Louis Armstrong: The Offstage Story of Satchmo. By Michael Cogswcll. Portland, OR: Collector's Press, 2003. [192 p. ISBN 1-888054-81-6. $39.95.] Illustrations, index. Although Louis Armstrong is familiar figure whose music is distinguished for both its innovation and broad appeal, most admirers are probably not aware that trumpeter, singer, and bandleader was also a delightfully eccentric pack rat (p. 8). Throughout years, and particularly during three decades before his death in 1971, Armstrong amassed sizeable assortment of material relating to his career and personal relationships that, as presented by Michael Cogswell in Louis Armstrong: The Offstage Story of Satchmo, reveals aspects of Armstrong's interests, creativity, and day-today life that heretofore have been largely unexplored. As director of Louis Armstrong House and Archives, Cogswell has an unmatched intimacy with Armstrong's personal effects, and in this beautifully illustrated survey of those collections, he combines thorough description of an archivist with affable enthusiasm of fen, detailing collections' treasures and inviting further consideration of Armstrong's life and music. Under administration of Queens College, Louis Armstrong House and Archives consists of house in Queens, New York, where Armstrong and his wife, Lucille, resided for many years, and Louis Armstrong Archives, division of Queens College Libraries that holds owned by Armstrong and growing collection of newly acquired Armstrong memorabilia. Although house and most other artifacts have been maintained by Queens College since 1986, bulk of collections remained unprocessed until Cogswell's appointment in 1991. In 1994, Louis Armstrong Archives became available to researchers (p. 65), and, after much planning and renovation, House, designated New York City and National Historic Landmark, opened to public in 2003 as historic house museum (pp. 51,53). Though first chapter, Louis's Life and Music, offers brief biographical sketch, book serves chiefly as an exhibition catalog of Louis Armstrong House and Archives, featuring examples and discussion of the most intriguing and revealing items in collections (p. 9). Most notable are hundreds of vividly reproduced photographs of Armstrong, alone and with family, friends, and bandmates. While some of these images have appeared previously, in biographies such as Gary Giddins's Satchmo (New York: Doubleday, 1988) for example, many illustrations are published here for first time. In addition to photographs from collections, Cogswell draws on Archives' holdings of manuscripts and private recordings to supplement his commentary, quoting Armstrong's own clever, colorful words from autobiographical essays, correspondence, and home-recorded tapes. In an informal tone, Cogswell conveys his close knowledge of collections while presenting pleasant portrait of musician, but words of Armstrong himself, incorporated throughout text, are most effective in characterizing Armstrong's perspective, his inventive imagination, and playful sense of humor. Whether telling about meal at his favorite Chinese restaurant (p. 34), bragging about his two Schnauzers (p. 174), or expressing gratitude for happiness and good fortunes he enjoyed (p. 186), Armstrong portrays his offstage life vibrantly, and Cogswell capitalizes on how well these often amusing, sometimes touching documents capture Armstrong's unconventionally articulate voice. Even though Cogswell never met Louis Armstrong (p. 11), his work in organizing, cataloging, and preserving materials has provided him with rich understanding of Armstrong's life out of public eye. In discussing history and holdings of House and Archives, Cogswell often goes beyond simple description and considers how artifacts reflect Armstrong's personality. …