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Finding Aid to the Joseph Rous Paget-Fredericks Papers, 1893-1963 (bulk
1924-1962)
BANC MSS 72/156 c
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Table of contents
Collection Title: Joseph Rous Paget-Fredericks Papers
Date (inclusive): 1893-1963
Date (bulk): 1924-1962
Collection Number: BANC MSS 72/156 c
Creator:
Paget-Fredericks, Joseph Rous,
1903-1963
Extent:
Number of containers: 16 boxes, 2 cartons, 4 oversize folders, and 1 oversize
volume.
Linear feet: 9.2
Repository: The Bancroft Library.
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA 94720-6000
Phone: (510) 642-6481
Fax: (510) 642-7589
Email: bancref@library.berkeley.edu
URL: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/
Abstract: The Joseph Rous Paget-Fredericks Papers consist primarily of
materials relating to his extensive involvement in the art and dance world of the 1920s and
1930s. Although the collection extends from 1893-1963, the bulk of materials date from 1924
to 1962, and contains correspondence, manuscripts of his children's stories, poems, writings
on dance, and memories of Pavlova, as well as clippings and personal memorabilia, including
programs, invitations, accounts, postcards, Christmas cards, and announcements for dance
recitals, classes, and exhibits. The collection has been arranged into four series:
correspondence, writings, personal papers, and subject files.
Languages Represented: Collection materials are in English
Physical Location: Many of the Bancroft Library collections are stored offsite
and advance notice may be required for use. For current information on the location of these
materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Collection is open for research.
Materials in this collection may be protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17,
U.S.C.). In addition, the reproduction of some materials may be restricted by terms of
University of California gift or purchase agreements, donor restrictions, privacy and
publicity rights, licensing and trademarks. Transmission or reproduction of materials
protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of
the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited
without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively
with the user.
All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from, or otherwise use collection materials
must be submitted in writing to the Head of Public Services, The Bancroft Library,
University of California, Berkeley 94720-6000. See:
http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/reference/permissions.html .
[Identification of item], Joseph Rous Paget-Fredericks papers, BANC MSS 72/156 c, The
Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley
Hubert Stowitts letters are also available on microfilm.
Printed materials have been transferred to the book collection of The Bancroft Library.
Drawings and Photographs have been transferred to the Pictorial Collections of The
Bancroft Library. (BANC PIC 1964.009-.024).
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the
library's online public access catalog
Paget-Fredericks, Joseph Rous,
1903-1963--Archives
Pavlova, Anna, 1881-1931
Ballet--20th century
Children's literature
Dance--20th century
Dancers
Manuscripts for publication
Stowitts, Hubert
The Joseph Rous Paget-Fredericks Papers were purchased and later transferred to The
Bancroft Library by Rare Books and Special Collections. Additions were made by a gift of
Robert Hawley on October 1977 and January 1978, and purchases in February 1998 and
February 1999.
No additions are expected.
Arranged to the folder level.
Processed by Bancroft Library staff, completed by Jody Plotkin and Naomi Walenta in 1996.
Additions processed by Alison E. Bridger in 2007.
Joseph Rous Paget-Fredericks was born in San Francisco, California on December 22, 1903,
although a family story claims his birth occurred on the eve of the 1906 earthquake and
fire. It is questionable as to what his true year of birth is; it has been recorded as 1903,
1905 or 1909. His mother, Constance Rous-Marten Paget-Jackson, came from a noble English
family, and his father, Arthur Remy von Höe[h]nthal Fredericks, was descended from
a family of Baltic lumber Barons.
Paget-Fredericks received a diverse education both in California and Europe, and attended
the California College of Arts and Crafts, as well as Berkeley High School, class of 1920.
For the next ten years, he continued to travel and study abroad, immersing himself in the
world of dance, working with Löie Fuller, Anna Pavlova, Isadora Duncan, among
others and in his studies. Paget-Fredericks was the last private pupil of both Leon Bakst
and John Singer Sargent, and also attended Oxford and Cambridge University, the Beaux Arts
in Paris, and the Munich Academy.
