Use Restrictions

The copyright and related rights status of this collection have not been evaluated (See http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/CNE/1.0/)

Access Restrictions

There are no access restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Jacob's Pillow dance photograph collection, C0514, Special Collections Research Center, George Mason University Libraries

Acquisition Information

Purchased from Schubertiade Music by Lynn Eaton in April 2023.

Processing Information

Processing and finding aid completed by Meghan Glasbrenner from March-April 2024.

Biographical and Historical Information

The property known as Jacob's Pillow, located in Becket, Massachusetts, was first was purchased by modern dancer Ted Shawn (1891-1972) in 1931 to serve as an artistic retreat. After the personal and professional end of his partnership with fellow dancer Ruth St. Denis and their Denishawn Company, Shawn recruited eight men, including former Denishawn dancer Barton Mumaw, and formed a new dance company based at Jacob's Pillow from 1933-1939. During this time "Ted Shawn and his Men Dancers" staged public "Tea Lecture Demonstrations" during the summer months to promote the company's work and raise money for living expensese. These demonstrations quickly grew in popularity and would eventually evolve into the "Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival."

In 1941, following the disbanding of Ted Shawn's dance company, the property was purchased from Shawn by the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival Committee for $50,000 and incorporated as an educational, artistic, non-profit organization with Shawn named as founder and artistic director. The group also built the property's first permanent theatre, with performances having previously taken place in a barn studio, which opened on July 9, 1942 as the Ted Shawn Theatre, the first performance space designed specifically for dance. Shawn remained director of Jacob's Pillow until his death in 1972 at the age of 80. Jacob's Pillow has continued to host hundreds of choreographic works up to the present day, with the venue serving as the U.S. debut for a number of international dancers and companies. In 2003, Jacob's Pillow was designated a National Historic Landmark by the federal government, making it the country's first and only Landmark dance institution.

John Lindquist (1890-1980) was a Boston area photographer who specialized in dance-related photography. In 1938, he began photographing "Ted Shawn and his Men Dancers" and became the official photographer for Jacob's Pillow in 1940, a position he would hold until his death at the age of 90. His photography work was included in numerous exhibits, particularly in the Boston area, and allowed him to form close friendships with many dancers and choreographers.

Paul McMahon was a Boston art critic, photographer, entertainment reviewer, and artist, who also toured with actress Marlene Dietrich for 13 years assisting her in a number of roles, including stage manager and dresser. McMahon and his partner Ralph Hodgdon, who met in New York City in the 1950s, were a fixture at Boston pride parades where they carried a sign stating how long they had been together. When marriage equality was passed in Massachusetts, McMahon and Hodgdon became one of the first couples to marry, their ceremony taking place on May 29, 2004 in Boston's Public Garden. Following their legal marriage, the couple updated their pride parade sign to say years together and years married ("56 years together, 6 years married"). McMahon passed away on March 31, 2011 at the age of 78.

Scope and Content

A collection of original signed and unsigned dance photographs from Jacob's Pillow, most by the photographer John Lindquist, from the collection of Paul McMahon. Most photographs include inscriptions on the back identifying the dancer or dancers depicted and include a stamp or handwritten attribution of the photograph to John Lindquist. Additional identifications were completed using Jacob's Pillow Archives . Several photographs include pen signatures and/or inscriptions on the front of the image by the dancer(s) depicted, with most dedicated to Paul McMahon. The collection is arranged in four series.

Series 1: Standard format photographs (circa 1940s-1970s) includes photographs and photographic cards and postcards measuring approximately 4x6 or 5x7. Photographs have been alphabetized by subject.

Series 2: Large format photographs (circa 1940s-1970s) includes photographs measuring approximately 8x10. Photographs have been alphabetized by subject.

Series 3: Oversized photographs (circa 1940s-1970s) includes photographs measuring approximately 11x14. Photographs have been alphabetized by subject.

Series 4: Ephemera (1970s) includes a single folder containing two non-photographic items.

Arrangement

This collection is arranged into four series by size and medium.

Related Material

The Special Collections Research Center holds other materials related to dance , including other dance photographs such as Photograph of Martha Graham in "Mirror Before Me" by Arnold Eagle and Black and white photographs of Jerome Robbins rehearsing with ballet dancers for "Antique Epigraphs" by Martha Swope .

Harvard University's Houghton Library holds the John Lindquist collection .

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Ballet
• Clouser, James
• Dance
• Dance -- United States
• De Lavallade, Carmen, 1931-
• Jacob's Pillow
• Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival
• Kehlet, Niels
• Limón, José
• Lindquist, John
• Markova, Alicia, Dame, 1910-2004
• Modern dance
• Mumaw, Barton, 1912-2001
• Photographs
• Powell, Robert, -1977
• Shawn, Ted, 1891-1972
• St. Denis, Ruth, 1880-1968