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Archives and Special Collections
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Archives and Special Collections Finding Aids |
Printable Finding Aid. Back to Browsing Version. |
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| Collection Overview | |||||||||
| Title: | John Ross papers | ||||||||
| Dates: | 1963-2006 | ||||||||
| Location: | 65/4 | ||||||||
| Call Number: | M70 | ||||||||
| Volume: | 1 cubic ft. (1 box) | ||||||||
| Scope and Content Abstract: | The John Ross papers document his work as music director of the Elma Lewis School of Fine Arts and National Center of Afro-American Artists and his professional activities outside of them. The majority of the collection concerns performances of either Ross or the National Center of Afro-American Artists. This includes scripts, notes, advertisements, programs, and cast lists. Documentation of the annual Black Nativity is most prominent. The collection also contains administrative, programmatic, audiovisual, and student records of Elma Lewis School of Fine Arts and National Center of Afro-American Artists. | ||||||||
| Historical Abstract: | John Andrew Ross is an accomplished African-American composer, organist, choral conductor, and jazz musician. Born in Boston on December 15, 1940, Ross became the music director at the Elma Lewis School of Fine Arts in 1970. Working with the school and its parent organization, the National Center of Afro-American Artists, he lead two widely recognized music ensembles, the Voices of Black Persuasion and the Contra-Band. Since 1969, Ross has also been the musical director of the highly acclaimed Langston Hughes gospel play Black Nativity. | ||||||||
| Arrangement: | Arranged in one alphabetical sequence. | ||||||||
| Subjects and Contributors: |
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| Restrictions: | The collection is unrestricted. | ||||||||
| Processor: | Finding aid prepared by Stein Helmrich, February 2002 | ||||||||
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Scope and Content Note |
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The John Ross papers document his work as music director of Elma Lewis School of Fine Arts and National Center of Afro-American Artists and his professional activities outside of them. The majority of the collection concerns performances of either Ross or the National Center of Afro-American Artists. This includes scripts, notes, advertisements, programs, and cast lists. Documentation of the annual Black Nativity is most prominent. The collection also contains administrative, programmatic, audiovisual, and student records of Elma Lewis School of Fine Arts and National Center of Afro-American Artists. Included are budgets, proposals, applications, schedules, student lists, organizational information, and correspondence. Other records include information about the Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists, Elma Lewis (founder of the Elma Lewis School of Fine Arts and the National Center of Afro-American Artists), and the National Black Music Colloquium and Competition. There are also two recorded performances of Black Nativity: a CD Master DAT tape from 1995 and a mini-disc from December 8, 1996. In addition, there are two reel-to-reel tapes of Randy Weston performing for the Boston Pops in 1981. During this performance, Weston performed a song titled "Three African Queens: Blues for Elma Lewis." The collection also includes a small number of photographs of performances. Records relating to his work outside of Elma Lewis School of Fine Arts and National Center of Afro-American Artists include information about his book Climbing Jacob's Ladder, his involvement with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (N.A.A.C.P.), his involvement in the Unitarian Universalist Musician's Network, the annual festival of African Diaspora, and his notes and correspondence, which concern, Elma Lewis School of Fine Arts and National Center of Afro-American Artists among other topics
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Historical Note |
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John Andrew Ross is an accomplished African-American composer, organist, choral conductor, and jazz musician. Ross was born in Boston on December 15, 1940. In 1957, he entered Boston University where he concentrated in church music. He received degrees from the College of Liberal Arts in 1960 and the School of Fine and Applied Arts in 1964. In 1970, Ross became the music director at the Elma Lewis School of Fine Arts, which closed in 1990, and its parent organization, the National Center of Afro-American Artists. Working with these organizations, he lead two widely recognized music ensembles, the Voices of Black Persuasion and the Contra-Band. Since 1969, Ross has also been the musical director of the highly acclaimed Langston Hughes gospel play Black Nativity. Outside of this work, Ross is a member of the American Guild of Organists. On November 12, 1995 he was ordained as the Minister of Music at the First Parish Church in Brookline, Massachusetts, where he had begun serving as music director nine years before. Ross' work can be heard on his CD, Comin' up Shouting: Gospel Songs and Spirituals Newly Arranged. Co-producing with folklore author John Langstaff, Ross has written musical arrangements for two books, Climbing Jacob's Ladder: Heroes of the Bible in African-American Spirituals and What a Morning: The Christmas Story in Black Spirituals, the latter of which won the Corretta Scott King Book Award. He has also received multiple regional Emmy Award nominations. In 1981, he won a regional Emmy with Billy Wilson for "Blues and Gone," a part of the series "Say Brother" produced by Boston's public broadcasting station WGBH. Ross also won the 1990 Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. Musical Achievement Award from the city of Boston and the 2000 New England Conservatory Anna Bobbit Gardener Lifetime Achievement Award.
