Search

A collection of prints, photographs, pamphlets, clippings, playbills, and programs dealing with the theater, chiefly American and English, in all its aspects including drama, opera, dance, movies, puppets, and spectacles. The majority of the material documents the 19th century.

The papers document the audio and video productions of performance theatre pieces, and other ephemera of performances and readings, photographs (contact sheets and negatives), publicity images; portraits; personal snapshots taken on tour, with members of Latinarte/Ay Ombe and other musicians; artwork, and teachings. In addition, the archive contains journals, business records, draft manuscripts and typescripts of her poetry, novels, and important newspaper clippings reviewing her work.

From The History Makers website: Director and choreographer Louis Johnson was born on March 19, 1930, in Statesville, North Carolina, but moved with his parents to Washington, D.C., at an early age. Although Johnson became quickly known in the Washington, D.C., school system for his outstanding artistic talents, he also developed a strong following for his gymnastic and dancing talents. In high school, he enrolled and trained at the Jones Haywood School of Dance, where he and such notable students as Chita Rivera blossomed under the tutelage of Doris Jones and Clair Haywood.

The letters and other documentary material in this collection were assembled by her son Carlos (Karl) Schaffenburg and focus on her tenure as Director of the Dance Theatre of Harlem School from 1987 to 1990