Bernhard Abramowitsch Papers
Quantity: 1 linear foot
Inclusive dates: 1937-1986
Description: Clippings, personal correspondence, flyers, photographs (portraits and informal), programs, performance tapes and interviews of German-born pianist Bernhard Abramowitsch (1906-1986) who settled in San Francisco in 1939.  As well as performing, he taught students at the University of California, Mills College, the San Francisco Conservatory, and Holy Names College.
Finding Aid available

Ackerman Family Papers
Quantity: 1.1 linear foot
Inclusive dates:
Description: Family letters and photographs of Charles Ackerman (1850-1909), vice-president and one of the founders of the Orpheum circuit and president of the Grand Opera House, the Tivoli Opera House, and the Chutes Amusement Park in San Francisco, and his son, Irving (1885-?) who formed a vaudeville booking agency, built the San Francisco Warfield Theater and was a founder and vice-president of Columbia Pictures.
Also includes printed matter concerning the early Twentieth Century theater chains and their operation on the West Coast and many photos of dogs, Irving's lifelong hobby.
Finding aid available

John Afendras Papers
Quantity: 1 linear foot
Inclusive dates: 1920s-70s
Description: John Afendras (1897-1976) was a Greek-born classically trained violinist who led a varied career in San Francisco musical circles conducting an all-girl tango orchestra as well as the San Francisco Municipal Band. The collection contains more than 150 photographs including many inscribed photos of individuals associated with  Afendras and various ensemble Greek orchestras as well as clippings, programs, and letters.
Finding aid available.

David Ahlstrom Papers
Quantity: 11 linear feet
Inclusive dates: 1949-1990
Biography: Ahlstrom (1927-1993) was a composer,  music director and conductor of BAYO and VOICES/SF, an ensemble specializing in performances of new American operas and works for musical theater.
Description: Contains musical scores, recordings, photographs, programs, published and unpublished writings and biographical information.
Finding aid available

Vittorio Arimondi Papers
Quantity: .5 linear foot
Inclusive dates: 1890s-1920s
Biography: Arimondi (1883-1931) was an Italian operatic basso, and contemporary of Enrico Caruso, who performed throughout Europe and became a member of the Chicago Opera Company in 1910.
Description: Correspondence, programs, portraits, a scrapbook and artifacts. Of note is a signed drawing of Arimondi by Caruso, an autographed music manuscript by Arturo Toscanini, and numerous signed photographs and letters of operatic greats.
Finding aid available

Leonora Wood Armsby Papers
Quantity: 5.8 linear feet
Inclusive dates: 1910-1960 (much undated material)
Biography: President and managing director of the Musical Association, the managing board of the Symphony, from 1937 to 1954.  With Pierre Monteux, Leonora Wood Armsby revitalized the San Francisco Symphony in 1934.
Description: Includes art works, awards, books, clippings, press materials, writings, a reel-to-reel audiotaped concert, and artifacts such as an inscribed music stand and phonograph player from Pierre Monteux.  Of special note are more than 62 autographed photographs of prominent musicians and personalities.
Accession list available

Christopher Beck Papers
Quantity: 5.3 linear feet
Inclusive dates: 1966-1989
Biography: Choreographer and dance teacher who, in 1975, formed Christopher Beck & Company and founded Centerspace Theater in San Francisco..
Description: Includes videotapes, films, photographs, slides, contact sheets, negatives, audio cassette tapes, clippings, features, reviews, programs, press releases, posters, biographical material, a script, and original promotional art work.
Accession list available

Rachmael ben Avram Papers
Quantity: 2 linear feet
Inclusive dates: 1950-1960
Biography: Rachmael ben Avram founded the Company of the Golden Hind in 1951. He directed the Cathedral Civic Theater and was general director of the Oakland National Repertory Theater.
Description: Programs, slides and photos of Company of the Golden Hind and Oakland National Repertory Theater productions.
Finding aid available

Boris Blinder Papers
Quantity: 2 linear feet
Inclusive dates: 1929 - 1964
Biography: Boris Blinder (1898?-1987) was principal cellist with the San Francisco Symphony for over 20 years. 
Description:  Includes recordings, photographs, both family and formal, including many of his brother Naoum Blinder, who served as concertmaster of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra from 1932 to 1957.
Accession list available

