The John Steiner Collection at CJA
Introduction
John Steiner was an expert on the history of early Chicago jazz, and his personal collection is widely regarded as one of the finest from that period. Born in Milwaukee in 1908, Steiner grew up with jazz, spending his weekends in jazz clubs in Chicago. His friendships with musicians led to recording dates on the private record label he shared with Hugh Davis ("S/D" stood for "Steiner-Davis"), and to his eventual acquisition of the Paramount blues label in 1949. He had the foresight to know that the music he was hearing would be important, and began to collect the history of the music as it happened. The Steiner collection includes recordings on diverse formats, including the metals used to press records, as well as stock arrangements and piano song sheets. But it also includes record catalogs, concert notices, newspaper clippings, photos, posters, programs, tickets, and other bits of everyday trivia that most people throw away -- items that give us a sense of the life in Chicago that gave rise to the music.
The debut of the "portable" (20 lb.) reel-to-reel tape recorder enabled John Steiner to make his most valuable contributions to jazz history. In 1946, he single-handedly taped Duke Ellington's famous concert at the Chicago Opera House. He later provided this tape to the Ellington family, who released it commercially. Steiner taped live radio broadcasts from Chicago clubs, not retained by the stations. He took his tape recorder to clubs and taped live jazz dates. And most important of all, he taped interviews with musicians, club owners, and others who contributed to Chicago jazz.
Upon John Steiner's passing in June, 2000, his marvelous collection came to the Chicago Jazz Archive -- in four moving van loads. It is a reflection of the life of an extraordinary man, a man who will be remembered not for his day job as a PhD chemist, but for his life's passion, Chicago jazz.
Pending projects
Researchers who had projects pending with John Steiner at the time of his passing in June, 2000, should contact Prof. Richard Wang (rawj@uic.edu). John directed the notes and instructions about those projects to Prof. Wang.
How big is the Steiner collection?
It took four moving van loads to bring the collection to CJA after John Steiner's passing. Based on processing to date, it is estimated that there are 35,000 recordings in various formats, as well as several hundred linear feet of paper materials, including photos, stock arrangements, song sheets, articles, clippings, research notes, books, periodicals, and posters. Until the collection finding aid is available, please direct questions about the contents of the collection to the Curator.John Steiner had materials on Wisconsin history and companies; is that material at CJA?
John did not leave all of his many historical collections to the Archive, just the jazz related material. In some cases materials that eventually had jazz significance are not here. Wisconsin history, including industry history, went to the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Thus, it's likely that the files for Paramount's parent comapany (a Wisconsin chair factory) went to UW-M.How do I arrange to use the Steiner collection?
Like all of the CJA's collections, research access is by appointment only. Because this huge collection will take years to fully process, some parts of it will be available for research well before others. It is crucial that researchers confirm with the Curator that the materials sought are available for research use.Please read the Archive's Visitor Guidelines and the appropriate Reproduction Agreement carefully before calling for an appointment -- access to all of the Archive's collections requires researchers to read and agree to the conditions for use set forth in those documents.
