Collection context
Summary
- Abstract:
- This collection documents the work and professional life of Ruth Solomon as a dancer, choreographer, and faculty member of the University of California, Santa Cruz, from 1960 to 1994. It contains a large amount of production materials, publicity, and other records pertaining to the creation of the Theater Arts program at UCSC. The collection also contains academic correspondence, personal letters, teaching and research files, posters, and performance photographs.
- Extent:
- 4.5 Linear Feet Two cartons, one flat box.
- Language:
- English .
- Preferred citation:
-
Ruth Solomon Papers. MS 396. Special Collections and Archives, University Library, University of California, Santa Cruz.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
This collection documents the work and professional life of Ruth Solomon as a dancer, choreographer, and faculty member of the University of California, Santa Cruz, from 1960 to 1994. It contains a large amount of production materials, publicity, and other records pertaining to the creation of the Theater Arts program at UCSC. The collection also contains academic correspondence, personal letters, teaching and research files, posters, and performance photographs.
The general publicity material includes press releases, newspaper clippings, newsletters, and articles from UC Santa Cruz publications and local newspapers of the Central California Coast. The material is largely related to performances and events she produced on campus, as well as her own performances and collaborations with other dancers and choreographers such as Byron Wheeler, who taught at UCSC. The production materials include a variety of ephemera related to theater and dance performances at UCSC, predominantly the Dance Theater Concert Series and the Summer Dance Theater Institute (SDTI). The collection includes brochures and event programs as well as choreography notes, scripts, set design materials, and poster design layouts. This collection includes documents related to the creation of the theater arts and dance programs. It also includes notes related to the planning of performance facilities, such as flooring for dance spaces.
- Biographical / historical:
-
Ruth Rosenheim Solomon (1935-2023) was born June 10, 1935 in New York City, and founded an innovative program combining dance and theater at the University of California, Santa Cruz in 1970. A trained dancer, she studied under the mentorship of Jean Erdman at Bard College beginning in 1953. She joined Erdman's dance company while a student, becoming familiar with the New York dance scene of the 1960s. She taught dance in Puerto Rico and Hawai'i before founding, with Jean Erdman, the dance program at New York University in 1967, where she served as assistant director. She was recruited by the University of California, Santa Cruz, joining as an affiliate of College 5 (now Porter College). From 1972 until 1980, Solomon founded and coordinated the Summer Dance Theater Institute at UC Santa Cruz, a prestigious six-week program for student dance. In 1980, her interests expanded to dance medicine, and she attended night school at Cabrillo College to become a certified medical assistant. Solomon taught at UC Santa Cruz until her retirement in 1995, and subsequently continued her career in choreography and dance medicine. She passed away in Soquel, California in 2023.
Sources used:
- Solomon, Ruth, Tandy Beal, and Irene H. Reti. "Everything Was a Stage": An Oral History with Ruth Solomon, Founding UCSC Professor of Theater Arts and Dance. September 14, 2014.
- Ruth Rosenheim Solomon Obituary, Santa Cruz Sentinel, June 25, 2023.
- Acquisition information:
- Gift of the family of Ruth Solomon, 2024.
- Processing information:
-
This collection was processed by Alaura Hopper, Jacob Sirhan, and Kim Kölle Valentine with assistance from Alix Norton and Meleia Simon-Reynolds in the Center for Archival Research and Training (CART), September 2025. Titles in this collection were derived from the original folder titles as received from the donor.
- Arrangement:
-
The original order of files in this collection was retained, in rough alphabetical order by name or subject. Posters and other oversized materials are arranged at the end of the collection.
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Indexed terms
- Subjects:
- Dance
Faculty papers
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
Collection is open for research.
- Terms of access:
-
Copyright for the items in this collection is owned by the creators and their heirs. Reproduction or distribution of any work protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires permission from the copyright owner. It is the responsibility of the user to determine whether a use is fair use, and to obtain any necessary permissions. For more information see UCSC Special Collections and Archives policy on Reproduction and Use.
- Preferred citation:
-
Ruth Solomon Papers. MS 396. Special Collections and Archives, University Library, University of California, Santa Cruz.
- Location of this collection:
-
Special Collections and Archives, University Library1156 High StreetSanta Cruz, CA 95064, US
- Contact:
- (831) 459-2547