- unitid
-
{"value"=>"24433", "type"=>"local_mss"}
{"value"=>"b22268913", "type"=>"local_b"}
{"value"=>"Sc MIRS Primus 2011-37", "type"=>"local_call"}
- unitdate
-
{"value"=>"circa 1970-1989", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1970/1989", "certainty"=>"approximate"}
- unittitle
-
{"value"=>"Pearl Primus film collection"}
- physdesc
-
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"1 video_recording", "unit"=>"video_recordings"}]}
- repository
-
{"value"=>"<span class=\"corpname\">Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division</span>"}
- abstract
-
{"value"=>"Pearl Primus (1919-1994) was an internationally recognized dancer, choreographer, anthropologist, and pioneer of African American dance. The collection contains one silent film."}
- langmaterial
-
{"value"=>"English"}
- origination
-
{"value"=>"Primus, Pearl", "type"=>"persname"}
- bioghist
-
{"value"=>"<p>Pearl Primus (November 29, 1919-October 29, 1994) was a dancer, choreographer, and anthropologist. She has been internationally recognized as a pioneer of modern African American dance.</p> <p>Born in Trinidad, Primus immigrated with her parents to New York City in 1921. After earning a degree in biology and pre-medical science at Hunter College, she began dancing with the activist dance collective New Dance Group in 1941.</p> <p>Primus studied the dance expressions and cultural practices of African and diasporic local communities on research trips in Liberia, Senegal, and the Belgian Congo (Democratic Republic of Congo), as well as the American South. Her fieldwork formed the foundation for dance pieces such as <span class=\"title\">Strange Fruit</span> (1945) which addressed the injustices and civil rights activism she observed in the Deep South, and the Liberian welcome dance <span class=\"title\">Fanga</span> (1949) which reflected her research into West African folkways.</p> <p>Primus received an MA in education (1959) and a PhD in dance education (1978) from New York University. She directed the Konoma Kende Performing Arts Centre in Liberia (1959-1961), and founded the Caribbean American Institute of Dance. Together with her husband and collaborator, the dancer and teacher Percival Borde, they established the Pearl Primus Dance Language Institute in New Rochelle, New York in 1979. After she stopped performing, she directed the Cora P. Maloney College at State University of New York, Buffalo (1982-1984), and taught ethnic studies in the Five Colleges consortium in Massachusetts (1984-1990).</p> <p>Primus performed throughout North America, Europe, Africa, and the Caribbean. She received numerous awards including the Order of the Star of Africa from the Liberian government, the Scroll of Honor from the National Council of Negro Women, and a National Medal of the Arts. She died in 1994.</p>"}
- scopecontent
-
{"value"=>"<p>The collection contains one film dating to circa 1970-1989.</p>"}
- acqinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Pearl Primus, 1993.</p>"}
- separatedmaterial
-
{"value"=>"<p>See the Manuscripts, Archives, and Rare Books Division for the Pearl Primus collection, Sc MG 852.</p>"}
{"value"=>"<p>See the Photographs and Prints Division for the photographs.</p>"}
- processinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Collection inventoried by <span class=\"name\">Nathan Evans</span>. Collection processed and described by <span class=\"name\">Lyric Evans-Hunter</span>, archivist. Finding aid published in <span class=\"date\">2025</span>.</p>"}
- accessrestrict
-
{"value"=>"<p>At the time of publishing, the film is not available pending digitization.</p>"}
- relatedmaterial
-
{"value"=>"<p>Joe Nash Black Dance audio and moving image collection, Sc MIRS Nash 1984-36.</p> <p>Oral history interview with Pearl Primus, Sc Visual DVD-1554.</p> <p>Pearl Primus' Africa [sound recording] : in story, legend, song and thought, Sc Audio CD-150 and Sc Audio RE-8271.</p>"}
- sponsor
-
{"value"=>"An anonymous donor funded preliminary processing for this collection. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation supported a research library-wide grant for the digitization, and funded the Schomburg for the description and production of the finding aid as part of The Next Century of Black Studies Project."}
- revisiondesc
-
{"value"=>"Extent note updated to facilitate public access by Lyric Benjamin-Hunter.", "date"=>"2026-04-22"}
- date_start
-
1970
- keydate
-
1970
- date_end
-
1989
- date_inclusive_start
-
1970
- date_inclusive_end
-
1989
- prefercite
-
{"value"=>"Pearl Primus film collection, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division, The New York Public Library"}