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Records of the TCU Department of Ballet and Modern Dance

 Collection
Identifier: RU 33

Collection Scope and Content Summary

Scrapbooks, photographs, negatives, TCU and non-TCU ballet programs, dance magazines, dance step books, posters, and TCU performance videotapes from 1914-1996 document the TCU Department of Ballet and Modern Dance. The collection is divided into five series: I. Scrapbooks, 1950-1982; II. Photographs, 1950-1984; III. Printed Material, 1914-1996; IV. Fort Worth Ballet Association Material, 1960-1972; V. Ballet Videotapes, 1950-1964.

The first series, Scrapbooks, 1950-1982, includes scrapbooks made by the Ballet and Modern Dance department. The books include pictures, newspaper clippings, dance programs, and letters documenting the department’s achievements and performances.

Photographs, 1950-1984, include images of practices, performances, and individual dancers and faculty of the department. Negatives of dance photos for the press are also a part of the series.

The next series, Printed Material, 1914-1996, contains TCU dance programs, oversized promotional posters, and pictures from the 1950s to the 1980s. Non-TCU material includes playbills from world-wide ballet conservatories and one box of dance magazines from the 1920s to the 1980s. Of particular interest are four dancing step books: Manual of Dancing Steps (1914), Congregational Dancing in Christian Workshop (1972), Folk Dance Notebook (1973), and Matthias the Painter (undated).

Fort Worth Ballet Association Material, 1960-1972, has some of the association’s financial records, meeting minutes, letters, brochures, and press releases. The series has a folder of detailed publication material for TCU’s Coppélia performance in 1967.



The last series, Ballet Videotapes, 1950-1964, only includes three VHS tapes of the dance department’s earliest performances.

Dates

  • 1914-1996 inclusive, 1950-1984 bulk
  • Majority of material found in 1950-1984

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research.

Administrative history



In 1949, Texas Christian University offered the first Bachelor of Fine Arts in Ballet in the United States. Under the guidance of David Preston, between 1949 and 1963, the ballet program held recitals twice a year. The Ballet’s students also performed within the Fort Worth Civic Opera Ballet. Members of the ballet have gone into professional work, and former students earned scholarships to train at Juilliard Performing Arts Conservatory. The department’s second chair, Fernando Schaffenburg, replaced Preston in 1964. During his tenure, he invited Jerry Bywaters Cochran to join the faculty. She inaugurated the modern dance program at TCU and helped create the BFA in Modern Dance. In 1976, a Master of Fine Arts for Ballet and Modern Dance was added to the curriculum. The department continued to expand under the guidance of Stephanie Woods Rand and James Clouser in the 1980s. Since the department’s inception, its faculty participated as directors of the Fort Worth Ballet Association and helped organize the Southwest Regional Ballet Festival.

Extent

14.00 Linear feet

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Scrapbooks, photos, negatives, TCU and non-TCU ballet programs, dance magazines, dance step books, posters, and TCU performance videotapes from 1914-1996. Includes documents of the Fort Worth Ballet Association.

Arrangement

Arranged in five series: I. Scrapbooks, 1950-1982; II. Photographs, 1950-1984; III. Printed Material, 1914-1996; IV. Fort Worth Ballet Association Material, 1960-1972; V. Ballet Videotapes, 1950-1964.

Physical Location

Vault: AB 4-6; AC 1; BE1

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Donations made by TCU Department of Ballet and Modern Dance.

