Skip to main content
COLLECTION — Box: 1 Identifier: MS Thr 2091

Carmencita Romero collection

Overview

Photographs and ephemera relating to dancer and choreographer, Carmencita Romero.

Dates

  • Creation: circa 1930-1957 and undated

Condition Description

In good condition; one clipping in plastic enclosure.

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research.

Extent

.08 linear feet (8 folders in 1 box)

Photographs and programs of the work of dancer and choreographer Carmencita Romero (1914-2001). Includes four studio portraits and seven press photographs of the West-Indian influenced revue, “Pagan Drums.” Programs in the collection are from performances she danced in, choreographed, or attended in the Chicago (Ill.) area.

Biographical / Historical

Romero, born Lily Butler in Chicago, Illinois, was an African American dancer, choreographer, and film actress. She changed her name at the request of dancer and choreographer Katherine Dunham. (data from Library of Congress Authorities, LC control number no2011131810)

In the 1930s, Romero performed with the Negro Dance Group alongside Katherine Dunham in “Cabin in the Sky”, “Carmen Jones”, and other productions before returning home to Chicago to open a dance school of her own.

Arrangement

Collection is not arranged.

Custodial History

Ownership of collection prior to this acquisition is unknown.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

2021MT-20. Purchased from Daniel Oliver Gallery with the Rothschild fund, 2021 January 28.

Processing Information

This collection was processed to a basic level with minimal rehousing, organization, and preservation. (Melanie Wisner, 2021)

Title
Carmencita Romero collection, circa 1930-1957 and undated (MS Thr 2091): Guide
Status
completed
Author
Houghton Library, Harvard University
Date
2021 February 26
Description rules
dacs
Language of description
und
EAD ID
hou03368

Repository Details

Part of the Houghton Library Repository

Houghton Library is Harvard College's principal repository for rare books and manuscripts, archives, and more. Houghton Library's collections represent the scope of human experience from ancient Egypt to twenty-first century Cambridge. With strengths primarily in North American and European history, literature, and culture, collections range in media from printed books and handwritten manuscripts to maps, drawings and paintings, prints, posters, photographs, film and audio recordings, and digital media, as well as costumes, theater props, and a wide range of other objects. Houghton Library has historically focused on collecting the written record of European and Eurocentric North American culture, yet it holds a large and diverse number of primary sources valuable for research on the languages, culture and history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.

Houghton Library’s Reading Room is free and open to all who wish to use the library’s collections.

Contact:
Harvard Yard
Harvard University
Cambridge MA 02138 USA
(617) 495-2440