The Wolfson Library: Archives and Special Collections
The archive of the RAD is comprised of several collections, the RAD Heritage Archive includes past copies of exam syllabi, minutes of committee meetings, prospectuses, course brochures and annual reports, documents, papers and photographs relating to events and activities throughout the organisation’s over 100-year history. These are housed alongside the personal collections of notable figures in the history of British ballet.
An archive catalogue and database that will allow all collections to be searched is under development and will be available online in the future.
The Adeline Genee Collection
Danish by birth, Adeline Genée (1878-1970), was a talented ballerina whose greatest success was at The Empire Theatre in London, in productions such as Old China (1901), The Milliner Duchess (1903), High Jinks (1904), Cinderella and Coppelia (1906). Genée was also the founder president of the Association of Teachers of Operatic Dancing of Great Britain (later the RAD) and played a major part in the early development of the organization including the achievement of its Royal Chartership in 1935.
The archive spans the whole of Genée’s life and career with an emphasis on photographic material relating to both her professional and personal life. Other visual material includes publicity postcards, costume designs, drawings and cartoons. A significant amount of printed material is also included from performance programmes, magazines and newspaper cuttings, some of which have been organized into scrapbooks, to personal and business correspondence, ballet scenarios, hand-written music scores, speeches and typescripts.
The Phyllis Bedells Collection
Phyllis Bedells (1893-1985), was born in Bristol. She was the first British Ballerina to hold the position of ‘Prima Ballerina’ at the Empire Theatre in 1913, where she had been dancing since 1907 and supporting the likes of Adeline Genée and Lydia Kyasht.
In 1920 she became a founding member of the Association of Teachers of Operatic Dancing of Great Britain (later the RAD) and was also one of the original committee members of the Camargo Society in 1930.
The archive contains a variety of materials – programmes, press cuttings and photographs – which provide a comprehensive record of Bedells’ professional dancing career as well as some personal papers and correspondence relating to her work for the RAD and teaching activities. The complete manuscript of her autobiography, My Dancing Days (1954), is housed alongside several other interview transcripts and scripts for radio programmes or magazine articles presenting a very detailed profile of her life and career.
The Philip Richardson Collection
Philip Richardson (1875-1963), was born at Winthorpe in Nottinghamshire. In 1910 he founded the Dancing Times magazine with publisher T.M. Middleton and immersed himself in the developing British ballet scene. He became the driving force behind the establishment of many influential committees and associations, including the Association of Teachers of Operatic Dancing of Great Britain (later the RAD), The Camargo Society and the Official Board of Ballroom Dancing.
Richardson’s interest in the history of dance led him to be an astute collector of resources and his personal library contained some of the finest and earliest printed books on dancing. He also acquired some rare documents, press cuttings and illustrations in relation to his research on social dance in England. These valuable, historical resources are held as part of the Philip Richardson archive collection here at the RAD, where he served as Honorary Secretary and Treasurer until his death in 1963.
The GBL Wilson Collection
George Buckley Laird Wilson (1908-1984), became an enthusiastic follower of ballet when he befriended Arnold Haskell and the young Beryl Grey in the early 1940s. Wilson began photographing ballet in 1941. His enthusiasm and his ability to build lasting friendships gave him access to dancers not only in performance situations but also off-stage, in rehearsals and at social functions, in the UK and abroad. The huge photographic archive that he accumulated over forty years was bequeathed to the RAD and more than 5000 images have now been digitized and are available for viewing on the Arenapal website.
Car visitor books
The GBL Wilson collection also includes 24 ‘car visitor books’ – autograph books containing a photo and message from all of the professional dancers or choreographers who travelled in one of his favoured Rover cars between 1949 and the early 1980s. Included are dancers from many countries, and famous names such as Rudolf Nureyev, Gelsey Kirkland, Frederick Ashton, Maurice Béjart, Bronislava Nijinska, George Balanchine, Martha Graham, Jerome Robbins, Moira Shearer, Peter Schaufuss and William Forsythe.
Other material includes notes, corrections and working copies of Wilson’s Dictionary of Ballet (1957), plus various posters & prints connected with his lecturing.
The Anna Pavlova Collection
Anna Pavlova (1881-1931) was born in St Petersburg and trained at the Imperial Theatre School, entering the ranks of the Imperial Ballet company as a Coryphée in 1899. She is best known for her famous solo ‘The Dying Swan’ (or ‘Le Cygne’) choreographed for her by Michel Fokine in 1905. In 1909 she appeared with the Diaghilev company in Paris and in 1912 settled at Ivy House in London. By 1913 she had formed her own company and toured extensively bringing ballet to new audiences worldwide. Pavlova died of pneumonia just weeks short of her fiftieth birthday.