Leah Marie Boehm/Marissa de Leon Papers
Quantity: 1 linear foot
Inclusive dates: 1930s-50s
Biography: Leah Marie Boehm (1911-) and Marissa de Leon (1911- )were dance teachers and Ph.D candidates at the University of California at Berkeley.  
Description: Materials on South American dance, covering Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Uruguay.  Includes sheet music, dance step instruction, handwritten scores, pencil costume sketches, a map of the dances of Colombia, typewritten notes on dances, postcards, and 33 1/3 r.p.m. records of native Argentine folk dances.
Finding aid available

William Brennan Papers
Quantity: 1 linear foot
Inclusive dates: 1976-1985
Biography: Brennan (1921?-1992) was manager of the Orpheum Theatre in San Francisco and talent coordinator of the Mary Martin PBS series Over Easy.
Description: Papers dealing with the renovation of the Orpheum Theate and the Mary Martin at Davies Hall benefit.
Finding aid available

Jack Chen Papers
Quantity: 3 linear feet
Inclusive dates: 1853-1983
Biography: Chen (?-1995) was an artist, journalist, author and co-founder of the Pear Garden in the West.
Description:  Photographs and story boards for the Pear Garden in the West exhibit as well as the manuscript for his book Pear Garden in the West.

Lew Christensen / Gisella Caccialanza Papers
Quantity: 6.75 linear feet
Inclusive dates: ca. 1926- 1988
Biography: Lew Christensen (1909-1984) was America's first great classical male danseur, choreographer of the first "all-American" ballet (Filling Station, in 1938), and the Director of the San Francisco Ballet from 1951 to 1984.  Gisella Caccialanza (1914- ) was a student of Enrico Cecchetti, a prima ballerina of the San Francisco Ballet and the wife of Lew Christensen.
Description: Includes biographical materials, brochures, chronologies, correspondence, clippings, flyers, libretti, memorial programs, manuscripts, hundreds of historic photographs and negatives (some by renowned American photographer George Platt Lynes), postcards, programs, souvenir books, scrapbooks, and artifacts.
Finding aid available

Adela Chu Papers
Quantity: 1.3 linear feet
Inclusive dates: 1978-1992
Biography: Adela Chu (1946- ) is a Panamanian-born dancer and teacher who specializes in Afro-Caribbean dance.  She brought the exotic and colorful celebration of Carnaval,  to the streets of San Francisco's Mission District in 1976.  She was also the first to bring Carnaval and the "First Night" New Year's Eve celebration to Hawaii.  Description: Fliers, copies of color and black and white photographs, press clippings, programs, and videos.

Robert Commanday Papers
Quantity: 3 linear foot
Inclusive dates: 1959-
Biography: Robert Commanday was the music critic for the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper from
Description:  Clippings, news releases, newsletters, programs, souvenir booklets, etc., from dance, opera, and symphony performances.  The programs contain Mr. Commanday's original handwritten notes used for his reviews.

Rich Darnell Papers
Quantity: .5 linear ft.; 1 box
Inclusive dates:
Description: Flyers, press releases, programs, newsletters of the High Risk Group from dancer and choreograher Rick Darnell
No Finding Aid

Iris de Luce Papers
Quantity: 2 linear ft.; 2 boxes, 1 print box
Inclusive dates: 1925-1979
Description: Clippings, correspondence, photographs, programs, ballet sketches and costume designs of ballet dancer and teacher de Luce (1903- ). De Luce appeared in motion pictures with Albertina Raasch's ballet company, danced with the San Francisco Opera Ballet and directed the Iris de Luce Ballet Studio in Sausalito.
Find aid available

Edna Smith De Nunzio Papers
Quantity: 1 linear foot
Inclusive dates: 1923-1940s
Biography: Edna Smith sang with the San Francisco Opera beginning in its very first season, 1923.  She then became a protegee of the famed soprano Gina Cigna, and went on to sing in the major European opera houses.
Description:  The core of this collection consists of an impressive group of autographed photographs and several autograph books, including virtually everyone involved with the San Francisco Opera in its early days.  Also represented are people who were involved in the beginnings of the San Francisco Opera Ballet, the direct ancestor of today's San Francisco Ballet. Included are clippings, programs, and posters.
Finding aid available

Antoine De Vally Papers
Quantity: 1.4 linear feet
Inclusive dates: 1908-1928
Biography: Belgian operatic tenor who was Director General of the De Vally French Opera Company and established the Oakland Civic Opera Association.  He was instrumental in the proposition of the San Francisco Opera Association, and taught music in San Francisco.  Description: Clippings, correspondence, financial records, and miscellany such as licenses, a chorus notebook, and an interesting 1924 report to R. I. Bentley, president of the San Francisco Opera Association.  Also includes materials on his relief work for Belgium in World War I .

