Research Catalog

Details

Description

1. .4 lin. ft. (1 printbox)

Summary

1. The Pearl Primus Collection consists of two interviews conducted by Marcia Ethel Heard (1989) and James Briggs Murray (1992) with Pearl Primus, covering her dance career in the 1940s, the late 1980s, and the meaning of dance to her personally. There are a few programs, news clippings, and articles, as well as eight colored costume sketches for unidentified and undated dances.

Subject

1. Choreographers > New York (State) > New York
2. Dancers > United States
3. Women dancers
4. Black author
5. African American dancers
6. African Americans in the performing arts
7. Costume design drawings
8. Primus, Pearl > Interviews
9. African American anthropologists

Genre/Form

1. Costume design drawings.

Call number

1. Sc MG 852

Note

1. Photographs transferred to Photographs and Prints Division.

Source (note)

1. Pearl Primus

Biography (note)

1. Pearl Primus (1919-1994) was an internationally recognized dancer, choreographer, and anthropologist. She is best known for presenting African dances, which she researched in Africa; studying their function and meaning; and performing before American audiences. She and her husband and partner, Percival Borde, conducted research in Africa from 1959 through the 1960s and established a performing arts center in Liberia. However, Primus found her creative impetus in the cultural heritage of African Americans, exploring racism, as well as the dignity, beauty, and strength of Black people. Primus received an M.A. in education (1959) and a Ph.D. (1978) in dance education from New York University.

Author

1. Primus, Pearl.

Title

1. Pearl Primus collection, 1943-1993.

Biography

1. Pearl Primus (1919-1994) was an internationally recognized dancer, choreographer, and anthropologist. She is best known for presenting African dances, which she researched in Africa; studying their function and meaning; and performing before American audiences. She and her husband and partner, Percival Borde, conducted research in Africa from 1959 through the 1960s and established a performing arts center in Liberia. However, Primus found her creative impetus in the cultural heritage of African Americans, exploring racism, as well as the dignity, beauty, and strength of Black people. Primus received an M.A. in education (1959) and a Ph.D. (1978) in dance education from New York University.

Connect to:

1. Finding Aid

Local subject

1. Black author.

Research call number

1. Sc MG 852