Overview
Letters from Lincoln Kirstein to his family and correspondence with his friends.
Dates
- Creation: 1905-1995
Language of Materials
Collection materials are in English.
Conditions Governing Access
There are no restrictions on physical access to this material. Collection is open for research.
Extent
1 linear feet (4 boxes)Letters from Lincoln Kirstein to his parents, Louis Edward Kirstein and Rose Stein Kirstein, and his elder sister Mina Kirstein Curtiss, written during his school and college years, and during his service in the Army in World War II. Also includes correspondence with his wife, Fidelma Cadmus, and letters from his friends and associates, including artists Paul Cadmus, Margaret and Jared French, Pavel Tchelitchew, Edward James, and choreographers Paul Taylor and Peter Martins.
The collection also includes letters from his sister Mina Kirstein Curtiss to her parents, and letters from architect Philip Johnson to Kirstein's friend, Frederic Maddox; a selection of diary entries from 1921 by Lincoln Kirstein, and a snapshot of the construction of the Filene's department store in Boston.
Biographical / Historical
Lincoln Kirstein (1907-1996) was an American ballet director, writer, dance historian, and a co-founder and co-director of the New York City Ballet.
Arrangement
Arranged alphabetically by the name of correspondent, diary at the end.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
2014MT-3. Purchased with Howard D. Rothschild Bequest; received: 2014 August 20.
Processing Information
Processed by: Irina Klyagin
- Title
- Kirstein, Lincoln, 1907-1996. Lincoln Kirstein correspondence, 1905-1995: Guide.
- Author
- Harvard Theatre Collection, Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
- Description rules
- dacs
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- hou02551
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.
Harvard Yard
Harvard University
Cambridge MA 02138 USA
(617) 495-2440
Houghton_Library@harvard.edu