Vera Edmondson Papers
Quantity: 1.3 linear feet
Inclusive dates: 1920s-1970s
Description: Brochures, correspondence, programs, tickets, photographs (some autographed), a handmade calendar and other memorabilia of popular 20s and 30s singer and radio star Jessica Dragonette collected by family friend Vera Edmondson.

Alexander Fried Papers
Quantity: 6.7 linear feet
Inclusive dates: 1930-1977
Biography: Performing arts critic for the San Francisco Examiner who for over forty years wrote reviews of dance, opera, and music performances in the Bay Area.
Description: Clippings of Alexander Fried's reviews.
Finding aid available

Charles Girvin Papers
Quantity: .8 linear feet
Inclusive dates: 1955-56, 1974-78
Biography: Charles Girvin (1935-19??) was a classical ballet teacher who graduated from the School of American Ballet under the direction of George Balanchine and taught students throughout the Bay Area.
Description: The focus of this collection is on notebooks kept by Mr. Girvin which  cover the time he spent with the School of American Ballet, the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo, the Balanchine Theatre School, the Royal Academy of Dance, his classes in Sacramento, and the Cecchetti Society summer school.
Finding aid available

Wilton Graff (1903-1969) Papers
Quantity: .8 linear feet
Inclusive dates: 1929- 1965
Biography: Wilton Graff (1903-1969) was an actor who appeared on Broadway and in stock companies and little theaters from coast to coast.  He was active in the Theater Guild and spent several years with the San Francisco Civic Light Opera.  He also enjoyed a Hollywood movie career, acting in over fifty films.
Description: The collection includes biographical material, cast sheets, contracts, correspondence, obituaries, press clippings, photographs, programs, publicity materials, and scripts.  Also includes autographed material from such actors as Helen Hayes, Laurence Olivier, and Vivien Leigh.
Finding aids: inventory available

Anna Halprin Papers
Quantity: 60 linear feet
Inclusive dates: 1920-
Biography: For the past forty years, Anna Halprin has been an innovator in dance teaching, performance and choreography.  Her workshops gave early training to such choreographers as Yvonne Rainer and Trisha Brown, and over the years she has collatborated with composers such as John Cage, Terry Riley, Meredith Monk, and La Monte Young.
Description: Contains correspondence, reports, newsclippings, programs, flyers, pictorial dance scores, posters, scrapbooks, music scores, video and audiocassettes documenting Halprin's work with cancer and AIDS patients, the humanistic psychology movement in California, and the modern and post-modern dance movement in the San Francisco Bay Area and its influence on art in New York and beyond.
Finding aid available

Russell Hartley Papers
Quantity: 12 linear
Inclusive dates: 1924-1983
Biography: Russell Hartley was a designer and character dancer with the San Francisco Ballet in the 1940s and 50s.  He designed the costumes for the first full-length Nutcracker performed in the United States and founded the Archives for the Performing Arts, now the San Francisco Performing Arts Library and Museum.
Description: Contains correspondence, diaries, scrapbooks, photos, artwork, writings, research papers and personal letters documenting Hartley's life, career and friendships with numerous San Francisco artists and personalities.
Finding aid available

Mrs. Louis Hendricks Papers
Quantity: 1 linear foot
Inclusive dates: 1961-67
Biography: Mrs. Hendricks served on the Board of Directors of the San Francisco Ballet Guild from 1960-1969.  Description: Materials documenting six years of the San Francisco Ballet Guild, including annual reports, correspondence, financial materials, invitations, meeting minutes, press clippings, press releases, and rosters.
Finding aid available

