Finding aid for the Barbara Morgan dance photographs 1021

Bo Doub

USC Libraries Music Library

2024 March

Doheny Memorial Library, G-24

3550 Trousdale Parkway

Los Angeles, California 90089-1822

music@usc.edu

URL: http://libraries.usc.edu/locations/music-library

Contributing Institution: USC Libraries Music Library

Title: Barbara Morgan dance photographs

Creator: Morgan, Barbara Brooks, 1900-1992

Identifier/Call Number: 1021

Identifier/Call Number: /repositories/8/resources/3454

Physical Description: 3.67 Linear Feet 36 photographs in 2 boxes

Date (inclusive): 1935-1945

Date (inclusive): Printed late 1930s through 1980s

Language of Material: English .

Container: 1

Container: 2

Biographical / Historical

Barbara Morgan (July 8, 1900 - August 17, 1992) was born Barbara Brooks Johnson in Buffalo, Kansas. Morgan spent most of her youth in Southern California, going on to study and, later, teach at the University of California, Los Angeles. In 1925, Barbara Johnson married Willard D. Morgan, a writer and photographer. Barbara Morgan is best known for her depictions of American modern dance. Morgan also co-founded the photography magazine Aperture with Ansel Adams, Melton Ferris, Dorothea Lange, Ernest Louie, Beaumont Newhall, Nancy Newhall, Dody Warren, and Minor White.

Scope and Contents

The Barbara Morgan dance photographs comprise 36 photographs taken by Barbara Morgan (1900-1992), an American photographer best known for her depictions of modern dancers. The prints in the collection show well-known dancers and choreographers in various poses and performances, including Valerie Bettis, Si-Lan Chen, Merce Cunningham, Asadata Dafora, Martha Graham, Erick Hawkins, Doris Humphrey, José Limón, Pearl Primus, and others. Morgan originally took these photographs between 1935 and 1945. Some of the prints in the collection, identified as vintage, were printed near the original period that the picture was first taken. Others were printed later -- between the 1960s and 1980s. However, all of the photographs in the collection were printed during Barbara Morgan's lifetime. Most of the prints bear Morgan's original signature and some include Morgan's notes and/or stamp. Martha Graham is the most represented person in the images, with a selection of other early modern dance subjects, as well as a photomontage titled "Pure Energy and Neurotic Man" and an outdoor work titled "Children Dancing By the Lake."

Conditions Governing Access

Collection stored off-site. Advance notice required for access.

Conditions Governing Use

While the USC Music Library is the owner of the physical items in this collection, copyright for the images in the collection is held by the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Library Special Collections. The UCLA Library can grant permission to publish for materials to which it holds the copyright. All requests for permission to publish must be submitted in writing to both the USC Music Library at music@usc.edu and to UCLA Library Special Collections.

Rights Statement for Archival Description

Finding aid description and metadata are licensed under an Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of Nils Morgan, December 4 2023.

Related Materials

Related archival collections:

Barbara and Willard Morgan photographs and papers (Collection 2278). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
Barbara Morgan photographs (Collection 1873). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
Barbara Morgan photographs of Martha Graham and Company. MS-P64. Special Collections and Archives, The UC Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California.
Barbara Morgan Wight Gallery collection (Collection 1872). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

Preferred Citation

[Box/folder no. or item name], Barbara Morgan dance photographs, Collection no. 1021, Music Library, USC Libraries, University of Southern California

Subjects and Indexing Terms

Dance -- United States -- 20th century -- Archival resources

Dance photography -- United States -- 20th century -- Archival resources

Dancers -- United States -- 20th century -- Archival resources

Dancers -- United States -- 20th century -- Photographs

Modern dance -- United States -- 20th century -- Archival resources

Photographers -- United States -- Archival resources

Women photographers -- United States -- 20th century -- Archival resources

Photographs

Bettis, Valerie, 1919-1982 -- Photographs

Cunningham, Merce (1919-04-16-2009-07-26) -- Photographs

Dafora, Asadata, 1890-1965 -- Photographs

Graham, Martha (1894-05-11-1991) -- Photographs

Hawkins, Erick (1909-04-23-1994-11-23) -- Photographs

Humphrey, Doris, 1895-1958 -- Photographs

Leyda, Si-lan Chen (1909-03-20-1996-03-08) -- Photographs

Morgan, Barbara Brooks, 1900-1992 -- Photographs

Limón, José (1908-01-12-1972-12-02) -- Photographs

Primus, Pearl (1919-11-29-1994-10-29) -- Photographs

Box 1, Folder 1

Bettis, Valerie; 1944, print 1960s; signed recto & verso; mounted to 10 x 15" /repositories/8/archival_objects/679643

Box 1

Bettis, Valerie; Desperate Heart; 1944; signed recto & verso; printed on 16 x 20" /repositories/8/archival_objects/679644

Box 1

Children Dancing by the Lake; 1940, print 1980; signed recto & verso; printed on 16 x 20" /repositories/8/archival_objects/679646

Box 1

Cunningham, Merce; Rehearsal leap; signed verso; 1942, print 1960s; 7.5 x 9.875" /repositories/8/archival_objects/679647

