John Baker was an attorney and jazz film collector. He began acquiring films during World War Two and established the genre in 1951. To many, he was considered the "godfather of jazz film".

In 1984, he sold his collection to the University of Kansas and retired to Bonita Springs, Florida. His collection remained in storage until 2009 when the American Jazz Museum debuted this collection.

He is the subject of an Honors Thesis by Lisa Christine Rolland, the University of Arizona, May, 2007.

Source: A Jazzed Collector article from the Columbus Dispatch.