Josephine L. Schwarz (1908-2004) Collection

Introduction
Biographical Sketch
Scope and Content
Box and File List

Introduction

The Schwarz collection has a wide variety of personal and professional documents. The Dayton Ballet and Schwarz School of dance are extensively covered from the 1920's to the 1980's. There are press releases, announcements, summer schedules, programs, and Miss Jo's choreography notes from ballets and conferences. Also included in the collection are brochures for the Schwarz School and for European Schools, Dayton Ballet board and Friends reports, housekeeping, and ballet scores. The Dayton Civic Ballet and the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company have programs and articles in the collection. The photographs of Miss Jo and Miss Hermene are taken by the late Jane Reece. The other photographs are of the ballets, rehearsals, and classes with some taken by Walt Klein. The correspondence is from her dance family, well-wishers, and friends. Articles on Miss Jo are from the 1930's to 1994, which are in local and national newspapers and magazines. There are also numerous award certificates and plaques, and scrapbooks.

The Josephine Schwarz collection has 19 boxes and is approximately 19 linear feet. The papers are arranged in alphabetical order.

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Biographical Sketch

Josephine Lindman Schwarz, the grande dame of dance, was born on April 8, 1908, in Dayton, Ohio.

Miss Jo, as she was known in the dance world, began her dance career at 8 years of age. The dance classes were her therapy after her bout with the mumps. She went to her dance lessons to rebuild her strength and regain her balance. Her therapy became a passion by 14.

After her father's business went bankrupt, she began to teaching to raise money for her lessons. While in high school, Miss Jo and Miss Hermene, her sister, spent vacations and summers studying dance with Adolph Bolm in Chicago. While there, she danced with Ruth Page's Ravinia Opera Ballet.

In 1927, the sisters started the Schwarz School of Dance. Ten years later, they founded the Experimental Group for Young Dancers. After several name changes, the dance company became known as the Dayton Ballet. The Dayton Ballet is one of the oldest regional companies in the United States.

After a moving performance by German modern dancers, Yvonne Georgi and Harold Kreutzberg, Miss Jo fell in love with modern dance. For the summers of 1929 and 1930, the sisters went to Germany and Austria to study modern dance with Mary Wigman and her disciples. From there, Miss Jo went to New York City to work with Charles Weidmann and Doris Humphrey. She returned to teach with Miss Hermene in 1937 after a knee injury ended her professional dance career. They taught ballet and modern dance, which was unheard of at the time.

Miss Jo taught and choreographed for the Schwarz School and Dayton Ballet for over 30 years and continued as an administrator until her retirement in 1984. Even after she left, she was still involved with the company as a mentor and founder. In 1980, she turned the job as director and choreographer over to Stuart Sebastian, a former student.

In 1994, Miss Jo moved to Boulder, Colorado, to be closer to her family. However, she often returned to Dayton to visit her beloved Dayton Ballet.

Josephine Schwarz died February 27, 2004, in Boulder, Colorado.

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Scope and Content

The Josephine Schwarz collection consists of 5 series and 3 subseries. The series are Dance (3 subseries), Photographs, Correspondence, Miscellaneous, and Oversize. Within each series, the documents are in alphabetical order.

Series I: Dance
This series consists of documents from the Dayton Ballet, Schwarz School of Dance, programs, articles, publications, and awards. This series has 3 subseries and ranges from the 1920's to the 1990's.

• Subseries I: Dayton Ballet and Schwarz School. In this subseries there are choreography notes on dancers and ballets, housekeeping, board reports, press releases, and recital programs. There are some photographs scattered throughout the files of ballets and personal memories. There are lecture and notes by Miss Jo, New Works notes, publicity releases, and announcements. Other dance related material is on the Carlisle Project, the Dayton Foundation Allegro Fund, Dayton Theatre Dance Company, the Living Arts, and others. The years of this subseries range from the 1930's to the 1990's.
• Subseries II: Programs and Brochures. This subseries consists of programs, playbills, flyers, choreography notes on New Works, and schedules. The programs and playbills are from Europe, New York City, and Dayton. The flyers and schedules are for teacher training, courses at the Hellerau-Laxenburg School in Austria, Adolph Bolm Ballet, and many others. There are brochures from the New York Dance Scheme, the American Ballet Company, and the Royal Academy of Dancing. Also included are choreography notes on New Works with Miss Jo's various comments. The years of this subseries range from the 1920's to 1980.
• Subseries III: Articles, Publications, and Awards. This subseries consists of articles, publications and awards. The articles and publications are about Miss Jo and the Dayton Ballet. The articles are in local and national newspapers and magazines, which include the New York Times, the Dayton Daily News, and Dance. The publications include articles in Arts Issue and the Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism. The years of the articles and publications range from the 1930's to 1994. The awards are from the State of Ohio, Ohio Women's Hall of Fame, the National Dance Association, and many others. Included in these awards are her grammar and high school diplomas, and honorary degrees from the University of Dayton and Wright State University.(see oversize) The years in this subseries range from the teens to the 1990's.

Series II: Photographs
This series consists of photographs. The photographs are of the Dayton Ballet and Schwarz School performances, rehearsals, classes, demonstrations, and Miss Jo and Miss Hermene. The photographs of Miss Jo and Miss Hermene are taken by the late Jane Reece from the 1920's to the 1940's. The other photographs are of the Dayton Ballet and Schwarz School performances, rehearsals, classes, and demonstrations. The majority of the Dayton Ballet photos are taken by Walt Klein. These photographs range from the 1930's to the 1970's.

Series III: Correspondence
This series contains correspondence from Miss Jo's life. The correspondence ranges from former students, well-wishers, and long time friends, such as Eleanor King. Some letters from students update Miss Jo on their lives and well-wishers express their happiness for Miss Jo's achievements. The years of the correspondence range from the 1920's to the 1990's.

Series IV: Miscellaneous
This series consists of a Jane Reece thesis, Miss Jo's calendars, and ballet scores. The Jane Reece thesis is in two volumes and was written by Karen S. Chambers. Volume One is the written portion, while volume two is photographs. The calendars range from 1975 to 1994. This shows Miss Jo's daily life and travels. The scores are from performances done by the Dayton Ballet and Miss Jo. There are notes on makeup, dancers and scenes. The years range from the 1940's to the 1980's.

Series V: Oversize
This series is all the oversize artifacts in the collection. There are the award plaques, trophies, and certificates. The 45th and 50th anniversary scrapbooks are located here. Along with these artifacts are the ballet scores and the oversize Jane Reece photographs, as well as others. There are numerous documents that are temporarily out of the collection to be flattened, such as the high school diploma.

The following items have been temporarily removed for flattening:

• Certificate of credits-Dayton High Schools-June 16, 1927 for Miss Jo
• 2 Steele High School Commencement Program June 16, 1927
• Christmas card drawing from Fredrick Willem Van Loon
• Drawing of people ice skating
• Certificate of Appreciation by Friends of Dayton Ballet May 1984
• Certificate of Appreciation from the Northeast Regional Ballet Association
• Certificate of Confirmation 1923
• Longfellow District School Certificate of Promotion to High School
• Steele High School diploma June 16, 1927
• Ave Atqve Vale poster

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Box and File List

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Electronic finding aid created and updated in Mar. 2007 by Lisa Pasquinelli, from existing finding aid (original prepared in Fall 1995 by Carolyn Macchia).