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Title: Alpheus Koon papers
Dates: circa 1938-1977
Collection Number: 2019-80
Creator/Collector:
Extent: .2 linear feet (1 half manuscript box)
Repository:
GLBT Historical Society
San Francisco, California 94103
Abstract: The collection includes material related to ballet dancer Alpheus Koon, including World War II-era correspondence from Koon’s
friends, family, and lovers. From the correspondence, Koon appears to have been in intimate relationships with several of
the male correspondents. Material dates from circa 1938-1977, with the bulk of the material dated in the 1940s.
Language of Material: English
Collection is open for research.
[Identification of item]. Alpheus Koon papers. Collection Number: 2019-80. GLBT Historical Society
Gift of Christopher Chase, September 2019.
Scope and Content of Collection
The collection includes material related to ballet dancer Alpheus Koon, including World War II-era correspondence from Koon’s
friends, family, and lovers. From the correspondence, Koon appears to have been in intimate relationships with several of
the male correspondents. Material dates from circa 1938-1977, with the bulk of the material dated in the 1940s. Materials
include photographs, correspondence, ephemera, and clippings. Major subjects include WWII, dance and ballet. Alpheus Koon
(1918-1969) was a ballet dancer who was a soloist for the American Ballet Theater from 1941-1945 and artistic director of
the Tampa Civic Ballet from 1953-1963. Before the American Ballet Theater, he had danced with the St. Louis Municipal Opera;
afterwards and before his work in Tampa, he performed with the Original Ballet Russe and at Radio City Music Hall. Koon, a
doctor's son, had also been a pre-med student at the University of Tennessee. He contributed to Grace Robert's Borzoi Book
of Ballets.
GSSO Linked Terms: http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/GSSO_004299; http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/GSSO_008536; http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/GSSO_000374
Dance
World War, 1939-1945
Gay men