Gustav Hinrichs (1850- 1942) Papers
Quantity: 8 linear feet
Inclusive dates: ca. 1874- ca. 1934
Biography: This noted German-American conductor and composer served as music director of the Tivoli Opera House and in 1881 founded the San Francisco Philharmonic Society, precursor of the San Francisco Symphony. In 1885 he moved to Philadelphia and formed his own opera company, presenting the American premieres of Cavalleria rusticana and Pagliacci.
Description:  This collection includes original scores, libretti, and play scripts, and handwritten sheet music as well as personal correspondence, financial materials, photographs, press clippings, programs,  and scrapbooks.
Finding aid available

Jesse Hollis Papers
Quantity:
Inclusive dates:1977-1988
Biography: Free-lance Bay Area set designer who designed sets for American Conservatory Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Marin Theatre Company, Lamplighters and Magic Theatre.
Description: Sketches and plans for more than 60 productions from the companies listed above as well as Sacramento Theatre Company, Fortworth Opera and San Fancisco Ballet, 3 set models and a few photographs.
Finding aid available

Mrs. George F. Jewett Papers
Quantity: 2.2 linear feet
Inclusive dates: 1969-1982
Biography: Lucy Jewett is a former dancer, Trustee Emeritus and former Vice President of the San Francisco Ballet, and one of the Bay Area's leading philanthropists.
Description: Administrative files from the Board of Directors of the San Francisco Ballet, including financial materials, annual reports, monthly board meetings, minutes from executive committee sessions, agendas for annual retreats, etc. The papers provide an in-depth look at the Ballet's administration during one of its most crucial decades, the 1970s, when the company, after teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, became one of the leading American examples of a professionally managed arts organization.
Finding aid available

Lenore Peters Job Papers
Quantity: 13 linear feet
Inclusive dates: [ca. 1910-85, much material is undated]
Biography: San Francisco modern dance pioneer who, for more than 50 years, directed the Bay Area's oldest dance school, the Peters Wright Creative Dance School, founded in 1912 by Job's sister, Anita Peters Wright.
Description:  Contains awards, biographical material, books, correspondence, diaries, drawings, manuscripts, notebooks, obituaries, photographs, programs, press clippings, and posters.  Provides invaluable documentation on the emergence of modern dance as one of the United States' few indigenous art forms.
Finding aid available

Anita Kane Papers
Quantity:
Inclusive dates: 1950-1990
Biography: Anita Kane (1910-1994) was a dance teacher who helped introduce classical ballet to the Philippines, organized the Arts Council of the Philippines and its first truly professional ballet company.  In later life she was the director of dance studios in Healdsburg and Rohnert Park.
Description: Writings by Anita Kane, scores, awards, newsclippings, signed photos of ballet stars and the Philippines, programs, and scrapbooks.
Finding aid available

Irma Kay Opera Ring Theatre Collection
Quantity: 3.5 linear feet
Inclusive dates: 1954-1967
Biography/History: Irma Kay was the founder and director of Opera Ring Theatre from 1954 to 1967. Her vision was to produce operas in English and in-the-round in order to reach out to and educate an audience unfamiliar with traditional opera production.  Kurt Weill's Threepenny Opera had its west coast debut at the Opera Ring Theatre in 1955. In the 1960s the focus of the Theatre shifted to genre of classical musical comedy.  Description: This collection includes art work, audio cassettes, costume designs, lighting diagrams, photographs, press clippings, promotional material, scrapbook, scripts, set designs, stage diagrams, tech and prop lists, and miscellaneous artifacts, documenting the history the Opera Ring Theater.  Other than a permit and union contract, there are few administrative records.
Finding aids: inventory available

Hanns and Virginia Kolmar Papers
Longtime San Francisco theatrical press agent handled such companies and performers as the Lamplighters,  Circle Star theater, Barbara Cook, Shirley Bassey

Wanda Krasoff Papers
Pianist and teacher performed with San Francisco Symphony and on the Standard Hour broadcasts

Hans Leschke (1883-1973) Papers
Quantity:
Inclusive dates: ca. 1901-1973 (much undated material)
Biography: Founder and director of the San Francisco Municipal Chorus for twenty-five years. 
Description: This collection consists of the personal archives of Dr. Hans Leschke, documenting his life and his career with the SF Municipal Chorus.  Includes certificates, contracts, correspondence, obituaries, photographs and negatives, and personal miscellany such as a passport and college documents.    Almost all material is in German.
See also: [*SF Civic Chorale??], SF Municipal Chorus
Finding aids: none

