Katherine Dunham Collection
Span: 1925-2004
Bulk: 1936-1970
English
collection
1,700 boxes
The Collection consists of moving image materials that document the extraordinary journey of a woman who changed the face of American modern dance. The Collection highlights Dunham's early explorations as an anthropologist in the 1930s as she observed a multitude of movement types and dance forms. However, it is Dunham's focus on the movements and dances of the African Diaspora that so influenced her development as a performer, choreographer, and teacher. The collection contains examples of field research from Haiti, Trinidad, Martinique, and Jamaica, filmed by Miss Dunham and others. Also contained in the Collection are films documenting Miss Dunham's remarkable career as a performer and choreographer for her company, which introduced African and Caribbean dance movement to the American public, and videotapes of her workshops that demonstrate her remarkable teaching abilities.
Items in a variety of video/motion picture formats (1,700). The contents of this collection document many aspects of Dunham's dance career: her work as a choreographer, her dance technique and teaching method, various of her performances and productions, and her ethnographic films of the dance and ritual of the African Diaspora. The Collection also testifies to her global activism and leadership in the field of human rights and her advocacy of African American causes in her community.
Most of the collection transferred to MBRS.
Katherine Dunham Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress
Dunham, Katherine
Audio-visual archive of Miss Dunham's fieldwork, choreography, and performance.
Researchers wishing to work with special collections are advised to inquire in advance about availability of material since many special collections are stored off-site.
Certain restrictions to use or copying of materials may apply.
African Americans in the Performing Arts
Dance
Modern Dance
Women in the Performing Arts
American Musical Theater
Dunham, Katherine
Performing Arts Encyclopedia
scdb
Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division, Library of Congress
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/html/dunham/dunham-home.html
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/natlib/ihas/warehouse/dunham/200006106/0001.pdf
IHAS
120821
loc.natlib.scdb.200033737