Lysa Kayser-Corsy papers relating to dance at the Reichstheaterkammer
Overview
Documents concerning Lysa Kayser-Corsy’s registration and performances with the Nazi Theater Chamber (“Reichstheaterkammer”) as a dance instructor.
Dates
- Creation: 1929-1968
- Creation: Majority of material found in 1936-1942
Creator
- Schmidt, Liselotte (Person)
Condition Description
Some sheets fragile with tears, water damage, and acidic paper.
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research.
Extent
.08 linear feet (1 box)Collection includes military correspondence related to organizing morale-boosting performances for German troops; a letter requesting Kayser-Corsy's family tree to prove Aryan heritage; programs; documents of registration with the Reichstheaterkammer (Reich Theater Chamber); and governmental authorization to be a dance instructor.
Biographical / Historical
Lysa Kayser-Corsy (pseudonym for Liselotte Schmidt, 1909-1987) was a Berlin-based dance instructor and performer. She and her husband, Carlo Kayser-Corsy, travelled extensively during World War II to the eastern and western fronts and performed for German troops. She also performed for Nazi SS guards at Majdanek concentration camp near Lublin (Poland). (Source: dealer's description)
Arrangement
Collection is in order as received.
Physical Location
Harvard Depository
Custodial History
Ownership of the collection prior to this acquisition is unknown.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
2021MT-40. Purchased from Mark Funke with the Howard D. Rothschild Bequest, 2021 March 29.
Processing Information
This collection was processed to a basic level with minimal rehousing, organization, and preservation. (Melanie Wisner, 2021)
Creator
- Schmidt, Liselotte (Person)
Subject
- Reichstheaterkammer (Germany) (Organization)
- Kayser-Corsy, Carlo (Person)
- Majdanek (Concentration camp) (Organization)
- Title
- Kayser-Corsy, Lysa, 1909-1987. Lysa Kayser-Corsy papers concerning dance instruction at the Reichstheaterkammer, circa 1929-1942 (MS Thr 2105). Houghton Library, Harvard University
- Status
- completed
- Author
- Houghton Library, Harvard University
- Date
- 2021 May 13
- Description rules
- dacs
- Language of description
- eng
- EAD ID
- hou03381
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.
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