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Creator
La Meri, 1898-1988
Call number
*MGZEB 21-0004
Physical description
1.67 linear feet (4 boxes)
Language
Multiple languages; Materials in English, Spanish, and French.
Preferred Citation
La Meri photographs, *MGZEB 21-0004. Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
Repository
Jerome Robbins Dance Division
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.

The La Meri photographs consist of photographic material collected by La Meri throughout her career as a dancer, teacher, writer, and student of dance from India and other cultures. Spanning 1898 to the 1980s, the photographs reveal La Meri's professional and personal life.

Biographical/historical information

La Meri (1898-1988), a dancer, teacher, writer, and student of dance from India and other cultures, was born Russell Meriwether Hughes in Louisville, Kentucky. At the age of twelve, La Meri moved to San Antonio, Texas and studied writing, dance, and theater. At San Antonio, she worked at local movie theaters for a few years before moving to New York City, where she worked in vaudeville and Maria Montero's Spanish dance company. While in New York City, La Meri met her future husband, Guido Carreras, a talent manager, and decided to become a dancer. After her first engagement in Mexico City, Mexico, La Meri adopted her permanent stage name when one of her interviewers shortened her name from Meri Hughes to La Meri.

Establishing a small company, La Meri toured the world to study and perform dance from 1928 through 1939. Her tours and studies brought her to Europe, North Africa, Australia, Southeast and East Asia, India, Hawaii, Central America, and South America. During her tours, La Meri learned the local dances, studying and performing with dance masters. The movements that she learned from the local dances influenced the choreography she created for her own company. One of La Meri's most famous dances was a Bharatanatyam interpretation of Swan Lake, which she created in 1944.

In 1940, La Meri established the School of Natya with Ruth St. Denis in New York City, where she taught East Indian dance. The school was renamed the Ethnologic Dance Center in 1943, and operated until 1956. In 1960, La Meri left New York City to retire to Cape Cod, Massachusetts with her sister, Lilian to write and raise champion show dogs. While La Meri did continue to write, she also lectured and taught extensively in addition to establishing Ethnic Dance Arts, Inc. The company produced an annual summer ethnic dance festival from 1970 to 1979. La Meri also served on the Board of Directors and faculty at Jacob's Pillow in Becket, Massachusetts.

In 1984, La Meri retired a second time and moved back to San Antonio, Texas. She died in 1988 at the age of 89.

Scope and arrangement

The La Meri photographs chronicle her professional and personal life from 1898 to the 1980s. The collection is composed of mostly black-and-white prints with some slides, negatives, and contact sheets. The bulk of the collection comes from La Meri's years performing and studying dance around the world. The photographs also detail her work as a founder and teacher at the Ethnologic Dance Center and Ethnic Dance Arts, Inc. A small portion of the collection features La Meri's personal photographs that document her childhood, home and tour life.

The International and National Tours grouping chronicles La Meri performing and studying dance. Most of the photographs depict La Meri posing in the local dress which she wore as a performance costume for her dance pieces. The photographs span the 1920s to 1980s and are filed by location, production, and type of dance. Heavily represented in the grouping are La Meri's pieces that were inspired by Spanish and Indian dances. Ram Gopal--La Meri's stagecraft apprentice, instructor, and dance partner--appears in some of these photographs. There are notes on the back side of some of the photographs which appear to be La Meri's observations about pace, gestures, and movements. This group includes some newspaper clippings and articles about La Meri's career. Of note are black-and-white prints of La Meri's hand, feet, and arm position studies.

The Schools and Companies grouping spans the 1920s to 1985 and contains mostly photographs of La Meri's work as a founder and teacher at the Ethnologic Dance Center in New York City. Most of this grouping depicts La Meri teaching dance classes. There are some candid photographs of La Meri with Ruth St. Denis and students. Aside from the Ethnologic Dance Center material, there are some slides of Ethnic Dance Arts company's performances, prints of La Meri teaching in her later years, and prints of students performing La Meri's dances, as well as signed photographs from former students.

La Meri's personal photographs span 1898 to 1984 and include prints and negatives from her private home life and work traveling the world as a dancer and student. This grouping is composed of mostly candid prints of La Meri's travels, dogs and home in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and professionally shot portraits. Of note in this grouping is a print from her infancy, and prints of her sister, Lilian Newcomer.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged alphabetically within the following three groupings: International and National Tours; Schools and Companies; and Personal.

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

Donated by William Adams, Jr. in 1993.

Processing information

Processed by Amy Lau in 2021.

Separated material

La Meri papers, 1912-1992

Using the collection

Location

Jerome Robbins Dance Division
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center
40 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023-7498
Third Floor