Preview: Dance Archives

In 1939, ten years after the Museum was founded, it received a gift from Lincoln Kirstein, who would go on to found the New York City Ballet. It included a significant variety of archival materials and artworks related to the history of dance; much of this material, called the Dance Archives, became part of the Museum Library. A selection of these materials was exhibited in 1940 to announce the gift and the establishment of the Dance Archives as “a bureau of research and information to all persons interested in the art, theory, and practice of dancing.” The museum soon established a Department of Dance and Theatre Design, but the department was dissolved in 1948. In the intervening years, however, dance has become firmly established as part of MoMA's programming.