Louis Armstrong Statue Fund Button: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This button depicts American jazz trumpeter and vocalist Louis Armstrong. This round button has a white background with a black and white photograph of Louis Armstrong, covered with a clear film, on a two-piece metal button with a pin back. The button is printed:

I CONTRIBUTED [photograph of Louis Armstrong's face] LOUIS ARMSTRONG STATUE FUND

The Louis Armstrong Statue Fund was supported by contributions of over one thousand individuals from around the world. This project was coordinated by The Louis Armstrong Statue Fund with Benny Carter as its Chairman and Floyd Levin as its Director. It is the centerpiece of the Louis Armstrong Park in New Orleans, Louisiana. The park and statue were officially dedicated on April 15th, 1980.

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: 1 3/4 in; x 4.445 cm
• place made: United States: Louisiana, New Orleans
• ID Number: 2011.3086.151
• nonaccession number: 2011.3086
• catalog number: 2011.3086.151
• 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.