Box 1, Folder 2

Cunningham, Merce; Root of the Unfocused (photomontage); signed verso w/ notes; 1944; image 7.125 x 9.25"; 14 x 17" double matte; vintage /repositories/8/archival_objects/679648

Box 1

Cunningham, Merce; Totem Ancestor (photomontage); 1942/1979; signed recto; printed on 16 x 20" /repositories/8/archival_objects/679649

Box 1

Dafora, Asadata, with Lolita; signed verso; 1942; 9.125 x 13.5"; vintage /repositories/8/archival_objects/679650

Box 1

Dafora, Asadata; 1942, print 1980; signed recto; 11 x 14" /repositories/8/archival_objects/679651

Box 1

Graham, Martha; American Document; Puritan Love Duet (Graham, Hawkins); 1938; signed verso; printed on 16 x 20"; vintage /repositories/8/archival_objects/679652

Box 1, Folder 3

Graham, Martha; American Document; Three Women; photomontage; signed verso; 9.75 x 11.5"; vintage /repositories/8/archival_objects/679653

Box 2

Graham, Martha; Celebration (trio); 1937, print 1961; signed recto & verso; mounted to 16 x 20" /repositories/8/archival_objects/679654

Box 1

Graham, Martha; Death and Entrances; 1945; verso - artist notes; double weight printed on 11 x 14"; vintage /repositories/8/archival_objects/679655

Box 1, Folder 4

Graham, Martha; Deep Song; 1937; verso - artist notes; 8.125 x 10"; vintage /repositories/8/archival_objects/679656

Box 1

Graham, Martha; Ekstasis; 1935, print 1980; printed on 16 x 20" /repositories/8/archival_objects/679657

Box 1, Folder 4

Graham, Martha; Graham and Hawkins; 1940, print 1970s; 8 x 10" /repositories/8/archival_objects/679658

Box 2

Graham, Martha; Imperial Gesture; 1935; artist notes recto & verso; Image 7.375 x 9.5" mounted to 13 x 14.5"; vintage /repositories/8/archival_objects/679659

Box 2

Graham, Martha; Lamentations (oblique); print 1977; signed recto; mounted to 16 x 20" /repositories/8/archival_objects/679660

Box 1

Graham, Martha; Letter to the World (kick); 1940, print 1980s; signed verso; printed on 16 x 20" /repositories/8/archival_objects/679661

Box 2

Graham, Martha; Letter to the World (Merce leap); 1940, print 1977; signed recto & verso; mounted to 16 x 20" /repositories/8/archival_objects/679662

Box 1

Graham, Martha; Letter to the World (swirl); 1940, print 1980s; signed recto & verso; printed on 16 x 20" /repositories/8/archival_objects/679663

Box 1

Graham, Martha; portrait; 1940, print 1980s; signed recto; stamped verso; printed on 11 x 14" /repositories/8/archival_objects/679664

Box 2

Graham, Martha; Sarabande; 1935; Double matted; image; artist notes verso 7 x 9.25"; vintage /repositories/8/archival_objects/679665

Box 2, Folder 1

Hawkins, Erick; American Document; (Solo); signed recto & verso; 1940, print 1980; printed on 16 x 20" /repositories/8/archival_objects/679666

Box 1, Folder 4

Hawkins, Erick; American Document; Solo; 1940 - 2 - 8 x 10s"; artist notes verso /repositories/8/archival_objects/679667

Box 2

Humphrey, Doris; Passacaglia; 1938, print 1980s; signed recto; mounted to 16 x 20" /repositories/8/archival_objects/679668

Box 2, Folder 4

Leyda, Si-lan Chen; 1942, print 1970s; signed recto & verso; mounted on 18 x 21" /repositories/8/archival_objects/679645

Box 2, Folder 2

Limon, Jose; Chaconne; 1944, print 1980s; signed verso; printed on 16 x 20" /repositories/8/archival_objects/679669

Box 1, Folder 4

Limon, Jose; Conquistador (Jose Limon and May O'Donnel); 1944; artist notes verso; 7.75 x 9.5"; vintage /repositories/8/archival_objects/679670

Box 2, Folder 7

Limon, Jose; Mexican Suite - Indio; print 1980s; signed recto & verso; image 14.125 x 17.5"; mounted to 20 x 26" /repositories/8/archival_objects/679671

Box 2, Folder 3

Limon, Jose; Peon; 1944, print 1980s; signed verso; printed on 16 x 20" /repositories/8/archival_objects/679672

Box 1

Photomontage; Pure Energy and Neurotic Man; signed recto; 1941, print 1970s; 10.75 x 14" /repositories/8/archival_objects/679673

Box 1

Primus, Pearl; Rock Daniel; 1944, print 1970s; signed verso; 11 x 14" /repositories/8/archival_objects/679674

Box 2, Folder 5

Primus, Pearl; Speak to Me of Rivers #1; 1944; printed on 20 x 24" /repositories/8/archival_objects/679675

Box 2, Folder 6

Primus, Pearl; Speak to Me of Rivers #2; 1944; printed on 20 x 24" /repositories/8/archival_objects/679676

Box 2

Primus, Pearl; Speak to Me of Rivers; 1944, print 1977; signed recto; mounted to 16 x 20" /repositories/8/archival_objects/679677