Fan from the Cotton Club: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

Advertising fan for the Cotton Club. On the front is a color illustration of a woman's portrait. The woman looks at the viewer and her hair is swept up around her neck to fall over her PL shoulder. Only the top of shoulders, her neck and head are seen. On her PR ear is a round earring. The illustration is on a yellow background. On the reverse of the fan is a black and white silhouette of a jungle with a band playing music. The jungle scene takes up the majority of the back with the band only along the bottom portion. At the top of the back, in white letter is the club name "The/ COTTON CLUB." The wood handle is attached to the back in the middle. On either side of the handle is black text; on the left "Lenox Avenue/ at 142nd St./ Br 2-7767-1687" and on the right "The Aristocrat/ of Harlem."

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1923-1935
• Manufactured by: Unidentified
• Subject of: Cotton Club, American, 1923 - 1940
• Type: fans (costume accessories)
• Medium: ink on cardboard with wood and metal
• Dimensions: H x W: 12 5/16 × 8 7/8 × 1/16 in. (31.3 × 22.5 × 0.2 cm)
• Place used: New York City, New York County, New York, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Dance
• Topic: Entertainers
• Topic: Musical Theatre
• Topic: Nightlife
• Topic: Popular music
• Topic: Segregation
• Topic: Stereotypes
• Object number: 2013.223.40
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Vicki Gold Levi
• 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 displayed image also has an explicit CC0 designation. The underlying object's rights statement is: Public domain Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.