Guide to the Mildred Davenport Dance Programs and Dance School Materials
Processed by Adrian Turner; machine-readable finding aid created by
Adrian Turner
Special Collections and Archives
The UCI Libraries
P.O. Box 19557
University of California
Irvine, California 92623-9557
Phone: (949) 824-3947
Fax: (949) 824-2472
Email: spcoll@uci.edu
URL: http://www.lib.uci.edu/rrsc/speccoll.html
© 2001
The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
Note
Arts and Humanities--Dance--Dance Performance
Arts and Humanities--Dance--Dance History and Criticism
Area, Interdisciplinary, and Ethnic Studies--African American Studies
Guide to the Mildred Davenport Dance Programs and Dance School Materials
Collection number: MS-P29
Special Collections and Archives
The UCI Libraries
University of California
Irvine, California
Contact Information
- Special Collections and Archives
- The UCI Libraries
- P.O. Box 19557
- University of California
- Irvine, California 92623-9557
- Phone: (949) 824-3947
- Fax: (949) 824-2472
- Email: spcoll@uci.edu
- URL: http://www.lib.uci.edu/rrsc/speccoll.html
- Processed by:
- Adrian Turner
- Date Completed:
- 2001
- Encoded by:
- Adrian Turner
© 2001 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
Descriptive Summary
Title: Mildred Davenport dance programs and dance school materials,
Date (inclusive): 1914-1942
Collection number: MS-P029
Creator:
Davenport, Mildred, 1900-1990
Extent:
0.3 linear feet (1 box and 1 oversize folder)
Repository:
University of California, Irvine. Library. Special Collections and Archives.
Irvine, California 92623-9557
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.
Language:
English.
Administrative Information
Access
Collection is open for research.
Publication Rights
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.
Preferred Citation
Mildred Davenport Dance Programs and Dance School Materials. MS-P29. Special Collections and Archives, The UC Irvine Libraries,
Irvine, California.
Acquisition Information
Acquired, 1998.
Processing History
Processed by Adrian Turner, 2001.
Historical Background
Biography
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.
Chronology
| 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 service
officer, library officer, and advisor.
|
| 1950 |
Executive board member of N.A.A.C.P., Boston. Member of
Women's Service Club and League of Women for Community Service, Boston.
|
| 1947-1968 |
Staff member with the Massachusetts Commission Against
Discrimination.
|
| 1973 |
Receives Sojourner Truth Award of the National Association of
Negro Business and Professional Women's Clubs, Boston and Vicinity Club.
|
| 1990 |
Dies in Boston. |
Collection Scope and Content Summary
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.
The collection is arranged topically. Materials are arranged chronologically within each topical grouping whenever possible.
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Subjects
Davenport, Mildred, 1900-1990--Archives.
Dance schools--Massachusetts--Boston--Archival resources.
Dance--Archival resources.
Modern dance--United States--Archival resources.
Dance, Black--Archival resources.
African American dancers--Archival resources.
Genres and Forms of Materials
Dance programs.
Photographic prints.
Posters.
Occupations
Dancers.
Dance teachers.
Collection Contents
Box 1 : 1
Biographical and academic materials
Box FB-21 : 1
Boston Girls' High School, commencement program, 1918
Box 1 : 1
George Peabody College for Teachers, School of the Dance, schedule of courses offered by Ted Shawn, 1938
Box 1 : 1
"Boston teacher called evangelist of the dance," newspaper clipping, 1939
Box 1 : 4
The Feast of Apollo, Brattle Hall, Massachusetts, 1925
Box 1 : 4
Mildred Davenport and her pupils, Brattle Hall, Massachusetts, 1928
Box 1 : 4
Recital of dance poems and songs, Allied Art Studio, Boston, 1928
Box 1 : 4
Mildred Davenport and Sepia Beauties in revue, Challengers Club, Boston, 1933
Box 1 : 2
Typescript of stage directions, with holograph note "Miss Davenport (personal)" on first leaf, 1934
Box FB-21 : 1
Hand-colored poster (partial), 1942
Box 1 : 4
Classic, John Hancock Hall, Boston, 1938
Box 1 : 4
Shadowland Ball Room performances, Boston, undated.
Physical Description:
2 items.
Box 1 : 5
Davenport School of the Dance application, undated
Box 1 : 5
Course brochures and applications, undated.
Physical Description:
3 items.
Box 1 : 5
Event invitation and greeting card, 1939 and undated.
Physical Description:
2 items.
Box 1 : 6
Teenage performances, undated.
Physical Description:
5 items.
Box 1 : 7
Portraits, undated.
Physical Description:
3 items.
Box 1 : 8
Piggilly wiggily, ca. 1942
Box 1 : 8-10
Unidentified, undated.
Physical Description:
15 items.
Box 1 : 11
Purcell, Barbara, ca. 1942
Box 1 : 11
Stokes, Bernice, ca. 1942
Box 1 : 11
Roberts, Francine, ca. 1942
