- physdesc
-
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>".5 linear feet", "unit"=>"linear feet"}, {"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"1 box", "unit"=>"containers"}], "supress_display"=>true}
- unitid
-
{"value"=>"*MGZMD 152", "type"=>"local_call"}
{"value"=>"19783", "type"=>"local_mss"}
- unitdate
-
{"value"=>"1944-1955", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1944/1955"}
- date_inclusive_start
-
1944
- date_inclusive_end
-
1955
- keydate
-
1944
- unittitle
-
{"value"=>"Martha Graham Dance Company records"}
- repository
-
{"value"=>"<span class=\"corpname\">The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. <span class=\"subarea\">Jerome Robbins Dance Division.</span></span> <div class=\"address\"> <span class=\"addressline\">New York, New York</span></div>"}
- abstract
-
{"value"=>"Martha Graham (1894-1991) was a seminal figure in contemporary dance. Her approach to dance embodied principles of contraction and release which she merged, for the first time in dance, with architecture and sculpture on the stage. This collection of her dance company records represents only a small piece of that legacy which still continues today."}
- prefercite
-
{"value"=>"Martha Graham Dance Company records, *MGZMD 152. Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts"}
- origination
-
{"value"=>"Graham, Martha", "type"=>"persname"}
- bioghist
-
{"value"=>"<p>The Martha Graham dance legacy, which embodied principles of contraction and release, was brought into prominence in 1928. The Group, as she called her dancers, were selected from the private students that Graham (11 May 1894-1 April 1991) took on while teaching dance at the Neighborhood Playhouse. Graham and her cultivated students debuted as The Group on 14 April 1929. The arrangement was such that the dance fueled classwork just as classwork influenced the dance. The Group remained an all female group until 1938. That year Erick Hawkins joined, an event eclipsed only in 1939 when Merce Cunningham became a member. This period marked a new development for dance. The fusion of sculptural elements, through Isamu Noguchi’s stage designs, coalesced with dance in <span class=\"title\">Frontier</span> (1935). Sculpture was to the 1930s what literary content was to the 1940s. Landmark performances for the incorporation of spoken word in dance include <span class=\"title\">Letter to the World</span> (1940).</p> <p>The company continued to evolve in other ways. Since 1934, the company rehearsed at Bennington School of the Dance. In 1941 Bennington fell apart and the company moved to teaching dance at the American Dance Festival at Connecticut College. That same year <span class=\"title\">Diversion of Angels</span> (1948) was also the first time that Graham choreographed a dance without performing in it herself. In 1950 Erick Hawkins left the company following Cunningham’s earlier departure in 1945. Despite these company changes, tours and commissions continued. On two separate occasions in 1950 and 1951, the Louisville Arts Council commissioned the company to perform with the Louisville Symphony Orchestra. Later, the U.S. State Department sponsored an Asian tour in 1954. In the 1960s the company increased its male members which somewhat altered Graham’s choreography toward the masculine. Her last performance occurred on 20 April 1969 for <span class=\"title\">The Lady of the House of Sleep</span>. Although she stopped performing, Graham spent the 1970s and 1980s preparing for her dancers to replace her. In 1975 Halston began designing her company’s costumes, a task that Graham always participated in believing that the costumes contributed to the dance’s expression of the mental state. Despite deteriorating health, Graham continued to choreograph but in 1977 she began using pre-existing compositions. This marked a departure from the earlier days when musical director Louis Horst composed original music for the company. In the end of her life Graham was bestowed many awards including the Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur from the Paris Opera in 1984 and the Carina Ari Medal awarded in 1985 by the Princess of Sweden. Even after Graham’s death in 1991, her dance tradition continues today in the Martha Graham Dance Company.</p>"}
- scopecontent
-
{"value"=>"<p>This collection only covers the years 1944-1955. Therefore, it does not provide a full inventory of the company members including Martha Graham. It is primarily correspondence and performance information from the offices of Isadora Bennett and Richard Pleasant, publicists for Martha Graham, approximately from 1942-1958. It includes dance company press materials which discuss how for the first time architecture and sculpture were fused with dance. Additional informational value is continued in the dance analysis for <span class=\"title\">Eye of Anguish</span>. It examines dance for its emotive qualities. The performance materials are equally illuminating. While offering a timeline of activity in the 1940s and 1950s, they also touch upon contemporary dance issues such as the relationship between dance and music.</p>"}
{"value"=>"<p class='list-head'>The Martha Graham Dance Company records are arranged in three series:</p>\n<ul class='arrangement series-descriptions'>\n<li><div class='series-title'><a href='/dan/19783#c384884'>Series I: Administrative</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1944 - 1955 and undated</div>\n<div class='series-extent'>11 folders</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This series contains historical information on the Martha Graham Dance Company.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/dan/19783#c384900'>Series II: Finances</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1944 - 1948</div>\n<div class='series-extent'>2 folders</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>The contents in this series do not adequately represent the company’s financial profile. Some information pertaining to company worth, however, may be found in the financial statement dated spring 1944.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/dan/19783#c384903'>Series III: Personal</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1958</div>\n<div class='series-extent'>1 folder</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This series contains a facsimile of Martha Graham’s sister’s (Jane Beers Duffey) death certificate dated 1958.</p></div></li></ul>\n", "type"=>"arrangement"}
- arrangement
-
{"value"=>"<p>The collection is organized into 3 series and 3 sub-series. They are: <ul> <li>Series I: Administrative <ul> <li>Sub-series 1 - Correspondence</li> <li>Sub-series 2 - Performance</li> <li>Sub-series 3 - Professional profiles</li></ul></li> <li>Series II: Financial</li> <li>Series III: Personal</li></ul></p>", "supress_display"=>true}
- acqinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>The Martha Graham Dance Company Records were donated to the Jerome Robbins Dance Division in 1969 by Leroy Leatherman.</p>"}
- accessrestrict
-
{"value"=>"<p>Photocopying prohibited.</p>"}
- userestrict
-
{"value"=>"<p>For permission to publish, contact the Curator, Jerome Robbins Dance Division.</p>"}
- langmaterial
-
{"value"=>"English"}
- processinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Processed by Camille Reilly Meyer; Machine-readable finding aid created by Camille Reilly Meyer.</p>"}
- extent_statement
-
.5 linear feet (1 box)
- date_start
-
1944
- date_end
-
1955