- physdesc
-
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"36 linear feet", "unit"=>"linear feet"}, {"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"66 boxes", "unit"=>"containers"}], "supress_display"=>true}
- unitid
-
{"value"=>"*MGZMD 170", "type"=>"local_call"}
{"value"=>"19822", "type"=>"local_mss"}
- unitdate
-
{"value"=>"1925-2001", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1925/2001"}
{"value"=>"1935-1996", "type"=>"bulk", "normal"=>"1935/1996"}
- unittitle
-
{"value"=>"Jean Erdman papers"}
- repository
-
{"value"=>"<span class=\"corpname\">The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.</span> <span class=\"subarea\">Jerome Robbins Dance Division.</span> <div class=\"address\"><span class=\"addressline\">New York, New York</span></div>"}
- abstract
-
{"value"=>"The Jean Erdman Papers document the professional life of Jean Erdman Campbell, a dancer, choreographer, and dance instructor. Materials date from the late 1930s to the mid-1990s, and cover the early stages of her career as well as productions created during her later endeavors at the Theater of the Open Eye. This collection contains correspondence, production materials, academic papers, office files, financial and legal papers, scrapbooks, publicity materials, and photographs. This collection contains almost no materials related to Jean Erdman's personal life."}
- prefercite
-
{"value"=>"Jean Erdman papers, *MGZMD 170. Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts"}
- origination
-
{"value"=>"Erdman, Jean", "type"=>"persname"}
- bioghist
-
{"value"=>"<p>Jean Erdman was born in 1916. A native of Honolulu, she began her formal dance instruction at Sarah Lawrence College. Her career as professional dancer began in 1938 as a member of Martha Graham Dance Company, and in the same year she married Joseph Campbell, a professor at Sarah Lawrence College and noted mythologist. In 1943 Erdman began her solo career. Soon afterwards she founded her own company, and in 1948 she founded the Jean Erdman School of Dance. The period from the 1940s to 1960s was a period of intense choreographing, dancing, teaching, and touring. During these years she choreographed and performed her own works in New York City and throughout the United States and Canada, in cooperation with the Arts Program of the Association of American Colleges. She also conducted several world tours. In 1955 she was the first American dancer to perform in Japan after World War II, and also held performances in India, and several European countries. At the same time, Erdman's career as dance instructor in academic institutions developed. She gave numerous lecture-demonstrations and master classes in American colleges throughout the United States. In 1949-1955 she was Artist-in-Residence and head of the Dance Department at the University of Colorado. In 1954-1957 she served as Head of Dance Department and Director at Bard College. She was a founding member of the Dance Theater Program for the School of the Arts at New York University, where she remained from 1967 until 1972. As faculty member and dance instructor, her contribution was significant in adding a theater art dimension to American college dance, which to that date focused largely on physical education. Reflecting her interests in different cultural traditions through the looking-glass of dance, Erdman participated in several academic conferences and published a number of articles on modern dance and Japanese theater and dance. Throughout her career Erdman choreographed numerous pieces for solo and group dances, often joining forces with visual artists and composers who produced works specifically for these collaborative pieces. Some of the noted composers and designers with whom Erdman collaborated include John Cage, Henry Cowell, Lou Harrison, Louis Horst, Paul Jenkins, Ezra Laderman, Peter Max, Ralph Lee, as well as Teiji Ito, with whom she worked closely for several years, and who was a vital member of the Theater of the Open Eye. Eleven of her early choreographed pieces from the 1940s and 1950s were later reproduced and recorded in a three-volume documentary series, <span class=\"title\">Dance and Myth: The World of Jean Erdman</span>. Through an ongoing creative exchange with her husband's research, Erdman's search for a more abstract direction to American Modern Dance led her to create innovative and challenging choreographed works, in an ever-renewing language. Erdman's most celebrated production, <span class=\"title\">The Coach with the Six Insides</span>, was a turning point in her career. Based on James Joyce's <span class=\"title\">Finnegan's Wake</span> and partly inspired by her husband's own research on James Joyce, Erdman created a work that won the 1962 Vernon-Rice and OBIE Awards. Erdman's three-act event opened in