The Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society (STJS) began on Sunday May 5, 1968, with a group of local jazz musicians gathering at the Orangevale Grange Hall to play for a small group of jazz fans. The musicians included Dr. Bill Borcher, the Dean of Men at American River College and trumpet player for the Delta Moonlighters; John Knurr, a local high school music teacher; jazz trombonist Jerry Kaehele; and George Boyd and his Good Time Go-to-Meeting Band. The non-profit organization holds an annual Jazz Jubilee Festival on Memorial Day weekend and conducts jazz education programs and community outreach. STJS is the largest traditional jazz organization in the United States. The collection dates from 1952 to 2003, with the bulk of the material dating from 1974 to 1998 and includes correspondence, financial documents, legal documents, meeting records, grant applications, publications, directors files, photographs, programs, and brochures.

The Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society (STJS) began on Sunday May 5, 1968, with a group of local jazz musicians gathering at the Orangevale Grange Hall to play for a small group of jazz fans. The musicians included Dr. Bill Borcher, the Dean of Men at American River College and trumpet player for the Delta Moonlighters; John Knurr, a local high school music teacher; jazz trombonist Jerry Kaehele; and George Boyd and his Good Time Go-to-Meeting Band. Originally named the New Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society, the musicians met informally in the afternoon on the first Sunday of the month and elected Jerry Kaelhele as the first president, Jack Burke as vice president, and Roy Harper as secretary-treasurer. As news of the Jazz Society spread, more jazz musicians joined the Sunday sessions and their membership grew. In October 1969, Borcher helped friends arrange a fundraiser on the Delta King riverboat, which attracted a crowd of 4,000. Publicity from that fundraiser and two more successful fundraisers in November and December of that year generated even more public interest in jazz. The STJS soon outgrew the Orangevale Grange Hall, and in 1970 the musicians moved their Sunday concerts to larger venues, like the El Rancho Motel and the Carmichael Elks Lodge. For the next three years, paid guest artists and bands joined STJS musicians in performances around Sacramento.

58 linear feet

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