TABLE OF CONTENTS
Descriptive Summary of the Collection
Scope and Content of the Collection
Series 1: Nightclub Career, 1933-1937
Series 2: Teaching Career and Personal, 1918-1989
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Inventory of the Bessie Barnes Papers, 1918-1992
Machine-readable finding aid encoded by Lisa Janssen, 2006. ©2006. |
Descriptive Summary of the Collection |
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| Creator | Barnes, Bessie |
| Title | Bessie Barnes Papers |
| Dates | 1918-1992 |
| Extent | 3 cubic ft. (7 boxes) |
| Abstract | Photographs, newspaper reviews and miscellaneous personal items relating to Bessie Barnes, producer of nightclub theatrical reviews in Chicago and Milwaukee in the 1920’s and 1930’s |
| Language | Materials are in English. |
| Repository | Newberry Library, Roger and Julie Baskes Department of Special Collections |
| Collection Call Number | Dance MS Barnes |
| Collection Stack Location | 3A 46 2 |
Administrative Information
Cite As
Bessie Barnes Papers, Midwest Manuscript Collection, The Newberry Library, Chicago.
Provenance
Gift of Jeffrey Smith, 2005.
Processed by
Leslie James Osterberg, 2006.
Access
The Bessie Barnes Papers are open for research in the Special Collections Reading Room; 1 box at a time (Priority III).
Ownership and Literary Rights
The Bessie Barnes Papers are the physical property of the Newberry Library. Copyright may belong to the authors or their legal heirs or assigns. For permission to publish or reproduce any materials from this collection, contact the Roger and Julie Baskes Department of Special Collections.
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Biography of Bessie Barnes
Producer of nightclub theatrical revues in Chicago and Milwaukee during the 1920's and 1930's.
Bessie Barnes was born on January 28, 1905, in Hammond, Louisiana, and grew up in the Chicago area. She learned music from her mother, a pianist and music teacher, and graduated from Lake View High School where she was the orchestral and solo accompanist. While still in high school Barnes was the radio accompanist and soloist for station WJAZ, broadcast from the Edgewater Beach Hotel. Further musical training took place at the Chicago Music College and the VanderCook College of Music in Chicago.
In the 1920’s and 1930’s Barnes produced elaborate stage shows at several well-known Chicago nightclubs, including The Frolics, Rainbow Gardens, Friar’s Inn and the Rendezvous Café. She worked with Fred and Adele Astaire and comedian Joe E. Louis, and gave Ginger Rogers her first dancing job.
From 1934 to 1936 Barnes produced the floorshows at Picks Club Madrid in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She was responsible for all aspects of the highly praised dance ensemble numbers from designing the shows and choreography to selecting the dancers, music and costumes. There were three shows a night, and the revue changed several times a year. Barnes was frequently involved in the entire show – singers, dance soloists, dance teams – besides staging the creative numbers.
In 1925 Barnes married Billy G. Rankin, a Chicago nightclub owner; the marriage ended in divorce. In 1931 Barnes married Elmer J. Baril, an executive at the Borden Company. He died in 1953.
Following her nightclub career Barnes turned to teaching. She took classes and taught at the VanderCook College of Music and received a Bachelor of Music Education degree in 1956. From the late 1930’s into the 1970’s Barnes was a band and choral director, dance teacher, vocal music instructor, and accompanist at several elementary and high schools in smaller communities in Illinois and Wisconsin. She also provided private musical instruction and was active in the Midwest Band Clinic. She moved to Poynette, Wisconsin, in 1978 at the invitation of a former student who wanted her to teach music to his children.
Barnes was an avid postcard collector. In her retirement she kept in touch with her students and enjoyed telling of her days at the clubs. She died in Poynette on May 29, 1996.
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Scope and Content of the Collection
Materials from Barnes's professional career as producer of nightclub shows in Chicago and Milwaukee, and from her later music teaching career and her personal life. Also many photographs, a black and white film, and a personal postcard collection.
Nightclub-related papers include production notes, programs, scrapbooks, and newspaper articles. Personal and teaching items include school transcripts, teaching credentials, materials relating to her Midwest Band Clinic and VanderCook School of Music employment, a family genealogy, and articles about Barnes upon her retirement. There are many photographs of nightclub performers, including showgirls in costume taken by H.A. Atwell of Chicago, as well as formal portraits and snapshots of family members and from vacations in Montana and elsewhere. There is also film footage of Bessie Barnes's show at the Kenosha County Fair in 1939. Of particular interest is an album of a 1938 Indian fair, probably in Montana.
Materials separated from the Barnes papers to the Newberry general collections include two super disc reference recordings made at radio station WGES (Federal Theater on the Air, May 11,1936 and Federal Theater Program, April 6, 1939), and Barnes's collection of song/music books, instrumental and popular sheet music, and a few other music-related items.