Joah Lowe (1953- 1988) Papers
Quantity: [7 boxes] [I found 3] [1.9 linear feet.] [**THE rest is in storage. count amt by 7 boxes at 16" each.]
Inclusive dates: ca. 1970-1988 (much undated material)
Biography: Bay Area choreographer, dancer and teacher.
Description: . Includes biographical material, chronologies, correspondence, obituaries, photographs (color and black-and-white), press clippings, programs, repertories, audio tapes and video tapes.
Finding aids: list available

Francesca Ludova Papers
Quantity: .5 linear foot
Inclusive dates: ca. 1917-1967 (much undated material)
Biography: Francesca Ludova (1907-1979) danced with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet, with the SF Opera Ballet in the late 1920s, and directed the Kosloff ballet studio.  She appeared in several Hollywood films in the 1930s and then operated the San Jose Ballet School with her husband, Dmitri Romanoff, who became regisseur for American Ballet Theatre.
Description: The collection includes a scrapbook containing postcard correspondence from all over the world, with images depicting dance from many different countries, a commemorative pin from her teacher Theodore Kosloff, and 33 movie stills and studio publicity portraits of movie stars from the 1910s through the 1930s, some autographed, including such notables as Greta Garbo, Groucho Marx, Maurice Chevalier, and Norma Shearer. 
Finding aids available

Jose Manero Papers
Quantity: .4 linear foot (oversized)
Inclusive dates: ca. 1910s-1947 (early scrapbook pages are undated)
Biography: Jose Manero began his career a dancer in Mexico City's Ballet Carroll, then toured the United States and Europe with a partner as the popular ballroom dance team "Jose and Paquita".  He joined the army at the time of World War II, continued dancing while he was in the service, performed benefit shows, and taught dance classes on the army base.  In after leaving the army Manero taught students and performed throughout California with a dance group, billed as "Jose Manero and his Altenitas".  In 1945 he choreographed Blue Plaza with Willam Christensen for the SF Ballet, and went on to present many critically acclaimed programs of Mexican dance in conjunction with the Ballet.  
Description: Scrapbook pages documenting Manero's dance career, including photographs, press clippings, and programs.  Includes interesting clippings from army newspapers, documenting his dance activities as a soldier during World War II.
Finding aids: none

Ethyl McFarland Joy Papers
Quantity: 2.6 linear feet
Inclusive dates: 1910-83
Biography: Ethyl McFarland Joy (1896-1983) was a dancer and an actress in San Francisco.  She was  a member of the Alcazar Theatre's stock company and appeared in vaudeville revues at the Orpheum Theatre before she began teaching dance with her mother, Cora McFarland.
Description: Includes music scores, certificates, correspondence, notes, photographs, programs, and scrapbooks containing clippings and photographs of Ethyl in her roles in local theaters around the 1910s.
Finding aid available

Virgil Morton Papers
Quantity: 2 linear feet
Inclusive dates: (1913-1970)
Biography: Virgil Morton (1913- ) was a dancer, dance teacher, and dance writer.  He performed with Fanchon-Marco and in Theodore Kosloff's Hollywood Bowl productions and had minor dancing parts in motion pictures before moving to San Francisco where he taught ballroom dancing and became involved with various local folk dance groups.  He was the first teacher of the International Folk Dancers and authored three books on the subject of dance.
Description:  Programs, newsletters, correspondence and photos from various folk dance organizations and dance and theatre companies.
Finding aid available

Ida O'Day (1880-1986) Papers
Quantity: 1 linear foot
Inclusive dates: 1885-1974
Biography: Ida O'Day's career began on the vaudeville stage where she was a singer, imitator, and banjo player on the national Orpheum circuit.  She then appeared in leading acting roles throughout the country, changing her name to "Ann O'Day".  She married Stanford alumnus and major donor Roscoe Maples and settled in Palo Alto.  
Description: Ida O'Day's personal collection, documenting her life and career.  Includes  contracts, correspondence, fan letters, photographs, press clippings, programs, and audiotapes of herself looking back at her stage career in 1977 and from her 103rd birthday celebration.