At the age of fourteen, Paget-Fredericks presented his artwork for the first time at the
Parisian salon of his godmother, the Baronness Deslandes. In 1921, he was invited by Sam
Hume, general art director for the University of California, Berkeley, to design and present
a series of ten pageants at the Greek Theater. The following year, Paget-Fredericks gave his
first professional exhibit of creative designs and costumes in Paris, sponsored by Anna
Pavlova and Leon Bakst. He staged the pageant-ballet "Wings," for the
Bohemian Club in 1925, and in 1927, held three major one-man shows at the University of
California, Berkeley, the Grand Central Arts Gallery (New York), and the New York Public
Library. Pavlova designated Paget-Fredericks Art Director of her world tours, and he
redesigned five major productions for her. In 1941, he designed the San Francisco Opera
production of "Swan Lake."
Paget-Fredericks also wrote and illustrated two children's books, "Green
Pipes" and "Miss Pert's Christmas Tree" (published by
Macmillan in 1929), and began collaborating with Edna St. Vincent Millay to illustrate some
of her books, including "Illustrated Poems of Edna St. Vincent Millay" and
"The Princess Marries the Page" (Harper, 1932). In 1936, he received the
First Award at the Berlin Olympic Games for designing the 1935 Stanford yearbook,
"Quad". Paget-Fredericks continued to illustrate children's books
and privately published his own book, Pavlova Dances, a monument to the dancer and her
tremendous impact on his life.
From 1930 to 1937, Paget-Fredericks lectured at the California College of Arts and Crafts
and the Fashion Art School of San Francisco. He was the first instructor on Dance and
related Theater Arts during the 1939-1940 Summer Sessions at the University of California,
Berkeley. He and his mother also gathered together elaborate collections of
"International Childhood," Theater Arts, and Pavlova
("Pavloviana") memorabilia. While Paget-Fredericks' teaching,
illustrating, and theater designing career flourished, he continued to loan his family
collections to museums and universities; the Pavlova memorabilia was exhibited with great
success in London in the fall of 1956.
Joseph Rous Paget-Fredericks died in 1963.
The Joseph Rous Paget-Fredericks Papers consist primarily of materials relating to his
extensive involvement in the art and dance world of the 1920s and 1930s. Although the
collection extends from 1893-1963, the bulk of materials date from 1924 to 1962, and
contains correspondence, manuscripts of his children's stories, poems, writings on
dance, and memories of Pavlova, as well as clippings and personal memorabilia, including
programs, invitations, accounts, postcards, Christmas cards, and announcements for dance
recitals, classes, and exhibits. The collection has been arranged into four series:
correspondence, writings, personal papers, and subject files.
Correspondence contains mostly incoming letters to and from dancers, writers, friends, and
acquaintances, including Ruby Boardman, Marchesa Luisa di Casati, Dudley S. Corlett, Victor
Dandre, Vicomte Rene de Montozon-Brachet, Romola de Pulszky Nijinsky, Ruth St. Denis, Hubert
Stowitts, Mrs. Charlotte Tobin, and Tamara Toumanova. Also included are letters relating to
Paget-Fredericks' collections and artwork, as well as letters from his publishers.
Although most of his letters remain undated, there are sixty-seven outgoing letters from
1925 to 1962.
Paget-Fredericks' writings include the manuscript of his biographical memoir,
Pavlova Dances, as well as articles and short stories about dancers and about his family,
published and unpublished children's stories, notes, and finally a few writings by
others.
Personal papers concern Paget-Fredericks' career as an artist, illustrator,
writer, designer, lecturer, performer, and collector. These include autobiographical notes,
programs from his art shows and performances, clippings, and other miscellany.
A dancer himself, Paget-Fredericks collected memorabilia relating to the dance. His subject
files chiefly clippings, contain materials pertaining first to dance performers,
choreographers, producers, designers, and companies, and then to a variety of related
subjects, with concentrations in art, literature, music, and theater. Finally, there are
numerous programs from dance performances around the world.