The Mark Hummel Papers consist of photographs, blues show flyers, blues music publications, audio recordings, and newspaper clippings documenting the career of blues musician Mark Hummel and the San Francisco Bay Area blues scene in the 1970s-1990s.

Blues musician and songwriter Mark Hummel (1955-) was born on December 15, 1955 in New Haven, Connecticut and grew up in Aliso Village, a public housing project in East Los Angeles, California. At an early age, he was interested and listened to rhythm & blues music on the radio and began playing the harmonica in bands in high school. He began performing as a professional musician after moving to Berkeley, California in 1972, where he performed with Boogie Jake, Sonny Lane, Cool Sadler, and Mississippi Johnny Waters. In 1977, Hummel formed The Blues Survivors with Mississippi Johnny Waters, a blues group that featured many notable blues musicians including Jimmy Bott, June Core, Rusty Zinn, Ronnie James, Chris Masterson, Charles Wheal, Joel Foy, and King of the Hill creator Mike Judge. Over the years, Hummel has toured the United States, Canada, and Europe and recorded with a number of notable musicians including Brownie McGhee, Lowell Fulson, Sue Foley, Charles Brown, and Bob Stroger and performed with The Blues Survivors at the San Francisco Blues Festival, Sonora Blues Festival, Chicago Blues Festival, and King Biscuit Blues Festival. He gained notoriety for founding the Blues Harmonica Blowout in 1991 which features a veteran lineup of harmonica players with The Blues Survivors. He was nominated for a Grammy in 2014 for his work performing and producing Blind Pig's Remembering Little Walter and wrote his autobiography, Big Road Blues: 12 Bars on I-80, documenting his long career on the road as a blues musician.

.25 linear feet (1 box)

Permission to publish from the Mark Hummel Papers must be obtained from the African American Museum & Library at Oakland.

No access restrictions. Collection is open to the public.