Overview
Collection of printed ballet souvenir programs from Ballets Russes companies.
Dates
- Creation: 1932, 1934-1947
Language of Materials
Collection materials are in English.
Conditions Governing Access
There are no restrictions on physical access to this material.
This collection is not housed at the Houghton Library but is shelved offsite at the Harvard Depository. Retrieval requires advance notice. Readers should check with Houghton Public Services staff to determine what material is offsite and retrieval policies and times.
Extent
2.1 linear feet (7 boxes)Collection includes printed 20th-cenutry souvenir programs from three ballet companies, Ballet russes du Col. W. de Basil, Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, and Original Ballet Russe. There are also a few programs from specific performances.
Biographical / Historical
In 1932 René Blum and Colonel W. de Basil formed the Ballets russes du Col. W. de Basil, also known as Ballets russes de Monte Carlo and Col. W. de Basil’s Ballets Russes. Due to dissention between the two owners by 1938 a split occurred resulting in the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo formed under the directorship of Sergei Denham with Leonide Massine as the artistic director and Colonel W. de Basil started using the name the Original Ballet Russe for his company.
Arrangement
Organized into the following series:
- I. Ballets russes du Col. W. de Basil
- II. Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo
- III. Original Ballet Russe
Physical Location
Harvard Depository
Immediate Source of Acquisition
2010MT-11. Gift of Thomas Garrett; received: 2010 October 9.
Forms part of the Fredric Woodbridge Wilson Collection of the Ballets Russes (Harvard Theatre Collection).
General note
This collection is shelved offsite at the Harvard Depository. See access restrictions below for additional information.
Processing Information
Processed by: Alison Harris
- Title
- Souvenir programs of Ballets Russes companies, 1934-1947: Guide.
- Author
- Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
- Description rules
- dacs
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- hou02324
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.
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