Digital Collections

Alexandra Exter, artist. *The Sports and Touring Ballet Revue*. 1925 poster design for Théâtre Choréographique. Bronislava Nijinska Collection. Library of Congress Music Division.

The digital collections with dance materials represent genres including worldwide traditional dances, European and American social dance practices, ballet and modern dance, and more!

Digitized items include choreographic notes, photographs, musical scores, moving images, sound recordings, rare books, and artwork.

Stay up to date with new digital collections on the digital collections page and use the left-hand menu to refine your results by subject - such as "Performing Arts" - or by an object's original format - such as "Photos, Prints, Drawings."

The selected digital collections below highlight single collections or unite items from various divisions of the Library of Congress that share the theme of dance or contain dance-related materials. Some online collections also include digitized materials held by other institutions, such as Selections from the Katherine Dunham Collection.

Selected Digital Collections With Dance-Related Materials

Larry Colwell Dance Photographs, 1944-1966
This digital collection represents the entire contents of the Music Division’s collection of Larry Colwell Dance Photographs. The collection contains black-and-white photo contact sheets, negatives, and photographs (some mounted), all taken by Larry Colwell. Subjects include studio portraits of individual artists (headshots as well as costumed full body images) as well as group shots in costume and in rehearsal. In addition to the photographs, this collection includes evidence of Colwell’s professional career through a small set of writings on techniques of photography, promotional items related to exhibits of his work, and newspaper articles on his exhibitions.
Aaron Copland Collection
Select digitized items from multiple collections in the Music Division. Materials of interest to dance researchers include correspondence, holograph sketches, and photographs related to ballets composed by Copland: Appalachian Spring, Billy the Kid, Dance Panels, and Rodeo.
Alan Lomax Collection
The Alan Lomax Collection includes ethnographic field documentation, materials from Lomax’s various projects, and cross-cultural research created and collected by Alan Lomax and others on traditional song, music, dance, and body movement from around the world. Original materials in the custody of the American Folklife Center.
Alfred Whital Stern Collection of Lincolniana
A selection of 1,300 items from Alfred Whital Stern of Chicago presented his outstanding collection of Lincolniana to the Library of Congress in 1953. The collection is in the custody of the Rare Book and Special Collections Division. Items of interest to dance researchers relate to social dancing, including presidential ball dance cards, sheet music, and programs.
An American Ballroom Companion: Dance Instruction Manuals, circa 1490 to 1920
A collection of over 200 digitized social dance instruction manuals with 75 video clips that illustrate portions of the dance instruction manuals. Original materials held by the Music Division and the Rare Books and Special Collections Division.
Ballets Russes de Serge Diaghilev
A wide range of digitized Ballets Russes objects, including photographs, scrapbooks, writings, costume and set designs, choreographic notes, music scores, diaries, and programs. Selections drawn from various collections of the Music Division.
Bronislava Nijinska Collection
Over 200 collection items from the collection of dancer, choreographer, and teacher Bronislava Nijinska from the Bronislava Nijinska collection in the Music Division. Select digitized objects include manuscripts, books, diaries, choreographic notebooks, correspondence, moving image materials, music scores, photographs, posters, programs, set and costume designs, and scrapbooks.
Curtis (Edward S.) Collection
Over 1,000 digitized items from the Edward S. Curtis collection of regions documented in The North American Indian: the Pacific Northwest, New Southwest, Great Basin, Great Plains, Plateau Region, California, and Alaska. Original items in the custody of the Prints and Photographs Division. Items of interest to dance researchers include images of Native American dances.
Genthe Collection
The Arnold Genthe negative collection includes hundreds of images of dancers and dance performances taken throughout Genthe's career. Included are: Isadora Duncan and the Duncan Dancers, Anna Pavlova, Margaret Severn, the Marion Morgan Dancers, the Anita Zahn Dancers, Martha Graham, and Ruth St. Denis. Original items in the custody of the Prints and Photographs Division. Due to copyright restrictions, not all images are available off-site.
Inventing Entertainment: The Early Motion Pictures and Sound Recordings of the Edison Companies
Includes silent films from the 1890s through 1900s of social dances, entertainers, and ethnic dances. Original items in the custody of the Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division.
Martha Graham at the Library of Congress
Selections of digitized objects from various collections in the Music Division document Martha Graham's work between 1918 and 1949. Objects include concert programs, clippings, press announcements reviews, libretti, scripts, and photographs.
Music Treasures Consortium
The Music Treasures Consortium is an alliance of international libraries with holdings of unique music resources, including music manuscripts, prints, and first and early editions. Digitized items relevant to dance research include manuscript and printed scores of secular dance music from the 17th through 19th centuries.
Omaha Indian Music
Selections of digitized sound recordings and photographs from the American Folklife Center's collections documenting Omaha music traditions, including dances.
Performing Arts Posters
Contains approximately 2,100 digitized posters. The Theatrical Poster Collection contains the posters related to dance, burlesque, music, operetta, vaudeville, and specialty acts. Original objects in the custody of the Prints and Photographs Division.
Pre-1700 Musical Treasures: Manuscript and Print Collection
Sacred and secular music from rare imprints in the Music Division. Collection items relevant to dance research include 17th-century scores of dance music.
Selections from the Katherine Dunham Collection
This online Katherine Dunham Collection presentation makes available a selection of photographs from the Library of Congress, The Missouri Historical Society, and Southern Illinois University; film and videotape excerpts from Dunham's research and performing career; and selections from the Library's Dunham Legacy Project that documented the Dunham dance technique.
Performing Arts Web Archive
The Performing Arts Web Archive contains web-based content related to the Music Division’s current special collections and rare material holdings. Archived websites of interest to dance researchers include 10 Hairy Legs, Dance Heritage Coalition, Daniel Nagrin Foundation, and more.
Professional Organizations for Performing Arts Web Archive
This collection contains archived websites and select social media to document professional networks in the performing arts over time. The collection items are those of professional, labor, and advocacy organizations at regional, national, and international levels. Content of interest includes the Dance Critics Association, International Association for Dance Medicine and Science, and American Tap Dance Foundation.
WPA Posters
This collection consists of 907 digitized posters produced from 1936 to 1943 by various branches of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Posters of interest to dance researchers include the Federal Theatre Project and the Federal Dance Theatre Project. Original objects in the custody of the Prints and Photographs Division.

Dance Research at the Library of Congress

Performing Arts: Ask a Librarian

Digital Collections

Selected Digital Collections With Dance-Related Materials