Scope and Content Note
The Pearl Lang Papers consists of personal correspondence, business papers, awards, interviews, lectures, writings on Lang, Yiddish poetry, periodicals, press releases, promotional materials (such as posters, clippings, and programs), photographs, music scores, and notes on choreography, teaching, and music. The collection also includes choreographic notes, photographs, programs, and other materials relating to Martha Graham. The materials in the Pearl Lang Papers pertain to people in both her professional and personal life including many choreographers, writers, composers, critics, Yiddish intellectuals, Graham company dancers, and family members, as well as grant applications, contracts, and production information involving the Pearl Lang Dance Theatre and Pearl Lang Dance Foundation. Film and video recordings were transferred to the care of the Library of Congress Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound (MBRS) Division.
The Personal Correspondence series, which encompasses communications among family and friends as well as colleagues, is organized by last name of sender, and when no name was recognizable or present multiple times, by year from 1947-2008. Additional correspondence is listed as undated. A small additional list consists of letters of recommendation written by Lang. Items of significance within the series include letters between Lang and choreographer Agnes de Mille; dance critics John Martin, Tobi Tobias, Ernestine Stodelle, Clive Barnes, Walter Terry, Wendy Perron, and Anna Kisselgoff; dance pioneer Ted Shawn; diplomat Adlai Stevenson; critic and playwright John Gassner; benefactor Bethsabée (Batsheva) de Rothschild; composer Louis Ballard; writer Bel Kaufman; and Israeli artist Dani Karavan. There are also telegrams and notes from Rodgers and Hammerstein and from Martha Graham, as well as lengthy correspondence between Lang and her niece, dancer Linda Lack, and her husband, actor Joseph Wiseman. Correspondence of a purely professional nature can be found in the Business Papers series and letters-of-transmittal in the Writings by Others series.
The Business Papers series includes Lang’s correspondence and involvement with various Jewish organizations including Workmen’s Circle, the National Yiddish Book Center, Congress for Jewish Culture, and the yearly readings commemorating writer Sholem Aleichem. Business Papers also includes grant applications, the bulk of which are for the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts. Another key component are papers relating to the Pearl Lang Dance Theatre including company contracts, repertory lists, and production notes, and to the Pearl Lang Dance Foundation primarily consisting of fundraising requests and thank-you notes, notably between Lang and filmmaker Woody Allen. The series also includes Lang’s honorary doctorate from the Juilliard School, materials and contracts from the Yale School of Drama, the League of Contemporary Choreographers, the “Madonna Rockumentary,” the Louis Horst Centennial Project, the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance and Martha Graham Dance Company, and correspondence with composers including Meyer Kupferman. The series is organized alphabetically by last name of sender or full organization, university, or foundation name. Each folder contains the range of dates included.
The Interviews and Lectures series is organized alphabetically by name of association and occasion or last name of interviewer. Some files contain notes associated with the event or lecture, some of which are in Yiddish. Highlights include speeches at events celebrating the lives of Alvin Ailey, Aaron Copland, Martha Hill, Martha Graham, Agnes de Mille, and Wolf Younin.
The series Writings by Lang and by Others includes full periodicals, dissertations and academic essays relating to Martha Graham or Jewish dance and sent to Lang, fan poems, and drafts of books by Agnes de Mille, Daniel Nagrin, and Ernestine Stodelle. There are also several Dance Magazine articles by Tobi Tobias. Yiddish Writings by Others includes photocopied clippings of poetry and stories by renowned Yiddish writers Itzik Manger, I. L. Peretz, and Sholem Aleichem as well as issues of the Yiddish publication Zukunft. Both the English and Yiddish sections include full-length photocopies of editions of S. Ansky’s The Dybbuk. This series is organized alphabetically by last name of author and includes the subseries Yiddish Writings by Others, also organized alphabetically by last name of author.
The Publicity and Promotional Materials series includes press releases, flyers, and about forty posters ranging in size. All of the materials relate to either Lang as an individual or her company. Where the date is known, the items are organized by year from 1938-1965; however, many of the materials are undated. Drafts of Lang’s program bio as well as the bios of her company dancers and performance program drafts are among the materials.
Items in the Clippings series document Lang’s career as well as those of her husband Joseph Wiseman and dancers Martha Graham, Paul Taylor, José Limón, and Merce Cunningham. Foreign language clippings in Dutch and French document the Lang company’s first European tour between 1962-1964. Clippings also include a scrapbook in a mix of Hebrew and English from Lang’s time with the Batsheva Dance Company. The Clippings series is organized chronologically by year from 1938-2006 with additional clippings in Yiddish. Many of Lang’s clippings are presented in scrapbook form with multiple dates on one page. Those are in folders listing the range of dates included.
The Programs series is organized by year from 1928-2008 with undated programs at the end. The series includes programs from Lang’s own company, the Martha Graham company, and many other dance venues primarily in New York City. There are programs from many Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall performances as well as souvenir program booklets from the Graham company, Jacob’s Pillow, and Het Nationale Ballet.
The Choreographic and Teaching Notes series is split into four subseries: Pearl Lang Choreography, Martha Graham Choreography, Technique Teaching (organized by date), and Miscellaneous Notes (general, Yiddish, and miscellaneous). The Pearl Lang Choreography subseries is organized alphabetically by the title of work, the bulk of which pertain to The Possessed and Shirah. Film notes are also included in this section, organized by piece. These notes also include research by Lang in preparation for her choreographic projects and costume notes. In the Martha Graham Choreography subseries, there are notes in Lang's hand describing a number of Graham works in which Lang danced, such as Night Journey and Lamentation. The Technique Teaching subseries is organized by year from 1978 to 2008. Lang organized some of her own notes into binders, which have been kept together, hence there are year spans. Primarily handwritten, her notes contain information about her instructions and exercises in subjects such as technique, composition, performance, dance therapy, children’s dance, and movement for actors, the bulk of which are technique based. There are some notes that pertain directly to the teaching of Graham dance technique. The Miscellaneous Notes subseries includes a wide range of subjects, some of which are organized by year or topic including Hasidism, the rest of which are disparate materials and handwritten. There are also miscellaneous Yiddish notes.
The Photographs series is organized first alphabetically by choreography title, with personal and family photos, photos of Martha Graham, and other unidentified performance photos listed at the end. The bulk of photos are for The Possessed and Moonways.
The Music series includes scores for her choreography projects as well as others of personal interest. Many of the scores are annotated with cues, marks for interpretation and edits that align the music with the choreography, and choreographic notes. Song lyrics, primarily for Yiddish songs, are also included, as are Lang's informal notes on performers, recordings, music compositions, and other jottings.
The series Miscellany organizes a few items by subject that may hold research interest but do not fit the other series.
The collection's moving image recordings (dating from 1956-2003) were transferred to the Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division. Formats include 16mm film, Betacam-SP, VHS, 2’’ reel, 4” reel, 5” reel, 6” reel, 7” reel, 8” reel, 10” reel, 12” reel, Helical Scan, and U-matic. Most of the moving image materials are either performance recordings or unedited raw footage connected to The Possessed.