Born February 23, 1939, Lester Glassner’s childhood was spent among a variety of towns and cities in upstate New York, including Buffalo, Geneva, Auburn, and Lockport, as he moved frequently with his parents who, by necessity, followed employment opportunities occasioned by the war. Life in the years during and immediately following World War II offered little in terms of nurturing a bright and cheerful childhood. Lester, as a young boy, must have sensed this and either by chance or sheer determination, frequently accompanied by his mother Beatrice, was able to find his way out of this lack-luster reality through two unusual venues: the 5-and-10-cent stores and the movie theatres. Lester had a certain amount of after-school freedom. He went to the movies and as he recalls in his book, the B-rated Hollywood movies, trashy, low-budget and dumbed-down as they were, had a healthy contempt for reality. The stars who populated these films became the basis of a vast collection of signed "8 by 10 glossies" that he amassed over a period of years, as well as the impetus for an active interest in early theatre architecture and interior decorator of movie houses. The other venue was the "5-and 10s" as they were called, such as Kresge's, Neisner's, Grants, and Woolworth's. Every time the Glassner family moved, there was a new one to be explored. Wandering the aisles of these magical stores offered a virtually endless variety of wonders for an imaginative child. He loved all the plastic tawdriness of this merchandise, and as he recalls, the fantasy-filled contents of the dime stores were his "tickets to a land that lay somewhere over the rainbow - object lessons in how to survive the dreariness of war and post-war reality." At the time of publication of Dime Store Days, Quentin Crisp noted in the foreword that Lester's memory "dwell[ed] not on the sparseness of these years but on the brittle ornaments with which he desperately tried to decorate them." In the years following the publication of the book, Lester Glassner lived with his various collections in a small private museum, actually a 4-story town house on E. 7th Street which was also his almost comfortless home until his death.

Perhaps his Black Memorabilia collection grew from these early days of browsing in the dime stores. Certainly these items were available in such places, in addition to their proliferation in souvenir shops. His friend, Eda Sutcliffe Kenney, in a recent telephone conversation recalls that Lester's early involvement with African Americans stemmed from a love of their music. She mentioned his frequent solo visits to the jazz clubs, during his Lafayette High School days, especially on Buffalo's east side, and he innately sensed the enormous talent of Billie Holliday and other black artists. His involvement with African Americans and their culture expanded to include film, and as he matured in age and experience, he wanted it all - the good, the bad, the ugly, the beautiful and the humorous. The collection is vast, numbering over twenty boxes, with many items represented in numerous and perhaps unnecessary duplication. But Eda related that friends and family knew of Lester's collecting mania in this area and whenever out and about, purchased items for him that they thought he might like, or might not have. Chief among these was his father Abraham Glassner who routinely haunted Kelly's Flea Market for him.

Starting the collection was a deliberate and conscious effort, one that eventually became so important that Mr. Glassner moved what had become his "museum/residence" from lower Manhattan to Harlem, just a year or so before his death. It was also a decision made well before Black Memorabilia became a capital letter phrase, before it became the rather controversial racial/economical/political issue that has concerned black as well as white collectors ever since.

The 1981 nostalgia-laden book of photographs and text entitled Dime Store Days was authored by Lester Glassner, with accompanying photos taken by his friend Brownie Harris. This wonderful book offers the best autobiographical introduction to the man whose Black Memorabilia Collection is now housed in the Archives and Special Collections of E. H. Butler Library. This book is available in the Archives & Special Collections Department.

Please visit: http://library.buffalostate.edu/archives/glassnerfor additional information on the historical background of African American Collectibles.