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Creator
Harris, Dale, 1928-1996
Call number
(S) *MGZMD 201
Physical description
8.19 linear feet (20 boxes)
Language
This collection contains some materials in russian, french, german, and italian
Preferred Citation

Dale Harris Papers, (S) *MGZMD 201. 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.

Dale Harris was a preeminent dance critic who lectured on a wide variety of topics including ballet, cultural history, and opera. The collection consists of correspondence, lectures, articles, photographs, programs, contracts, legal records, notes, and clippings.

Biographical/historical information

Stanley Dale Harris, born on November 16, 1928 in the U.K., was a prolific writer and arts lecturer who wrote on a wide variety of subjects including literature, opera, art, and dance history, fostering a reputation as the preeminent dance critic at the Wall Street Journal and a music critic for The Washington Post. A popular lecturer on ballet, cultural history, and opera, Harris lectured for several preeminent cultural institutions, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the San Francisco Opera Guild. An active member of the dance-critic community, he also served as the President of the Dance Critics Association and the General Editor of the Da Capo Dance Reprint Series during the 1980s.

Harris received his Doctorate in 1965 and his undergraduate degree from Harvard University in 1958 after emigrating from his native England. In the 1960s and 1970s, he taught English Literature at Harvard and Stanford University, and later moved on to teach Dance History at New York University and English Literature at Sarah Lawrence College. In the early 1970s, Harris ultimately settled at Cooper Union where he taught Art History and Humanities courses for 21 years. He also held various public lectures at Princeton University, the Smithsonian Institution, the San Francisco Opera Guild, and Christie’s on a number of cultural and art historical topics from the 1970s to the 1990s.

In addition to teaching, Harris wrote for numerous magazines, newspapers, and specialized journals. His publications include articles and reviews in Ballet Review, Ballet News, Dancing Times, The Guardian, San Francisco Chronicle, New York Times Book Review, a number of articles for newspapers including the New York Times, the London Observer, he also wrote dance and music entries for the Encyclopedia of Dance and Ballet. Dale Harris worked as an arts critic for several television and radio stations, such as WHRB, the Harvard student radio station. Catalog advertisements for sets of CD's and tapes based on his opera talks, which became best sellers at the Metropolitan Opera, are found in this collection. Harris also wrote a novel Home Fires Burning, which is not present in this collection. Dale Harris died of complications from AIDS on March 14, 1996.

Sources:

Dunning, Jennifer. “Dale Harris, Arts Lecturer and Critic, 67.” New York Times [New York, N.Y.] March 16,1996, p.49

New York Times (1857-Current file); Mar 18, 1996; ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851 - 2004), p. B7

Scope and arrangement

The Dale Harris Papers consist of correspondence, lectures, articles, reviews, photographs, programs, contracts, legal records, notes, and clippings that document his career as a dance critic and lecturer from the late 1960s through the mid-1990s. The Correspondence series contains not only incoming letters but copies of his responses. This gives a wonderfully detailed look at some aspects of his professional writing career. The Personal Papers series includes programs, itineraries, and photographs from his various worldwide travels.

The Professional Papers documents Harris’ work as a contributing writer for Architectural Digest and his time as General Editor for Da Capo’s Dance Reprint Series, as well as his tenured professorships at both Sarah Lawrence College and Cooper Union. The Articles series contains various pieces Harris wrote on prominent dancers, particularly Sergei Diaghilev, Fred Astaire, Anna Pavlova, Vaslav Nijinsky, and Margot Fonteyn. The Subject Files and Clippings series includes information on topics of interest or research value, particularly relating to dance performances of which Harris reviewed or lectured. This collection contains no information about his home and family life.

The Dale Harris papers are arranged in seven series:

  • Series I: Correspondence
    1967-1996; undated
    .5 box

    The majority of the correspondence is of a professional nature, discussing issues relating to conferences, publications, teaching positions, or speaking engagements, though many letters are to people in the field who were friends as well as colleagues and thus offer some personal references within them. Highlights include a letter from Romola Nijinsky and correspondence from David Vaughan. Please note that small amounts of correspondence can also be found in individual files in the Articles, Lectures, or Subject Files series.

  • Series II: Personal Papers
    1966-1995; undated
    1.5 boxes

    This series documents Harris' personal life including biographical materials, legal documents, an appointment calendar, travel brochures, and programs relating to seminars or lectures he attended. It also includes invitations to special events and photographs, often of his cultural trips abroad. Some gala invitations and memorabilia can also be found in this series.

  • Series III: General Professional Papers
    1975-1995; undated
    1 box

    This series includes resume material, photographs, meeting minutes, student rosters of classes Harris taught at Cooper Union, material relating to Harris’ time as the General Editor of the DaCapo Dance Reprint series, guides, and material regarding his application for tenure at Sarah Lawrence College. Please note that small amounts of contracts and business materials can also be found in the Articles series.

  • Series IV: Articles
    1969-1995; undated
    4 boxes

    This series consists of handwritten, typescript, and published versions of many of Harris’ articles, book reviews, obituaries of major dance figures, along with research materials and notes which document the evolution of the pieces and the ideas motivating their creation. It also contains correspondence from editors regarding his submissions. Some highlights include an interview Harris conducted with Rudolf Nureyev for Dance in America, performance review articles for The New York Times, Ballet Review and Performing Arts, obituaries, unpublished chapter entries for the Concise History of Ballet and Modern Dance, and entries for the Dictionary Catalog of Dance, as well as book reviews.

  • Series V: Lectures
    1963-1995; undated
    8 boxes

    This series includes handwritten notes, brochures, and programs relating to seminars or lectures while he was a professor at Sarah Lawrence College, Stanford University, New York University, and as a lecturer at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

  • Series VI: Dance Subject Files
    1930s-1990s; undated
    4 boxes

    This series is comprised of clippings, press releases, promotional materials, and publications collected by Harris for his personal use and reference. The materials are arranged in alphabetical order and focus on subjects or persons of interest to Harris, mainly within the disciplines of dance. He may have compiled the files as research for his own writing and teaching.

  • Series VII: Clippings
    1966-1992; undated
    1 box

    The clippings are predominantly dance and music reviews. There are also some travel features as well as art reviews.

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

The Dale Harris Papers were donated to the Jerome Robbins Dance Division in 1997 by the estate of Dale Harris.

Processing information

Processed by Cynthia Tobar; Machine-readable finding aid created by {name}.

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

Conditions Governing Use

For permission to publish, contact the Curator, Jerome Robbins Dance Division.