Series 3: Business Records,1938-1988 (48 cu. ft.; 139 DB) consists of booking contracts and correspondence, tour receipts, personal and band bills and receipts, accounting ledgers, union dues statements, canceled checks and bank statements, accounting records for several Ellington-owned and operated music companies, tax records and Internal Revenue Service audits, general correspondence and miscellaneous records.
The business records document Duke Ellington's career as a musician, composer, and bandleader and the operation of several of his and Mercer Ellington's music companies, including Tempo Music, Inc., Gaye Records, Inc., and Eighty-Eight Records, Inc. between 1938 and 1988. The records illustrate the complexities of maintaining a stable performing musical group when America's tastes in popular music were shifting away from large swing-style orchestras. The business records are organized into nine Subseries. Subseries 3A: Performance Management Records, 1941-1974; Subseries 3B: Accounting Ledgers, 1960-1967; Subseries 3C: Work Dues Statements, 1965-1974; Subseries 3D: Bank Records, 1955-1974; Subseries 3E: Tempo Music, Inc. Records, 1961-1973; Subseries 3F: Music Company Records, 1938-1965; Subseries 3G: Tax Records and IRS Audits, 1944-1974; Subseries 3H: General Correspondence, 1941-1988; Subseries 3I: Miscellaneous Records, 1966-1970.
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