Narrative descriptions of the subject matter, types of material, and arrangement of each series are available through the Organization section of the finding aid.
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Organization
Papers are organized in the following series:
- Series 1: Nightclub Career, 1933-1937. Box(es) 1-2
- Series 2: Teaching Career and Personal, 1918-1989. Box(es) 3
- Series 3: Photographs and Film, 1880-1992. Box(es) 4-6
- Series 4: Postcards, 1908-1986 . Box(es) 7
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Selected Search Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Newberry Library's public catalog. Researchers desiring additional materials on a particular topic should search the catalog using these headings.
Names
- Baril, Elmer J.
- Barnes family
- Barnes, Bessie
- Borden Company
- Century of Progress International Exposition (1933-1934 : Chicago, Ill.)
- Club Belladonna (Chicago, Ill.)
- Club Madrid (Milwaukee, Wisc.)
- Curt Teich & Co.
- E.C. Kropp Co.
- Lake View High School (Chicago, Ill.)
- Midwest Band Clinic
- Rankin, Billy G.
- Tichnor Brothers, Inc.
- VanderCook College of Music (Chicago, Ill.)
Subjects
- Indians in rodeos -- Montana -- Photographs
- Manuscripts, American--Illinois--Chicago
- Moving images -- 1939
- Nightclubs -- Illinois -- Chicago -- History -- 20th century -- Sources
- Nightclubs -- Wisconsin -- Milwaukee -- History -- 20th century -- Sources
- Photographs -- 1880-1992
- Postcards -- 1908-1986
- Women dancers -- Middle West -- History -- 20th century -- Sources
- Women singers -- Middle West -- History -- 20th century -- Sources
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Container List
Series 1: Nightclub Career, 1933-1937 |
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| Material related to producing nightclub revues in Chicago and Milwaukee, including production notes, reviews, programs, menus, clippings, telegrams, and photographs of performers and of Barnes. Also “This Week in Milwaukee” entertainment guides that contain advertisements, reviews and articles about Club Madrid shows, and photographs of performers. | |||||||||||
| Arranged by type of material, followed by "This Week in Milwaukee" guides. | |||||||||||
| Box | Folder | Contents | |||||||||
| 1 | 1 | Chicago nightclubs - Notes, reviews, photographs, programs, correspondence, address book, 1933-1934 | |||||||||
| 1 | 2 | Club Madrid - Menus, postcards | |||||||||
| 1 | 3 | Club Madrid - Production notes, bills, receipts, 1934-1937 | |||||||||
| 1 | 4 | Club Madrid - Clippings, reviews 1934-1935 | |||||||||
| 1 | 5 | Photographs, professional - Bessie Barnes | |||||||||
| 1 | 6 | Photographs, professional - theatrical performers (List in folder) | |||||||||
| 1 | 7 | Scrapbook (original and copies) of clippings relating to the Chicago and Milwaukee clubs, 1933-1934 | |||||||||
| 1 | 8 | Telegrams related to shows, 1934 | |||||||||
| 1 | 9 | Miscellaneous newspaper articles saved by Barnes | |||||||||
| 2 | 10-17 | This Week in Milwaukee, 1934-1936 | |||||||||
Series 2: Teaching Career and Personal, 1918-1989 |
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| Materials from Barnes's education, teaching career, and personal life, including transcripts, resumes, teaching contracts and certifications, identification cards, teaching schedules, and personal notes on teaching. There is also material pertaining to family genealogy, Barnes's husband Elmer J. Baril and his career at the Borden Company, and recognition that Barnes received later in her life. | |||||||||||
| Arranged according to categories, e.g., education, teaching career, etc. | |||||||||||
| Box | Folder | Contents | |||||||||
| 3 | 18 | Education - Transcripts from Vandercook College of Music, autograph book from Waters School, publication from Lake View High School, 1918-1921 | |||||||||
| 3 | 19 | Teaching Career - Resume, teaching contracts, license, and certification, newspaper articles, photographs | |||||||||
| 3 | 20 | Teaching Career - Midwest Band Clinic | |||||||||
| 3 | 21 | Teaching Career - Faculty of the VanderCook School of Music | |||||||||
| 3 | 22 | Personal - Genealogy | |||||||||
| 3 | 23 | Personal - Elmer J. Baril, Borden Company | |||||||||
| 3 | 24 | Retirement and Recognition - newspaper articles, personal notes | |||||||||
