Kansas City: Paris of the Plains
The Jazz Age in Kansas City, 1920-1940

Kansas City history during the Jazz Age is the focus of Kansas City: Paris of the Plains - a special UMKC exhibition that went on display at the Miller Nichols Library on October 26, 2000. Originally scheduled to run for a seven-week period, the exhibit has been extended and will remain on display through May 2001. (See pictures of the exhibit below.)

Kansas City: Paris of the Plains chronicles life in Kansas City during the Jazz Age – a time when the city was one of the most dynamic arts centers in America. The exhibit examines the social, cultural, literary, and political heritage of jazz-age Kansas City and highlights the personalities of that era as well.

Young dreamers seeking excitement flocked to Kansas City, where the atmosphere was welcoming and unrestricted. Kansas City was a Mecca for artists and musicians, writers and inventors, grifters and tycoons. Kansas City and Paris - the City of Lights - though worlds apart geographically, shared a creative vitality that made them Jazz age icons.

Click on the images below to see full size images of the Library Exhibit

The exhibit draws upon the unique materials held by the Special Collections Department, the Marr Sound Archives, and the Music/Media Library at the Miller Nichols Library. Items from the Kansas City Museum, the Kansas City Public Library, and several private collections are also represented in the exhibit.

The library exhibit, program, and an accompanying Web exhibit are features of the KC 150 celebration.

The exhibit opened on Thursday evening, October 26, 2000 with a special slide presentation, “Photo Treasures of the Golden Age of Kansas City Jazz” from the collections of Frank Driggs, noted New York writer, photographer, record producer and music historian. Driggs worked as a record producer with John Hammond at Columbia Records, and his book Black Beauty, White Heat: a Pictorial History of Jazz is a classic in the field. He contributed the chapter on jazz in the Southwest and Kansas City for Gunther Schuller’s history of jazz. Driggs’ photographic and audio collections were resources for Ken Burns’ forthcoming documentary on the history of jazz. Driggs was joined by Chuck Haddix, Marr Sound Archives Audio Specialist and host of UMKC’s KCUR-FM “Fish Fry” radio program, for a lively discussion on historic moments and famous jazz performers that made Kansas City, an American “Paris.” Driggs and Haddix are collaborating on a new book on Kansas City jazz.

Kansas City: Paris of the Plains also will be available as an online Web exhibit linked from the UMKC Libraries’ Website. TheWebexhibit will feature audio selections from the Marr Sound Archives, links to other points on the Internet, and additional images and expanded narratives. TheWebexhibit will be a permanent contribution to Kansas City’s heritage for the sesquicentennial celebrations for KC 150.

Members of the UMKC Libraries Jazz Exhibits Planning Committee were: Elizabeth Ader Henry, Sandy Beaty, Marilyn Carbonell, Laura Gayle Green, Chuck Haddix, Virginia Long, Robert Ray, and Helen Spalding. Robert Ray, Special Collections Librarian, heads the project team for the library exhibit and the online exhibit. Ted P. Sheldon is the Director of the UMKC Libraries (1985-2004).