In 2018, I volunteered as the project leader of the Roy McCoy Photographs collection at the archives of the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University. Donated by the late jazz trumpeter and photographer Roy McCoy, the collection documents African American musical life in Baltimore, MD, highlighting ensembles based in, and traveling through, the city, and musical venues on Pennsylvania Avenue. McCoy performed with the Royal Theater house band and the Lionel Hamptom Band, and photographed both ensembles during his tenure with them. The collection also includes photo negatives and a photo album. One highlight includes a promotional photograph of Nat King Cole’s trio with Cole’s autograph to McCoy.
My responsibilities included re-processing and digitizing the collection. In addition to arrangement and description, I recommended out-of-scope records for removal and/or deaccession. The project resulted in an online, publicly accessible finding aid, photo collection, and scrapbook:
Finding Aid: http://aspace.library.jhu.edu/repositories/4/resources/1385#summary
Photo collection: https://cdm16613.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16613coll30
Scrapbook: https://cdm16613.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16613coll30/id/99/rec/10
