Monterey Jazz Festival Artist Button: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This button is from the Monterey Jazz Festival in Monterey, California, in 1975. It is a made of white paper with blue and black ink covered with a clear film, on a round two-piece metal button with a pin back. The button is printed:

The Monterey Jazz Festival was founded by jazz disc jockey Jimmy Lyons, in 1958. The festival is held annually on the Monterey County Fairgrounds on the third full weekend in September. Since its inception, the festival has grown to become one of the most prominent and diverse jazz experiences in the world. The Monterey Jazz Festival is a non-profit organization that supports jazz education through jazz in the school programs, summer jazz camp, artist-in-residence, next generation jazz festival, and scholarships.

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: 1975
• user: Levin, Floyd
• Object Name: button
• Physical Description: metal (overall material)
• Physical Description: paper (overall material)
• Physical Description: ink (overall material)
• Measurements: overall: 1/4 in x 2 5/8 in; x .635 cm x 6.6675 cm
• place made: United States: California, Monterey
• ID Number: 2011.3086.021
• nonaccession number: 2011.3086
• catalog number: 2011.3086.021
• 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.