Entrance to the collection
NEGRO SPIRITUALS, LYON
in the catalog
of the Municipal Library of Lyon
French version click here
Since April 29, 2022, the NEGRO SPIRITUALS, LYON Collection of the FONDS LOUIS THOMAS ACHILLE has officially entered the catalog of the Municipal Library of Lyon (Music Department).
To mark this entry, the Library organized on March 16, 2023, in collaboration with the children of Louis Thomas ACHILLE and the NEGRO SPIRITUALS association, LYON, which donated it, a free event with:
- Presentation of the history of the fund by Etienne Achille, president of NEGRO SPIRITUALS, LYON
- Conference-debate by Celeste Day Moore, historian of African-American culture, media and black internationalism in the 20th century, associate professor of history at Hamilton College (State of New York, United States).
- Questions and testimonials from the public
Listen to the RCF program “Oh happy Day”
click on the logo
Read the article in M, magazine du Monde:
A Lyon, un trésor sur les negro spirituals tombé du ciel
The speaker analyzed the essential role played by Louis Thomas ACHILLE and the Park Glee Club® in the non-commercial dissemination of Negro Spirituals in France, a subject to which she devoted Chapter 4 of her book Soundscapes of Liberation: African American Music in Postwar. France (Duke University Press, 2021)
The NEGRO SPIRITUALS, LYON collection
of the LOUIS THOMAS ACHILLE FUND
This unique and rare ensemble, put together by its founder over three decades, includes:
- more than 170 vinyl records of Negro Spirituals, Gospel and Blues,
- the 78 rpm discs recorded by Louis Thomas ACHILLE in 1934 and 1938,
- records recorded by the Park Glee Club® choir of Louis Thomas ACHILLE,
- audio cassettes of various interpretations of Negro Spirituals,
- Park Glee Club® concerts in France and the United States,
- recordings of the “Monthly Themes” of the Negro Spirituals association, Lyon (1990-1994),
- lectures and interventions by Louis Thomas ACHILLE (in particular the one delivered, in English, at the international conference « Black Americans and Europe », University of Paris III – Center for Afro-American Studies, February 1992),
- the video documentaries Chanter le Negro Spiritual avec le Park Glee Club® (1994) and Itinerary of Louis T. Achille Fort-de-France 1909-Lyon 1994 November 1994 (1994), directed by Jean-Louis ACHILLE
- scores and collections of Negro Spirituals
- as well as a hundred books relating to Negro Spirituals, Negritude, African-American issues, Martin Luther King, etc.
Welcome by the largest municipal library in France
The availability of this collection to the general public celebrates more than thirty years of the history of this fund and opens a new page, as its founder had wished. It is accessible to the general public for physical consultation; online access will take place once all the content has been digitized by the Library.
Read the invitation of
the Municipal Library of Lyon
The Topo magazine of the Municipal Library of Lyon
topo_158_bd pp. 1-2, 30-31, 66
Read : Le Progrès – Lyon edition of March 15, 2023
Article Le Progrès 20230315 sur LTAchille (titré)
Sustainable anchoring in Lyon
This act deepens the link between Louis Thomas ACHILLE and Lyon, his adopted city, already symbolized by the decision of its City Council, dated May 28, 2018, to give his name to an alley in the new La Confluence district of Lyon. 2nd.
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