My life became Louis

Jack Bradley’s photo of Louis Armstrong in his garden in Queens. 1960.

Louis Armstrong

Great New York Times article on Jack Bradley’s obsessive collection of Armstrong materials, and their transit to Queens College and the Louis Armstrong House Museum.

Mr. Bradley met Armstrong in the early 1950s, after a mesmerizing performance at the American Legion Hall in nearby Hyannis. He recalls approaching the jazz legend in his dressing room and receiving an autographed photograph and a packet of Swiss Kriss, an herbal laxative that Armstrong endorsed. “My life was never the same; my life became Louis,” he said.