STATEMENT

This digital archive project is a comparison between three musicians who were all active in the 1930s, Nora Holt, Vaughn De Leath, and Billy Tipton. Through this comparison, I formulate an argument about the nature of how society archives and remembers popular figures—especially those who by reason of their race, gender, and/or queerness have different aspects of their life emphasized or erased—become narratable subjects.

Music is a collective project, yet with the transition towards blockbuster singers during this time, as opposed to bands and ensembles, it was the individual that became the center of attention and memory. But I argue that these archives, which intend to immortalize important individuals, are ultimately an expression of our—the archivers and the viewers of archives—fundamental “desire for access." Anjali Arondekar has pursued her archival explorations as a study of how consumers of the archive, in their hungry search for (hidden) truths about the marginalized, create a lens through which to make meaning of traces and fragments.[1] Every item in the "Call/Recall" collection should be viewed through this lens. What are the deliberate ways in which this item was manufactured, curated, and made meaningful? What desires are fueling the particular interpretation and framing?

As Ann Cvetkovich writes in An Archive of Feelings Trauma, Sexuality, and Lesbian Public Cultures, trauma and emotion are an unavoidable part of queer archives, and archives of the marginalized more generally.[2] On the other hand, entertainers and celebrities often hide their personal struggles from the public, putting forth a public-facing persona instead. This results in incomplete and biased traces in the archive of how they felt about the challenges they encountered in their lives. Nonetheless, archivists, researchers, and the public use these traces to construct stories about these figures and what they mean for our society (Billy Tipton), our hometown (Vaughn de Leath), or our race (Nora Holt).

It is undeniable, at the same time, that these figures were also agents of self-expression, even if they were constrained by career expectations and societal norms. Their reconciling of their personhood with their fame can be seen in the way they express their voice (in their actual singing and more generally).

Perhaps one of the most prominent ways we run into this problem of self-expression versus marketing of the celebrity is in the way names are used. All three singers grapple with naming themselves. Billy Tipton intentionally chooses to go by a name that fits his chosen gender identity and lifestyle. Vaughn De Leath uses a myriad of aliases in order to satisfy different recording companies who are jealous of their turf. And Nora Holt, “jazz age goddess,” changed her name constantly because, as Cheryl A. Wall puts it, “She was eager to try on and shed new identities, in part because they allowed her to inhabit roles that would have otherwise been incompatible. Holt reveled in the confusion she left in her wake.”[3]

I now invite you to explore each item in "Call/Recall" in whatever order you wish. These themes about voice, naming, marginalization, archival incompleteness, creativity, and agency are highlighted in the items' descriptions. If you're not sure where to start, I recommend first checking out the items with audio materials. Or, you can start with a specific musician: Nora Holt, Vaughn De Leath, or Billy Tipton.

[1] Anjali Arondekar et al., “Queering Archives,” Radical History Review 2015, no. 122 (2015): 211, https://doi.org/10.1215/01636545-2849630.

[2] Cvetkovich, Ann. Archive of Feelings. 2008. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2003.

[3] Cheryl A. Wall, “8. Nora Holt: New Negro Composer and Jazz Age Goddess,” March 8, 2019, 91–104, https://doi.org/10.11647/obp.0153.08.