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| Jerome Robbins Dance Division | |
|---|---|
| Name | Jerome Robbins Dance Division |
| Established | 1944 |
| Location | Lincoln Center, New York City |
| Type | Research library and archive |
| Director | (See Notable Staff and Leadership) |
| Parent institution | New York Public Library for the Performing Arts |
Jerome Robbins Dance Division
The Jerome Robbins Dance Division is a major research archive and library for dance and related performing arts located at Lincoln Center in New York City. It preserves primary source materials documenting choreography, companies, performers, and institutions across ballet, modern dance, jazz, tap, and musical theater, supporting scholarship across institutions such as The Juilliard School, Columbia University, Harvard University, University of California, Los Angeles and international bodies like the Royal Ballet and Paris Opera Ballet. The Division serves researchers, practitioners, curators, and students from organizations including American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, Martha Graham Dance Company, and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
The Division traces origins to the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts’s efforts in the 1940s to collect theatrical and dance materials contemporaneous with institutions like Broadway, Radio City Music Hall, and touring companies such as Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo. Growth accelerated through donor relationships with iconic figures including George Balanchine, Martha Graham, Merce Cunningham, Agnes de Mille, and Jerome Robbins himself—whose name honors the Division’s focus on choreography and stagecraft. The archives expanded via gifts from companies such as New York City Ballet and American Ballet Theatre, estates of dancers like Anna Pavlova and Isadora Duncan, and foundations including the Guggenheim Foundation and Ford Foundation. Over decades the Division integrated collections from organizations like Dance Theatre of Harlem and documentation related to festivals such as the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival and events at Carnegie Hall.
The Division holds manuscripts, correspondence, production files, set and costume designs, photographic prints, negatives, video recordings, and notation materials from choreographers such as Jerome Robbins’s contemporaries George Balanchine, Martha Graham, Paul Taylor, Alvin Ailey, and Twila Tharp. Holdings include company archives from New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Martha Graham Dance Company, Paul Taylor Dance Company, and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, plus personal papers of dancers like Margot Fonteyn, Rudolf Nureyev, Suzanne Farrell, and Baryshnikov. The Division preserves production ephemera from Broadway shows such as West Side Story, revivals linked to Lincoln Center Theater, and materials related to festivals like Jacob’s Pillow and venues including The Metropolitan Opera. Collections contain rare items: choreographic notation by Rudolf Laban and Benesh Movement Notation, annotated scores by Leonard Bernstein and Igor Stravinsky, rehearsal photographs by Gjon Mili and Martha Swope, and audiovisual recordings of performances at City Center and Kennedy Center.
The Division offers fellowships and grants in partnership with institutions like The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and National Endowment for the Arts to support research on figures such as Merce Cunningham and Isadora Duncan. Educational outreach connects with conservatories including The Juilliard School and university programs at New York University and Columbia University through workshops, lectures, and symposia featuring artists from Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, New York City Ballet, and Martha Graham Dance Company. Professional development for curators and archivists aligns with standards from the Society of American Archivists and collaborations with international bodies like the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions. The Division also supports digital initiatives with partners including Google Arts & Culture and cooperative projects with museums like The Museum of Modern Art and The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Exhibitions draw on holdings to present stories of creators including Jerome Robbins’s contemporaries Leonard Bernstein, George Balanchine, Martha Graham, Alvin Ailey, and Isadora Duncan in gallery spaces at Lincoln Center and partner sites such as The New York Public Library Main Branch and The Morgan Library & Museum. The Division produces catalogs, research guides, and scholarly essays published in collaboration with university presses including Oxford University Press and Wesleyan University Press, and contributes to periodicals like Dance Magazine, The New York Times, and journals affiliated with Dance Research Committee. Curated exhibitions have featured materials connected to productions at Broadway and companies like New York City Ballet and American Ballet Theatre.
Researchers access archival materials through reading rooms at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts with appointment systems and policies aligned with best practices from Society of American Archivists and legal frameworks like U.S. Copyright Law. Services include reproduction and licensing negotiated with rights holders such as estates of George Balanchine, Martha Graham, and performing organizations including Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater; digitization projects prioritize high-use collections and partnerships with institutions like National Endowment for the Humanities. The Division supports cataloging using standards from Library of Congress and integrated into systems used by research libraries including Columbia University Libraries and the Princeton University Library.
Leaders and staff have included influential librarians, archivists, and curators who worked with choreographers and companies such as Jerome Robbins’s contemporaries George Balanchine, Martha Graham, Merce Cunningham, Alvin Ailey, Paul Taylor, Isadora Duncan, and Anna Sokolow. Directors and curators have collaborated with funders and partners like The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Ford Foundation, and institutions including Lincoln Center and The Juilliard School to steward collections and develop programs that bridge performance and scholarship.
Category:Archives in the United States Category:Libraries in New York City