KEN AND BARBARA JO DAVIS:

An Inventory of Their Papers at the Minnesota Historical Society

Manuscripts Collection

Part or all of this collection is restricted.
For details, please see restrictions.

OVERVIEW


	Creator:	Davis, Ken J., 1923-1991, creator.
	Title:	Ken and Barbara Jo Davis papers.
	Dates:	1946-2005 (bulk 1980-2005).
	Abstract:	Papers reflecting the personal lives, education, and business ventures of an African-American couple from Minneapolis, Minnesota. The papers include correspondence, photographs, a guest register, legal documents, business plans, articles of incorporation, minutes, marketing and sales reports, financial statements, stock certificates, newspaper advertisements, coupons, trademarks, menus, flyers, posters, labels, price lists, order forms, newspaper and magazine clippings, audio recordings, a scrapbook, and information on Ken Davis and Ken Davis Products, Incorporated.
	Quantity:	8.25 cubic feet (7 boxes, 1 folder in 1 partial box, and 1 oversize folder), 9 master audio files: WAV (126.8 MB), 9 user audio files: MP3 (23.5 MB), 1 master video file: MOV (6 GB), and 1 user video file: MP4 (210.2 MB).
	Location:	See Detailed Description section for shelf locations.

Ken Davis was born in Omaha, Nebraska (September 22, 1923) where he graduated from high school and briefly studied engineering at Drake University. After serving in the Army Corps of Engineers during World War II Davis played bass fiddle as a professional jazz musician and later owned and operated a commercial kitchen and a janitorial service in Omaha.

In 1967 Davis moved to Minneapolis and was hired by Dayton's as maintenance supervisor at its store in the Brookdale Shopping Center (1968). In 1969 he bought Edina Chicken, a take-out restaurant in Edina, Minnesota. The restaurant closed the following year and Davis decided to market his barbecue sauce. He established Ken Davis Products, Inc., hired his future wife, Barbara Jo Taylor, to help him develop a consistent recipe, and sold the product out of his car to grocery stores throughout the seven-county metropolitan area.

In 1972 Ken Davis Products, Inc. was incorporated in Minnesota. The company was a success and eventually increased its annual revenues to several million dollars with a varied product line and a five-state market area. Four flavors of barbecue sauce, Original, Sweet 'n Smoky, Smooth 'n Spicy, and 2-gram Carbs Original, are sold in grocery stores in Minnesota, North and South Dakota, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Nebraska.

Davis and his company played an active role in community and charitable causes. This includes his service as one of the first African-American Santa Clauses to entertain in the Twin Cities, his service as honorary co-chairman of INVITE, Inc. (1989), and the firm's sponsorship of fund raising events for local food shelves. Ken Davis died of complications from lung cancer on August 22, 1991.

Barbara Jo Davis

Barbara Jo Davis, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Lee Taylor of Cheyenne, Wyoming, graduated from Cheyenne Central High School (1960), received a B.A. in dietetics from the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, and completed a dietetic internship at Freedman Hospital, Washington, D.C. Her first job was as a research dietician for Cox Coronary Heart Institute at Dayton, Ohio (1965-1967). The program was funded by General Mills and when it ended Davis was hired by Betty Crocker Kitchens. Davis remained with General Mills for 20 years working primarily in management.

In 1988 Davis became president of Ken Davis Products, Incorporated. When Ken Davis died Barbara Jo continued with the company as its owner/president. Barbara sold Ken Davis, Incorporated to Summit Marketing in November 2010.

Davis' professional and community involvement included her service as the first national president for the Coalition for Black Development in Home Economics and her membership in the American Home Economics Association, serving as its membership chair in 1993-1994. She also served on the board of directors of the Meyerhoff Educational Internship Program and helped the Stairship Initiative in Minneapolis.

