Boston Jazz Society Button: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This button is from the Boston Jazz Society, in Boston, Massachusetts. It is made of white paper with black ink covered with a clear film, on a two-piece metal button with a pin back. The button is printed:

The Boston Jazz Society, born from a group of jazz enthusiasts to keep “Jazz alive” in New England, was founded in 1973. Inspired by the Left Bank Jazz Society of Baltimore, the Boston Jazz Society began by producing jazz concerts at several venues in the Boston area. The society would expand into exhibitions, media productions, and Jazz education programs for grade school students. In 1975, the society started a scholarship program, raising funds for young Jazz musicians to attend the New England Conservatory and the Berklee College of Music. The Boston Jazz Society, Inc. adjourned in 2015.

Floyd Levin (1922-2007) was a Los Angeles textile manufacturer who turned his passion for jazz into a second career as an influential jazz journalist and historian. His numerous reviews, profiles, and articles were published in magazines such as Down Beat, Jazz Journal International, Metronome, and American Rag. He also authored Classic Jazz: A Personal View of the Music and the Musicians. Items in this collection (2011.3086) were acquired from Levin’s attendance at Jazz Festivals, conferences, and other music events.

Materials, dates and provenance

• user: Levin, Floyd
• Object Name: button
• Physical Description: ink (overall material)
• Physical Description: metal (overall material)
• Physical Description: paper (overall material)
• Measurements: overall: 2 1/4 in x 2 1/4 in; 5.715 cm x 5.715 cm
• place made: United States: Massachusetts, Boston
• ID Number: 2011.3086.143
• nonaccession number: 2011.3086
• catalog number: 2011.3086.143
• Credit Line: Gift of Lucille Levin
• Data Source: National Museum of American History

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.