The Gospel Truth: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A 33 1/3 rpm record album titled “The Gospel Truth” recorded by Sister Rosetta Tharpe at the Gospel Temple Church of God in Christ in Harlem, accompanied by the Sally Jenkin Singers. The vinyl record (2014.98.18a) has a black label with white lettering. The front of the album sleeve (2014.98.18b) is white, with a graphic design of four purple, blue and black squares arranged in a gradient around a central, uneven white cross. The bottom left square is black and contains a colored photographic image of Sister Rosetta Tharpe. She is pictured from the head up, face tilted upwards, eyes closed and appears to be singing. Along the right side is the Mercury logo in red followed by [THE GOSPEL TRUTH] in pink, [SISTER ROSETTA THARPE] in green [AND THE SALLY JENKINS SINGERS] in purple [RECORDED] in white [AT THE CHURCH OF GOD IN CHRIST HARLEM] in blue. The back of the jacket is white with black text. To the left is the track listing, to the right is an essay about Tharpe, the performance and gospel music written by Martin Williams, co-editor of The Jazz Review. At the bottom left is technical information on how the recording was made, written by Jack Tracy, Recording Director of Mercury Records.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1959
• Recorded by: Sister Rosetta Tharpe, American, 1915 - 1973
• Distributed by: Mercury Records, American, founded 1945
• Manufactured by: Mercury Records, American, founded 1945
• Type: record covers
• Type: long-playing records
• Medium: vinyl, ink on paper
• Dimensions: Diameter (record): 11 13/16 in. (30 cm)
• Dimensions: H x W (album jacket): 12 3/8 × 12 3/8 in. (31.5 × 31.5 cm)
• Place captured: Harlem, New York City, New York, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Gospel (Music)
• Topic: Instrumentalists (Musicians)
• Topic: Religion
• Topic: Rock and roll (Music)
• Topic: Singers (Musicians)
• Object number: 2014.98.18ab
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Gayle Wald
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The underlying object's rights statement is: Unknown - Restrictions Possible Rights assessment and proper usage is the responsibility of the user.