Handy, W. C., 1873-1958

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W. C. Handy, also known as William Christopher Handy (born Florence, Alabama, November 16, 1873-died March 25, 1958, New York, New York), known as the "Father of the Blues," is credited with helping popularize blues music. In 1896, he joined W. A. Mahara's Minstrels, as its trumpeter-bandleader and began a theatrical production that featured African American music. In the early 1900s, he started writing his own music with the first published commercial blues song "Memphis Blues," which became a big hit in 1912. With it's success, he formed the Handy Brothers Music Company, which published the hit songs "St. Louis Blues" (1914), "Yellow Dog Blues" (1914) and "Beale Street Blues" (1916). In 1918, he moved his business to New York and scored success with the composition "Aunt Hagar's Blues," continued to promote blues to mainstream audiences and put on the first blues performance in New York City's Carnegie Hall in 1928. Handy continued working steadily through the 1930s, promoting blues and publishing collections of African American music until he became blind by the mid-1940s. He died of pneumonia only months before his life story was played in movie theaters across the country in the film "Father of the Blues," which starred singer Nat King Cole as Handy. At age 80 he married Mrs. Irma Louise Logan, who had been his secretary.
Archival Resources
Role Title Holding Repository
referencedIn Frances Sharf Fink letters from various correspondents, 1924-1963. Houghton Library
referencedIn Whiteman, Maxwell,. Whiteman Photographic Collection, 1860-1960. Temple University Libraries, Paley Library
referencedIn J. B. Matthews Papers, 1862-1986 and undated David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library
referencedIn Johnson, J. Rosamond (John Rosamond), 1873-1954. The J. Rosamond Johnson papers, 1879-1975 (inclusive). Yale University, Music Library
referencedIn Milton Caniff Collection, 1805-2007, 1910-1988 The Ohio State University Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum
creatorOf Handy Brothers Music Co. Jazz manuscripts, n.d. Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies Library
creatorOf Britton, Allen Perdue. Papers, 1943-1991. University of Maryland (College Park, Md.). Libraries
referencedIn Lewis, Katherine Handy. Reminiscences of Katherine Handy Lewis : oral history, 1958. Columbia University in the City of New York, Columbia University Libraries
referencedIn African-American related sheet music and sheet music written by African-Americans, 1851-1974 Stanford University. Department of Special Collections and University Archives
referencedIn Southern Folklife Collection Artist Name File, 1940-2005 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Folklife Collection.
referencedIn Edison Sheet Music Collection, 1830-1958, (bulk 1890-1940) Library of Congress. Music Division
referencedIn Joseph Schillinger collection of noncommercial recordings, 1937-1943 The New York Public Library. Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound.
referencedIn Otto Harbach Papers, 1870-1990, 1895-1963 The New York Public Library. Billy Rose Theatre Division.
creatorOf UNCSA Jazz Ensemble. Jazz Ensemble [sound recording] University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Semans Library
referencedIn Gellert, Lawrence, 1898-1979. Lawrence Gellert papers, [ca.1932-1979]. UC Berkeley Libraries
referencedIn Arthur Alfonso Schomburg papers, 1724-1938, 1904-1938 Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Rare Books, Manuscripts, and Archives Section
referencedIn W.C. Handy collection, 1942-1957 Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Rare Books, Manuscripts, and Archives Section
creatorOf UNCSA Jazz Ensemble. UNCSA Jazz Ensemble [sound recording] University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Semans Library
creatorOf Handy, W. C. (William Christopher), 1873-1958. [Letter] 1952, New York [to] Arthur Spingarn. HCL Technical Services, Harvard College Library
creatorOf Handy, W. C. (William Christopher), 1873-1958. Letters to Frank Luther Mott, New York, NY, 1941. University of Iowa Libraries
referencedIn Records of the Selective Service System (World War I). 1917 - 1939. Draft Registration Cards. 1917 - 1918. World War I Draft Registration Card for William Christopher Handy National Archives at Atlanta
referencedIn Federal Writers' Project (N.Y.). Federal Writers' Project Negro Group papers, 1927-1940. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
