Notecard with handwritten description of "The Fabulous Talking Belt" with illustration

The Jackie Shane Papers consist mostly of paper, photographic, and three-dimensional objects related to the personal life and musical career of Jackie J. Shane (1940-2019) during her time in Tennessee, California, Massachussetts, and Canada.

The collection contains eight Series, ordered alphabetically and grouped by material format or content matter.

Series 1, Artifacts: Three-dimensional objects from Shane's performance and personal life.

Series 2, Correspondence: Handwritten and typed letters as well as postcards sent to and from Jackie Shane between family members, friends, fans, and music industry professionals from the 1960s to the 2010s.

Series 3, Performance Files: Mostly paper materials, like fliers, advertisements, music critic reviews and interviews from newspapers and mailers related to Jackie Shane shows and record releases during the 1960s. A few handwritten items from Shane, like her artist bio from c. 1965 and a tri-fold calendar of performances from 1968. There are a few contemporary newspapers and documents related to her public resurgence in the 2010s.

Series 4, Personal Writing and Documents: Some handwritten documents that seem like poetry or lyrics by Jackie Shane along with some of her general musings on life, similar to diary entries. This series also contains representative samples of her movie lists. There are a few family-related documents, like obituaries and rental agreements that help trace Shane's movements between Canada, California, and Tennessee. There are three address books and one desk diary; the desk diary is restricted in its original format, but a redacted digital copy exists for researchers. This series also contains her handwritten autobiography, which is under a donor-imposed restriction until October 2027.

Series 5, Photographs: Jackie Shane kept 9 photo albums and many loose photographs from her performances, her childhood, her family and friends, and several promotional photos of other performers. Although the photos were removed from the harmful acidic albums, they were kept contextually together within folders. The bulk of the photos are of Shane performing or from her personal life between the late 1950s to the early 1980s. Any captions have been recorded in a note field, usually listed under Physical Description.

Series 6, Receipts: Paper receipts for clothing, wigs, cosmetics, shoes, hotels, and plane tickets that help contextualize Shane's stage wear, personal looks, and places she lived during extended performance contracts, mostly during the 1960s.

Series 7, Sound and Audiovisual Materials: Vinyl records, audio reels, compact discs and Capacitance Electronic Disc movies. The vinyl records and CED movies in the collection are a representative sample from her personal archive.

Series 8, Textiles and Accessories: Clothing items Shane wore for performances and in personal life; Shane sewed several of the clothing pieces herself. There are also necklaces, rings, earrings, belts and purses. Almost every clothing item or accessory dates from the 1960s-1980s, and appears in a photograph within this collection.