Happy #internationalmuseumday from all of us at the Louis Armstrong House Museum! Whether you’ve made the pilgrimage to Corona, Queens, or you’re just following us here on social media, we’re grateful for your support. Pops is Tops! #louisarmstrong ##museum #archives #corona #queens #newyork #louisarmstrongcenter #trumpet #lahmdigitization #dailypops #jazz #music #BAM #blackamericanmusic #satchmo #pops #louisarmstronghousemuseum #louisarmstronghouse #armstronghouse #wonderfulworld (fb)

Mother’s Day has us thinking about Louis Armstrong’s mother, Mayann, a major presence in young Louis’s life until her passing in 1927. Here’s Louis speaking about her to Richard Meryman in 1965: “She was a stocky woman—dark, lovely expression and a beautiful soul. And she instilled in me the idea that what you can’t get—to hell with it. Don’t worry what the other fellow has. Everybody loved her for that, because if you lived next door and you got the world, that’s all right. Just don’t mess with her little world. I think I had a great mother. She didn’t have much power, but she did all she could for me—grabbing little knickknacks here and there and everything, and we put it all together.” This famous photo of Louis with his mother and sister Beatrice was taken in New Orleans shortly after Louis’s first trip away from home, performing up and down the Mississippi River with Fate Marable’s band in 1919. This beautiful print originally belonged to drummer Zutty Singleton and was donated to our Archives by the Hot Club of New York in 2023; note original signature by African American photographer Villard Paddio in the lower left corner. #louisarmstrong #mothersday #mother #mom #mayann #moms #neworleans #photography #museum #archives #trumpet #lahmdigitization #dailypops #jazz #music #BAM #blackamericanmusic #satchmo #pops #louisarmstronghousemuseum #louisarmstronghouse #armstronghouse #wonderfulworld (fb)