Archival+Resources

**Archival Resources**
 * Women in the Performing Arts**

N.B. Most archives will allow access to any individual who has a valid research interest in a collection, including scholars and amateurs. However, archives are not like lending libraries; archival materials can only be used at the repository, and some archives require an appointment. Therefore, it is important to plan your research visit carefully before arriving at the repository. Researchers should check with the individual repository regarding hours of operation, availability of collections, usage restrictions, and other procedural information.

**The Library of Congress** **Music Division** Performing Arts Reading Room 101 Independence Ave., SE Room LM 113 James Madison Memorial Building Washington, D.C. 20540-4710 (202) 707-5507 []

One of the nation’s foremost archival repositories, The Library of Congress’s Music Division is devoted to documenting the history of the performing arts in America. The holdings include music and literary manuscripts and nearly 500 special collections in music, theater, and dance. Important collections cover the lives and careers of prominent women in the performing arts, such as modern dancer Martha Graham and jazz vocalist Ella Fitzgerald. Other women whose papers are housed at the Library of Congress include composer Carrie Jacobs-Bond and dancer Ruth Page. The records of the Federal Theatre Project are also found at the Library of Congress; this New Deal project was headed by Hallie Flanagan. An online research guide, [|American Women: A Gateway to Library of Congress Resources for the Study of Women's History and Culture in the United States] is available and provides synopses of many collections and information for users.



**Library of Congress** **American Memory Website** []

The American Memory website provides online access to primary sources from the Library of Congress’s many archival collections. The Performing Arts, Music section features 32 collections, including folk music from various regions of the country; African American music; plays written by Zora Neale Hurston; “American Variety Stage: Vaudeville and Popular Entertainment, 1870-1920”; “The New Deal Stage: Selections from the Federal Theatre Project, 1935-1939.” These collections offer access to multiple formats, including manuscripts and ephemera, photographs, audio, and film. These online collections provide selections from a wide array of collections; it is important to note that the collection material presented is not comprehensive. While detailed biographical information is lacking for each female performer, the collections do provide names of the many ordinary women who performed in America in a variety of settings, highlighting their talents and their contributions to American culture.



**New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center** 40 Lincoln Center Plaza New York, NY 10023-7498 (917) 275-6975 []

A public library devoted to the performing arts, the New York Public Library’s Cullman Center is home to a variety of research collections, including the Jerome Robbins Dance Division, the Music Division, the Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound, the Billie Rose Theater Division, and the Theater on Film and Tape Archive. Performing arts holdings are extensive and diverse, including ethnic dance and ballet, opera and ragtime, stage and screen, and Broadway and regional theater. The areas of dance, music, and theater are well represented in a variety of formats, including manuscripts, photographs, audio recordings, and moving images. Major collections of personal papers include stage performer Gypsy Rose Lee, dancer Doris Humphrey, dancer Agnes de Mille, and vocalist Marcella Sembrich. Users of all interest levels, from amateur enthusiast to academic scholar, are encouraged to use the resources at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.



**New York Public Library, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture** ** [|Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division] ** 515 Malcolm X Boulevard New York, NY 10037-1801 (212) 491-2200 []

This division of the New York Public Library is devoted to collecting materials on the history and culture of all peoples of African descent, focusing primarily on African Americans. The Manuscripts, Archives, and Rare Books Division collects personal and organizational records, and its subject strengths include the performing arts and women. Among the numerous collections which document the lives of women in the performing arts are the American Negro Ballet Company, the American Negro Theatre, and the papers of singers Lena Horne, Alberta Hunter, and Ada "Bricktop" Smith. An extensive listing of the Schomburg Center’s manuscript collections, categorized by subject, is available at: []. The Performing Arts section begins on page 23; subsections include Dance, Musicians/Composers, Vocalists, and Theatre/Movies. The Schomburg Center is the premier repository of African American history resources in the United States and a valuable institution for those interested in the careers and lives of African American women in the performing arts.

**Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of American History Archives Center** 1st Floor, West Wing 14th Street & Constitution Avenue, NW Washington, D.C. 20560-0601 (202) 633-3270 []

One of the three main collecting areas of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History Archives Center is music; its collections also document the experiences of American women. Two major subject headings for this repository’s collections are American music and entertainment. The American music collections primarily document the music of the late nineteenth century and the twentieth century, such as big band jazz, gospel and African American sacred music, and folk music. Two of the most intriguing collections held at the Smithsonian are the Helen May Butler Collection and the Frank Schiffman Apollo Theater Collection. Butler was the band leader of an all-women traveling military band from 1898-1913. Schiffman managed the Apollo Theater in Harlem, which hosted such notable female African American performers as Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday. The collections which focus on entertainment document a wide variety of performance formats, ranging from vaudeville to soap operas.



**Harvard Theatre Collection, Harvard College Library** Houghton Library Harvard Yard Harvard University Cambridge, MA 02138 (617) 495-2445 []

The prestigious Harvard Theatre Collection is one of the earliest and largest performing arts collections in the United States. It includes archival materials regarding the history of the performing arts, including theater, dance and ballet, and opera and musical theater. It defines performing arts broadly, documenting a large assortment of popular entertainments, such as magic shows, music hall acts, pantomime, puppetry, circuses and menageries, fairgrounds, pageants and outdoor drama, festivals and spectacles, film, and minstrelsy. The collections document the lives of lesser known American stage actresses; dancer, singer, and actress Josephine Baker; dancer Stella Bloch; and vaudeville acts, ballet troupes, and theatre groups in which women participated. The age and diversity of the Harvard Theatre Collection place it at the forefront for research about the lives of pre-twentieth century female performers in America, as well as those women who performed in the less traditional types of popular entertainment, such as circuses and magic shows.

**Duke University, The Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History and Culture** William R. Perkins Library 411 Chapel Drive Durham, NC 27708 (919) 660-5967 []

The Sallie Bingham Center for Women’s History and Culture holds a number of collections relating to women in the performing arts. There is a particular emphasis on women in music. The subject guide [|Women and Artistic Expression: Performing Arts] directs users to relevant archival collections, including the papers of actress and playwright Ann Preston Bridgers, African American soprano Viola Hill, stage director Catherine Nicholson, opera singer Jessie Simms, and jazz pianist and composer Mary Lou Williams. Two additional subject guides for women and music are available online; they are [|Music and Musicians of the Women’s Movement, 1960s-present] and [|Women in Music]. These subject guides serve to connect users with relevant resources at Duke University and specifically the Bingham Center. These subject guides are primarily, although not exclusively, comprised of print materials. Nonetheless, they may be useful to patrons in the early stages of research and for the enthusiast who does not require the breadth and depth of an archival collection to satisfy her curiosity.

**University of California, Los Angeles** **Performing Arts Special Collections** A1713 Charles E. Young Research Library Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575 (310) 825-4988 []

The Charles E. Young Research Library at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) maintains a large and varied collection of archives related to film, television, and theatre; dance; and music. The collections focus on twentieth century history and document the creative processes as well as the lives of these performing artists. Women are represented in these collections; however, the collection material does concentrate primarily on their careers and work product. These collections may be of use to the academic biographer. Holdings include career-related materials of comedienne and ac tress Carol Burnett and actress Ann Sothern. The personal papers of modern dancers Isadora Duncan, Maud Allan, and Ruth St. Denis can also be found at the Young Research Library. Music-related archival materials include the work of female composers as well as music prepared for female performers, such as Polly Bergen and Carol Burnett. The Jazz Archival Collections include sheet music and photographs of Ella Fitzgerald. Sound recordings center on popular music and jazz. Those interested in women in film and television should also consult the Film and Television Archive at UCLA, located in the Powell Library Building. More information regarding their moving image holdings can be found at their website: http://www.cinema.ucla.edu/collections/collections.html.



