House of Blues Button: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This button is from the House of Blues in New Orleans, Lousiana. It is made of paper with a blue background and black and white printing covered with a clear film, on a two-piece metal button with a straight-style pin back. The button is printed:

HOUSE OF BLUES LIVE MUSIC BLUES IS BETTER GREATEST HITS [image of Blue Brothers and police car] WE'RE ON A MISSION FROM GOD IN BLUES WE TRUST French Quarter

House of Blues is an American chain of live music concert halls and restaurants, founded by Isaac Tigrett and Dan Aykroyd. The first location opened in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1992.

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

• date made: ca 1994
• user: Levin, Floyd
• Object Name: button
• Physical Description: ink (overall material)
• Physical Description: metal (overall material)
• Physical Description: paper (overall material)
• Measurements: overall: 1 1/2 in; x 3.81 cm
• place made: United States: Louisiana, New Orleans
• ID Number: 2011.3086.163
• nonaccession number: 2011.3086
• catalog number: 2011.3086.163
• 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.