Historical Society Features Jazz Great Clifford Brown

August, 2009 is a time of celebration for Wilmington and the Delaware Historical Society, for 2 reasons.  The first is that the Christopher L. Ward Reading Room of the Research Library has reopened with a new heating and cooling system in their converted bank building at 505 Market Street.

The second celebration is for the opening of an exhibit in the Willingtown Square Gallery adjacent to the old bank. It features a Clifford Brown collection donated by Paul Preston Davis, a Wilmington native and devoted collector of materials related to both the city and African American history.  Despite his short life and career, Brown is still honored by jazz afficionados and by the city of Wilmington and its annual Clifford Brown Jazz Festival. Below are pictures of the Delaware History Center museum and across the street from it, Willingtown Square, a collection of buildings moved to the site when threatened by demolition.