Papers of Ruth St. Denis, 1904-2007 (bulk 1930-1970).

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Papers of Ruth St. Denis, 1904-2007 (bulk 1930-1970).

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/761717479

Subjects of the entire collection include: Ruth St. Denis, Ted Shawn, American dance and dancers, dance instruction and notes, exercises and warm-up routines, various dance types (international as well as American), famous dancers from around the globe, Denishawn dancers, the Ruth St. Denis Center, the Ruth St. Denis Foundation, the Ruth St. Denis Theatre Intime, Jacob's Pillow dance festival, American Dance Film Association, Society of Spiritual Arts Church, the various teachers and pupils at St. Denis' dance studio and school, the Orient trip the Denishawn dancers took in 1926, as well as dance productions and events St. Denis put on throughout her career. There is also much material about St. Denis' effort to have her studio and school become a non-profit entity and her desire to create an artist colony in Hemet, California. More specifically, several dancers show up in the notebooks and photographs, including: Harold Kreutzberg, Peter di Falco, La Meri, Karoun Tootikian, Miriam Schiller, Jean Léon, Gladys Bowen, Antonio Gades, Devi Dja, Doris Humphrey, Mary Wigman, and Martha Graham. The series "Binder" includes 42 volumes of material related to Ruth St. Denis, Ted Shawn, the Denishawn dancers, etc. They are like scrapbooks and contain several different formats of materials including photographs, clippings, programs, dance notes, correspondence and financial documents. The material in the binders were left in their original order (as they came to the Huntington Library). It seems that the majority of the material was gathered and put together by Dorothy Lee Trifal, Ruth St. Denis' assistant and the manager of St. Denis' dance studio. The first 19 volumes are organized (and were titled) with dates and date spans. The next 23 volumes are organized alphabetically by their titles (ex. "American Dance Film Association"). Some of the titles are cataloger supplied. The Photographs, Negatives, and Slides series contains 409 photographs, negatives and slides. Although the majority of the photographs are of Ruth St. Denis in dancing poses, there are several other categories of photographs including: Ted Shawn, dance performances, special events and celebrations, other dancers, the dance studio and students, the film "He is Risen," and Jacob's Pillow. Photographs can also be found in the Miscellaneous series in the material regarding "The Dancing Prophet" as well as the Oversize series. The Ephemera and Miscellaneous series contains a variety of formats including: programs, publications (magazines as well as printed books), miscellaneous material such as one letter by Forrest Coggan to Dorothy Lee Trifal, and a postcard from Forrest Thornburg to Dorothy Lee Trifal. It also contains several printed manuscripts written by St. Denis including "Dialogue for a Temple for Prayer For Artists," "Poems," "The Divine Dance," "Current Biography," and a notebook belonging to St. Denis. There is also a copy of the published book Lotus Light written by Ruth St. Denis in 1932. Also included is a scrapbook with clippings and photographs of dancers. There is one box dedicated to material related to the film "The Dancing Prophet" about Ruth St. Denis (the film reel is in the A-V series). The audio-visual material consists of cassette tapes, reel-to-reel/magnetic tapes, albums (records), and one VHS tape. This material consists of interviews with Ruth St. Denis, speeches by St. Denis, her reading from her journals, music, some composed by Clifford Vaughan, and dance performances. There is also a reel of the film "The Dancing Prophet." A lot of what is on the reel-to-reel/magnetic tapes and some of the albums can also be found on the cassette tapes. The majority of the A-V material is undated. It is organized by type/format and then alphabetical by title (if it had one). The Oversize series contains: Sheet music (some with dance instructions and photographs, which are arranged alphabetically by title), some of which is written by Clifford Vaughan, images of Ruth St. Denis, and two photograph albums with photographs of various dancers and celebrities (most of which are not identified), one of these is also a scrapbook with programs from her various performances. The series also contains oversize photographs of Ruth St. Denis. The Individually Housed Items include a glass plate negative of Ruth St. Denis ("Devi Ja," 1951), a copy of the two-volume Ruth St. Denis: pioneer & prophet: being a history of her cycle of oriental dances by Ted Shawn, a poster of Ruth St. Denis, and a banner of Ruth St. Denis.

Approximately 1,000 items.20 boxes, 42 binders and two oversize items.

Huntington Library, Art Collections & Botanical Gardens

Information

SNAC Resource ID: 8150321

Related Entities

There are 20 Entities related to this resource.

