Summary

Aretha Franklin album featuring music from the Warner Bros. Motion Picture 'Sparkle'. It consists of a vinyl record in its original plastic sleeve within the album cover. It was made in New York by the Atlantic Recording Corporation, copyrighted in 1976. Lindsay and Sylvia Motherwell both enjoyed a variety of music, from jazz to musicals.

Sylvia Boyes (a South African-born orphan) and Lindsay Motherwell (a Melbourne-born drummer) met in Cape Town, South Africa in 1967 through their theatre connections. They fell in love but due to apartheid laws were forced to leave South Africa to marry in London. They subsequently relocated permanently to Melbourne in 1970.

Physical Description

A 12" record in its original plastic sleeve within a cardboard album cover. The front cover is black with a photo of Aretha Franklin in the centre in a circular blue frame, on which is written "ARETHA FRANKLIN" "SPARKLE". There is also a small banner which says "MUSIC FROM THE WARNER BROS. MOTION PICTURE". Above the circle is a small acknowledgement "COMPOSED & PRODUCED BY CURTIS MAYFIELD". There is also still a price sticker which says $2.99 in the top right. The back has a white background, with a list of the songs on each side of the record and acknowledgements of artists and producers involved.

Significance

Statement of Historical Significance:
This collection provides a significant opportunity to represent political and personal freedom as a motivation for migrating to Australia within the international context of both apartheid in South Africa and the end of the White Australia policy in Australia. The personal narrative is well documented and the objects provide a material way to follow the lives of both Lindsay and Sylvia, both separately and where they coincide in South Africa and onwards together to Melbourne. While this is ultimately a love story, it plays out through the collection against the backdrop of apartheid South Africa, sixties London and an increasingly multicultural Australia.

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