Scope and arrangement
This collection of photographs documents the contemporary ballet scene of the late 1950s until 1975. Baum photographed ballet locally in New York City and traveled extensively around the United States, Europe, and the United Kingdom to photograph the larger community of ballet.
The slides and negatives are all original work by Baum and arranged chronologically. Prints maintained the loose categorizations established by Baum, primarily divided by the individual dancer or company and include photographs both by and collected by Baum. Most prints by Baum are not identified but can be correlated with a slide or negative in the collection. Photographs arranged in scrapbooks have been removed but retain their original order.
Much of Baum's work in New York City was focused on the American Ballet Theatre and their productions and any international ballet company on tour, especially the Bolshoi and the Danish Ballet. Baum was particularly interested in documenting ballet dancers Erik Bruhn, Michaël Denard, Carla Fracci, Cynthia Gregory and Rudolf Nureyev. Common performances covered by Baum during this time include Giselle, The Nutcracker, La Sylphide and several Pas a Deux pieces from various ballets.
Though most photographs are primarily of dance, there is some documentation of opera, mainly performances by the tenor, Franco Corelli. Some personal and travel pictures are scattered within slides and negatives. Baum's trips through Europe in 1953 and 1960 resulted in extensive tourist photographs including Palermo, Greece, Barcelona, Portugal, and Lisbon. Baum's 1963 trip to Mexico City includes several photographs of bullfights and slides Baum identified as "Mexican folk dances."
Many individual slides identify the performance or dancer.
Arrangement
The received arrangement did not distinguish between Baum's photographs and prints collected from other photographers. To maintain the autonomy of Baum's photography, the collection has been organized by medium: prints, slides, and negatives.