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Stephen Longstreet collection
Descriptive Summary
10 linear feet (10 boxes and 2 drawers) of material consisting of watercolors, sketches, sketchbooks, “photolithographs,” and collages by Stephen Longstreet, many of which served as the basis for a 1989 exhibition in the Department of Special Collections, “Jazz--The Chicago Scene: The Art of Stephen Longstreet.” The materials were a gift to the University of Chicago Library from the artist.
Biographical Historical Note
Stephen Longstreet was a writer, cartoonist, and painter. Longstreet studied in Paris and at Rutgers and Harvard Universities, graduating from the New York School of Fine and Applied Art (Parsons) in 1929. On his return to the United States, his artistic style was considered “too modern” to sell, and he thus pursued a career as a magazine artist and cartoonist. His work was published in the New Yorker, Life, Colliers, and the Saturday Evening Post. In 1933 Longstreet began writing radio shows for John Barrymore, Bob Hope, and Rudy Valle. Longstreet made his living as an author, eventually publishing over a hundred books, including five on the subject of jazz.