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Creator
Shawn, Ted, 1891-1972
Call number
(S) *MGZMD 133; *MGZMD 133
Physical description
39 linear feet (91 boxes)
Language
Materials in English
Preferred Citation

The Ted Shawn Papers, (S)*MGZMD 133, 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.

Ted Shawn was instrumental in the development of American Dance. He established the Denishawn Dancers with Ruth St. Denis, founded and toured with the Men Dancers, and established the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival and the University of the Dance in the Becket, Massachusetts.

Biographical/historical information

Ted Shawn was born Edwin Myers Shawn in Kansas City, Missouri on October 21, 1891. Shawn was the second of two boys in the family. In 1903, his older brother died and then eight months later his mother died. Shawn was devastated. He and his father lived in boarding houses until his father remarried. In 1906 he moved to Denver, Colorado, to be with his father and stepmother.

Shawn entered the University of Denver in 1911, to study to become a minister. In his third year he became ill with diphtheria, which left him paralyzed from the waist down. He began dancing as a means of physical therapy. He enjoyed dancing so much that he left school.

Shawn's first dance teacher in Denver was Hazel Wallack, with whom he studied ballet and ballroom exhibition dancing. In 1912 Shawn moved to Los Angeles, where he established a school and small performing company. The following year he and his dancing partner, Norma Gould, embarked with their company of Interpretive Dancers upon a cross-country tour and reached New York after nineteen performances.

Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn met early in 1914. Shortly thereafter they began a tour of the southern United States with their newly formed dance troupe. In August of that same year they were married. They founded the first Denishawn School in Los Angeles with the intent of providing students with a diversified dance education a year later.

The Denishawn Dancers toured the United States, Canada, Europe, and the Far East from 1915-1932. Some of its dancers, Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey, Charles Weidman, and Eleanor King, later went on to develop the field of modern dance. In 1933, Shawn and St. Denis dissolved Denishawn. The couple also separated at this same time, though they never divorced.

After the end of Denishawn in 1933, Shawn established a company of all male dancers in an effort to prove that dancing was an acceptable art form for men. They rehearsed, choreographed, and trained at Jacob's Pillow, Shawn's farm in Becket, Massachusetts. They toured and performed throughout the United States from 1933 to 1940 when so many of the men enlisted in the service and fought in WWII.

Shawn continued to perform, generally as a solo artist, until 1967, even though he concentrated more upon dance in education after 1940.

Shawn purchased a non-working farm in the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts in 1931. He used the place as a training center for his Men Dancers. At the suggestion of friends, he opened rehearsals to the public for a small fee. Through this humble beginning, the world-famous Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival was created. The Festival continues to each year highlight dancers and dance companies from around the world.

In 1940 and 1941, Shawn leased the Pillow to others while maintaining control of its general scope. The Ted Shawn Theatre was constructed in 1942, the same year Shawn began the University of the Dance to succeed the educational program he had started in 1934 as the Shawn School of Dance for Men. The school has continued to evolve over the years and continues to this day.

Shawn directed the festival until his death. After a lengthy illness Ted Shawn died on January 9, 1972 in Orlando, Florida.

Scope and arrangement

The Ted Shawn Papers span the years 1913-1982 and consist mostly of correspondence, and personal papers. Also included are materials about Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, financial records, writings, clippings, photographs and posters.

The collection is important in its documentation of Shawn's personal relationships with many dancers. There is extensive correspondence from Gabriella Sedgwick, Lynn Poole, Gray Poole (co-author with Shawn of One Thousand and One Night Stands), Margerie Lyon, and Richard (Dick) Stuart. Also of note is correspondence from Joseph Pilates (the Pilates exercise), Dr. Alfred Kinsey, Hadassah, Eleanor King, Lydia Joel, Laura Foreman, Lotte Goslar, Doris Humphrey and José Limón.

Missing from the collection are choreographic notes, ideas behind the Men Dancers, and Jacob's Pillow.

The Ted Shawn Papers are arranged in nine series:

  • Series I: Correspondence

    This series consists of correspondence with Ted Shawn and others. The majority of the correspondence is letters written to Shawn. Some notables include, Ruth St. Denis, Doris Humphrey, Jose Limon, Joseph Pilates, and Alfred Kinsey. Extensive correspondence is from Gabriella Sedgwick, Lynn Poole, Richard (Dick) Stuart.

    There are several folders of correspondence between Katherine Dreier and Ted Shawn. There are also a few folders of correspondence written to John Christian, Ruth St. Denis, and Margerie Lyon.

    In addition to letters, there are boxes of greeting cards (birthday, Christmas, Valentine's Day, Thank you and Sympathy). There are also wedding invitations, business and calling cards, and post cards.

    Many of the letters are alphabetized by the first name of the author, because there was no indication of a last name.

  • Series II: Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival

    This series consists of material relating to Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival. Included are applications to study at Jacob's Pillow, press releases, advertising, Board of Directors material, staff material, box office and attendance records, program schedules and ticket requests.

  • Series III: Personal Papers

    This series includes address lists, date books, catalogs, newsletters, contracts, and advertisements. There is extensive material on dance-education, organizations, concerts, and dancers, and dance companies. Also included is additional material concerning itineraries, foundations, memberships, summer camps, and travel and tourism brochures. There are passports, contracts, and advertisements for Men Dancers.

  • Series IV: Writings

    This series consists of predominately drafts of articles written by Ted Shawn. The dance topics are wide-ranging, from foreign, cultural and historical, to ballet and modern. There are also drafts written by other authors.

  • Series V: Financial Materials

    This series includes financial material, including bank statements, check stubs, insurance, stock purchases, invoices and receipts.

  • Series VI: Programs

    This series includes programs involving Ruth St. Denis, Ted Shawn, the Denishawn Dancer, Men Dancers, Barton Mumaw and other dancers.

  • Series VII: Clippings

    This series consists of both newspaper and magazine clippings. Most clippings describe reviews of dance programs. Also included are clippings sent to Shawn from friends, these clippings are of a more personal level.

  • Series VIII: Photographs

    This series consists of photographs. There are professional photographs that include headshots, group shots and action shots. Included are also snapshots of Ted Shawn and his friends, as well as vacation photos, family photos, pets, plants, and houses. Negatives are also included.

  • Series IX: Oversized Material

    This series consists of artwork, clippings from large oversized magazines, and musical scores, both published and hand-written. There are also posters of dancers and dance programs.

Administrative information

Custodial history

The Ted Shawn Papers were donated to the Jerome Robbins Dance Division in 1992 by the Estate of John Christian.

Processing information

Processed by Leslie Reyman, Norton Owen, and Louise Sunshine, 2006-2011

Processed and encoded through a gift from Robert W. Wilson.

The collection was initially processed and cataloged in 2006. Additional processing done by Norton Owen, 2009-2010.

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