Search results

Title: SC1-2 Harvey Rettberg Papers Finding Aid
Description: Collection of correspondence, publications, photographs, newspaper clippings (including obituaries), etc., belonging to Harvey Rettberg, co-founder of the Coon-Sanders Nighthawks Fan Club. Includes information on Joe Sanders, Carleton Coon, and many other musicians like Phil Baxter, Boyd Senter, Jimmy Cullum, Curt Hitch, Tony Parenti, Harry and Edmond Souchon, Carleton Coon family, etc.
Date: 1950~/1999~
Object Type: Finding Aid

Title: SC1-1 Joe Sanders Collection Finding Aid
Description: Joe Sanders was born in Thayer, Kansas, and spent the majority of his childhood in the Kansas City area. He started his musical performances as a boy soprano in local church choirs and graduated from Westport High School. After World War I he organized an orchestra with Carleton Coon called the Nighthawks which played on the local radio and traveled the country. After Mr. Coon's untimely death in 1932, Sanders continued as a composer, piano player, singer, and conductor of his own band. Sanders died in 1965. This collection of material, such as scrapbooks, travelogues, photos, sheet music, etc., provides information and detail about Sanders, covering his formative musical years and later successful band career. It also contains information on the relationship between Carleton Coon and Joe Sanders and the formation and travels of their band in the 1920s.
Date: 1908~/1950~
Object Type: Finding Aid

Title: Floyd Eugene Estep
Description: Interior view of a seated Floyd E. Estep, at age 87. Location is Los Angeles, California. Estep played reeds in the Coon-Sanders Nighthawks.
Date: 1987
Object Type: Photograph

Title: Frank M. (Pop) and Lulu Estep Grave Marker
Description: Close-up view of the grave marker for Frank M. (Pop) Estep (1878-1949) and his wife Lulu M. Estep (1877-1967), located in Vista, California. (Pop) Estep was a member of the Coon-Sanders Nighthawks, playing bass.
Object Type: Photograph

Title: The Dance Band Era--The Dancing Decades from Ragtime to Swing: 1910-1950
Description: History of the Coon-Sanders Band, also known as the Kansas City Nighthawks, a Kansas City and Chicago-based band (led by Joe Sanders and Carleton Coon) of the late 1910s to the early 1930s, performing regularly on WDAF radio, with photo and map.
Date: 1971
Object Type: Book

Title: The Coon-Sanders Nighthawks: "The Band That Made Radio Famous"
Description: This book contains the history of the Nighthawks musical group and of Joe Sanders and Carleton Coon who led the band. It covers the beginning years to the death of Carleton Coon. They played a prominent role in early radio in the Kansas City area. Includes notes, bibliography and appendices.
Date: 2003
Object Type: Book

Title: Coon-Sanders Novelty Orchestra
Description: Group pose identified on the drum as Coon-Sanders Novelty Orchestra, Gayety Theatre Bldg., Kansas City Missouri. Includes Joe Sanders at the piano and Carleton Coon by smaller drum. Other members not identified. Believed to be early group, although probably not the first.
Date: 1920~
Object Type: Photograph

Title: Coon-Sanders Novelty Orchestra
Description: Early, interior view of Coon-Sanders group. Information on drum in picture reads: "Sure Its' Coon-Sanders Novelty Orchestra, Gayety Theatre Bldg., Harrison 859, Kansas City, Mo." It is noted on back that this particular photograph was courtesy of Harvey Rettberg, Pickens, S.C.
Date: 1920~
Object Type: Photograph

Title: Joe Sanders and Carleton Coon
Description: Interior pose of Joe Sanders on the left and Carleton Coon on the right. Probably taken in Kansas City.
Date: 1920~
Object Type: Photograph

Title: SC1-3 Fred Edmiston Papers Finding Aid
Description: Collection of material contained in five boxes that relates to the publication of "The Coon-Sanders Nighthawks: The Band That Made Radio Famous," authored by Fred Edmiston. This book recounts the Nighthawks formation and early years up to Carleton Coon's death in 1932. The collection includes primarily correspondence, photocopies of newspaper articles, photographs, audio recordings, and motion pictures, as well as a scrapbook that features Johnny Coon, Carleton Coon's son.
Date: 1920~/2003~
Object Type: Finding Aid

Title: Joe Sanders and Carleton Coon
Description: Interior pose of Joe Sanders on the left and Carleton Coon on the right. Probably taken in Kansas City.
Date: 1920~
Object Type: Photograph

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