November 1962, went on tour in the U.S. and Canada as well as Europe and Japan, and was later revived twice, in 1977-1978 and 1981-1982. As she stated herself in one of the numerous interviews she gave, the success and royalties she received from <span class=\"title\">The Coach</span> gave her the means to open her own theater and fulfill her artistic vision with much greater freedom than before. Certainly this is evident in the prolific creativity of the 1970s. In 1972 Erdman and Joseph Campbell founded the Theater of the Open Eye, an institution that aimed at creating dance-based works following the concept of Total Theater, and became the venue of many of Campbell's talks and seminars. Erdman served as the artistic director of the Theater of the Open Eye for fifteen years, during which she directed and produced several shows. Erdman's productions there all display her interest in blending Total Theater with literary and mythological explorations. Productions from this period include works such as <span class=\"title\">Moon Mysteries</span>, <span class=\"title\">Paul Gauguin in Tahiti</span>, and <span class=\"title\">The Shining House</span>, while other projects created under her direction at the Theater of the Open Eye included residency programs, and several shows for Children's Theater. After the death of Joseph Campbell in 1987, Erdman moved back to Honolulu, where she still resides to this date.</p>"}
- scopecontent
-
{"value"=>"<p>The Jean Erdman Papers document the professional life of Jean Erdman Campbell, a twentieth-century dancer, choreographer, and dance instructor. Materials cover Erdman's entire career, from her early studies and works in 1937 until the mid-1990s. The collection consists of professional correspondence; production materials and academic papers; publicity materials, such as clippings, press releases, leaflets and posters, scrapbooks, and programs; as well as administrative, financial and legal papers. Teaching materials, lesson plans and research notes on technique reflect her role as dance instructor and faculty member at several colleges and universities. Erdman also published several short articles that reveal her interest in the direction of American Modern Dance as well as dance traditions of cultures worldwide. For several decades Erdman toured extensively, both on her own and in group performances, throughout North America as well as overseas in Europe, India and Japan. As part of these tours Erdman performed her own choreography and gave lecture-demonstrations, master classes or longer workshops. A large part of the academic papers and correspondence series bare evidence of the arrangements behind these extensive tours, as well as Erdman's performances within New York City. Erdman's role as choreographer and later on as artistic director of the Theater of the Open Eye is also amply documented through production and publicity materials. Production materials in particular include a wide range of correspondence, research and choreographer's notes, scripts, scores, projection slides, stage and lighting plans for the performances created by Erdman. Publicity materials, such as clippings, programs, leaflets, posters, and scrapbooks complete the picture of Erdman's career. Interesting highlights of the Production Series include comprehensive Technical Stage Direction sheets, in which all concurrent elements of a performance are drawn together in a large graph, where they can be seen at a glance. Research materials, correspondence with The Society of Authors as representative of the Joyce Estate, and the abundant materials documenting the development of <span class=\"title\">The Coach with the Six Insides</span>, including numerous drafts of the script, may be of particular interest to scholars of James Joyce. The collection also includes a significant number of photographs, slides and negatives from the majority of Erdman's productions. The administrative side of Erdman's responsibilities is reflected in the correspondence; office files; and financial and legal papers, which include a sizeable section on fundraising efforts. Also included are limited materials related to Erdman's husband, Joseph Campbell, mostly resulting from their collaboration within the Theater of the Open Eye. This collection contains almost no materials related to Jean Erdman's personal life.</p>"}
