For more than four decades, the sound of gospel music carried the voice of Rev. James Boyer alongside it across Manhattan and beyond.<\/p>\n
On Sunday mornings, James\u2019 radio program filled the airwaves with gospel recordings and church announcements. Behind the microphone was a professor, pastor, musician and collector whose influence extended well past the radio studio.<\/p>\n
Even after his death in 2017, music from his collection continues to play on Manhattan radios.<\/p>\n
James\u2019 family this summer donated his collection of more than 5,000 pieces of African-American gospel music to Baylor University, which established a collection in his name, preserving the music for future generations.<\/p>\n
Born April 3, 1934, James came to Manhattan in 1971 to join Kansas State University\u2019s faculty. He became the college\u2019s first African-American tenured teaching faculty member, helped found the Black Faculty and Staff Alliance and advised graduate students whose work eventually took him around the world to teach.<\/p>\n
But his life in Manhattan was not confined to K-State.<\/p>\n
He also founded Fellowship Temple Church of God in Christ, with the congregation eventually establishing a church in the Northview area.<\/p>\n
His son, Alan Boyer, remembers his father\u2019s roles as pastor, musician and teacher as parts of the same life.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy dad\u2019s love for music coincided with his love for the church, love for teaching and love for family,\u201d Alan said.<\/p>\n
A collector from childhood<\/p>\n
James\u2019 connection to music began early. Alan said his father started collecting albums when he was 4 years old. Over the decades, that interest grew into a collection of roughly 5,000 pieces, including vinyl records, 78s, 45s, CDs, cassette tapes, VHS recordings, DVDs, books and writings.<\/p>\n
Much of the collection eventually filled the family\u2019s Manhattan home.<\/p>\n
When Alan began sorting through it after his father\u2019s death, he found albums in the basement, records behind curtains, additional collections in his old bedroom and thousands of CDs organized in cabinets. One storage unit alone held roughly 2,600 CDs.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was that organized,\u201d Alan said.<\/p>\n
The collection was more than a hobby. James used it for his radio program and his work as a gospel music scholar. It included recordings from influential artists such as James Cleveland, Andra\u00e9 Crouch, Walter Hawkins, the Clara Ward Singers and Albertina Walker.<\/p>\n
James also helped bring gospel musicians to Manhattan. In the 1980s, he arranged for Albertina Walker to conduct a gospel music workshop at McCain Auditorium.<\/p>\n
His knowledge of gospel music became so extensive that people sought him out for information about particular artists and recordings.<\/p>\n
Jerry Hutchinson, James\u2019 longtime radio producer, said James could quickly locate almost anything in his collection.<\/p>\n
\u201cI could mention somebody and he could go grab the album,\u201d Jerry said.<\/p>\n
The Boyer Brothers<\/p>\n
James\u2019 connection to gospel music went beyond collecting.<\/p>\n
He and his younger brother, Horace Clarence Boyer, formed the Boyer Brothers, recording and performing gospel music together. The brothers produced five albums, conducted gospel music workshops around the country and performed in Germany while serving in the military.<\/p>\n
In 1952, they recorded \u201cStep by Step,\u201d which became a hit.<\/p>\n
For Jerry, the recording remains an example of the brothers\u2019 place in gospel music history.<\/p>\n