Black Beauty: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A 33 1/3 rpm long-playing record titled “Black Beauty” by Love. The album is a first pressing limited edition record numbered 1,384 of 5,000. The vinyl record (a) has a black label with red lettering. The image on the front of the cardboard sleeve (b) is of a man seated cross-legged on an ornate chair with black and red typeface at top listing the band name and album title. Verso has an image of a man sitting on a hill with his back towards the camera. A dog is standing next to him. At top center in black and red text the track titles and play times of the record are listed. The inside paper sleeve (c) has four color images of a man walking and sitting on a hill side on the recto side. The verso side has a large color image of the man wearing a black jacket and stocking cap and smiling at the camera. The booklet (d) has an image of the members of the band Love on the front in back. They are sitting in a row outside. The logo for High Moon Records is on the bottom right corner of the front side. The booklet explains the history of the album and the band through text and photographs in black-and-white and color.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: recorded 1973, published 2012
• Recorded by: Love, American, 1965 - 2005
• Published by: High Moon Records, American
• Produced by: Arthur Lee, American, 1945 - 2006
• Type: record covers
• Type: long-playing records
• Medium: vinyl, cardboard, paper, ink
• Dimensions: Diameter (vinyl record): 11 13/16 in. (30 cm)
• Dimensions: H x W (cardboard sleeve): 12 1/2 × 12 1/2 in. (31.8 × 31.8 cm)
• Dimensions: H x W (paper sleeve): 12 1/8 × 12 1/16 in. (30.8 × 30.7 cm)
• Dimensions: H x W (booklet): 12 × 11 13/16 in. (30.5 × 30 cm)
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Rock and roll (Music)
• Object number: 2014.41.1a-d
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Diane Lee in memory of Arthur Taylor Lee
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The underlying object's rights statement is: © 2012 High Moon Records, licensed from Arthur Lee Entertainment Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.