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Creator
Berk, Fred, 1911-1980
Call number
(S) *MGZMD 41
Physical description
273 Items in 75 folders
Language
English
Preferred Citation

Fred Berk Papers, (S) * MGZMD 41, 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 Fred Berk Papers primarily document Berk's involvement in Jewish folk dance in the United States. Berk wrote extensively on the subject. He also made instructional notes on the folk dances and kept address lists of people involved in his teaching seminars and organizations throughout the years.

Biographical/historical information

Fred Berk was born Fritz Berger on January 25, 1911, in Vienna. In 1927, after having completed the ninth grade, he became a goldsmith's apprentice, at which he worked for five years.

In Vienna Berger attended a concert by modern dancer Gertrude Kraus and at age 18 began to study dance with her. From 1930 to 1933 he performed with Kraus and in 1934 won the bronze medal at the Viennese International Dance Competition as the most promising solo dancer.

Berger continued performing throughout Western Europe and also began to teach. Growing anti-Semitism under the Nazi regime frightened him into leaving his parents and native Austria for a teaching position in Switzerland. Berger fled Europe entirely in 1939 for Cuba. In Havana he suffered from severe hip arthritis, which hospitalized him there for several months. In 1941 he entered the United States, where he resided for the remainder of his life. Berger married fellow Austrian dancer Katya Delakova on October 1, 1946, in West New York, New Jersey. Upon naturalization as a United States citizen in 1947, Berger changed his name to Fred Berk.

Berk's first few years in the United States were spent studying and performing with Hanya Holm. From 1949 to 1954 he directed Stage for Dancers, a concert series he produced at the Brooklyn Museum featuring modern dance. It was in the early 1950s that Berk founded the Jewish Dance Division at the 92nd Street YMHA in New York, which he directed for 28 years. His involvement in Jewish Dance grew, and through the years he directed Hebraica Dancers and the Israeli Folk Dance Festival, while also conducting annual workshops in the 1960s and 1970s on Jewish Folk Dance for teachers at Blue Star Camps in Hendersonville, North Carolina.

Berk was also involved in compiling and editing several publications on the subject including The Jewish Dance(1960), New Israeli Folk Dances(1962), and Ha-rikud The Jewish Dance(1972). With Lucy Venable, he wrote Ten Folk Dances in Labanotation(1959). Berk was the editor of “Hora,” a newsletter devoted to Jewish Dance. At the time of his death, Berk was compiling an extensive bibliography on Jewish Dance based upon research he conducted at the Dance Collection of The New York Public Library.

Berk continued to suffer from a hip ailment, which led him to an operation in 1957. The operation was not deemed successful by the doctors, and it took him two years to be able to walk with a cane. While he never curtailed his dancing or teaching, he was somewhat limited in his range of movement.

Fred Berk came to be considered one of the foremost authorities on Jewish Dance in the United States.

In 1977 while in Israel, Berk was diagnosed with cancer. He died in New York on February 26, 1980.

Scope and arrangement

The Fred Berk Papers primarily document Berk's involvement in Jewish folk dance in the United States. Berk wrote extensively on the subject. He also made instructional notes on the folk dances and kept address lists of people involved in his teaching seminars and organizations throughout the years.|||The largest series is that of “Notes on Folk Dances.” It contains a choreographic notebook on the dances, and index and bibliography on Jewish folk dance, and a large body of descriptive notes on folk dances. The latter includes instructional notes and musical references in a form that appears to be in preparation for publication.|||Within the correspondence series, the family and related letters are from his parents and people who looked after his parents in their retirement in England. These letters are in German and English. The subject of the other correspondence is generally Berk's teaching activities and preparations for his publications. There is no substantial run of letters from any single correspondent.|||“Writings by Fred Berk” comprises eighteen titles predominantly on aspects of modern and Jewish folk dance, and several biographical sketches of Berk.|||“Seminars, Organizations, Publications,” comprises address lists for his workshops and seminars, subscriber lists for “Hora” magazine, and some notes related to the organizations Berk was involved with.|||The Papers also includes essays written by other authors, which are almost exclusively on Jewish folk dance.|||Within the small series of papers, “Financial, Medical, and Legal Documents and Memorabilia,” are Berk's birth, marriage, and naturalization certificates and passports along with other documents and medical records.|||Certain non-manuscript materials received with the original gift have been removed from the Fred Berk Papers. All books, clippings and magazine articles and photographs have been dispersed throughout the Dance Collection with phonograph records going to the Rodgers and Hammerstein Division. A separation list, located at the end of the folder list, indicates the nature and disposition of these items.|||Material is written in English and German

The Fred Berk papers are arranged in seven series:

  • I. Correspondence

    Within the correspondence series, the family and related letters are from his parents and people who looked after his parents in their retirement in England. These letters are in German and English. The subject of the other correspondence is generally Berk's teaching activities and preparations for his publications. There is no substantial run of letters from any single correspondent.

  • II. Writings by Fred Berk

    “Writings by Fred Berk” comprises eighteen titles predominantly on aspects of modern and Jewish folk dance, and several biographical sketches of Berk.

  • III. Notes on Folk Dances

    The largest series is that of “Notes on Folk Dances.” It contains a choreographic notebook on the dances, and index and bibliography on Jewish folk dance, and a large body of descriptive notes on folk dances. The latter includes instructional notes and musical references in a form that appears to be in preparation for publication.

  • IV. Seminars, Organizations, Publication

    “Seminars, Organizations, Publications,” comprises address lists for his workshops and seminars, subscriber lists for “Hora” magazine, and some notes related to the organizations Berk was involved with.

  • V. Writings by Others

    The Papers also includes essays written by other authors, which are almost exclusively on Jewish folk dance.

  • VI. Financial, Medical, and Legal Documents and Memorabilia

    Within the small series of papers, “Financial, Medical, and Legal Documents and Memorabilia,” are Berk's birth, marriage, and naturalization certificates and passports along with other documents and medical records.

  • V. Miscellaneous
    13 Items

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

Gift of Bernard Liebhaber. Received: October 1981.

Processing information

Processed by Diane Coburn Brüning.

Separated material

The following material was received with the original gift but has been separated from the manuscript collection. The current location of the material (as of October 1985) is indicated. With the exception of the phonograph albums, all the materials remain in the possession of the Dance Collection.

Audiovisual materials separated from archival collections are cataloged individually and can be found in the Library catalog. Search CATNYP, The New York Public Library catalog.

  • Books
    • Am rokedby Gurit Kadman- Location: *MGS (Israeli) 83-222
    • Lemad li-rekod be-vetkha;rikudim hevratiyim, miktsavim derom amerikaniyim by Shemi Perry - Location: *MGW 83-550
    • Lemad li-rekod be-vetkha;rikudim hevratiyim, miktseve g'az by Shemi Perry - Location: *MGW 83-552
    • Lemad li-rekod be-vetkha;rikudim hevratiyim, miktsavim sefardiyim u-mashlimim by Shemi Perry - Location: *MGW 83-551
  • Clippings and magazine articles - Location: *MGZR files
  • Negatives (approximately 60) - Location: *MGZEN files
  • Notation
    • Holiday in Israelchoreography by Fred Berk notated by Lucy Venable - Location: *MGRN 85-1108
  • Phonograph albums - Location: Rodgers and Hammerstein Division
  • Photographs
    • ½ box loose photographs - Location: *MGZEA files
    • Photographic albums - Location: *MGZEB 86-48
    • Slides (76) - Location: *MGZK 85-1089

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