Performing Arts: Collection Strengths

Selected Archival and Manuscript Materials

Archival and manuscript collections are described in detail in searchable finding aids in the Online Archive of California. Follow the links below to view the complete finding aids.  Collections for which a link is not given have not yet been organized; contact us for further information.

Ballet

• Algernoff (Harcourt) Photograph Album
  Photograph album created by ballet dancer and choreographer Harcourt Algeranoff, who partnered Anna Pavlova during her world tours.
• Loring (Eugene) papers
  Photographs, scrapbooks, programs, and ephemera that extensively document the career of the choreographer and UCI dance professor.
• Nozze slave dance notation and costume design drawings
  Choreography and costume drawings from the ballet, Nozze slave: divertimento danzante in un atti, staged at La Scala in Milan on January 22, 1895.
• Pavlova (Anna) collection
  Dance programs, photographs, postcards, clippings, and tributes documenting the career of the famed ballerina.
• Royal Danish Ballet Photograph Album on the Premiere of Giselle
  Photograph album commemorating the company's premiere of Giselle on November 10-11, 1946 in Copenhagen, choreographed by Alexandre Volinine.

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Dance Criticism

• Dougherty (John) papers
  Writings, programs, press releases, photographs, correspondence, and other material documenting the career of the Los Angeles dancer, actor, and writer.
• Lert (Ruth Clark) dance library and archive
  An extensive collection of photographs, posters, audio and video recordings, and much more documenting historian and critic Lert's interest in dance therapy, movement for the handicapped, dancers Harald Kreutzberg and Mary Wigman, world dance, and dance in San Francisco and Los Angeles. The donation also included her complete dance library.

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Modern Dance

• Desti (Mary) collection on Isadora Duncan
  Correspondence, photographs, programs, and a scrapbook of newspaper clippings relating to Duncan, assembled by her close friend and biographer, Mary Desti.
• Duncan (Isadora) dance programs and ephemera
  Materials documenting her international performances from 1900 to 1920.
• Dunham (Katherine) photograph collection
  Photographs, postcards, and correspondence of one of the founders of African American modern dance.
• Loring (Eugene) papers
  Photographs, scrapbooks, programs, and ephemera that extensively document the career of the choreographer and UCI dance professor.
• McGehee (Clarence) collection on Ruth St. Denis
  Correspondence, typescripts, manuscripts, programs and other material collected by St. Denis's publicist, Clarence McGehee.
• McKayle (Donald) papers
  Photographs, programs, production notes, musical scores, audio and video recordings, costume designs, reviews, and other material that comprehensively document the work of the eminent African American choreographer and UCI dance professor.
• Morgan (Barbara) photographs of Martha Graham and Company
  Eight photographs printed from the original negatives in the Willard and Barbara Morgan Archives.
• Schoop (Trudi) collection
  Documents the life and career of comic dancer Trudi Schoop. Contains photographs, programs, correspondence, newspaper clippings, and other ephemera.
• St. Denis (Ruth) photograph collection
  Over 100 photographic prints of dancer and choreographer Ruth St. Denis, who greatly influenced the development of American modern dance.

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Photographs

Many of the collections noted above also include photographs.

• Dance photograph collection
  Publicity images taken by commercial photographers from 1906 to 1970 that document the repertoire of six major companies, choreographers' original works, and individual dancers in some of their significant roles.

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Programs

Many of the collections noted above also include programs. 

• Dance program and ephemera collection
  Printed materials, primarily dance programs, documenting significant festivals, performances, and events, the bulk of the collection being on 20th century American and European performers and companies.
• Mason Opera House playbills
  One hundred seventy-five playbills for dramatic and musical performances held at the Mason Opera House in Los Angeles from 1912 through 1918.

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Social Dance

• Collection of contredanse notation manuscript cards and other materials
  Twenty cards and a small notebook with slipcase. Contredanse was a popular 18th-century French dance, derived from English country dance and introduced to the French court around 1685.
• Dance cards and invitations from California
  Thirty dance cards, tickets, and invitations to balls and prize masquerades held in San Francisco, Oroville, and Petaluma, California, from 1876-1912.
• Dance invitations from Massachusetts collection
  An inaugural ball admittance ticket and eleven invitations for dances, balls, and a cotillion party held in Massachusetts, chiefly in the city of Worcester, from 1806-1859.
• Davenport (Mildred) dance programs and dance school materials
  Dance programs, school materials, photographs, and ephemera documenting the early career of the Boston-based African American dancer, dance instructor, and civic official.
• Scrapbook on Cecil Sharp's English Folk Dance Society School
  A scrapbook of correspondence, photographs, clippings, brochures, and programs relating to Cecil Sharp's English Folk Dance Society school at Aldeburgh, England, from 1920-1931.

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World Dance

• Collection on La Argentina
  Forty-five photographs of La Argentina (Antonia Mercé), and several other items documenting her career.
• Collection on Alberto Salicru
  Photographs, publicity announcements, programs, and other material documenting the career of the Flamenco and regional classical dancer and several of his partners.

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