Series 3: Photographs and Film, 1880-1992 |
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| Professional photographs and snapshots, some in photograph albums. Included are professional photographs of nightclub stage performers (many of the Billy Rankin Revue), Barnes and other family members, and snapshots of town and college scenes from the turn of the century, and vacations in Montana, Niagara Falls, Alabama, and Texas. Also a black and white 8 mm film of Bessie Barnes's show at the Kenosha County Fair in 1939. Of particular interest is an album containing photographs of an Indian fair and rodeo, probably taken in Montana in 1938. | |||||||||||
| For professional photographs, see also Series 1: Nightclub Career. | |||||||||||
| Organized with oversize professional photographs preceding other family and vacation photographs and albums. | |||||||||||
| Box | Folder | Contents | |||||||||
| 4 | 25 | Nightclub stage performers, including showgirls in costume (by H. A. Atwell, Chicago) | |||||||||
| 4 | 26 | Barnes, Bessie - professional portrait (by Bloom, Chicago) | |||||||||
| 4 | 27 | Family - Barnes, Bessie with Barnes's husband and his parents, and brother Lee Barnes | |||||||||
| 5 | 28 | Family - Album - Cabinet photographs, and other media of individuals and town and college scenes, ca. 1900 | |||||||||
| 5 | 29 | Family - Album - Barnes family, neighbors and friends, 1918-1920 | |||||||||
| 5 | 30 | Family - Album - Barnes, Bessie, Elmer Baril, friends and family, Wisconsin and Chicago (with a 1932 letter from Elmer's father), 1930-1932 | |||||||||
| 5 | 31 | Family - Album - Barnes-Baril wedding | |||||||||
| 6 | 32 | Family - Snapshots - Barnes, Bessie, 1930-1992 | |||||||||
| 6 | 33 | Family - Snapshots and studio photographs - Baril, Elmer J. and family, ca. 1930-ca. 1950 | |||||||||
| 6 | 34 | Family - Snapshots - William Douglas (brother-in-law) family and home, 1930's | |||||||||
| 6 | 35 | Vacations -Snapshots and related items - Montana vacation, 1938 | |||||||||
| 6 | 36 | Vacations - Snapshots in Album - Indian fair and rodeo, probably in Montana, with annotations by Barnes, 1938 | |||||||||
| 6 | 37 | Vacations - Snapshots of Niagara Falls, Alabama, and Texas | |||||||||
| 6 | 38 | Miscellaneous photographs and negatives | |||||||||
| 6 | 39 | 8 mm film of Barnes's show for the Kenosha County Fair, 1939 | |||||||||
Series 4: Postcards, 1908-1986 |
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| Postcards Barnes received (or sent to herself), or had been given by others. Barnes frequently wrote the year received and the sender on the front of the post card. Includes color-printed linen postcards from the major companies (Curt Teich & Co., E. C. Kropp Co., Tichnor Bros, Inc.), and photographs printed with postcard backings, There are postcards of scenes or views from thirty-seven states, the District of Columbia, Canada, Mexico, Cuba, Europe, and other parts of the world. | |||||||||||
| Organized chronologically, with a few separate topics. | |||||||||||
| Box | Folder | Contents | |||||||||
| 7 | 40 | Postcard album - 93 cards, 1908-1947 | |||||||||
| 7 | 41 | Postcards (22) from the Anton Seif family, 1896-1924 | |||||||||
| 7 | 42 | Postcards (35), 1930's or earlier | |||||||||
| 7 | 43 | Postcards (9), Century of Progress, black/white and color, 1933 | |||||||||
| 7 | 44 | Postcards (6), Chicago Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway | |||||||||
| 7 | 45 | Postcards (32), 1940-1941 | |||||||||
| 7 | 46 | Postcards (33), 1942-1944 | |||||||||
| 7 | 47 | Postcards (9), related to the military, 1941-1945 | |||||||||
| 7 | 48 | Postcards (42), 1945-1946 | |||||||||
| 7 | 49 | Postcards (45), 1947-1948 | |||||||||
| 7 | 50 | Postcards (38), 1949-1950 | |||||||||
| 7 | 51 | Postcards (41), 1951-1952 | |||||||||
| 7 | 52 | Postcards (56), Barnes's trip to California, 1953 | |||||||||
| 7 | 53 | Postcards (32), 1954-1956 | |||||||||
| 7 | 54 | Postcards (37), 1957-1959 | |||||||||
| 7 | 55 | Postcards (32), 1960s | |||||||||
| 7 | 56-57 | Postcards (83), 1970s | |||||||||
| 7 | 58 | Postcards (24), 1980s | |||||||||
| 7 | 59 | Postcard Souvenir Folders by Curt Teich & Co. (3), n.d., 1946 | |||||||||
| 7 | 60 | Postcards, Miscellaneous, undated, or oversize (14), n.d. | |||||||||