Title: James R. and Susan Neumann Jazz Collection
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Administrative/Biographical History
James (Jim) R. Neumann is a business owner, jazz enthusiast, and active collector. Neumann is a 1958 graduate of Oberlin College, where he was a part of the campus Jazz Club, bringing to the college such performers as Dizzy Gillespie, Dave Brubeck, Woody Herman, Count Basie, the Modern Jazz Quartet, Duke Ellington, and Stan Kenton. He also hosted a jazz radio show – “Jazz Hot and Cool” – on the campus station WOBC.
After graduating from Oberlin and spending time in the U.S. Armed Forces, Neumann moved to Chicago to begin working at New Metal Crafts, a business that manufactures fine-lighting products. At the same time, Neumann began intentionally building his nascent collection of jazz recordings and memorabilia. Over the course of more than five decades, Neumann has amassed what is possibly the largest private collection of jazz-related material in the world.
In addition to collecting, Neumann and his wife Susan Neumann founded Bee Hive Records in 1977. The company recorded and released seventeen jazz albums between 1977 and 1984, featuring musicians including Pepper Adams, Curtis Fuller, Clifford Jordan, Nick Brignola, and Johnny Hartman.
Neumann continues actively collecting today from his residence in the Chicago area.
Administrative InformationThe James R. and Susan Neumann Jazz Collection has as its focal point over 100,000 jazz recordings in a variety of formats (78s, 45s, LPs, CDs, DVDs). The Collection also contains a large number of print materials, including approximately 2,000 books on jazz and over 100 titles of jazz and blues periodicals that encompass 125 linear feet of shelf space. There are thousands of musicians’ photographs and autographs, along with additional memorabilia including posters, concert programs, sheet music, record catalogs, and artifacts.
The initial portion of the Collection arrived at Oberlin in October 2011, consisting of 40,000 LPs, 7,000 78s, 125 linear feet of periodicals, and twenty linear feet of concert programs, record catalogs, and sheet music. This part of the Collection is currently being processed, cataloged, and digitized, and portions will be available for use beginning in late fall 2012.
More information on the Collection is available through a 2007 article from the Oberlin Conservatory Magazine and a 2008 article from Down Beat magazine.
To request access to the collection, contact Conservatory Library special collections staff at: con.special@oberlin.edu.
