Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Dana papers on Soviet theater and film and university lecture notes

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Dana's papers and research files on Soviet theater and film were collected between 1906 and 1949. The bulk of the collection was compiled by Dana on trips to the Soviet Union and afterward through acquaintances made on his trips. His research files cover topics on well-known Soviet theatrical personalities, production companies and theaters, film, opera, and ballet.

Series I: Dana's professional and personal correspondence. The majority of the letters are addressed to Dana; there are only a few instances of letters written by him. Much of the correspondence concerns Dana's research on Soviet theater and films, his travel to Europe and the Soviet Union, and queries from students looking for guidance on theatrical research topics. Occasional letters from Series V. Lecture notes were moved to this series. Invitations and bills are included at the end of the series.

Series II: Dana's research files containing biographical material such as photographs, clippings, and essays on the lives and works of playwrights, actors, directors, composers, choreographers, journalists, critics, and writers. The majority of the files concern well-known Russian personalities, including Anton Chekhov, Maksim Gorky, Ivan Turgenev, Sergei Eisenstein, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Vsevelod Meierkhol'd, Aleksandr Blok, Peter Tchaikovsky and others. Aslo includes files on American and French playwrights and writers whose works were translated or adapted into theatrical productions in the Soviet Union, including Eugene O’Neill, George Bernard Shaw, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Stendhal, Gustave Flaubert, Jules Verne, and others.

Series III: Dana’s research files on production companies and theaters containing material such as photographs, clippings and notes. The majority of the files concern Russian companies; however, a selection of regional theaters from neighboring Soviet Socialist Republics are included, such as Armenian, Azerbaijani and Georgian theaters. Jewish, American, Flemish, and Czech theaters and production companies are also represented. Research files on several well-known Russian theaters are included, such as Gosudarstvennyi Akademicheskii Teatr imeni Evg. Vakhtangova, Gosudarstvennaia Opernaia Studiia Teatr Narodnogo Artista Respubliki K.S. Stanislavskogo, Moskovskii Khudozhestvennyi Akademicheskii Teatr, Gosudarstvennyi Teatr imeni Vs. Meierkholʹda, Malyi teatr SSSR and the Leningradskii Bolʹshoi Dramaticheskii Teatr Akademicheskii im. M. Gorʹkogo. Though a majority of the files concern dramatic theater, there are also files on satire, children’s theater, puppet theater, and the Moscow circus.

Series IV: Dana’s research files on a variety of subjects related to Soviet theater and drama, including research on theater in a selection of Soviet cities. Other research files concern Moscow theater festivals, music festivals, Soviet and Russian ballet, Soviet film, historical research on the Russian revolution, theater museums and libraries, as well as acting, theatrical make-up, and theatrical architecture.

Series V: Dana’s lecture notes from his time as an undergraduate, master’s and PhD student at Harvard University. A selection of student assignments from Dana’s time as a teaching assistant are included, as are manuscript copies of Dana’s thesis and dissertation work.

Series VI: Printed material in English and in Russian on the topics of Soviet theater, drama and film.