching "one of the most successful big band" music careers of the 20th century, his alma mater said.
He wrote music for and played with some of the top musicians of the time, including the Dorsey Brothers, Benny Goodman and Harry James.
“The personal papers, photographs, music and other ephemera of the legendary Glenn Miller sheds light on the man behind the music and opens an extensive new collection of research for all to study and enjoy,” Kate Tallman, assistant professor and interim faculty director of the university’s Rare & Distinctive Collections, said.
Some of the other ephemera Tallman mentioned includes musical instruments, medals and even clothes.
Memorabilia related to Miller has been sitting in the university library's archives and hasn't been fully accessible to researchers, given the sheer number of items in the collection amassed without a system, CU Boulder said.
A university alumnus and his wife have donated the funding to bring an archivist on board for the next two years to review and organize the materials.
"Currently, nothing in the boxes is sorted or organized," CU Boulder said.
The archivist will also be tasked with making the materials more widely accessible for researchers and the public, in part by digitizing some items, according to the university.
In addition to recognizing Miller's contribution to jazz, big band and swing music, CU Boulder said it hopes to highlight the contributions that people in minority, marginalized communities of the time made to the genre.
“We believe this collection contains stories of people who contributed to the sound and the music of the big band era but did not get the recognition they deserved because of the color of their skin or their personal background,” Tallman said. “Processing this collection is an opportunity to fill those archival silences and make sure the stories are not just about Glenn Miller.”
