Scope and arrangement
The Walter Terry papers, Additions, date from 1909 to 1978 (bulk 1936-1978) and contain manuscripts, correspondence, ephemera, and research materials related to Terry's work as a dance writer and critic and to his activities with various dance organizations.
Correspondence consists mostly of letters to Terry, though some copies of outgoing letters are also present. Subjects of the correspondence include Terry's reviews and news about dancers and their work. Terry's correspondents are dancers, educators, and other colleagues, including Lincoln Kirstein, Doris Humphrey, Reginald and Gladys Laubin, and Miriam Winslow.
Ephemera and research materials include programs, promotional material, clippings, reports, and notes. Subjects of these materials include the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, New York City Ballet, Ballet Theatre, Isadora Duncan, and dance education. Promotional material for Terry's own work is also present. The earliest materials in the collection consist of a small amount of publicity material for Adeline Genée, dating from 1909 to the 1910s.
The collection contains responses to surveys that Terry conducted regarding dance education in American schools. Terry conducted surveys of colleges and universities in 1940 and 1947, and a survey of public elementary and secondary schools in 1951. The collection also includes some correspondence and other documents regarding Terry's work as dance editor for the Encyclopaedia Britannica.
Manuscripts consist of typescripts of Terry's articles and books. Articles from the New York Herald Tribune, the Boston Herald, and other periodicals are present, as are some unpublished articles. Book manuscripts are The Ballet Companion; Be Jubilant, My Feet! (written in the 1940s); Great Male Dancers of the Ballet; Invitation to Dance; Isadora Duncan: Her Life, Her Art, Her Legacy; and Star Performance: The Story of the World's Great Ballerinas. Some of the manuscripts are incomplete. A partial manuscript of Kirsten Ralov's The Bournonville School, for which Terry did some editing and wrote an introduction, is also present.