Collection inventory

Overview of the Collection
Creator:	Volodine, George.
Title:	George Volodine Papers
Inclusive Dates:	1910-1982
Quantity:	9 linear ft.
Abstract:	Correspondence, prints, and memorabilia (photographs, scrapbooks, theatre programs, etc.) pertaining to the Russian-American dancer and ballet master.
Language:	Majority in English, a few items in Russian, Italian, and German
Repository:	Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries 222 Waverly Avenue Syracuse, NY 13244-2010 https://library.syracuse.edu/special-collections-research-center

Biographical History

George Volodine (d. 1982) was a Russian-American ballet dancer, choreographer, and dance teacher.

Volodine began his career with a ballet troupe in Germany, then moved on to New York where he became the maître-de-ballet of the Metropolitan Opera Association. During his time as a dancer, Volodine created long lasting friendships with fellow dancers, including George Balanchine, Maria Tallchief, Tanaquil LeClercq, and others. After his time as maître-de-ballet he moved to Westport, Connecticut and opened the George Volodine School of Ballet. Here, he taught a multitude of ballet dancers including Marsha Ismailoff Mark and Patricia H. (Lee) Zeitlin.

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Scope and Contents of the Collection

The George Volodine Papers includes correspondence-subject files, engravings, George Volodine School of Ballet, photographs, printed material, scrapbooks, and writings by others.

Correspondence-subject files contain personal correspondence from Volodine's friends, such as George Balanchine and his wives Maria (Tallchief) and Tanaquil (Le Clerq), Leon Kelly, and Michael Mordkin. There is a miscellaneous folder of Russian letters, mainly handwritten, from unknown individuals.

Engravings consists of two booklets with engravings of various scenes for the Kaiserliches und Königliches Hoftheater zu Wien (Imperial and Royal Court Theatre of Vienna).

George Volodine School of Ballet contains material relating to Volodine's ballet school in Westport, Connecticut. Volodine kept many photographs and newspaper clippings about his school and students; the material in this series includes correspondence, photographs, printed material, and scrapbooks.

Photographs includes personal and professional photos of Volodine, candid and professional photos of fellow dancers and friends (many of which are signed), and a large number of candid photos of soldiers and civilians during the Spanish Civil War. Within Volodine's personal photographs are images from his birthday party in 1968, three photo albums, and two photos of Mourka the dancing cat portrayed as performing in ballet productions.

Printed material relates to colleagues such as George Balanchine, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Rudolf Nureyev, and Maria Tallchief, and dance companies such as Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, Ballet Folklorico, and New York City Ballet. Formats include magazine and newspaper clippings as well as souvenir programs for single performances and entire seasons. There are also issues of a number of dance-related publications such as Dance Index and Dance Magazine and some miscellaneous items.

Miscellaneous material consists of two scrapbooks and a few pieces of writing by others. One of the scrapbooks is of dancers and dance companies; the other contains newspaper clippings from the end of the first World War, gathered by an unidentified individual living in Los Angeles, California. The writings by others, all typescripts, include essays about Volodine by Leon Kelly and Jacques de Wolfe.

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Arrangement of the Collection

Arranged alphabetically by topic, title, or type, then chronologically.

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Restrictions

Access Restrictions

The majority of our archival and manuscript collections are housed offsite and require advance notice for retrieval. Researchers are encouraged to contact us in advance concerning the collection material they wish to access for their research.

Use Restrictions

Written permission must be obtained from SCRC and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.

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Subject Headings

Persons

Corporate Bodies

Subjects

Places

Genres and Forms

Occupations

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Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

George Volodine Papers,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries

Acquisition Information

Unspecified, 1967 and 1982.

Finding Aid Information

Created by: MRC
Date: 22 Nov 2010
Revision history: 31 Aug 2021 - process complete (RMH)

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Inventory

	Correspondence-subject files
Box 1		Balanchine, George 1937-1938, 1954
Box 1		Balanchine, Maria (Tallchief) 1950
Box 1		Balanchine, Tanaquil (Le Clerq) 1967-1968
Box 1		Fairfield University 1966-1967
Box 1		Hugo Gallery 1950
Box 1		Kelly, Leon 1950-1951, 1967
Box 1		Lodge, John Davis, Mrs. (Francesca Braggiotti) 1952-1955, 1961, 1971-1973 (2 folders)
Box 1		Mark, Marsha Ismailoff 1973-1975
Box 1		Mordkin, Michael Jr. 1947
Box 1		Petchkovsky, Michael 1964
Box 1		Syracuse University 1967, 1970-1971, 1982
Box 1		de Wolfe, Jacques 1962
Box 1		Miscellaneous, English 1945, 1948, 1952-1956, 1971, 1978
Box 1		Miscellaneous, Russian 1910, 1940, 1946-1947, 1978

	Engravings
Oversize 2		Theater-Vorhang von Carl Rahl
Oversize 2		Orpheus-fabel von Eduard Engerth

	George Volodine School of Ballet
		Correspondence-subject files
Box 1			Building permit court case 1947-1949
Box 1			Financial payments 1947-1953, 1959
Box 1			Long Lots Junior High School 1956, 1959
Box 1			The Waterburg Women's Club, Inc. 1958
		Photographs
Box 1			Celebrations
Oversize 3			Photograph album
Box 1			Students (3 folders)
Oversize 1			Students
		Printed material
Box 2			Clippings 1942-1954, 1959, 1963-1965, 1971 (2 folders)
Box 2			Programs 1944-1949, 1950-1953, 1956, 1959, undated (3 folders)
Box 2			Silver celebration party 1963
Oversize 4		Scrapbook [unbound]

