Mildred Davenport dance programs and dance school materials, 1914-1942

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Summary

Creators:

Abstract:

This collection comprises dance programs, dance school materials, photographs, and ephemera documenting the early career of the Boston-based African-American dancer, dance instructor, and civic official Mildred Davenport. The bulk of this collection consists of dance programs and dance school materials. The collection also contains 29 photographs of Davenport, her students in various performances, and friends or individual students. Dance programs from 1925 to 1942 feature her solo performances and group performances with her students. The collection includes a complete run of programs for Bronze Rhapsody, an annual performance series choreographed, staged, and directed by Davenport. Her personal copy of a typescript of stage directions for a 1934 performance is included with these programs. Her dance schools, Davenport School of the Dance and Silver Box Studio, are documented in course brochures and applications. Biographical and academic materials include a 1939 newspaper article on Davenport.

Extent:

0.3 Linear Feet (1 box and 1 oversize folder)

Language:

English .

Preferred citation:

Mildred Davenport Dance Programs and Dance School Materials. MS-P29. Special Collections and Archives, The UC Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California. Date accessed.

For the benefit of current and future researchers, please cite any additional information about sources consulted in this collection, including permanent URLs, item or folder descriptions, and box/folder locations.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection is arranged topically. Materials are arranged chronologically within each topical grouping whenever possible.

Biographical / historical:

No Subnote Content

Mildred Ellen Davenport was a noted civic official and military officer with an extensive career as a dancer and dance instructor in Boston in the 1930s and 1940s. She was born in Boston on November 12, 1900. She began her dance studies at C.C. Perkins Grade School and Prince School as a teenager, and graduated from Boston Girls' High School in 1918. In the 1920s she studied at the Sargent School for Physical Culture and at Harvard, and opened her first dance school, the Davenport School of Dance. Over the next ten years she studied under Ted Shawn and taught dance in Boston. She was also progressively more involved in road show performances such as Hot Chocolates. From 1930 to 1935 she performed in a number of African-American musical productions on Broadway, including Fast and Furious, Flying Colors, and Black Birds. In 1932 she established her second dance school, the Silver Box Studio, in the South End of Boston. She became the first African American woman to perform with the Arthur Fiedler Pops unit of the Boston Symphony Orchestra at this time.

During World War II, Davenport enlisted in the Army as a captain. She produced musical shows for military bases and later served as a special service officer, library officer, and advisor in the Office of Racial Affairs. In 1950, she served as an executive board member for the N.A.A.C.P. office in Boston. From 1947 to 1968 she worked for the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, founded in 1944 to enforce fair employment practices. Davenport died in Boston in 1990.

Missing Title
Date	Event
1900	Born in Boston.
Ca. 1914	Student at C.C. Perkins Grade School and Prince School.
1918	Graduates from Boston Girls' High School.
Ca. 1920s	Establishes Davenport School of Dance in Boston.
1921	Student at Sargent School for Physical Culture.
1921-1922	Physical training instructor at Tuskegee Institute, Alabama.
1923	Student at Harvard Summer School.
1925-ca. 1930	Staff member with the Department of Public Welfare, Boston.
Ca. 1930-1935	Performs on Broadway.
1932	Establishes Silver Box Studio in Boston.
1946-1947	U.S. Army, civilian defense instructor.
1947	U.S. Army Office of Racial Affairs, assistant special serviceofficer, library officer, and advisor.
1950	Executive board member of N.A.A.C.P., Boston. Member ofWomen's Service Club and League of Women for Community Service, Boston.
1947-1968	Staff member with the Massachusetts Commission AgainstDiscrimination.
1973	Receives Sojourner Truth Award of the National Association ofNegro Business and Professional Women's Clubs, Boston and Vicinity Club.
1990	Dies in Boston.

Acquisition information:

Acquired, 1998.

Processing information:

Processed by Adrian Turner, 2001.

Indexed terms

Subjects:: Modern dance -- United States -- History -- Sources
Dance, Black -- History -- Sources
African American dancers.
Dance schools -- Massachusetts -- Boston
Dance -- Archives
Dance teachers.
Dancers.
Photographic prints
Dance cards
Posters
Names:: Davenport, Mildred -- Archives

Access and use

Restrictions:: Collection is open for research.
Terms of access:: Property rights reside with the University of California. Literary rights are retained by the creators of the records and their heirs. For permissions to reproduce or to publish, please contact the Head of Special Collections and Archives.