Ruth St. Denis papers and addenda

This collection contains the papers of American dancer Ruth St. Denis and includes scrapbook binders, photographs, negatives, and slides, ephemera, audio-visual materials, correspondence, and newsletters. Subjects of the entire collection include: Ruth St. Denis, Ted Shawn, American dance and dancers, dance instruction and notes, exercises and warm-up routines, various dance types (international as well as American), famous dancers from around the globe, Denishawn dancers, the Ruth St. Denis Center, the Ruth St. Denis Foundation, the Ruth St. Denis Theatre Intime, Jacob's Pillow dance festival, American Dance Film Association, Society of Spiritual Arts Church, the various teachers and pupils at St. Denis' dance studio and school, the Orient trip the Denishawn dancers took in 1926, as well as dance productions and events St. Denis put on throughout her career. There is also much material about St. Denis' effort to have her studio and school become a non-profit entity and her desire to create an artist colony in Hemet, California.

More specifically, several dancers show up in the notebooks and photographs, including: Harold Kreutzberg, Peter di Falco, La Meri, Karoun Tootikian, Miriam Schiller, Jean Léon, Gladys Bowen, Antonio Gades, Devi Dja, Doris Humphrey0, Mary Wigman, and Martha Graham.

The series "Binders" includes 42 volumes of material related to Ruth St. Denis, Ted Shawn, the Denishawn dancers, etc. They are like scrapbooks and contain several different formats of materials including photographs, clippings, programs, dance notes, correspondence and financial documents. The material in the binders were left in their original order (as they came to the Huntington Library). It seems that the majority of the material was gathered and put together by Dorothy Lee Trifal, Ruth St. Denis' assistant and the manager of St. Denis' dance studio. The first 19 volumes are organized (and were titled) with dates and date spans. The next 23 volumes are organized alphabetically by their titles (ex. "American Dance Film Association"). Some of the titles are cataloger supplied.

The Photographs, Negatives, and Slides series contains 409 photographs, negatives and slides. Although the majority of the photographs are of Ruth St. Denis in dancing poses, there are several other categories of photographs including: Ted Shawn, dance performances, special events and celebrations, other dancers, the dance studio and students, the film "He is Risen," and Jacob's Pillow. Photographs can also be found in the Miscellaneous series in the material regarding "The Dancing Prophet" as well as the Oversize series.

The Ephemera and Miscellaneous series contains a variety of formats including: programs, publications (magazines as well as printed books), miscellaneous material such as one letter by Forrest Coggan to Dorothy Lee Trifal, and a postcard from Forrest Thornburg to Dorothy Lee Trifal. The majority of this material is correspondence, documents and contracts for the film; some authors include Ruth St. Denis, Ted Shawn, Alfred Frantz Stury, Director of the Ruth St. Denis Center, film maker Edmund F. Penney, and Janice Lovoos. The series also contains several printed manuscripts written by St. Denis including "Dialogue for a Temple for Prayer For Artists," "Poems," "The Divine Dance," "Current Biography," and a notebook belonging to St. Denis. There is also a copy of the published book Lotus Light written by Ruth St. Denis in 1932.

Also included is a scrapbook with clippings and photographs of dancers and two published volumes of poetry by Jane Sherman (who was a Denishawn dancer). There is one box dedicated to material related to the film "The Dancing Prophet" about Ruth St. Denis (the film reel is in the A-V series).

The audio-visual material consists of cassette tapes, reel-to-reel/magnetic tapes, albums (records), and one VHS tape. This material consists of interviews with Ruth St. Denis, speeches by St. Denis, her reading from her journals, music, some composed by Clifford Vaughan, and dance performances. There is also a reel of the film "The Dancing Prophet." A lot of what is on the reel-to-reel/magnetic tapes and some of the albums can also be found on the cassette tapes. The majority of the A-V material is undated. It is organized by type/format and then alphabetical by title (if it had one).

The Oversize series contains: Sheet music (some with dance instructions and photographs, which are arranged alphabetically by title), some of which is written by Clifford Vaughan, images of Ruth St. Denis, and two photograph albums with photographs of various dancers and celebrities (most of which are not identified), one of these is also a scrapbook with programs from her various performances. The series also contains oversize photographs of Ruth St. Denis.

The Individually Housed Items include a glass plate negative of Ruth St. Denis ("Devi Ja," 1951), a copy of the two-volume Ruth St. Denis: Pioneer & Prophet: Being a History of Her Cycle of Oriental Dances by Ted Shawn, a poster of Ruth St. Denis, and a banner of Ruth St. Denis.

The Addenda (84 items total) contains correspondence (between Ted Shawn, Dale Lefler, and E. Marie Albery) and newsletters by Ted Shawn (1945-1962) as well as photographs of Ruth St. Denis, Ted Shawn, and other dancers. It also includes several copies of programs from their dance events/shows (including Jacob's Pillow), brochure for St. Denis' dance school. There is a program for a show with Martha Graham, signed by her and a printed book for the dancer Barton Mumaw showing him in various costumes, signed by him. Also included is a galley proof of St. Denis' autobiography "Ruth St. Denis: An Unfinished Life" (1939). Consists of two boxes (one is oversize).