	Photographs
Box 2		Artwork reproductions
		George Volodine
Box 2			Personal 27 Apr 1968 - birthday party
Box 2			Personal 1972 - Buenos Aires, Argentina
Box 2			Personal 1916-1918, 1936, 1947, 1959, 1962-1968, 1973-1975 - miscellaneous candid photos (3 folders)
Oversize 1			Personal - miscellaneous candid photos
Box 2			Personal - negatives
Oversize 3			Personal photo album
Oversize 5			Personal photo album
				RESTRICTED: Album is fragile. Excercise care in handling.
Oversize 8			Personal photo album
Box 2			Professional 1917-1918, 1923, 1937, 1946
Oversize 1			Professional
		Other dancers
Box 2			Candids 1952, 1962
Box 3			Professional 1925-1926, 1929-1931, 1934-1936, 1943-1944, 1950 (2 folders)
Oversize 1			Professional 1937
Box 3		Spanish Civil War 1936-1939 - street scenes, soldiers, civilians (6 folders)
Oversize 1		Spanish Civil War 1939

	Printed material
		Individuals - clippings, mostly from newspapers
Box 3			Balanchine, George 1943-1944, 1954-1976 - includes 2 folders of material rehoused from scrapbook and left in original order (4 folders)
Box 4			Baryshnikov, Mikhail 1974, 1977
Box 4			Le Clercq, Tanaquil 1969
Box 4			Lodge, John Davis, Mrs. (Francesca Braggiotti) 1961-1964
Box 4			Nureyev, Rudolf 1965, 1970, 1974
Box 4			Stravinsky, Igor 1929, 1954, 1962, 1971-1972
Box 4			Tallchief, Maria 1951, 1954, 1963-1965
Box 4			Tchelitchew, Pavel 1945, 1952, 1964, 1967
Box 4			Volodine, George 1934, 1947-1952, 1962, 1966, 1973-1975
Box 4			Miscellaneous - mostly (but not all) dancers
		Companies - programs and clippings
Box 4			American Ballet Theatre 1941, 1962-1963 - programs
Box 4			Azuma Kabuki 1954 or 1955 - program
Box 4			Ballet Caravan undated - program
Box 4			Ballet Folklorico - program
Box 4			Ballet de Paris (Roland Petit) 1948 - program
Box 4			Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo 1936-1947 - programs (7 folders)
Box 5			Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo 1950-1951, 1954, undated - programs (3 folders)
Box 5			The Ballet Theatre 1942-1945, 1950-1951 - programs (3 folders)
Box 5			The Bolshoi Ballet 1959, 1962-1963, 1966, undated - programs (3 folders)
Box 5			Fokine Ballet 1927, undated - programs
Box 5			Georgian State Dance Company 1960 or 1961 - programs
Box 5			Gran Ballet del Marques de Cuevas 1956 - programs
Box 5			Leningrad-Kirov Ballet 1965-1966 - programs
Box 5			Moiseyev Dance Company 1958, 1961 - programs
Box 5			The Mordkin Ballet 1937-1939, undated - programs
Box 6			New York City Ballet 1948, 1950-1951, 1956, 1965-1967, 1975, undated - programs (3 folders)
Box 6			New York City Ballet 1950, 1960-1961 - clippings
Oversize 1			New York City Ballet 1965
Box 6			L'Opera de Paris 1948, 1951-1952 - programs (2 folders)
Box 6			The Royal Ballet 1949, 1953, 1960, 1967 - programs (2 folders)
Box 6			The Royal Ballet 1965, 1975 - clippings
Box 6			Sadler's Wells 1947-1948
Box 6			School of American Ballet 1944-1947, 1954, 1959 - programs
Box 6			Miscellaneous - programs, clippings
		Magazines
Box 7			Center 1954 (3 folders)
Box 7			Center 1955-1956 (3 folders)
Box 7			Dance Index 1946-1949 (2 folders)
Box 7			Dance Magazine 1945, 1950, 1957, 1960-1962. 1964 (7 folders)
Box 7			Dance in the Spotlight 1964
Box 7			Photography Jun 1954
Box 8			Playbill 1960-1961
Box 8			View 1942-1943, 1946
		Miscellaneous clippings
Box 8			Flooding in Fairfield County, Connecticut 1955
Box 8			Miscellaneous 1935, 1948-1949, 1955-1957, 1960-1961, 1964-1971, 1975, 1977, undated (2 folders)
		Miscellaneous programs
Box 8			A-F (2 folders)
Box 8			Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts
Box 8			M-V (2 folders)
Box 8			Westport Country Playhouse
Oversize 1			Miscellaneous
Box 8		Miscellaneous items - book on Romanian folk art, issue of South African Archaeological Bulletin, small book of adages or proverbs, exhibit catalog of Venetian festival items at Ca'Rezzonico (1937), sales catalog from record company, etc. (2 folders)

	Miscellaneous
Oversize 7		Scrapbook - various ballet individuals and dance companies
Oversize 6		"War Book" 1917-1918 - scrapbook of clippings from Los Angeles newspapers, about the end of World War I
Box 8		Writings by others

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