Box 1: Scrapbooks, 1922-1997

This box contains materials that document the professional activities of the modern dancer and teacher, Jane McLean and to a lesser extent that of her brother the dancer, Edward McLean. Two scrapbooks kept by Jane McLean are loosely arranged in chronological order. The first scrapbook contains newspaper clippings, photographs, reviews, programs and publicity material, relating to McLean's performing activities. These include information on her solo concerts (1929, 1931-1952), performances in conjunction with her brother, Edward (1927-1934), her involvement with Martha Graham's performances at Carnegie Hall and the Alvin Theatre, NYC (1938). The second scrapbook appears to have been generated by McLean when she moved to Casper, Wyoming in 1951. This scrapbook contains newspaper clippings, reviews and photographs pertaining to her activities as a teacher of modern dance in Wyoming (1951-1956) and the formation of the Jane McLean Dance Company (1949-1954). Loose items, such as newspaper clippings, photographs, letters, brochures, etc. are interfiled within each scrapbook. A separate file folder contains items that provide similar documentation including a letter of introduction to the painter Walt Kuhn (1922) and Jane McLean's contract to appear in Ruth Page's production of "Cinderella" (Pantomime in Three Scenes) at His Majesty's Theatre in Montreal, Canada in December 1931. In addition, there is also a prospectus for the dance school that Edward McLean established in Kansas City, Kansas in 1931. Later materials included letters written by Jane McLean (1970s) as well as a typescript of an undated essay: ''Dance thru the Ages'' that she had written sometime in the 1940s or early 1950s. There are also photocopies of Edward, Jane and their sister, Jordie Chilson's obituaries (1985, 1990, 1997). Other large loose materials include an assortment of press clippings on Martha Graham as well as a collection of informational posters on a Modern Dance Symposium where Jane McLean was a panelist and teacher that was held in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1956.