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The series illustrates the career of Harry James, an American Jazz musician. Harry James was born in Albany, Georgia, United States in 1916. He was a trumpet player and band leader during the Big Band Era. Harry James was married to actress Betty Grable. He died in 1983.

The series includes without limitations two scrapbooks, photographs, correspondence, discographies, press clippings, posters, and several issues of The Music Maker, a magazine published by the Harry James Appreciation Society.

The series documents the jazz scenes in both the United States and Canada in the second half of the 20th century. It refers not only to celebrated jazz musicians like Louis Armstrong and Oscar Peterson, but also to a variety of less well-known known performers.

The series includes two scrapbooks, 4 wall calendars, biographical information, discographies, press clippings, memorabilia, moving images, a sound recording, and a magazine, among other material.

The series relates to Peter K. Johnston’s activities as a collector of jazz-related items. It documents Johnston’s relations to other collectors as well as to Peter Levinson, who wrote a biography on Harry James in 1999, and his involvement in the Montreal Vintage Music Society (MVMS) and the Canadian Collectors’ Congress.

The series includes correspondence, directories, reference documentation, and photographs, among other material.

The Peter K. Johnston fonds contains documentation pertaining to the American Jazz musician Harry James (1916-1983) and the Big band era. The fonds primarily documents the musical career of Harry James as bandleader and trumpeter. It also includes information on the Montreal Vintage Music Society (MVMS), and on other jazz musicians, such as Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Metcalf, Oscar Peterson, and Glenn Miller, among many others.

The fonds contains memorabilia, correspondence, magazines, discographies, photographs, newspaper clippings, reference documentation, posters, moving images, and an audio recording, among other material. Some of the documents are arranged in scrapbooks.

The fonds is arranged in the following series :
P0199 / A Harry James
P0199 / B Other Jazz musicians
P0199 / C Peter Johnston as a collector