Securing Our Dance Heritage: Issues in the Documentation and Preservation of Dance

Catherine J. Johnson Allegra Fuller Snyder

CLIR Reports 7/99 / Council on Library and Information Resources
(ReLIS:doi:clirre:045)

Abstract:

Securing Our Dance Heritage focuses on the documentation of, access to, and preservation of our dance heritage. It is coauthored by an eminent dance ethnologist and a leader in the field of dance librarianship. In the first chapter, Allegra Fuller Snyder discusses the cultural and intellectual value of dance and articulates what elements of dance should be recorded and made accessible so that scholars, performers, creators, and the public can grasp fully the rich history of human expression embodied in dance. In the following two chapters, Catherine Johnson explores the various strategies used for making those resources accessible and the problems we face in preserving the fragile media on which these often unique and valuable sources are recorded. This report addresses the full range of issues involved in evaluating, documenting, preserving, and making accessible the history of dance. It will be of interest not only to members of the international dance community, but also to libraries and archives that house dance materials, many of which are dispersed throughout collections of sport, anthropology, and religion. It will also interest historians and funders of the performing arts, scientists, and scholars of all types, who will find in dance documentation rich new resources for investigating this uniquely expressive human activity, and, more broadly, the managers of research institutions that hold or are acquiring collections in nonprint form.

Note: ISBN 1-887334-69-6

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