Special Collections and Archives, part of the Missouri State University Libraries, is pleased to make available online the Jubilee Backstage Collection. In the late 1950s, a group of Ozark Jubilee fans made regular visits to the live broadcasts at the Jewell Theatre in downtown Springfield, Missouri and took backstage photos with their favorite performers.

Earlier this summer, this collection of photos was loaned to Special Collections for digitization and is now available online. These rarely seen images show the Jubilee guests and regulars performing onstage, relaxing between sets, and posing with fans backstage and outside the Jewell Theatre. The fans also took photos during their excursions to Nashville, where they visited radio stations and the Grand Ole Opry, often encountering many of the same performers they had met in Springfield. Also included in the collection are scans of the fans’ autograph books and signed Jubilee and Opry souvenir programs.

The Jubilee Backstage Collection includes images of hundreds of performers, including Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline, Porter Wagoner, Faron Young, George Jones, the Jordanaires, Brenda Lee, Wanda Jackson, and many others.

The finding aid is online and available here: https://purl.missouristate.edu/library/archives/FindingAids/JubBackstageM145