{"value"=>"<p class='list-head'>The Jean Erdman papers are arranged in ten series:</p>\n<ul class='arrangement series-descriptions'>\n<li><div class='series-title'><a href='/dan/19822#c401412'>Series I: Correspondence</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1939 - 2001, undated</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This series contains correspondence with Jean Erdman's and Joseph Campbell's colleagues and friends, covering every aspect of Erdman's professional life as teacher, choreographer and performer, dance instructor, college faculty member and artistic director. A large part of this correspondence was carried out by several people who wrote on her behalf, such as administrative assistants and secretaries, tour agents, lawyers, and also her husband. Such letters are filed together with Erdman's own letters, under the name of the recipient or outside organization. Apart from personal comments in business letters, there is no purely personal correspondence in this collection.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/dan/19822#c401650'>Series II: Production Materials</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1943 - 1992, undated</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This series is divided into two sub-series: Early Works, and Theater of the Open Eye, reflecting the two major phases of Erdman's career. Materials in this series include choreographer's and production notes; scripts, librettos and scores; music cues; costume and set designs; lighting plots and cues, including those for slide projection, a feature that appears in a number of Erdman's productions. The series also includes materials that amply illustrate Erdman's background work on her productions, such as correspondence, research notes and materials; notes on early thoughts and ideas; as well as rehearsal schedules, ticket lists and box office statements.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/dan/19822#c401920'>Series III: Academic Papers</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1937 - 2000, undated</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This series documents the academic aspects of Erdman's career as dance instructor at her own studio and as faculty member or guest lecturer at several Colleges. It includes a significant number of notes on exercises and technique from her first steps as dance student herself, and throughout her teaching career. Three early notebooks, in particular, are of importance in disclosing Erdman's formative thoughts on her approach to modern dance (Box 27, folders 1-3). This series also includes copies of several short articles Erdman wrote on Modern Dance and foreign dance traditions; notes from conference participation; and a list of titles included in Erdman's personal book collection.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/dan/19822#c402006'>Series IV: Financial and Legal Papers</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1942 - 1989, undated</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This series contains financial and legal materials from the early steps of Erdman's career through the Theater of the Open Eye. It includes correspondence, contracts, royalty statements, budget lists and fundraising materials, as well as payroll, insurance and tax documents, retail receipts and invoices, bank and salary statements. Biographical and professional information provided by Erdman in the various proposals and their drafts, located in the fundraising materials, may be of particular interest and enhance the biographical materials found in the Publicity Series (Box 40, folders 2-5).</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/dan/19822#c402145'>Series V: Office Files</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1938 - 1988, undated</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This series contains promotional form letters, contact lists, activity schedules and tour arrangement correspondence spanning Erdman's entire career, as well as meeting minutes and vendor information used by the Theater of the Open Eye. Awards and Honors won by Erdman can also be found here.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/dan/19822#c402174'>Series VI: Publicity</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1925 - 1993, undated</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This series contains clippings; leaflets and posters; interview transcripts; press releases and quotes, as well as a number of Press Books (intended for publicity purposes) and Press Manuals (intended for the use of publicists). Some publicity materials for Joseph Campbell, including fliers for his seminars, and a few issues from a newsletter produced by the Theater of the Open Eye can also be found here. A list of all of Erdman's productions, in chronological order and often with a list of contributors can be found among the biographical materials (Box 40, folder 5).</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/dan/19822#c402324'>Series VII: Scrapbooks</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1962 - 1967, undated</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This series contains several scrapbooks dating from Erdman's early years (Box 65, folders 1-7), and others dedicated to the performances of <span class=\"title\">The Coach with the Six Insides</span> in the U.S.A. as well as on tour. Three cartoon scrapbooks give a humorous insight to the personalities of and relations among the members of the Theater of the Open Eye.