American Dance Festival Archives
The American Dance Festival Archives serves as the repository for records of enduring historical value created and collected by ADF. The Archives preserves its collections for use by the dance community, including students, scholars, and the general public.
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The Company and Biographical series contains images of choreographers, performing companies, ADF faculty members, ADF staff, and other individuals.
The Correspondence series is comprised of paper communication both composed and received by Davis. The series consists of personal and business correspondence and memos, postcards, invitations, announcements, and greeting cards. A bulk of correspondence are those maintained with the hosts and collaborators of his excursions to West Africa during the early 1990s. Additionally, there are letters and postcards written to Davis's parents, Tony and Ethel.
The Institutional Records series of the Harper Festival Dance Collection is arranged alphabetically by organizational function and date. Records are specific to the Festival and include advertising proofs and ads, professional correspondence, invoices, bank statements, checks, bulk mailing contents, IRS documentation, grant applications, newspaper reviews of performances, press kits (for companies performing and for entire Festival), contracts with companies and vendors, technical production records, programs and tickets, school programming records, and notes. Original item labels on the audio and video reel boxes are transcribed here, even though spelling is particular to original usage and creator agency (e.g. WorkPring collection).
The Magazines series contains copies of Dance Pages magazine, beginning with Spring 1987 (vol. 5, no. 1) and ending with September/October 1997 (vol. 15, no. 2). Two issues from 1987 (vol. 5, no. 2-3) and issues published before 1987 are not included in the collection.
Includes photographic prints, contact sheets, negatives, slides, clippings, programs, press releases, and other printed materials.
Printed Materials, 1981-2017 and undated 1 box; 39 folder
The Printed Materials series consists of performance programs, flyers, mailings, posters, magazines, newspaper and magazine clippings, photocopies of clippings, a publicity report, press releases, press kit materials, full press kits, a costume design portfolio, a postcard, and several folders.
The Scrapbook series contains Ms. Chaffin's scrapbook, which holds photographs, programs, clippings, periodicals, and correspondence. The scrapbook has been left in situ.
The Slides series contains color slides from ADF performances and student classes from 1978 to 1993.
ADF Store and Merchandise, 1962-1977 5 folders
Contains correspondence, inventory lists, tee-shirt designs, order forms, and administrative papers related to the sale of merchandise during the festival and the management of the store at the theater and summer offices.
Arranged chronologically.
Advertising, 1993-2017 and undated 5 folders
The Advertising subseries contains flyers and mailings for events featuring Dendy as well as those not explicitly mentioning him or his companies. It also contains a costume design portfolio featuring examples from several of Dendy's pieces.
Includes Stephanie's Fulbright proposal, her Fulbright program evaluations, and correspondance regarding her project
General Administration, 1997-2000 7 folders
Contains information pertaining to office management, including general policies and procedures, equipment purchases and rentals, and staff contact information.
Pearl Primus, 1937-1938, 1947-1994 and undated 0.75 Linear Feet
Includes letters to Primus from family, friends, fans, and academic colleagues, and letters from Primus to company members, government officials, educators, and funding organizations, among others. Writings, project proposals, invitations, and printed materials are also present. There is extensive correspondence from 1949 documenting her experience in Africa, especially in Liberia. Other significant correspondence includes letters written in 1953 to Primus from her future husband, Percival Borde. Correspondence from the 1980s reflects Primus' professional activities as a faculty member at SUNY-Albany, SUNY-Buffalo, and the Five College Dance Department.
The bulk of the materials in the scrapbook document Ms. Chaffin's training as a dancer. Her earliest materials include photographs of her childhood dance classes and performances that are annotated with brief descriptions. Materials that address her secondary education and graduate-level work include yearbook pages, photographs, postcards, programs, and clippings. Of particular interest are her programs, reviews, and postcards that she sent home from Bennington College's School of the Dance. These materials are heavily annotated by Ms. Chaffin and give the researcher a sense of the life of a student at this famed dance institution.
Additional sections of the scrapbook cover Ms. Chaffin's career as a dance educator, as well as an aficionado post-retirement from active performance and teaching. The materials that document her career as an instructor include photographs of her students' performances, as well as programs and flyers advertising her studio. Materials that document her career post-dance include programs and reviews of performances that she attended, as well as an article profiling her as a graduate student working towards her Master's degree in the history of drama and theater during the '70s.
Administrative Assistant, 1958-1977 27 folders
Contains administrative materials, correspondence, form letters, memoranda, mailing lists, mailings information, and listings of secretarial duties. In the 1960s, administrative assistants were secretaries working directly under the director. In later years, as the festival's administration became more complex, multiple administrative assistants were added and their duties were expanded beyond secretaries. Assistants included:
- Constance Carney, 1958
- Olive Hersant, 1963-1966
- Faith Gulick, 1964-1965
- Marjorie Chapman, 1967-1971
- Kay McGrath, 1971
Also included are files for Lisa Booth, Assistant to Charles Reinhart in New York, 1972-1977.