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14 flagships · 25 briefs · 8 dossiers · 1,441 entities — record updated October 4, 2026

House music — name origin

CTL-E-1214 · Practice · other · unspecified

PROVISIONAL evidence grade of this record

The term 'house music' derives from the Warehouse nightclub (206 S. Jefferson), but the mechanism is disputed: (1) Robert Williams billed 'house' parties; (2) the club's namesake link is documented but the transmission mechanism is not; (3) Imports Etc.'s record racks mediated the naming to buyers.

Notes

Merged into canonical KG 2026-10-03 from BMI-002; source entity IDs: CTL-DR-BMI-002:house-music-name-origin; source research type(s): concept. Description completed 2026-10-03 from the source research record (claims) during the KG completion pass. Era not present in source research record(s); marked unspecified pending human review.

Sources

Record CTL-E-1214 · CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph · evidence grade: PROVISIONAL · 1 source · CTL research: BMI-002.
Directory: all entity records · the knowledge graph

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Cite as: CultureTechLens, “House music — name origin (CTL-E-1214),” CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph, October 2026. https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-e-1214/

Chicago: CultureTechLens. “House music — name origin (CTL-E-1214).” CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph. Chicago, IL: CultureTechLens, 2026. https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-e-1214/
APA: CultureTechLens. (2026). House music — name origin (CTL-E-1214) [Entity record]. CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph. https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-e-1214/
MLA: CultureTechLens. “House music — name origin (CTL-E-1214).” CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph, 2026, https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-e-1214/

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From the Archive

The archive in pictures

Black Chicago’s musical record, kept frame by frame. Photographs from the CultureTechLens research record — rights-cleared, credited, and cited like everything else here.

Instructors in roller skating at Savoy Ballroom. Chicago, Illinois, Chicago, 1941
Instructors in roller skating at Savoy Ballroom. Chicago, Illinois, Chicago, 1941Photo: Lee, Russell, 1903-1986, FSA-OWI, Public Domain, via Library of Congress
Saturday crowd at the Palm Tavern bar, 47th Street, Chicago, 1941
Saturday crowd at the Palm Tavern bar, 47th Street, Chicago, 1941Photo: Russell Lee, FSA-OWI, Public Domain, via Library of Congress
Roller skating at the Savoy Ballroom on Saturday night. Chicago, Illinois, Chicago, 1941
Roller skating at the Savoy Ballroom on Saturday night. Chicago, Illinois, Chicago, 1941Photo: Lee, Russell, 1903-1986, FSA-OWI, Public Domain, via Library of Congress

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