referencedIn White, Clarence Cameron, 1880-1960. Clarence Cameron White collection, 1872-1965 (bulk, 1930-1960). Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, Howard University
creatorOf W. C. Handy Collection National Museum of American History (U.S.). Archives Center
referencedIn The J. Rosamond Johnson Papers, 1879-1975 (inclusive) Irving S. Gilmore Music Library
creatorOf Handy, W. C. (William Christopher), 1873-1958. Typewritten letter signed : New York, N.Y., to James J. Fuld, February 2, 1955, 1955 Feb. 2. Pierpont Morgan Library.
creatorOf Kane, Joseph Nathan, 1899-2002. Audio materials, 1938-1939 [sound recording]. Library of Congress
creatorOf Handy, W. C. (William Christopher), 1873-1958. Sundown blues / W.C. Handy. Library of Congress
referencedIn Leo Reisman collection of sound recordings [sound recording], 1932-1948 The New York Public Library. Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound.
creatorOf Still, William Grant, 1895-1978. William Grant Still and Verna Arvey Papers, 1894-1991. University of Arkansas - Fayetteville, University Libraries
referencedIn Negro Actors Guild of America records, 1904-1982, 1937-1982 Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Rare Books, Manuscripts, and Archives Section
referencedIn Nicolas Slonimsky Collection, 1873-1997, (bulk 1920-1990) Library of Congress. Music Division
creatorOf Wachsman, Robert A. Papers, [ca. 1933-ca. 1942]. Ohio State University Libraries
referencedIn North Carolina Central University. James E. Shepard records, 1890-1947. North Carolina Central University, James E. Shepard Memorial Library
referencedIn Guide to the Daily Worker and Daily World Photographs Collection, 1920-2001 Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
referencedIn Terrell, Mary Church, 1863-1954. Mary Church Terrell papers, 1851-1962 (inclusive), 1886-1954 (bulk) [microform]. Yale University Library
referencedIn Memorial Library of Music collection Stanford University. Department of Special Collections and University Archives
creatorOf Handy, W. C. (William Christopher), 1873-1958. W.C. Handy collection, 1914-1954. New York Public Library System, NYPL
referencedIn Lawrence, William, 1895-1981. William Lawrence papers, ca. 1919-1988. College of Charleston, Marlene and Nathan Addlestone Library
referencedIn Work, John Wesley (III)., 1901-1967. Papers. ca. 1944. Tulane University, Amistad Research Center
referencedIn Witman, Arthur, 1902-1991. 35mm negative collection, 1936-1969. University of Missouri - St Louis, University Libraries, Thomas Jefferson, St. Louis Mercantile Library, (former branch Ward E. Barnes)
referencedIn Koussevitzky, Serge, 1874-1951. Serge Koussevitzky Archive, 1920-1976 (bulk: 1924-1951) Library of Congress. Music Division
referencedIn Glover, George Washington, 1888-1993. W.C. Handy collection, 1942-1957. New York Public Library System, NYPL
creatorOf Handy, W. C. (William Christopher), 1873-1958. Papers, 1944-1952. Ohio State University Libraries
creatorOf Handy, W. C. (William Christopher), 1873-1958. W.C. Handy papers, 1900-1979. John Hope and Aurelia E. Franklin Library. Special Collections & Archives
referencedIn Du Bois, Shirley Graham, 1896-1977. Papers, 1865-1998 (inclusive), 1905-1975 (bulk). Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America‏
creatorOf Handy, W. C. (William Christopher), 1873-1958. Letters to F[rank] L[uther] Mott. [New York City], NY. 1935. University of Iowa Libraries
referencedIn Arthur Alfonso Schomburg papers, 1724-1938 (bulk 1904-1938) New York State Historical Documents Inventory
creatorOf Handy, W. C. (William Christopher), 1873-1958. [Letters, ca. 1950-1953] / W.C. Handy. Northwestern University
referencedIn Cullen, Countee, 1903-1946. The Countee Cullen/Harold Jackman Memorial Collection. Atlanta University Center, Robert W. Woodruff Library
creatorOf Neilson, Kenneth P.,. Hughes-Neilson music collection, 1934-1980. New York Public Library System, NYPL
referencedIn Papers of Shirley Graham Du Bois, 1865-1998 (inclusive), 1905-1975 (bulk) Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America‏
creatorOf Handy, W. C. (William Christopher), 1873-1958. [Letter] August 11, 1944, New York [to Verna Arvey] Still. HCL Technical Services, Harvard College Library
referencedIn Negro Actors Guild of America records, 1904-1982, 1937-1982 (bulk). New York State Historical Documents Inventory
referencedIn Henderson County Public Library general files, 1840-1981. Kentucky Department of Libraries and Archives, Kentucky Guide Project Office
referencedIn Brothers, Cecilia M.,. Cecilia M. Brothers collection, ca. 1867-1990. Western Michigan University, Dwight B. Waldo Library