Serge Oukrainsky Papers
Quantity:  36 linear feet
Inclusive dates: ca. 1916-64 (much undated material)
Biography: Russian-born dancer, teacher and choreographer  who partnered Anna Pavlova.  Serge Oukrainsky (1886-1972) established with Andreas Pavley the Pavley-Oukrainsky Ballet, the official ballet of the Chicago Grand Opera. He became ballet master of the San Francisco Opera Ballet and staged ballets for symphonic concerts at the Hollywood Bowl.
Description: Biographical information, correspondence, Pavley-Oukrainsky Ballet Company financial and artistic records, photographs (some autographed), press clippings, programs, manuscripts, his autobiography My Life in Ballet, sketches, and a great many costumes.   
Finding aid available

Carl Palangi / Gualtiero Bartalini Papers
Quantity: 1 linear foot
Biography: Bartalini was an actor, singer, dancer and mime who moved from Italy to San Francisco and became the teacher of Carl Palangi.  Palangi made his debut in 1953 with the San Francisco Pops and performed in operas, operettas and with several orchestras in the West and Europe.
Description: Contains programs, publicity, and numerous photographs of the two performers careers.

Klarna Pinska (1902?-  ) Papers
Quantity: 2 linear feet
Inclusive dates: 1927-1985
Biography: Klarna Pinska was a protegee of dance pioneer Ruth St. Denis. Dancer, choreographer, designer, director, and teacher associated with the Denishawn School of Modern Dance. In later years she recreated a St. Denis technique, which she called "soaring", and taught throughout California.  She was associated with North Beach Anti-Fascist Players during World War II, and with Xoregos Dance Company in the 1970s.
Description: Programs, photographs, manuscripts, correspondence, interviews, clippings, costumes and artifacts, relating to her artistic career and political activity.
Finding aid available

Lois Rather (1905-  ) Collection
Quantity: 1 linear foot
Inclusive dates: 1870s-1970s
Biography: Bay Area theatre historian who in 1935 served as research supervisor of the Works Progress Administration's Federal Theatre in San Francisco, where she compiled a history of local Chinese theatre, and published Toward a Living Theater, about the San Francisco Federal Theater Project.  In the 1940s she continued her theatre research and published articles in the California Historical Society's Quarterly.  She became an elementary school teacher in 1942, and continued to teach for twenty-seven years, while she wrote at least eight yet-unpublished novels and essays.  In 1970 began the private Rather Press with her husband, Clif, which published 28 hardcover books.  After her husband's death in 1987, she continued their printing work with the Rather Press Addenda.
Description: Personal archives on the history of the San Francisco Stage, featuring artifacts, correspondence, published and unpublished manuscripts, photographs, books, broadsides, song sheets, a collection of early playscripts, Chinese theatre memorabilia, and administrative files from the Federal Theatre project of the Works Progress Administration.

Bari Rolfe Mime and Theatre Collection
Quantity: 20 linear foot
Description: Materials on children's theatre, including scripts, school curriculum materials, comic strips, flyers, books, and artifacts. 

Frances Saville (1865-1936) Papers
Quantity: 1 linear foot
Biography: Operatic soprano who was born and died in San Francisco but spent most of her career outside California, performing in the world's great opera houses.
Description: This collection was given by Saville's niece, Edith Alttman, and includes memorabilia such as an extensive set of press clippings, a series of photographs, and Saville's own diary, in which she meticulously maintained a listing of her itinerary and repertoire.

Lola Davis Simpson Papers
Quantity: .5 linear feet
Inclusive dates: [1900- 1930]
Biography: An avid San Francisco theatre-goer.
Description: Folio albums featuring playbills, original photographs of performers, and more than 103 signatures and autographed letters.  The autographs include those of such performers as Maude Adams, Ethel Barrymore, Otis Skinner, Nellie Melba, and Ignace Paderewski. The photographs include originals by Arnold Genthe, one of America's leading portrait photographers.
Finding aids:

