Summary

Album of the Benny Goodman Trio playing for the Fletcher Henderson Fund. It consists of a vinyl record in its original plastic sleeve within the album cover. This album is undated but various editions were distributed between 1951 and 1954. 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 a red, black and white geometric patter with an image of piano keys running down the right hand side, a clarinet in the centre and two drum sticks between the two. The title "the benny goodman trio" is written in the centre, split by the clarinet. Beneath that is a by-line "PLAYS FOR THE FLETCHER HENDERSON FUND". Above that is a list of musicians and their instruments who feature. Beneath the title is a list of songs on the record. The back of the cover has a white background, and the top half is text, details of songs on each side, a blurb above the Benny Goodman Trio and a blurb about Harmony Records. The bottom half of the back are a series of images of other Harmony Records record covers.

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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