"First zoot suit on record", 1943 June

File — Box: 1, Folder: 10

Identifier: 2

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

From the Sub-Series:

This series contains items pertaining to the Zoot Suit Riots, a series of violent clashes in June 1943 largely between U.S. and young Latinos in Los Angeles. Materials include a Broadway program from the musical “Zoot Suit” depicting the Zoot Suit riots, and a photograph of the first Zoot Suit on record, originally published in the New York Times.

Dates

Creation: 1943 June

Langauge of Materials

From the Collection:

Languages represented in the collection: English, Spanish.

Access

This collection is open for research.

Extent

From the Collection: 7.5 Linear Feet (4 document boxes, 1 oversize doc box, 1 half-size document box, 4 flat oversize boxes)

Additional Description

Note

6.5 by 8 inch image on 7 by 9 inch paper. Black and white copy-print photograph with a separate mimeographed caption. Date stamps on the back.

News photo used to illustrate the most widely circulated story about the origin of the zoot suit style in the immediate aftermath of the Zoot Suit Riots in Los Angeles. This image is a photograph of a half-tone illustration from the February 1940 issue of Men’s Apparel Reporter. Acccording to the caption, Clyde Duncan, a busboy in Gainesville, Georgia, ordered this suit from the tailor A. C. McEver. McEver thought it was ridiculous and sent the picture to a trade magazine. When the Zoot Suit Riots brought the long coat and baggy pants style to national attention, this photograph was republished in hundreds of newspapers around the country (including the front page of The New York Times).