Scope and arrangement
The majority of the collection consists of slides featuring expressionist choreographers and dancers known for their work in Germany during the Weimar Republic and leading up to World War II. The collection contains images of the following choreographers: Edith Bielefeld, Gertrude Bodenweiser, Rosalia Chaldek, Elisabeth Estas, Trude Hammer, Dore Hoyer, Jutta Klampt, Käthe Kollwitz, Harald Kreutzberg, Lizzi Maudrik, Gret Palucca, Suzanne Perottlet, Rudolf Von Laban, and Mary Wigman, as well as the dancers Rosalia Chiadek and Mathilde (Til) Thiele.
Also present are slides of locations, art, diagrams, sheet music, and images of modern dance choreographers not known for their work in Germany, including Merce Cunningham, Isadora Duncan, Katherine Dunham and Tommy Gomez, Martha Graham, Erick Hawkins, José Limón, Paul Taylor, and an unnamed Polish mime troupe. Very few of the slides have notations. In some cases the title of the dance and dates are listed, and in at least one case Til Thiele is identified as the dancer. Some of the slides feature dancers in exhibition at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, as well as ceremonies from that event that feature Nazi iconography.
There are six photographs with identifications on the back. The photographs are generally of a more candid nature than the slides. These include two images of dancer Rosalia Chiadek, taken in Vienna; one of Mary Wigman and Til Thiele taken in Berlin in 1971; one of Wigman and an unidentified man; one of Wigman in Ascona in 1970; and one of Til Thiele and Gret Palucca camping.
The majority of slides and photographs depict dancers, performances, and events dating from the 1920s to the 1970s. There are images of artwork and scores that date from the 17th century at the earliest, and images of locations that were taken in 1993. The actual slides and photographs were likely processed between 1968 and 1993. The majority of the images in this collection are in black and white.