**Boston University, Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center** 771 Commonwealth Avenue Boston, Massachusetts 02215 617-353-3696 []

The Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University houses an impressive collection of personal papers of twentieth century figures from the entertainment industry, including theatre and film, popular music, and opera. Numerous subject guides are available for those interested in women in the performing arts. These include: __ [|The Hollywood Ten and the Blacklist Era] __, __ [|Music Collections] __ , __ [|Opera] __ , and __ [|Theatre and Film] __. Famous women in the performing arts who are represented in these collections include Ella Fitzgerald, Denyce Graves, Deborah Voigt, Mary Astor, Bette Davis, Susan Hayward, and Shirley MacLaine, among many others. The subject guide for __ [|Women's Studies] __ has sections on Music and Dance and Drama, Film, and Television; this guide overlaps with the other subject guides mentioned above, but it also includes women authors of fiction and non-fiction, female visual artists, as well as those in the fields of medicine and health care, social justice and activism, education, and history and culture. The Gotlieb Center competes with its West Coast counterparts for preeminence as a repository focused on Hollywood actresses and actors.

**Smith College** **[|College Archives]** **[|Sophia Smith Collection]** Alumnae Gymnasium Smith College Northampton, MA 01063 (413) 585-2970

The Smith College Archives and the Sophia Smith Collection are housed in the same space on Smith College’s campus. Each has interesting archival collections related to women in the performing arts. The Smith College Archives holds the Hallie Flanagan Davis Papers, 1938-1964. Flanagan served as a professor of drama and a dean at Smith after her work as director of the Federal Theater Project. Additionally, the College Archives houses the papers of professors of music Iva Dee Hiatt and Dorothy Stahl, and drama instructor Ethel Hale Freeman. Finally, as in most college and university archives, there are departmental records for the various performing arts departments (music, theater, and so forth). The Sophia Smith Collection offers three subject collections relating to specific areas of the performing arts; these collections have been artificially created through donation and purchase. The Music Collection, Theater Collection, and Women’s Music Archives Collection contain primarily printed materials such as pamphlets, clippings, and ephemera, but also include organization records, biographical materials, photographs, and audiovisual materials. Additionally, the Sophia Smith Collection administers personal and organizational papers for women actors, musicians, composers, theatre professionals, and educators. A small example includes: dancer and choreographer Agnes de Mille, playwright and actress Nancy Hamilton, composer and music educator Dorothy Smith Dushkin, actress Jane White, and musician and music educator Grace Harriet Spofford. These collections of less well-known women in the performing arts are vital to forming a complete understanding of the individual woman’s life, as well as contextualizing a larger study of women in the performing arts.

**Margaret Herrick Library, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences** 333 S. La Cienega Boulevard Beverly Hills, California 90211 (310) 247-3036 extension 2226 []

The Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences maintains an magnificent collection of archival materials relating to those involved in the motion picture industry. There are more than a thousand collections which document the industry, as well as the careers and lives of those who work in Hollywood. The collecting scope is not limited to actors and directors, but also encompasses makeup artists, costume designers, art directors, composers, and many other jobs which contribute to the production of movies. Collection materials include manuscript collections, photographs, oral histories, and film. Personal papers collections include actresses Katharine Hepburn, Janet Leigh, and Mary Pickford, as well as costume designer Edith Head and casting director Margery Simkin. Oral histories especially focus on those who work behind the scenes; among those interviewed are sound and music supervisor Lela Simone, script supervisor Peggy Robertson, actress Laraine Day, and film editor Margaret Booth. The Herrick Library is an important repository for the history of women in the performing arts, particularly for discovering the lives of those who worked in Hollywood behind the camera’s gaze.



** Institute of Jazz Studies ** ** John Cotton Dana Library ** ** Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey ** 185 University Ave. Newark NJ USA 07102 (973) 353-5595 []

The Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers is one of many research institutes in the U.S. dedicated to jazz. The Institute features over 100 archival collections, including personal papers and the records of recording companies and jazz-related institutions. The collection includes traditional reference sources, such as books and periodicals, along with manuscripts, photographs, sound recordings, oral histories, and some memorabilia. Women jazz artists who are featured in this collection include Ella Fitzgerald, whose wig and dress are among the more unusual items in the holdings; the Boswell Sisters; jazz performer Mary Lou Williams; and orchestra band leader Sylvia Syms. A [|Jazz Subject Guide] offers a comprehensive listing of jazz-related libraries and archives in the U.S. and internationally; it also includes bibliographies, discographies, and other research resources.



