Live from the Reading Room: Correspondence is a podcast series that aims to share interesting and engaging letters written by or to key historical figures from the African Diaspora. Each episode highlights a letter from popular collections housed in the Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library.
Today’s episode features a letter from jazz singer, dancer, and nightclub owner Ada “Bricktop” Smith, jazz trumpeter, composer, singer, and "auto-archivist"Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong.
The Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division holds public-service copies of both commercial and archival recordings featuring Ada "Bricktop" Smith including: "Funny That Way,""Embraceable You," and " Can't We Be Friends." For more information about these and other items, please contact schomburgaudiovisual@nypl.org.
Today’s correspondence is recited by Isissa Komada-John, Exhibitions Manager, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library.
*Special Note: All text is represented as originally written by the correspondent.