Lenwood Sloan (1948- ) Papers
Quantity: 1 linear foot
Inclusive dates: 1975-1980
Biography: Dancer, director, choreographer, dance historian.
Description: Includes biographical materials., working papers, drawings, photographs, programs, press clippings,  correspondence, and promotional materials primarily for his signature choreographic works 100 Years of Minstrelsy and Three Black and Three White Refined Jubilee Minstrels-An American Documentary.
Finding aid available

Michael Smuin (1938-2007 ) Papers
Quantity:
Inclusive dates:
Biography: Dancer, director, choreographer.
Description: Includes biographical materials., working papers, drawings, photographs, programs, press clippings,  correspondence, and promotional materials.
Finding aid available

Stephen Steinberg Papers
Quantity: 5 linear feet
Inclusive dates: 1976-1991
Biography: Dance scholar, historian, film maker and program coordinator for the San Francisco Performing Arts Library & Museum.
Description: Manuscripts, video footage, documentation for his film projects, That's Beach Blanket Babylon, Lew Christesen: The Triumph of American Dance, ABT 50th Anniversary Gala and Nijinska: A Legend in Dance.
Finding aid available

Stine, Isabel. Scrapbook.
Biography: An ardent San Francisco philanthropist who devoted most of her energies during the 1920s towards helping Gaetano Merola establish the San Francisco Opera.
Description: Includes correspondence to and from Merola; in-depth financial records from the Opera's early years; press clippings; historical photographs.
See also: Robert Watt Miller San Francisco Opera Archives.

Muriel Stuart (1903-1991) Papers
Quantity: 1.5 linear feet
Inclusive dates: 1916-
Biography: One of America's leading dance teachers, herself a student of Anna Pavlova, who served on the faculty of the School of American Ballet for over thirty-five years.
Description: Correspondence, programs, and promotional pieces, printed matter on Stuart's career and  photographic images of Stuart as a dancer with the Pavlova Company and dozens of signed  photographs of her contemporaries in dance, opera and the related arts, including such luminaries as Lincoln Kirstein, Anna Pavlova, and Charles Chaplin.
Finding aid available

Annette Trubowitsch / Philburn Friedman Papers
Letters, photographs from stage manager Philburn Friedman who worked on many of Bob Fosse's shows and the material gathered by his sister Annette Trubowitsch for her book about him.

Gastone Usigli (1897-1956) Papers
Quantity: 1.5 linear feet
Inclusive dates: 1920-1956
Biography:  Italian born composer, conductor and pianist who was active in the San Francisco musical scene from the 1930s to1950s leading such orchestra's as the WPA orchestra and the SF Chamber Symphony.
Description:  Contains photos and snapshots of Usigli and groups with which he was associated as well as recordings, clippings and original and photographed scores of Mr. Usigli's compositions.
Finding aid available

Valerga Papers
Quantity: 13.3 linear feet
Description: Personal collection from the Valerga family, including costumes, photographs, letters, programs, libretti, scores, scrapbooks.  Many of the programs are from the Tivoli Opera House.  Adelina Patti and Alice Nielsen are among the noted performers who also feature in this collection.
Finding aid available

William Van den Burg (1901-1992) Papers
Quantity: 1 linear ft.
Inclusive dates: 1916-1992
Biography: Dutch-born and trained conductor and cellist who came to the United States  at the age of 24.  Served as principal cellist of the Philadelphi Orchestra, associate conductor and principal cellist of the San Francisco Symphony under Pierre Monteux and assistant conductor and principal cellist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Description: Programs, photographs, reviews, and letters from Yehudi Menuhin and Leopold Stokowski.

Jocelyn Vollmar Papers
Quantity: 1.5 linear foot
Inclusive dates: 1944-2006
Biography: Prima ballerina with the San Francisco Ballet from 1956-1972 who appeared in the original full-length American premiers of Coppelia, Swan Lake and The Nutcracker.  She also performed with New York City Ballet, the American Ballet Theatre and the Metropolitan Opera.
Description: Programs, photographs, press materials and personal papers.  The collection includes clippings of reviews of Vollmar's performances throughout her career, primarily from San Francisco newspapers, but also clippings from her years at Borovansky Ballet in Australia, Marquis de Cuevas Ballet in Paris as well as reviews of world tours.  Also included is representative sampling of SF Ballet programs and souvenir programs.
Finding aid available online (PDF)