Revised January 25, 2013

Links to the Main Archives pages
From The Archives...
Here is where you will find miscellaneous but interesting -- and often historically important -- items from the Barber-Purser Archives. Click here to delve into the fascinating past of the Chris Barber Band.
Tours, Concerts and Special Events
The archives also contain numerous programmes and posters for tours and individual concerts by the Barber Band. Click here to see what has been posted so far.
Chris Barber Club Booklets
For about seven years, from the mid-1950s to early-1960s, the Chris Barber Club published a semi-monthly booklet for fan club members. Click here to read the complete collection of booklets.
Chris Barber Newsletters by Vic Gibbons
From about 1974 till the early 2000 Vic Gibbons issued a regular Newsletter, covering tours, records etc. of the Chris Barber Jazz & Blues Band. Starting in June 2013, we will publish in this section these newsletters, giving us a deep insight of the activites of that time. Click here to read the newsletters.
Concert Proramme Notes
In our introductory comments to The Chris Barber LP Collection pages, we suggest that LP "sleeve notes ... in themselves tell a good part of the story of Chris Barber's Jazz Band." The same can be said of the sometimes voluminous notes that were written for tour and individual concert progammes, especially in the 1950s and the first half of the 1960s, but in some from later dates as well. As part of our effort to use the Chris Barber website partly as a vehicle to tell the story of the Chris Barber Band, its music, changes in personnel, and so on, here we reproduce notes from a variety of tour and concert programmes.
A Note about Julian Purser and the Barber-Purser Archives
Julian Purser and Chris Barber,
Bristol, Dec. 6, 2003

Over the decades since the Chris Barber Band was formed, a vast archive of material has accumulated. Not only does the archive include photographs, but also concert and tour programmes, fan club booklets, contracts, correspondence, and many other items of historical importance for understanding the history, accomplishments, and impact of the Barber Band, but also, more generally, of the evolution of jazz in Britain.

Julian Purser was the band's official archivist (and co-discographer) since the early 1970s. Since 2004, together with the help of Andreas Wandfluh of Switzerland and Ed Jackson of Canada, Julian made selected items available for public viewing for the first time.

Julian passed away in 2009. He is much missed as a contributor to the Chris Barber website, a fount of knowledge about all things "Barber", and a good friend.

Click here to read more about the Chris Barber Archives & Website Team.

The original "Archives Team" in December 2003
Left to right in the first photo -- Ed Jackson, Julian Purser, and Andreas Wandfluh
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