referencedIn Gormley, Paul D. Miscellaneous manuscripts, 1964-1969, n.d. University of Pennsylvania Libraries, Van Pelt Library
referencedIn Horace Mann Bond Papers, 1830-1979, 1926-1972 Special Collections and University Archives, UMass Amherst Libraries
creatorOf Lewis, Katherine Handy, 1902-1982. Katherine Handy Lewis papers, 1925-1983. New York Public Library System, NYPL
creatorOf W.C. Handy collection, 1914-1954 Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Rare Books, Manuscripts, and Archives Section
referencedIn Arna Bontemps Papers, 1927-1968 Syracuse University. Library. Special Collections Research Center
referencedIn Rayburn, Sam, 1882-1961, Papers, 1822, 1831, 1845, 1903-2007 Dolph Briscoe Center for American History
referencedIn Johnson, Helen A. Helen Armstead-Johnson miscellaneous theater collections, 1831-1993. New York Public Library System, NYPL
referencedIn Mary Church Terrell Papers, 1851-1962, (bulk 1886-1954) Library of Congress. Manuscript Division
creatorOf Handy, William C. Letter to unknown. Temple University, Blockson Afro-American History Collection
creatorOf NCSA Jazz Ensemble. NCSA Jazz Ensemble [sound recording]. University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Semans Library
referencedIn The J. Rosamond Johnson Papers, 1879-1975 (inclusive) Irving S. Gilmore Music Library
referencedIn Joseph Nathan Kane collection, 1938-1939 Library of Congress. Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division
referencedIn Cuney-Hare, Maud, 1874-1936. Maud Cuney-Hare collection, 1900-1936. Atlanta University Center, Robert W. Woodruff Library
creatorOf Handy, W. C. (William Christopher), 1873-1958. Letter, July 31, 1957. University of Idaho Library
creatorOf Handy, W. C. (William Christopher), 1873-1958. Collection. 1942-1947. Tulane University, Amistad Research Center
creatorOf Karamu House. Karamu House records, 1914-1979. Western Reserve Historical Society, Research Library
creatorOf Eppse, Merl R. (Merl Raymond), b. 1893. Merl R. Eppse papers, 1927-1961. Tennessee State Library & Archives, TSLA
referencedIn William Grant Still Papers, 1877-1992 David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library
referencedIn Helen Armstead-Johnson miscellaneous theater collections, 1831-1993 Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Rare Books, Manuscripts, and Archives Section
referencedIn Dunham, Katherine. Katherine Dunham papers, 1919-1968. Southern Illinois University, Morris Library
creatorOf Handy, W. C. (William Christopher), 1873-1958. Letter, 20 May 1941. American Periodical Series I
creatorOf Handy, W. C. (William Christopher), 1873-1958. TsS, 1942 January 1 : New York. Copley Press, J S Copley Library
creatorOf Drayton, Thaddeus. Thaddeus Drayton collection, 1926-1960. New York Public Library System, NYPL
referencedIn Blake, Eubie, 1887-1983. Papers, 1970-1977 Eda Kuhn Loeb Music Library, Harvard College Library
referencedIn Musical composers. African American Sheet Music Collection, 1879-1940 University of Texas Libraries
creatorOf Southern, Eileen. Papers, 1974-1997. Columbia College Chicago
creatorOf Boys, Richard Charles, 1912-. Correspondence, 1949-1954. University of Michigan
referencedIn Portraits of black jazz musicians inscribed to Ruth King Bordner, ca. 1928-1940. New York Public Library System, NYPL
referencedIn Cullen, Countee, 1903-1946. Papers. 1921-1979. Tulane University, Amistad Research Center
referencedIn Johnson, J. Rosamond (John Rosamond), 1873-1954. The John Rosamond Johnson papers, 1879-1975 (inclusive). Yale University, Music Library
referencedIn Johnny Green additional papers, 1923-1989. Harvard Theater Collection, Houghton Library, Harvard College Library, Harvard University
referencedIn Henderson County Public Library photograph collections, 1883-1966. Kentucky Department of Libraries and Archives, Kentucky Guide Project Office
referencedIn American Vaudeville Museum collection, 1845-2007, (bulk 1910-1940) University of Arizona Libraries, Library Special Collections
creatorOf Van Vechten, Carl, 1880-1964,. George Gershwin memorial collection of music and musical literature, [19--]-1947. John Hope and Aurelia E. Franklin Library. Special Collections & Archives
referencedIn Hughes-Neilson music collection, 1934-1980 Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Rare Books, Manuscripts, and Archives Section
referencedIn African American Sheet Music Collection 2002-063, 2002-264., 1879-1940 Dolph Briscoe Center for American History
creatorOf Handy, W. C. (William Christopher), 1873-1958. The Memphis blues. Tulane University, Howard-Tilton Memorial Library
Role Title Holding Repository

