Join us for an explorative gallery talk on Jazz Age Illustration, led by scholar and friend of the Museum, Hannah Grantham (Director of the Jane and Littleton Mitchell Center for African American Heritage). This talk will highlight Grantham’s research on the role of women during the Jazz Age and in American jazz culture.
Hannah Grantham is the Director of the Jane and Littleton Mitchell Center for African American Heritage at the Delaware Historical Society. In her background as a cultural heritage professional, Grantham has worked collaboratively to curate exhibitions, care for mixed media collections, and develop public programs that immerse curious learners in history, culture, and society. As a scholar, Grantham is passionate about sharing the stories of women in American jazz culture as performers, artists, business entrepreneurs, and audience members. Her dissertation research at the University of Delaware re-examines the early decades of the jazz entertainment industry by investigating the collections women assembled that documented their involvement in the art form and lives of women in jazz, particularly focusing on their roles as wives. It re-examines the history of jazz through the perspectives of women who preserved, archived, and documented this art form as it evolved.”
Image: Girls I Adore (detail), 1934, Illustration for “Girls I Adore” by McClelland Barclay with text by Alice-Leone Moats, syndicated nationally by King Features. Appeared in Philadelphia Inquirer, March 18, 1934. McClelland Barclay (1891–1943). Charcoal on illustration board, composition: 31 9/16 × 25 7/8 inches, sheet: 33 1/8 × 28 inches. Delaware Art Museum, F. V. du Pont Acquisition Fund, 1992. © Artist or Publisher.