Subjects

  • Ballet Subject Source: {:aat=>"Art & Architecture Thesaurus", :cash=>"Canadian Subject Headings", :gmgpc=>"TGM II, Genre and physical characteristic terms", :ingest=>"Unspecified ingested source", :lcgft=>"Library of Congress Genre/Form Terms", :lcsh=>"Library of Congress Subject Headings", :lcshac=>"Library of Congress Children's Subject Headings", :local=>"Local sources", :mesh=>"Medical Subject Headings", :nal=>"National Agricultural Library subject headings", :ram=>"Répertoire d'autorités RAMEAU", :rbgenr=>"Genre Terms: A Thesaurus for Use in Rare Book and Special Collections Cataloguing", :rvm=>"Répertoire de vedettes-matière", :tgn=>"Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names"}
  • Clouser, James
  • Cochran, Jerry Bywaters
  • Correspondence Subject Source: {:aat=>"Art & Architecture Thesaurus", :cash=>"Canadian Subject Headings", :gmgpc=>"TGM II, Genre and physical characteristic terms", :ingest=>"Unspecified ingested source", :lcgft=>"Library of Congress Genre/Form Terms", :lcsh=>"Library of Congress Subject Headings", :lcshac=>"Library of Congress Children's Subject Headings", :local=>"Local sources", :mesh=>"Medical Subject Headings", :nal=>"National Agricultural Library subject headings", :ram=>"Répertoire d'autorités RAMEAU", :rbgenr=>"Genre Terms: A Thesaurus for Use in Rare Book and Special Collections Cataloguing", :rvm=>"Répertoire de vedettes-matière", :tgn=>"Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names"}
  • Minutes Subject Source: {:aat=>"Art & Architecture Thesaurus", :cash=>"Canadian Subject Headings", :gmgpc=>"TGM II, Genre and physical characteristic terms", :ingest=>"Unspecified ingested source", :lcgft=>"Library of Congress Genre/Form Terms", :lcsh=>"Library of Congress Subject Headings", :lcshac=>"Library of Congress Children's Subject Headings", :local=>"Local sources", :mesh=>"Medical Subject Headings", :nal=>"National Agricultural Library subject headings", :ram=>"Répertoire d'autorités RAMEAU", :rbgenr=>"Genre Terms: A Thesaurus for Use in Rare Book and Special Collections Cataloguing", :rvm=>"Répertoire de vedettes-matière", :tgn=>"Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names"}
  • Modern Dance Subject Source: {:aat=>"Art & Architecture Thesaurus", :cash=>"Canadian Subject Headings", :gmgpc=>"TGM II, Genre and physical characteristic terms", :ingest=>"Unspecified ingested source", :lcgft=>"Library of Congress Genre/Form Terms", :lcsh=>"Library of Congress Subject Headings", :lcshac=>"Library of Congress Children's Subject Headings", :local=>"Local sources", :mesh=>"Medical Subject Headings", :nal=>"National Agricultural Library subject headings", :ram=>"Répertoire d'autorités RAMEAU", :rbgenr=>"Genre Terms: A Thesaurus for Use in Rare Book and Special Collections Cataloguing", :rvm=>"Répertoire de vedettes-matière", :tgn=>"Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names"}
  • Photographs Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
  • Posters Subject Source: {:aat=>"Art & Architecture Thesaurus", :cash=>"Canadian Subject Headings", :gmgpc=>"TGM II, Genre and physical characteristic terms", :ingest=>"Unspecified ingested source", :lcgft=>"Library of Congress Genre/Form Terms", :lcsh=>"Library of Congress Subject Headings", :lcshac=>"Library of Congress Children's Subject Headings", :local=>"Local sources", :mesh=>"Medical Subject Headings", :nal=>"National Agricultural Library subject headings", :ram=>"Répertoire d'autorités RAMEAU", :rbgenr=>"Genre Terms: A Thesaurus for Use in Rare Book and Special Collections Cataloguing", :rvm=>"Répertoire de vedettes-matière", :tgn=>"Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names"}
  • Preston, David
