Finding aid for the Ted Shawn and John Dougherty correspondence LSC.1859
Finding aid prepared by Jasmine Larkin, 2022
UCLA Library Special Collections
Online finding aid last updated 2023 March 3.
Room A1713, Charles E. Young Research Library
Box 951575
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575
Business Number: 310-825-4988
Fax Number: 310-206-1864
AskLSC@library.ucla.edu
Contributing Institution:
UCLA Library Special Collections
Title: Ted Shawn and John Dougherty correspondence
Creator:
Shawn, Ted, 1891-1972
Creator:
Dougherty, John, 1910-1988
source:
Golden Legend, Inc.
Identifier/Call Number: LSC.1859
Physical Description:
0.4 Linear Feet
(1 box)
Date (inclusive): 1956-1971
Abstract: John Dougherty was one of the earliest students of Ted Shawn in the 1920s. He left the dance world in the 1930s and returned
to it in 1955 as the Southern California Reporter for
Dance Magazine, a post he kept for ten years. Dougherty established an intimate friendship with Ted Shawn which he maintained by way of
voluminous correspondence and visits until Shawn's death. This collection consists of original letters from Ted Shawn to John
Dougherty, and carbons of letters Dougherty wrote to Shawn, dated 1956 to 1971.
Physical Location: Stored off-site. All requests to access special collections material must be made in advance using the request button located
on this page.
Language of Material: Materials are in English.
Conditions Governing Access
Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located
on this page.
Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use
Property rights to the objects belong to UCLA Library Special Collections. All other rights, including copyright, are retained
by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue
the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Ted Shawn correspondence with John Dougherty (Collection 1859). UCLA Library Special Collections,
Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased from Golden Legend, 1993.
Processing Information
Processed by Paola Salazar, 2022.
Collections are processed to a variety of levels depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived user
interest and research value, availability of staff and resources, and competing priorities. Library Special Collections provides
a standard level of preservation and access for all collections and, when time and resources permit, conducts more intensive
processing. These materials have been arranged and described according to national and local standards and best practices.
We are committed to providing ethical, inclusive, and anti-racist description of the materials we steward, and to remediating
existing description of our materials that contains language that may be offensive or cause harm. We invite you to submit
feedback about how our collections are described, and how they could be described more accurately, by filling out the form
located on our website:
Report Potentially Offensive Description in Library Special
Collections.
UCLA Catalog Record ID
We are committed to providing ethical, inclusive, and anti-racist description of the materials we steward, and to remediating
existing description of our materials that contains language that may be offensive or cause harm. We invite you to submit
feedback about how our collections are described, and how they could be described more accurately, by filling out the form
located on our website:
Report Potentially Offensive Description in Library Special Collections.
Biographical / Historical
John Dougherty was one of the earliest students of Ted Shawn in the 1920s. He left the dance world in the 1930s and returned
to it in 1955 as the Southern California Reporter for Dance Magazine, a post he kept for ten years. He is well known for his
many articles in that journal as well as in Dance News. In the 1960s, he took on the position of private secretary for Ruth
St. Denis, a position he kept until her death in 1968. He transcribed hundreds of her letters, speeches and articles, many
of which are important in the history of dance. In addition to this post, Dougherty established an intimate friendship with
Ted Shawn which he maintained by way of voluminous correspondence and visits until Shawn's death in December, 1971. The letters
are detailed about Shawn's life and his involvement in dance, and the Dougherty letters provide valuable information about
Ruth St. Denis and her foundation in Los Angeles, for which Dougherty was the corresponding secretary. John Dougherty died
in Los Angeles in April, 1988.
Scope and Contents
Collection of Ted Shawn typed and autograph letters to John Dougherty, and the carbon responses of Dougherty, 1956-1971.
Arrangement
The collection's arrangement maintains its existing order.
Related Materials
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Golden Legend, Inc.