The Pavlova collection includes a number of programmes from 1912 – 1930 and publicity and performance photos from 1903 onwards. There are also commemorative brochures, magazines and press cuttings plus some personal documents relating to contracts and tour arrangements.
The Tamara Karsavina Collection
Tamara Karsavina (1885-1978), was born in St. Petersburg and danced with the Imperial Ballet alongside Anna Pavlova. She joined the Diaghilev ballet in 1909 and developed a close working relationship with Michel Fokine who created many roles for her. In 1920 she joined the founding committee of The Association of Teachers of Operatic Dancing of Great Britain (later the RAD). Karsavina was a great teacher who wrote many articles and books on ballet technique. The ‘Karsavina Syllabus’ was devised for the RAD’s teacher training course in 1954 and is still taught today.
The Karsavina collection includes photographs from 1910 onwards, some press cuttings, programmes, magazines and articles. There are also documents relating to the ‘Thanksgiving Committee’ and organisation of the memorial service following her death in 1978. Additional material relating to the Karsavina syllabus and other RAD-related activities may be found in the RAD archives.
The Margot Fonteyn Collection
Margot Fonteyn (1919-1991) was born in Reigate and joined the Sadler’s Wells School in London in 1934. She became principal dancer for the Vic-Wells Ballet in 1935 and was the muse for many of Frederick Ashton’s ballets. Her partners included Robert Helpmann, Michael Somes and most famously Rudolf Nureyev. In 1954 she succeeded Adeline Genée as President of the RAD. In 1979 she was appointed Prima Ballerina Assoluta.
The collection includes a large number of photographs, some personal correspondence, press cuttings, programmes and souvenir brochures. Additional material may be found in the RAD archives and general files of press cuttings and programmes.
Digitising the Collections
It’s a measure of the pace of technological change that comparatively recent archive materials now pose challenges in trying to retrieve their secrets.
Adeline Genée Port de Bras
“This footage upholds the romantic style giving teachers and candidates of today insight into the quality required for this port de bras. While it is important to follow the timing and detail of the current DVD, the dynamic values portrayed in this footage of a gentle, effortless and understated style along with lower leg lines and effective use of epaulement provides a valuable example of appropriate style.”
January 1979, © Royal Academy of Dance
Adeline Genée Port de Bras as taught by Sissie Smith and Sybil Spencer. Danced by Pippa Vickers, music composed and played by Ann Hogben. Filmed in January 1979, © Royal Academy of Dance.
In 1977, Bryce Cobain was appointed as notator and assistant librarian at the Royal Academy of Dance. During his tenure (sadly he died in 1987) he also recorded many college performances, syllabus demonstrations, and other events, on video for posterity. The recordings were made on U-Matic video cassettes – an obsolete format – and have been inaccessible for more than 20 years. In 2017, the (formerly known as) Philip Richardson Library partnered with Bristol-based company Greatbear, who specialise in the restoration and digitisation of old video and audio tapes, to transfer the footage to digital files.
Some of the recovered footage includes the original recreation of the Adeline Genée Port de Bras, which was introduced into the Solo Seal Award in 1979. Recordings of the Children’s Syllabus from 1979 included the new Senior Grade for girls and boys and were available to view by appointment only at the Royal Academy of Dance headquarters. In 1983 the first colour recordings of the Children’s Examination Syllabus for girls (Pre-primary – Senior Grade) were made available for sale or hire and included examples of the free work in the Pre-Primary and Response to Music in the Grades.
College performances captured on video include Winds of Change – a ballet choreographed by 3rd year students, under the direction of Gill Anthony, and presented at the Adeline Genée Awards, at Sadler’s Wells in 1980. Several of the College choreography workshops were also recorded during this period and the newly available video footage greatly enhances the existing archive documentation pertaining to this annual event.
Retrieval of these videos from an obsolete medium has added invaluable material to the RAD Heritage archive. We hope that we will be able to resurrect more material in the future.
Here are some other archive materials that we have digitised:
The Dancing Times publication of the first Elementary Operatic Syllabus, the Intermediate Examination Syllabus, and the first section of the Advanced Syllabus.
The Operatic Association Gazette was published in 1930 and the ensuing run, available in the library, provides a comprehensive outline of the RAD’s development to the present day.
The First 75 Years. An anniversary brochure by Derek Parker, published in 1995.
New Year’s Gift for Dance Lovers. In 1977, the RAD translated and published a rare pamphlet which was written by August Bournonville in 1828, when he was just 23 years old. A limited edition at the time, the reveals much about Bournonville’s ideals, beliefs and technical knowledge.
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