Through a generous grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS),the DHC will offer seven Fellowships during the summer of 2012. Additional fellowships will be offered in 2013 and 2014 with the support of the three-year IMLS grant. The DHC’s fellowship program gives master's students intensive training and practice in the skills needed to work in dance-related archives and libraries. See the Program Format section below.
Applicants must be master's candidates at nationally accredited programs in library and/or information sciences. They may be either full- or part-time students. At the time an applicant is interviewed for a Fellowship position, he/she must be able to show current enrollment in a master's program. Fellows must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents. Members of underrepresented groups are encouraged to apply. Fellows must be available for June, July, and most of August 2012 (approximately 13-14 weeks).
Part 1. Letter and resume. Deadline: Sunday, November 20, 2011. Send a letter of application and a resume by email attachments to Fellows@danceheritage.org. Your letter should indicate the basis of your interest in the program and highlight any experience in performing arts or performing arts legacy materials.
Descriptions of likely projects at the host archives are included below. In your letter you may express your preferences for specific assignments or identify where you think a specific project might be a good fit for you. You may indicate more than one project for which you believe you are well suited, but include all preferences or suggestions in one letter. Indicating a preference is not required, but may assist the DHC in making the best match of Fellows to archives.
Part 2. Supplemental information. Deadline: Monday, January 16, 2012. By December 5, 2011, the DHC will contact selected applicants requesting them to submit transcripts, contact information for references, and other supporting information. Only applicants who are under active consideration will be asked to provide supplemental information, but applicants should plan ahead and be ready to send this information when it is requested. Send the requested information by email attachment to Fellows@danceheritage.org or, if necessary, by mail to the Dance Heritage Coalition, 1111 16th St., NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20036.
Part 3. Interview. January to March 2012. During January, February, and early March, archivists from the program's host archives and DHC Project Manager Imogen Smith will conduct interviews of applicant finalists. Candidates selected for interviews must show proof of active enrollment in a master's program and proof of citizenship or permanent residence in the United States.
The DHC will announce the names of the seven Fellows and two Alternates by mid- to late March 2012.
Fellows will receive $10,000 to offset summer temporary housing, food and incidental expenses, and travel to the host archive and practicum sites. Laptop and other equipment will be provided on loan to Fellows.
1. Fellows will spend a week in Washington, DC, for orientation and training targeted to skills needed for working with dance-related materials. Fellows will participate in seminars led by notable dance archivists, and Fellows from previous years will facilitate team activities.
2. Each Fellow will be assigned to a DHC Archive for approximately 6 weeks.
3. Following the DHC Archive assignment, each Fellow will be given a practicum assignment within a smaller archive where the dance collection and its staff will benefit from the Fellow's dance archives expertise. The practicum assignments will last approximately six weeks.
4. Fellows will have opportunities to stay connected through online communication tools, participate in professional conferences, and be mentored for job seeking.
American Dance Festival archives, Durham, NC
The American Dance Festival (ADF) has a number of short-term projects involving arranging and processing collections, writing finding aids, developing databases, scanning images, and photograph identification. These are typical of the types of projects that ADF usually has; there may be other projects by the time Fellows are assigned.
Collections potentially involved:
The Charles L. Reinhart Papers
Harper Theater Dance Festival Records
Arizona State University, Cross-Cultural Dance Resources
Possible projects for Fellows include processing recent video interviews with dance faculty visiting ASU from around the world (e.g., Zimbabwe, Germany, France, Austria, Romania); processing and arranging materials from the preparation and performance of Thomas Lehmen’s Schreibstuck at ASU and the Phoenix Fringe Festival; processing a small collection of field notes, musical transcriptions, and audio related to research conducted in the Georgia Sea Islands; and preparing videos for digitization from a collection that documents dance in the former Yugoslavia and also the Romani celebration of St. George’s Day.
Dance Notation Bureau, NYC
The Dance Notation Bureau (DNB) has collections which require arranging, processing, creating finding aids, entering information in FileMaker database, scanning including digitizing Labanotation scores and other materials. There may be other projects by the time Fellows are assigned.
Collections potentially involved:
Rudolf Laban Collection
DNB Photograph Collection
Dance Notation Bureau History Collection
DNB Research Files
Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival Archives, Becket, MA
Possible projects would include tagging photos and making them accessible through the Collective Access Photo System; developing online versions of public exhibitions previously presented at the Pillow; and processing and developing finding aids for several significant collections.
Collections potentially involved:
Ted Shawn Correspondence Collection
Jess Meeker Collection
Barton Mumaw Collection
Library of Congress Music Division
In the area of special collections in dance, located in the Music Division of the Library of Congress, there are projects that require arranging, processing, and creating finding aids.
Collections potentially involved:
The Marge Champion Collection
The Robert Ellis Dunn Collection
The Alan M. and Sali Ann Kriegsman Collection
Museum of Performance & Design, San Francisco
The Museum of Performance & Design has projects that involve processing institutional records and personal papers, scanning photographs, cataloging audio/visual material, rehousing collections, and working with finding aids.
Collections potentially involved:
San Francisco Ballet
San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival
Michael Smuin Papers
Anna Halprin Papers
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dance Division
The Jerome Robbins Dance Division’s Archive of the Recorded Moving Image at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts has several projects addressing core needs of the archive. These include arranging, preserving, and processing video materials; rights holders research; webpage development; digital audio editing; and file naming schema research for digital moving images.
Collections potentially involved:
Oral History AV Channel Development for NYPL Website
Joyce SoHo Video Collection
Ohio State University, Theatre Research Institute, Columbus
The Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee Theatre Research Institute has a number of dance and movement collections which require arranging and processing, creating finding aids, surveying, scanning, and doing exhibition work. Other projects may be available by the time Fellows are selected.
Collections potentially involved:
Ken Rinker Collection
Marcel Marceau American Collection
Exotic Dance Collection
UCLA Library, Special Collections
Possible Fellow projects include archival processing and metadata preparation.
Collections potentially involved:
Lewis Segal Collection
Ruth St. Denis Collection
U-matic Tapes Collection
Elle Johnson Dance Company
Howard Holtzman Collection on Isadora Duncan
To be added to the email contact list, send an email with name, library school, email, and phone to DHC@danceheritage.org with "Fellows Contact List" in the subject line.