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| Box | Title | Date | |||||||
| 1 | Audio Materials: Contracts and Track List | n.d., 1995 | |||||||
| Elma Lewis School of Fine Arts | |||||||||
| 1 | Applications (3 folders) | 1982-1985 | |||||||
| 1 | Bicentennial Marching Band (2 folders) | n.d. | |||||||
| 1 | General | n.d., 1975-1976 | |||||||
| 1 | Music Program Summaries | 1969-1976 | |||||||
| 1 | Registration Forms | 1981-1984 | |||||||
| 1 | Schedules | 1977, 1984 | |||||||
| 1 | Student Lists | n.d.,1980-1984 | |||||||
| 1 | Lewis, Elma | 1985-1998 | |||||||
| 1 | "Look What A Wonder Jesus Has Done" | n.d. | |||||||
| 1 | Museum of the National Center for Afro-American Artists | 1979-1998 | |||||||
| 1 | National Black Music Colloquium and Competition | 1980 | |||||||
| National Center of Afro-American Artists | |||||||||
| 1 | Board of Directors | n.d., 1998 | |||||||
| 1 | Budget Reports and Proposals | 1980-1983 | |||||||
| 1 | Correspondence | n.d., 1976-1985 | |||||||
| 1 | Financial | 1976-1986 | |||||||
| 1 | Fundraising | 1977-1986 | |||||||
| 1 | New Building Proposal | 1999 | |||||||
| 1 | Organizational Structure | n.d., 1980 | |||||||
| Performances | |||||||||
| 1 | Battle of the Saxes | 1994-1995 | |||||||
| 1 | Black Nativity (15 folders) | 1961-1999 | |||||||
| 1 | Boston Pops | 1980-1984 | |||||||
| 1 | Bostaph, Nora | n.d., 1981-1987 | |||||||
| 1 | Celebrate | n.d., 1979 | |||||||
| 1 | Columbus Day Weekend, Landover, Maryland | n.d. | |||||||
| 1 | First Night | 1977-1987 | |||||||
| 1 | General | n.d., 1975-1993 | |||||||
| 1 | Ladies, Please! | 1985 | |||||||
| 1 | Martin Luther King, Jr. Day | 1980 | |||||||
| 1 | Max Roach on Drums | 1989 | |||||||
| 1 | Milestone's in Black Dance | 1993 | |||||||
| 1 | Music in the Air | 1981 | |||||||
| 1 | Next Time You See Me II | 1984 | |||||||
| 1 | Outside Groups | n.d., 1983-1986 | |||||||
| 1 | Past Indicative | 1986 | |||||||
| 1 | Photographs | n.d. | |||||||
| 1 | Tribute to Senator Edward Brooke | 1977 | |||||||
| 1 | Personnel Policy | 1979 | |||||||
| 1 | Staff Meetings | n.d. | |||||||
| 1 | Other Groups: Performances | n.d., 1983-1987 | |||||||
| Personal | |||||||||
| 1 | Climbing Jacob's Ladder | 1991-1992 | |||||||
| 1 | Church Service Bulletins | 1975-1995 | |||||||
| 1 | Correspondence | n.d., 1975-1986 | |||||||
| 1 | Diaspora | n.d., 1976-1979 | |||||||
| 1 | N.A.A.C.P. | 1981-1983 | |||||||
| 1 | Notes | n.d., 1980 | |||||||
| 1 | Performances (non- National Center of Afro-American Artists) | 1963-1991 | |||||||
| 1 | Resume and Obituary | n.d., 2006 | |||||||
| 1 | Sheet Music Arrangements | n.d. | |||||||
| 1 | "The Web Spinners," Mary C. MacNeil | ||||||||
| 1 | Unitarian Universalist Musician's Network | 1995-1998 | |||||||
| Audio material | |||||||||
| 1 | CD Master DAT Tape of Black Nativity | 1995 | |||||||
| 1 | Mini-disc of Black Nativity | 1996 | |||||||
| 1 | Randy Weston solo at the Boston Pops | 1981 | |||||||