Dja, Dewi, 1914-1989

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w68b201z (person)

Devi (Dewi) Dja was an Indonesian-born Amerian dancer, singer, and actress. She immigrated to the United States in 1939 and performed in California for the majority of her career, opening the Devi Dja School of Dance in Los Angeles. She was represented by Raymond D. Bowman. Dja died in Los Angeles in 1989....

Graham, Martha, 1894-1991

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Jacob's Pillow

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Jacob's Pillow is a dance center, school and performance space located in Becket, Massachusetts, in the Berkshires. The organization is known for the oldest internationally acclaimed Summer dance festival in the United States. The facility also includes a professional school and extensive archives as well as year-round community programs. The facility itself was listed as a National Historic Landmark District in 2003. The site of Jacob's Pillow in Becket, Massachusetts was originally settled ...

Shawn, Ted, 1891-1972

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6vr3rvm (person)

In 1915 they founded the first Denishawn school in Los Angeles with the intent of providing students with a diversified dance education. They believed that a dancer should learn all styles of dance rather than concentrating on one form; therefore, they offered classes in ballet, modern, ethnic, and creative dance. Within a few years Shawn and Miss St. Denis had established Denishawn schools throughout the United States. They built up an extensive repertory of spiritual, ethnic, character, and “m...

Vaughan, Clifford, 1893-1987

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Clifford Vaughan was born in Bridgeton, New Jersey in 1893. He started studying piano at the age of seven and made his debut at the age of 12, playing with the Philadelphia Orchestra. At the age of 15, he began advanced study at the Philadelphia Conservatory of Music. In 1925 Vaughan accepted Ruth St. Denis' offer to accompany the Denishawn Dancers as Musical Director on their tour of the Orient, Canada and the United States. After the trip, he returned to New York and was commissioned by Doris ...

Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival

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Coggan, Forrest Winston

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Destine, Jean Leon.

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Denishawn Dancers

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Sherman, Jane, 1908-2010

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Jane Sherman was born in Beloit, Wisconsin, in 1908. She performed with the Denishawn Dancers and toured Asia with the company from 1925-1926. She appeared in Broadway musicals and danced with the Rockettes in the mid-1930s. In 1933 she met writer Allan Seager in Oxford, England, and the two later became lovers in New York City in the mid-1930s. She married composer Ned Lehac in 1940 and wrote books and articles on the dance in the 1970s. From the description of Jane Sherman papers r...

Denishawn School of Dancing

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Gades, Antonio, 1936-2004

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Wigman, Mary, 1886-1973

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Mary Wigman, German modern dancer and choreographer, was born Mary Wiegmann, November 13, 1886 in Hanover. She trained first with Emile Jaques-Dalcroze in Hellerau and Dresden and later with Rudolf von Laban in Anscona, Switzerland and in Munich. Her debut as a concert dancer and choreographer occurred in 1919. Successful performances encouraged her to open her own school in Dresden, where among her first students were Yvonne Georgi, Gert Palucca, and Harald Kreutzberg. By 1925, her students inc...

St.Denis, Ruth, 1880-1968

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6s75hn0 (person)

Ruth St. Denis was an American dancer and dance teacher. From the description of Postcard, 1945. (Harvard University). WorldCat record id: 232007242 Dancer and faculty member. From the description of Miscellaneous papers, 1926-1960. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 155538190 Ruth St. Denis was one of the pioneers of modern dance. She first gained attention dancing with David Belasco's company, an experience which exposed her to European and Asian tradition...

Kreutzberg, Harold.

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Humphrey, Doris, 1895-1958

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Ann Hutchinson Guest, born November 3, 1918 in New York, is an American dancer and dance notator. Her initial dance training began in the mid 1930's at the Jooss-Leeder School at Dartington Hall, England. When World War II broke out in Europe, she returned to New York where her continued training included ballet, modern, tap, and ethnic dance. In the 1940's she danced with the Welland Lathrop Company and in Broadway musicals, including One Touch of Venus, Billion Dollar Baby, and Kiss Me, Kate. ...

Di Falco, Peter

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La Meri, 1898-1988

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Dancer, teacher, and writer, La Meri (1899-1989) was a pioneer in the field of ethnic dance. Born Russell Meriwether Hughes in Louisville, Kentucky, she moved to San Antonio, Texas at the age of twelve. La Meri (who was known by friends as “Dickie”) studied several art forms as a child, before settling on becoming a dancer after meeting Guido Carreras (who later became her husband) in New York City. After a few years working in local movie theaters in San Antonio, she moved to New York and found...

Denishawn Repertory Dancers

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Thornburg, Forrest

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