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SCOPE AND CONTENTS

The collection reflects the Davises' personal lives, education, and business ventures. Topics include Barbara Jo Davis' high school and college education, her career as a certified dietician, Ken Davis' career in the food service industry, the management of Ken Davis Products, Inc., and an entertainment booking and promotion company the couple were engaged in called BassLine Events.

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ARRANGEMENT

These records are divided into the following two sections:


		Personal Papers
		Business Records

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ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

Access Restrictions:

Digitized originals are closed. Access and use requires the curator’s permission.

Access to business records less than 25 years old requires written permission. News releases, clippings, photographs, and commonly available publications are excluded from this restriction. Persons wishing to access or use restricted material must request written permission. Please consult with the reference department staff for more information.

Some of these files are located off site in Remote Storage. Advance arrangements are required in order to view the files.

Please consult reference staff for more information.

Use Restrictions:

Quotation, use or publication of anything in or based on the business records less than 25 years old requires written permission. News releases, clippings, photographs, and commonly available publications are excluded from this restriction. Persons wishing to access or use restricted material must request written permission. Please consult with the reference department staff for more information.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Ken and Barbara Jo Davis Papers. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Accession Information:

Accession numbers: 14,913; 15,233; 15,350; 15,656; 15,681; 16,314; 16,498; 16,537.

Location of Master Files

Digital masters of the audiovisual material are maintained on the Society's secure digital collections storage server and are managed and preserved in accordance with archival best practices.

The original audiocassettes and videocassette were disposed after the material was digitally reformatted into wav and mov files.

Processing Information:

Processing and cataloging of this collection was supported with a Basic Project grant awarded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC).

Processed by: Frank Hennessy, April 1998; Alex Kent, January 2009; Shelby Edwards, July 2011.

Legacy Amendment logo

Digitization and encoding by April Rodriguez, October 2022.

Digital audiovisual transferred from the master audiocassettes and videotape by the Minnesota Historical Society for preservation purposes (November 2022).

Digitization was made possible by the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund through the vote of Minnesotans on November 4, 2008.

Catalog ID number: 990017305070104294

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DETAILED DESCRIPTION

PERSONAL PAPERS

RESTRICTED.

The first group of papers in this series relates to Barbara Jo Davis' education and career as a home economist. A project on fashion art (1957); correspondence, newspaper clippings, and a diary documenting her attendance at Wyoming Girls State (June 7-13, 1959); personal memorabilia from her senior year in high school (1959); a group of poems and papers written for her college English composition classes; and a number of speeches and articles she authored are included.

Other personal papers include correspondence; a newspaper article and diary entries describing Barbara Jo's participation in a picket of Governor George Wallace (1963); records related to Edina Chicken including a newspaper article (November 1970), a photograph of Ken Davis behind the counter, and legal papers related to the firm's bankruptcy proceedings (May 1971). The Davises' marriage certificate (June 14, 1973); Ken's resume (March 27,1974); certificates of appreciation from various organizations (undated and 1980, 1985, 1991); and a guest register from two unidentified social events (December 27, 1986 and August 6, 1989) are also included.

The personal papers also include Ken Davis' obituaries (August 23, 1991), his will (February 7, 1989), and death certificate (August 22, 1991); correspondence and miscellaneous papers related to the establishment of the Ken Davis Memorial Scholarship for students in the jazz program at the University of Minnesota (1993); and a book containing reminiscences, tributes, and anecdotes about Ken Davis (1991).

The remaining personal papers include correspondence, newspaper clippings, a schedule, and photographs documenting Ken Davis' service as one of the first African-American Santa Clauses in the Twin Cities (undated and 1975-1977); miscellaneous newspaper and magazine clippings (undated and 1965-1983); portraits of Ken and Barbara Jo Davis (undated and 1960-1973), a personal calender featuring photographs of Barbara Jo Davis and friends (1996), caricatures, and jazz and BBQ sauce accolade collages.

Location

308.D.15.1B

Barbara Jo Davis:

Alumni mentoring program, undated.