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The Kathleen Annie Pannonica (Nica), Baroness de Koenigswarter (née Rothschild) Jazz Musicians Photograph Collection

You are here: / Rothschild family papers / Named Collections / The Kathleen Annie Pannonica (Nica), Baroness de Koenigswarter (née Rothschild) Jazz Musicians Photograph Collection

Kathleen Annie Pannonica (Nica) Rothschild was born in London on 10 December 1913, the youngest child of Charles and Rozsika. She studied art in London, Paris and Vienna. She married Baron Jules de Koenigswarter in 1935, and spent time at his family estate Château d'Abondant in Eure-et-Loir. She was passionate about music early in life, especially jazz. After her marriage was dissolved in 1956, she moved to the United States where she actively supported jazz and some of it greatest musicians. She wrote a number of important articles about jazz, became a member of the Musicians' Union. Her great knowledge of jazz and her unstinting efforts on behalf of its musicians earned her admiration world-wide. Musicians dedicated over 20 compositions, many classics, to the woman they knew as Nica or 'the Jazz Baroness'.

Nica's niece, Hannah de Rothschild has written and broadcast about the life of her unconventional aunt. A copy of her book, The Jazz Baroness will be found in the Reading Room. The Archive also holds copies of radio and televsion broadcasts of the same title.

The Kathleen Annie Pannonica (Nica), Baroness de Koenigswarter (née Rothschild) Jazz Musicians Photograph Collection, c.1954-1985

000/2088, 206 framed items (283 photographs), 21 poster size items

The Kathleen Annie Pannonica (Nica), Baroness de Koenigswarter (née Rothschild) Jazz Musicians Photograph Collection: a collection of framed black and white and colour polaroid photographs of jazz musicians, friends and acquaintances of Nica, The Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswarter mostly taken by her. Many of these photographs were reprinted in the book, Three Wishes, An intimate look at the Jazz Greats in 2006. The photographs were framed for the exhibition Pannonica de Koenigswarter: Jazz Musicians and Their Three Wishes, held in October 2008 at the Gallery at Hermès in New York City. 

The collection consists of a total of 284 individual photographs mounted in 207 frames (some frames contain more than one photograph). In addition, there are 21 large poster size images of some of the photographs in the collection; these were displayed as part of the 2008 Hermès exhibition.

The collection is arranged in order of the seven packing crates in which it was originally shipped to The Rothschild Archive in 2011, and each item is identified by its unique packing number:

  • Case A: A01-A40 (40 photographs in 40 frames)
  • Case B: B01-B40 (40 photographs in 40 frames)
  • Case C: C01-C38 (38 photographs in 38 frames)
  • Case D: D01-D37 (36 photographs in 36 frames) (see Note below)
  • Case E: E01-E60 (60 photographs in 30 frames)
  • Case F: F01-F89 (69 photographs in 22 frames) 
  • Case ‘007’: P01-P21 Collection of poster size reproductions (21 items)

Musicians, artistes and their friends depicted are: Pepper Adams, Julian “Cannonball” Adderlerly, Larry Adler, Chris Anderson, Art Blakey, Art Blakey Jnr., Roy Brooks, Ray Bryant, Benny Carter, Betty Carter, Buddy Catlett, Paul Chambers, Sonny Clarke, Kenny "Klook" Clarke, Al Cohn, Ormette Coleman, John Coltrane, Alice McLeod Coltrane, Junior Cook, Bob Cranshaw, Miles Davis, Walter Davis Jnr., Pannonica de Koenigswarter, Berit de Koenigswarter, Kenny Dorham, Frankie Dunlop, Roy Eldridge, Duke Ellington, Art Farmer, Joe Farrell, Tommy Flanagan, Frank Foster, Larry Gales, Erroll Garner, Dizzy Gillespie, Dexter Gordon, Mat Gordon, Johnny Griffin, Lionel Hampton, "Slide" Hampton, Bill Hardiman, Barry Harris,  Coleman Hawkins, Roy Haynes, Percy Heath, John Hendricks, Billy Higgins, Andrew Hill, Lonnie Hillyer, Earl “Fatha” Hines, Elmo Hope, Lex Humphries, Bobby Hutcherson, David  Izenzon, Oliver Jackson, Reggie Johnson, J.J. Johnson, Hyler Jones, Elvin Jones, Sam Jones, Philly Joe Jones, Hank Jones, Joe Jones, Clifford Jordan, Wynton Kelly, Robin Kenyatta, Yusef Lateef, Abbey Lincoln, Eddie Locke, Ahmed Abdul,Malik, Ray McKinney, Jackie McLean, Marian McPartland, Charles McPherson, Carmen McRae, Charles Mingus, Blue Mitchell, Hank Mobley, Thelonius Monk, James Moody, Lee Morgan, John Ore, Hall Overton, Charlie Parker, Francis Paudras, Oscar Pettiford, Bud Powell, Sun Ra, Freddie Redd, Ben Riley, Max Roach, Sonny Rollins, Charlie Rouse, Charlie Rowse, Don Schlitten, Clarence C. Sharpe, Sahib Shehab, Horace Silver, Sonny Stott, Cecil Taylor, Ant Taylor, Arthur Taylor, Clark Terry, Lucky Thompson, Sir Charles Thompson, Eddie Thompson, Bobby Timmons, Al Timothy, George Tucker, Cedar Watton, Randy Weston, Mary-Lou Williams, Teddy Wilson, Jimmy Witherspoon, Sam Woodyard, and Lamarr Wright.

Note: A manuscript of the book Three Wishes by Nica de Koenigswarter was listed in the packing inventory for this accession, however, it was not found with the crates, and is WANTING. Item D30, framed photograph of Miles Davis sitting on chair is also WANTING. They are not believed to have been included as part of the original consignment.