  • Programs (documents) Subject Source: {:aat=>"Art & Architecture Thesaurus", :cash=>"Canadian Subject Headings", :gmgpc=>"TGM II, Genre and physical characteristic terms", :ingest=>"Unspecified ingested source", :lcgft=>"Library of Congress Genre/Form Terms", :lcsh=>"Library of Congress Subject Headings", :lcshac=>"Library of Congress Children's Subject Headings", :local=>"Local sources", :mesh=>"Medical Subject Headings", :nal=>"National Agricultural Library subject headings", :ram=>"Répertoire d'autorités RAMEAU", :rbgenr=>"Genre Terms: A Thesaurus for Use in Rare Book and Special Collections Cataloguing", :rvm=>"Répertoire de vedettes-matière", :tgn=>"Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names"}
  • Schaffenburg, Fernando
  • Scrapbooks Subject Source: {:aat=>"Art & Architecture Thesaurus", :cash=>"Canadian Subject Headings", :gmgpc=>"TGM II, Genre and physical characteristic terms", :ingest=>"Unspecified ingested source", :lcgft=>"Library of Congress Genre/Form Terms", :lcsh=>"Library of Congress Subject Headings", :lcshac=>"Library of Congress Children's Subject Headings", :local=>"Local sources", :mesh=>"Medical Subject Headings", :nal=>"National Agricultural Library subject headings", :ram=>"Répertoire d'autorités RAMEAU", :rbgenr=>"Genre Terms: A Thesaurus for Use in Rare Book and Special Collections Cataloguing", :rvm=>"Répertoire de vedettes-matière", :tgn=>"Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names"}
  • Texas -- Fort Worth -- Study and teaching -- Dance Subject Source: {:aat=>"Art & Architecture Thesaurus", :cash=>"Canadian Subject Headings", :gmgpc=>"TGM II, Genre and physical characteristic terms", :ingest=>"Unspecified ingested source", :lcgft=>"Library of Congress Genre/Form Terms", :lcsh=>"Library of Congress Subject Headings", :lcshac=>"Library of Congress Children's Subject Headings", :local=>"Local sources", :mesh=>"Medical Subject Headings", :nal=>"National Agricultural Library subject headings", :ram=>"Répertoire d'autorités RAMEAU", :rbgenr=>"Genre Terms: A Thesaurus for Use in Rare Book and Special Collections Cataloguing", :rvm=>"Répertoire de vedettes-matière", :tgn=>"Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names"}
  • Texas Ballet Theater
  • Texas Christian University -- History Subject Source: {:aat=>"Art & Architecture Thesaurus", :cash=>"Canadian Subject Headings", :gmgpc=>"TGM II, Genre and physical characteristic terms", :ingest=>"Unspecified ingested source", :lcgft=>"Library of Congress Genre/Form Terms", :lcsh=>"Library of Congress Subject Headings", :lcshac=>"Library of Congress Children's Subject Headings", :local=>"Local sources", :mesh=>"Medical Subject Headings", :nal=>"National Agricultural Library subject headings", :ram=>"Répertoire d'autorités RAMEAU", :rbgenr=>"Genre Terms: A Thesaurus for Use in Rare Book and Special Collections Cataloguing", :rvm=>"Répertoire de vedettes-matière", :tgn=>"Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names"}
  • Video tapes Subject Source: {:aat=>"Art & Architecture Thesaurus", :cash=>"Canadian Subject Headings", :gmgpc=>"TGM II, Genre and physical characteristic terms", :ingest=>"Unspecified ingested source", :lcgft=>"Library of Congress Genre/Form Terms", :lcsh=>"Library of Congress Subject Headings", :lcshac=>"Library of Congress Children's Subject Headings", :local=>"Local sources", :mesh=>"Medical Subject Headings", :nal=>"National Agricultural Library subject headings", :ram=>"Répertoire d'autorités RAMEAU", :rbgenr=>"Genre Terms: A Thesaurus for Use in Rare Book and Special Collections Cataloguing", :rvm=>"Répertoire de vedettes-matière", :tgn=>"Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names"}

Record Groups

Related Names

Finding Aid & Administrative Information

Title
Guide to the Records of the TCU Department of Ballet and Modern Dance
Author
Compiled by Miriam E. Villanueva
Date
2014
Language of description
English
Script of description
Code for undetermined script

Repository Details

Repository Details

Part of the Archives and Special Collections, Mary Couts Burnett Library Repository

http://lib.tcu.edu/spcoll/
Contact:
TCU Box 298400
2800 S. University Drive
Fort Worth, Texas 76129-0001
Fort Worth Texas 76129
(817) 257-4566
(817) 257-7282 (Fax)

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