**Philadelphia Dance Collection, Temple University** Paley Library 017-00 1210 Polett Walk Philadelphia, PA 19122-6088 (215) 204-8230 []

The Philadelphia Dance Collection, a part of Temple University’s Special Collections, documents dance in the greater Philadelphia region. The collection focuses on performance groups like the Pennsylvania Ballet and Philadanco; it also houses the records of the DanceBoom! performance series. Additionally, the collection contains dance photographs from the Philadelphia City Paper, as well as the records of the Temple University Department of Dance and the Institute for African Dance Research and Performance. Audio-visual materials focus on recordings of dance performances and oral history interviews, while printed materials document the diversity of performances in posters, programs, and the like. The Philadelphia Dance Collection strives to engage dance professionals in the region by documenting all forms of dance and by educating them as to the importance of their creations. This collection will be of use to anyone interested in the lives of female dancers in the Philadelphia region.

**Dance Heritage Coalition** []

The Dance Heritage Coalition (DHC) is a national alliance of institutions which hold significant collections of archival materials documenting the history of dance. It provides guidance and support for those who work to document dance in the United States, as well as providing a union catalog for members’ holdings. Such an arrangement facilitates dance research by allowing for proficient searching of the major dance collections. The DHC website also instructs users on how to search for dance-related archival materials. Members include several repositories already discussed, as well as others which preserve the history of dance. The nine members are: American Dance Festival; Dance Notation Bureau, Inc.; Harvard Theatre Collection; Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival; Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee Theatre Research Institute, The Ohio State University; Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center; the Library of Congress; Museum of Performance and Design; and UCLA Library. Each of these repositories’ websites can be accessed through the DHC website.

**ArchiveGrid*** []

ArchiveGrid is a subscription-based database which searches the collections of over a thousand museums, libraries, and archives. This database is available to University of Maryland students through Research Port. Although users must subscribe to use this site, contributors can add their collection information for free. Large repositories, like the New York Public Library and the Library of Congress, participate in ArchiveGrid, as do state archives, colleges and universities, historical societies, public libraries, and small institutions. This powerful search tool can identify pertinent archival collections across the nation and the globe, uniting relevant collections which are physically separated. Contact information links for each entry make it easy for users to get in touch with the repository to arrange a visit. ArchiveGrid is an invaluable tool for many types of research, including biographical.

**Online Archive of California** []

The Online Archive of California (OAC) is a state-wide consortia composed of over 150 contributing institutions, including libraries, special collections, archives, historical societies, museums, and the ten University of California campuses. The OAC offers primarily collection information in a uniform presentation, allowing for federated searching of these institutions’ archival collections. Additionally, some digital objects are available through the OAC. Access to this website is free. Although not dedicated to women in the performing arts, such a website can be useful for rapid searching of multiple repositories’ holdings and for accessing the less visible collections of smaller historical societies, local libraries, and museums. One example of a collection relating to women in the performing arts is the Actress and Singer Photograph Collection, ca. 1850 – 1930. This collection is administered by The Society of California Pioneers and contains over 300 images of actresses and opera singers who performed in San Francisco.

**Northwest Digital Archives** []

The Northwest Digital Archives (NWDA) is a regional consortium composed of historical institutions located in Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Alaska, and Washington. The NWDA enhances access to primary sources through collection descriptions and finding aids that are available online. Some digitized items are also available. Access to this website is free. Like the OAC, the NWDA allows for efficient searching across multiple repositories and enables the discovery of underutilized collections. The NWDA has among its members a number of college and university archives, many of which have records for the music and theater departments. Additionally, the Helen E. Plinkiewisch Papers (Oregon State University Libraries, University Archives) and the Agnes Crawford Schuldt Papers (University of Idaho Library, Special Collections and Archives) document the lives of two music educators.