Jan Scobey's Hot Dixeland Jazzbash Badge: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This badge is from Jan Scobey’s Hot Dixieland Jazzbash in Santa Rosa, California, in 1991. It is a rectangular card with white background and blue and red ink, encapsulated in plastic, with a pin back. The badge is printed:

Saturday Dec. 7 Sunday Dec. 8 JAN SCOBEY'S HOT DIXIELAND JAZZBASH THE GREAT BRASS TRIAD TURK MURPHY DEC. 1915 LU WATTERS DEC. 19, 1911 BOB SCOBEY DEC. 1916.

Jan Scobey was the wife of American jazz trumpeter Robert Scobey Jr. (1916-1963). Jan Scobey penned a biography, He Rambled!, about the career of her husband, which was published in 1976. This badge is from a weekend event she produced featuring the music of bandmates and colleagues Bob Scobey, Turk Murphy, and Lu Watters.

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: 1991
• user: Levin, Floyd
• Object Name: badge
• Physical Description: plastic (overall material)
• Physical Description: paper (overall material)
• Physical Description: ink (overall material)
• Physical Description: metal (overall material)
• Measurements: overall: 2 1/2 in x 4 1/4 in x 1/4 in; 6.35 cm x 10.795 cm x .635 cm
• place made: United States: California, Santa Rosa
• ID Number: 2011.3086.057
• nonaccession number: 2011.3086
• catalog number: 2011.3086.057
• 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.