The Historic New Orleans Collection is focusing on the Boswell Sisters in a new exhibit called “Shout Sister Shout! The Boswell Sisters in New Orleans.”

Timed to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the arrival of the Boswell Sisters in New Orleans from Birmingham, Alabama. The sisters, Martha, Connie, and Helvetia, were instructed by German-born New Orleans music tutor Otto Fink and were influenced by prominent local musicians of the time including Louis Prima, Pinky Vidacovich, Monk Hazel, Tony Parenti and Emmett Louis Hardy.

Soon Martha, Connie, and “Vet,” as Helvetia came to be know, embarked on a solo career, quickly becoming local favorites, first for their original instrumental arrangements and later for their syncopated, close-vocal harmonies.

“I think what made their style so attractive,” exhibition curator Mark Cave said in a press release, “was its freshness and spontaneity, which probably came from their exposure to the vibrant musical climate in New Orleans during the ’20s.”

The sisters moved to Los Angeles in the 1920s, and their performing careers wrapped up by 1936 as they all married and started families.

Although their career was short, it included collaborations with a who’s who of radio’s golden age: Bing Crosby, Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington and Tommy Dorsey, just to name a few. In addition, they were part of several broadcasting milestones. Locally they were featured on WDSU’s first radio broadcast and nationally they were part of CBS’s first-ever television broadcast.

Years after their heyday, the Boswell Sisters are still regarded as pioneers of the cheerful, close-harmony vocal style that brought joy to listeners across the nation during the Great Depression and later became emblematic of 1940s girl groups.

“Shout, Sister, Shout!” features more than 80 items, many from the Boswell Museum of Music Collection, which THNOC acquired in 2011.

“Music is our city’s greatest export,” Cave said. “Bringing this material back home after all these years gives us a chance, through exhibitions like this and through our research center, to educate people about our city’s contributions to American music.”

Accompanying these materials are personal artifacts and memorabilia from the Boswell family, as curated by Kyla Titus, granddaughter of Vet Boswell.

The display includes listening stations with recordings from the Boswell Sisters, photographs, radio scripts, notes from fans and peers and a 10-minute documentary by filmmaker Dan Garrison featuring an interview with the late Vet Boswell.

Related programming at the HNOC

15th Bill Russell Lecture, “The Boswell Sisters: Pioneers of American Popular Music”

Featuring a lecture by Kyla Titus and a performance by the Pfister Sisters

Thursday, April 10 • 6–8 p.m.

THNOC’s Williams Research Center • 410 Chartres St.

Admission is $10. Advanced registration is required. Seating is limited.

 

Concert in the Courtyard featuring the New Orleans Nightingales

Thursday, April 17 • Doors: 5:30 p.m.; music: 6–8 p.m.

533 Royal St.

Admission is $10 per person, free for THNOC members, and includes refreshments.