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Creator
Doubrovska, Felia, 1896-1981
Call number
(S) *MGZMD 93
Physical description
2 document boxes (379 items in 51 folders)
Preferred Citation
Felia Doubrovska papers, Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library
Repository
Jerome Robbins Dance Division
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.

The papers of Felia Doubrovska cover the period from c.1919 to the year of her death, 1981, and pertain to both her family and personal life and her professional career. The bulk of the collection consists of correspondence: approximately 43 letters and notes from Doubrovska, and 266 letters, cards, notes, telegrams to Doubrovska, with a small part of the correspondence to her mother (Valentina Dlouzhnevska) and to Vladimiroff. Of interest are 42 letters or notes from Mathilde Kshessinska and her husband the Grand Duke André, and 12 letters from Iurii (Yuri) Bakhrushin.

Biographical/historical information

Felia Doubrovska (Felizata Dlouzhnevska, Dluzhnevska), 1896-1981,was born in Russia and was trained at the Imperial Ballet School in St. Petersburg, graduating in 1913. She then joined the Maryinsky Ballet. In 1920 she left for Europe and danced with Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, where George Balanchine created roles for her including Polyhymnia in Apollo (1928) and the Siren in Prodigal Son(1929).

Doubrovska married an acclaimed Russian dancer, Pierre Vladimiroff (Petr Nikolaev), in 1921, and they moved to the United States in 1934 when Vladimiroff was invited by Balanchine to teach at the School of American Ballet. Doubrovska was guest ballerina with de Basil's Ballets Russes in 1937 and the Metropolitan Opera Balletin 1938-1939, but then retired from her performing career. In 1949 she joined the staff of the School of American Ballet, teaching the advanced girls' classes, and she remained on its staff until a year before her death.

Scope and arrangement

The papers of Felia Doubrovska cover the period from c.1919 to the year of her death, 1981, and pertain to both her family and personal life and her professional career. The bulk of the collection consists of correspondence: approximately 43 letters and notes from Doubrovska, and 266 letters, cards, notes, telegrams to Doubrovska, with a small part of the correspondence to her mother (Valentina Dlouzhnevska) and to Vladimiroff. Of interest are 42 letters or notes from Mathilde Kshessinska and her husband the Grand Duke André, and 12 letters from Iurii (Yuri) Bakhrushin.

The correspondence is divided into two groups: from Doubrovska, her husband and family; and from others, arranged alphabetically by correspondant and then chronologically under each name. (The spelling for the Russian names in the Folder List is that established at the Dance Collection.)

The collection also contains 36 of Doubrovska's small diaries and address books and 1 belonging to her mother; notes for an autobiography of Vladimiroff (a small notebook written by Vladimiroff and some pages dictated to Doubrovska.); 7 contracts; and papers of Doubrovska's mother (Valentina Dlouzhnevska) including letters, diaries, stories, plays and poems.

Included with this Register are 14 pages of background material, notes and some brief translations of items in this collection done by Irina Klyagin.

The Felia Doubrovska papers are arranged in three series:

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

Gift of John Taras,May 1982

Processing information

Processed by Irina Klyagin; machine-readable finding aid created by Catherine Johnson.

Separated material

The following items were received with the original gift but have been separated from the manuscript collection. The current location of these items (as of June 1993) is indicated.

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.

  • 4 framed prints: in process
  • Photographs and snapshots: *MGZEA
  • Clippings: *MGZR
  • Programs: *MGZB
  • Posters, playbills: In process
  • 3 audiotapes: In process

Related Material

12 letters from Yuri Bakhrushin, from Moscow to New York, 1948-1972. Yuri Alekseevich Bakhrushin (1.27.1896 - 8.4.1973), Russian scholar, author of several books on history of Russian ballet; teacher of ballet history at the Bolshoi Theater School and Moiseev Folk Ensemble. He was a son of Aleksei Aleksandrovich Bakhrushin, founder of Moscow Theater Museum. Their friendship with Doubrovska dates back to 1910. In his letters Bakhrushin writes a lot about his private life, his sorrows and good days, but he also writes about Moscow ballet news, his pupils, new productions at the Bolshoi and Maryinski, books he was working on, and other ballet matters.

  • From Yuri Bakhrushin. February 8, 1948. Moscow. About Doubrovska's mother death.
  • From Yuri Bakhrushin. May 9, 1961. Moscow. About Marina Zeest death.
  • From Yuri Bakhrushin. June 27, 1961. Vitenevo near Moscow.
  • From Yuri Bakhrushin. November 23, 1964. Moscow.
  • From Yuri Bakhrushin. June 7, 1965. Moscow. Bakhrushin's wife has gone on June 6, 1965.
  • From Yuri Bakhrushin. September 23, 1965. Moscow.
  • From Yuri Bakhrushin. March 13, 1966. Moscow. About Pierre Vladimiroff as an artist; Bakhrushin's 70th jubilee; about Mathilda Kshessinska's book and a letter from Kshessinska, who was 94 that year, etc.
  • From Yuri Bakhrushin. April 12, 1967. Moscow About a letter from Olga Spessivtseva; letters from Mathilda Kshessinska in which she was answering Bakhrushin questions about Petipa, Johansson etc; about Doubrovska and Vladimiroff teaching in America.
  • From Yuri Bakhrushin. March 31, 1968. Moscow. About Grigorovich mounting Spartak; Lifar's visit to Moscow and Leningrad; Chujoy's encyclopedia.
  • From Yuri Bakhrushin. April 10, 1969. Moscow.
  • From Yuri Bakhrushin March 15, 1969. Moscow.
  • From Yuri Bakhrushin. January 3, 1972. Moscow. New Year Greetings. About Kshessinska's death.

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