- Additional Authors
- Bankers Trust Company (New York, N.Y.)
- Description
- 7.5 linear feet (13 boxes)
- Subjects
- Genre/Form
- Correspondence.
- Source (note)
- Pabst, Irina, The Ballet Foundation, and Michel Subotin
- Location of Other Archival Materials (note)
- The Jerome Robbins Dance Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.
- Biography (note)
- Sergei Denham (1896-1970) is most prominently known as the director of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo.
- Language (note)
- The Correspondence and Oversized materials series contain items in English, German, and Russian.
- Indexes/Finding Aids (note)
- Collection guide available in repository and on internet.
- Call Number
- (S) *MGZMD 179
- OCLC
- 99651951
- Author
Denham, Sergei, 1896-1970.
- Title
Sergei Denham papers, 1918-1936.
- Summary
The Sergei Denham Papers consist of correspondence, legal, financial, and personal papers that document his life outside of his work with the Ballet Russe, predominantly his career in the banking world. The material in this collection is rich in correspondence (both in English and Russian) and financial information from the early 1920s into the mid-1930s of a man who became prominently associated in the twentieth century with a particular dance company, the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, but had a very successful life in an entirely different field before that. He rose rapidly in the international banking world and these papers demonstrate his wealth of contacts, particularly as he worked to develop branches of Bankers Trust in Eastern Europe. Very little of a personal nature is to found within the collection.
- Biography
Sergei Denham (1896-1970) is most prominently known as the director of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. Sergei Ivanovich Denham was born Sergei Ivanovich Dokouchaiev (Docootshieff) the son of a banker. The family moved from Samara on the Volga to Moscow, and Sergei was sent to boarding school near St. Petersburg. Eventually he finished his schooling at The Moscow Commercial Institute. His education was eclectic, covering both business and the arts. He developed a particular talent for the piano. Denham's professional career was extremely diversified. When World War I began he worked for the Red Cross. After the 1917 Revolution he took his family east, first to the home of relatives in Uralsk, then to Vladivostok. While in Shanghai on business, Denham heard that the regime for which he had been working had fallen, and decided to immigrate with his family to the United States. In 1921 the Denhams arrived in San Francisco, but eventually settled in New York. Sergei would become a vice-president with the Bankers Trust Company. He was put in charge of establishing and overseeing branches in Eastern Europe and later London, Paris, and Vienna. Denham's social connections and interest in ballet would lead him to establish his own company, the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo in 1938. Denham was appointed president of this new ballet organization and held that post throughout the entire length of the company's existence. The company, initially led by choreographer and ballet master, Leonide Massine, toured extensively in the United States and abroad, until it folded in 1962. Denham died in New York City after being struck by a bus.
- Location of Other Archival Materials
See also Sergei Denham records of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo ((S) *MGZMD 48 and in microfilm: *ZBD-492) in the The Jerome Robbins Dance Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.
- Language
The Correspondence and Oversized materials series contain items in English, German, and Russian.
- Indexes
Collection guide available in repository and on internet.
- Connect to:
- Occupation
Bankers.
Impresarios.
Theatrical producers and directors.
- Added Author
Bankers Trust Company (New York, N.Y.)
- Research Call Number
(S) *MGZMD 179