Research Catalog

Title

Merry-Go-Rounders records, 1944-1974.

Author

Merry-Go-Rounders (Company)

Supplementary Content

Finding Aid

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Garnet, Eva Desca
• Holder, Geoffrey, 1930-2014
• Hoving, Lucas
• Humphrey, Doris, 1895-1958
• Ubell, Shirley
• Venable, Lucy
• Wilson, John W., 1927-1992
• 92nd Street Y (New York, N.Y.)

Description

6 linear feet (9 boxes)

Summary

The Merry-Go-Rounders records document the children's dance and theater group from its inception to its dissolution. The collection primarily contains administrative files with information on the group's finances, publicity, and organizational structure. Production materials, arranged by individual production, often contain annotated scripts in many versions. There are also production notes detailing choreography movements, as well as costume sketches. The music scores, like the production scripts, also exist with many revisions. The collection includes several photographs from 1952 to 1964, which are mostly of performers on stage, back stage, rehearsing, and of audiences. The oversized photographs contain many contact sheets of the same photographs.

Subject

• Merry-Go-Rounders (Company)
• Children's theater > New York (State) > New York
• Dance for children

Genre/Form

• Contact sheets.
• Costume design drawings.
• Photographs.
• Scores.
• Scripts (documents)

Location of Other Archival Materials (note)

• Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

Biography (note)

• Established in 1952, the Merry-Go-Rounders was a non-profit children's dance and theater group started by the faculty of the New York YM-YWHA, which continued to perform under various auspices through 1974. Originally under the artistic direction of Doris Humphrey, the group initially was based at the Children's Dance Department of the 92nd Street Y, which sponsored the Merry-Go-Rounders from 1952-1961. Multicultural in conception, choreographers for the Merry-Go-Rounders included Eva Desca, Geoffrey Holder, Lucas Hoving, Lucy Venable, and John Wilson. Between 1961 to 1968, the Merry-Go-Rounders operated as an independent dance company. Although they primarily performed in the New York City greater metropolitan area, they also appeared in such places as North Carolina, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. From 1968 to about 1974, the Merry-Go-Rounders operated under the Center for Modern Dance Education (CMDE), with a new cast and administrative crew, including artistic director Shirley Ubell. Under CMDE, the Merry-Go-Rounders also held dance classes for children. After 1974, the Merry-Go-Rounders disbanded.

Indexes/Finding Aids (note)

• Collection guide available in repository and on internet.

Call Number

(S) *MGZMD 211

OCLC

189759931

Author

Merry-Go-Rounders (Company)

Title

Merry-Go-Rounders records, 1944-1974.

Biography

Established in 1952, the Merry-Go-Rounders was a non-profit children's dance and theater group started by the faculty of the New York YM-YWHA, which continued to perform under various auspices through 1974. Originally under the artistic direction of Doris Humphrey, the group initially was based at the Children's Dance Department of the 92nd Street Y, which sponsored the Merry-Go-Rounders from 1952-1961. Multicultural in conception, choreographers for the Merry-Go-Rounders included Eva Desca, Geoffrey Holder, Lucas Hoving, Lucy Venable, and John Wilson. Between 1961 to 1968, the Merry-Go-Rounders operated as an independent dance company. Although they primarily performed in the New York City greater metropolitan area, they also appeared in such places as North Carolina, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. From 1968 to about 1974, the Merry-Go-Rounders operated under the Center for Modern Dance Education (CMDE), with a new cast and administrative crew, including artistic director Shirley Ubell. Under CMDE, the Merry-Go-Rounders also held dance classes for children. After 1974, the Merry-Go-Rounders disbanded.

Location of Other Archival Materials

See also Scrapbook (*MGZRS 79-3874; *ZBD-383) in the Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

Indexes

Collection guide available in repository and on internet.

Connect to:

Request Access to Special Collections (Dance Division) material

Finding Aid

Added Author

Garnet, Eva Desca.

Holder, Geoffrey, 1930-2014.

Hoving, Lucas.

Humphrey, Doris, 1895-1958.

Ubell, Shirley.

Venable, Lucy.

Wilson, John W., 1927-1992.

92nd Street Y (New York, N.Y.)

Research Call Number

(S) *MGZMD 211