Filters:

Connection Graph Radial Graph
Relation Name
associatedWith American Museum of Vaudeville corporateBody
correspondedWith Arvey, Verna, 1910-1987 person
associatedWith Bankhead, Tallulah, 1902-1968. person
associatedWith Blake, Eubie, 1883- person
associatedWith Bond, Horace Mann, 1904-1972 person
associatedWith Bontemps, Arna, 1902-1973 person
associatedWith Boynton, Henry P. person
associatedWith Boys, Richard Charles, 1912- person
associatedWith Britton, Allen Perdue. person
correspondedWith Brothers, Cecilia M., person
associatedWith Communist Party of the United States of America. corporateBody
associatedWith Cullen, Countee, 1903-1946. person
associatedWith Cullen, Frank, 1936- person
associatedWith Cuney-Hare, Maud, 1874-1936. person
associatedWith Drayton, Thaddeus. person
associatedWith Du Bois, Shirley Graham, 1896-1977. person
correspondedWith Dunham, Katherine. person
associatedWith Eppse, Merl R. (Merl Raymond), b. 1893. person
associatedWith Federal Writers' Project (N.Y.) corporateBody
correspondedWith Fink, Frances Sharf, recipient. person
associatedWith Fuld, James J., 1916- person
associatedWith Gellert, Lawrence, 1898-1979. person
associatedWith Glover, George Washington, 1888-1993. person
associatedWith Gormley, Paul D. person
associatedWith Green, Johnny, 1908-1989 person
associatedWith Handy Bros. Music Company. corporateBody
associatedWith Handy Brothers Music Co. corporateBody
associatedWith Handy Brothers Music Co. corporateBody
associatedWith Handy Brothers Music Company (N.Y.) corporateBody
associatedWith Harbach, Otto, 1873-1963 person
associatedWith Harbach, Otto, 1873-1963 person
associatedWith Johnson, Helen A. person
associatedWith Johnson, J. Rosamond (John Rosamond), 1873-1954. person
associatedWith Kane, Joseph Nathan, 1899-2002. person
associatedWith Karamu House. corporateBody
associatedWith Keating, George T., b. 1892 person
correspondedWith Koussevitzky, Serge, 1874-1951 person
associatedWith Lawrence, William, 1895-1981. person
associatedWith Lewis, Katherine Handy. person
associatedWith Matthews, J. B. (Joseph Brown), 1894-1966 person
associatedWith McKay, Claude, 1890-1948 person
associatedWith McNeilly, Donald, 1945- person
associatedWith Milton Caniff person
associatedWith Mott, Frank Luther, 1886- , person
associatedWith Musical composers person
associatedWith Musical composers person
associatedWith NCSA Jazz Ensemble. corporateBody
associatedWith Negro Actors Guild of America, Inc. corporateBody
associatedWith Neilson, Kenneth P., person
correspondedWith North Carolina Central University. corporateBody
associatedWith Northwestern University (Evanston, Ill.). Music Library. General Manuscript Collection. corporateBody
associatedWith Rayburn, Sam, 1882-1961 person
associatedWith Reisman, Leo, 1897-1961 person
associatedWith Ross, Zachery C. person
associatedWith Schillinger, Joseph, 1895-1943 person
associatedWith Schillinger, Joseph, 1895-1943 person
associatedWith Schomburg, Arthur Alfonso, 1874-1938. person
associatedWith SHIRLEY GRAHAM DU BOIS, 1896-1977 person
associatedWith Sissle, Noble, 1889-1975. person
associatedWith Slonimsky, Nicolas, 1894-1995 person
correspondedWith Southern, Eileen person
correspondedWith Spingarn, Arthur Barnett, 1878- person
associatedWith Still, William Grant, 1895-1978 person
associatedWith Still, William Grant, 1895-1978. person
associatedWith Terrell, Mary Church, 1863-1954. person
associatedWith Thomas A. Edison, Inc. corporateBody
associatedWith UNCSA Jazz Ensemble. corporateBody
associatedWith UNCSA Jazz Ensemble. corporateBody
associatedWith Van Vechten, Carl, 1880-1964, person
associatedWith Wachsman, Robert A. person
associatedWith Whipper, Leigh Rollin, 1876-1975. person
associatedWith White, Clarence Cameron, 1880-1960. person
associatedWith Witman, Arthur, 1902-1991. person
associatedWith Work, John Wesley (III)., 1901-1967. person
Place Name Admin Code Country
Memphis (Tenn.)
Florence AL US
New York NY US
Idaho--Lewiston
Subject
Musicians
African American authors
African American composers
African American musicians
African Americans
African Americans
Blues (Music)
Blues musicians
Blues (songs, etc)
Composers
Composers
Composers
Jazz
Minstrel shows
Popular music
Popular music
Popular music
Music publishing
Music publishing
Piano music (Blues)
Occupation
African American composers
Composers
Activity

Person

Birth 1873-11-16

Death 1958-03-28

Americans

English

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