Photograph of Billie Holiday: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A silver gelatin print depicting a black-and-white image of Billie Holiday. Holiday is depicted standing behind a microphone stand. She wears a white blouse, belt, and floral skirt. A band is depicted in the background behind her, on the left side of the image. At the center of the image is a handwritten inscription in black ink that reads, [To Laura Wise / Frantic [?] to Me / Lady Day / Billie Holiday]. A second inscription below, written by a different hand, reads, [Chicago Dec / 1943]. The image is bordered with white and along bottom is black text on the left and right sides. The text in the lower left corner reads, [BILLIE HOLIDAY]. The text in the lower right corner reads, [Personal Management / JOE GLASER / R C A Building 30 Rockefeller Plaza / New York N.Y.]. There is a notation in pencil on the back of the photograph.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: December 1943
• Photograph by: Unidentified
• Distributed by: Joe Glaser, American, 1896 - 1969
• Subject of: Billie Holiday, American, 1915 - 1959
• Type: gelatin silver prints
• Type: portraits
• Medium: silver and photographic gelatin on photographic paper
• Dimensions: H x W (Image): 8 11/16 × 7 7/16 in. (22.1 × 18.9 cm)
• Dimensions: H x W (Sheet): 10 × 8 3/16 in. (25.4 × 20.8 cm)
• Place made: New York City, New York, United States, North and Central America
• Place collected: Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Actors
• Topic: Jazz (Music)
• Topic: Nightlife
• Topic: Photography
• Topic: Singers (Musicians)
• Topic: Theatre
• Object number: 2013.46.25.80
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
• 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.