Scope and Content Note
The Herbert H. Coburn Dance Program Collection includes performance programs along with some ancillary materials, such as newspaper reviews, flyers, ticket stubs, and cast-change slips. Occasionally, the donor made notes on a program to indicate the performance attended or a cast change. The donor provided a hand-written inventory for the years 1934 to 1980. Programs of particular interest are the Stuttgart Ballet’s American premiere in 1973 of John Cranko’s Swan Lake and the world premiere of Mikhail Baryshnikov’s staging of Don Quixote in 1978. New York City dance performances are well represented between 1934 and 1945, including performances by Ted Shawn and His Men Dancers; Doris Humphrey and Charles Weidman; Helen Tamiris; Martha Graham; the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo; and Hanya Holm. Ballet companies include the Royal Ballet; New York City Ballet; American Ballet Theatre; Royal Danish Ballet; Stuttgart Ballet; Paris Opera Ballet; Kirov Ballet; and the Chilean National Ballet, among others. The locations of performances represented in this collection include New York City and Brooklyn, New York; Washington, D.C.; Richmond, Virginia; San Francisco, California; Detroit, Michigan; Seattle and Spokane, Washington; Chicago, Illinois; Boston and Lee, Massachusetts; Paris, France; Spoleto, Italy; Leningrad, Russia; London, England; Bangkok, Thailand; and Singapore, Bali.