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/dan/19822#c402335'>Series VIII: Programs</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1935 - 1991, undated</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This series contains programs from Erdman's performances from the beginning of her career and through the prolific productions of the Theater of the Open Eye. There is also a significant number of souvenir programs from performances that Erdman attended, a large part dedicated to East Asian, and Japanese in particular, arts reflecting her ongoing interest in the culture of the region.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/dan/19822#c402401'>Series IX: Photographs</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1938 - 1991, undated</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This series contains photographs of Jean Erdman and her colleagues, both as a solo dancer and as part of the Theater of the Open Eye. A significant part of the series is dedicated to photographs from Erdman's productions, both during performances and studio and rehearsals. This section is divided into early works and Theater of the Open Eye, reflecting the same division in the Production Series. Contact sheets and several projection slides used in select performances can also be found here. No personal photographs are found in this collection.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/dan/19822#c402572'>Series X: Oversized Materials</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1930s - 1991, undated</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This series contains oversized production and publicity materials, scrapbooks and photographs.</p></div></li></ul>\n", "type"=>"arrangement"}
- arrangement
-
{"value"=>"<p> The collection is organized into 10 series and 4 sub-series. They are:<ul> <li>Series I: Correspondence, 1939-2001 and undated<ul> <li>Sub-series 1 - General, 1939-2001 and undated</li> <li>Sub-series 2 - Tours and Shows, 1944-1978 and undated</li></ul></li> <li>Series II: Production Materials, 1943-1992 and undated<ul> <li>Sub-series 1 - Early Works, 1943-1992 and undated</li> <li>Sub-series 2 - Theater of the Open Eye, 1962-1989 and undated</li></ul></li> <li>Series III: Academic Papers, 1937-2000 and undated</li> <li>Series IV: Financial and Legal Papers, 1942-1989 and undated</li> <li>Series V: Office Files, 1938-1988 and undated</li> <li>Series VI: Publicity, 1925-1993 and undated</li> <li>Series VII: Scrapbooks, 1962-1967 and undated</li> <li>Series VIII: Programs, 1935-1991 and undated</li> <li>Series IX: Photographs, 1938-1991 and undated</li> <li>Series X: Oversized Materials, 1930s-1991 and undated</li></ul></p>", "supress_display"=>true}
- acqinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>The Jean Erdman Papers were donated to the Jerome Robbins Dance Division in 2001 by Jean Erdman Campbell.</p>"}
- separatedmaterial
-
{"value"=>"<p>*MGZMD 170--Audio-Visual items separated from the paper materials in this collection are comprised of the following.</p> <div class=\"note\"> <p>Items may not be available for immediate consultation. See the Jerome Robbins Archive of the Recorded Moving Image for further details.</p></div> <p> <ul> <li>1) Jean Erdman at National Arts Club—Yeats Society—5/25/93 One ½” VHS NTSC</li> <li>2) 1982 Holiday Dance Festival Two ¾” Umatic videos</li> <li>3) Jean Erdman Retrospective, Hunter College Playhouse, Program A Penny Ward Video—12/8/85 Two ¾” Umatic videos</li> <li> 4) Jean Erdman Retrospective, Hunter College Playhouse, Program B Penny Ward Video—12/8/85 Two ¾” Umatic videos</li> <li>5) Holiday Dance Festival 1981 featuring Choreography by Jean Erdman from the Jean Erdman Repertory and featuring Choreography by Nancy Allison, Leslie Dillingham, Rebecca Perrin, Muna Tseng, Susan Tenney Four ¾” Umatic videos</li></ul> <ul> <li>Leather wallet and coins, souvenir from Japan, 1964</li> <li>Coaster</li></ul></p>"}
- accessrestrict
-
{"value"=>"<p>Permission required.</p>"}
- userestrict
-
{"value"=>"<p>For permission to publish, contact the Curator, Jerome Robbins Dance Division.</p>"}
- date_inclusive_start
-
1925
- date_inclusive_end
-
2001
- keydate
-
1925
- processinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Processed by Aikaterini Dimitriadou-Shuster; Machine-readable finding aid created by Aikaterini Dimitriadou-Shuster.</p>"}
- extent_statement
-
36 linear feet (66 boxes)
- date_start
-
1925
- date_end
-
2001
- date_bulk_start
-
1935
- date_bulk_end
-
1996