Jacob's Pillow Dance - The Archives

The Archives

The core collections preserved in the Archives at Jacob’s Pillow were originally assembled by founder Ted Shawn. Materials have been continually added since the 1930s by volunteers from the Pillow Board and staff. In 1991, Jacob’s Pillow created the position of Director of Preservation to direct the activities and maintenance of the Archives. The Archives at Jacob’s Pillow has approximately 6,000 films and videos from 1894 to present, 45,000 historic dance photos and negatives, 313,000 pages of unique printed materials, 27 trunks of costumes dating from 1915, and 2,000 books. The Archives is one component of the Pillow's Preservation Program, which organizes exhibits exploring various aspects of dance, oversees issues concerning the National Historic Landmark site, and records the ongoing activities of the Festival.

The Archives is internationally recognized as a major repository of dance materials. Access to the research facility is open year-round by appointment and is available during the summer season from noon until the end of each performance, six days a week. Using the Archives are students, researchers, filmmakers, museum curators, scholars, artists, and the general public free of charge. The Archives collection is catalogued through an onsite computer database, much of which is accessible through the Archives page on the Pillow’s website.

Blake's Barn is an 18th-century structure that was relocated and reconfigured specifically for preservation activity. This facility was donated by stage and screen dancer/actress Marge Champion and is named in honor of her late son. In addition to a central area for exhibits and lectures, the building houses a reading room with video stations providing access to the moving image collection. The lower level contains temperature-controlled storage areas and video production equipment.

Jacob's Pillow remains at the forefront of the dance preservation field partly through its active participation in the Dance Heritage Coalition, an alliance of the country's eight major dance collections including the Library of Congress, Harvard Theatre Collection, and the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. The Coalition is currently chaired by Norton Owen, the Pillow's longtime Director of Preservation.

In 2008, the Pillow was invited by the Nonprofit Finance Fund, with support from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, to participate in the five-year Leading for the Future: Innovative Support for Artistic Excellence Initiative. With this funding, the Archives’ resources can be used in ways that add context and deepen understanding about individual artists and dance traditions, and help audiences around the world understand new and evolving forms.

In 2011, Jacob's Pillow launched Jacob's Pillow Dance Interactive, an online resource of video clips curated from the Archives in Becket. The archive features performances that have taken place at the festival from 1937 to 2010, including footage rarely seen. This user-friendly free resource allows the user to browse dance footage by artist, genre, and era. The director of preservation, Norton Owen, curates the collection. Each entry includes a video clip, an informative paragraph describing the dancer/choreographer, and an artist portrait.