Martin Kamin Papers

An inventory of his papers at Syracuse University

Overview of the Collection
Creator:	Kamin, Martin.
Title:	Martin Kamin Papers
Inclusive Dates:	1789-1973
Quantity:	18.5 linear ft.
Abstract:	Papers of the Polish-American publisher and bookseller, primarily in the areas of dance and drama. Collection includes autographs, correspondence, photographs, printed material, and miscellaneous papers.
Language:	Majority in English, some items in French.
Repository:	Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Library 222 Waverly Avenue Syracuse, NY 13244-2010 http://scrc.syr.edu

Biographical History

Martin Kamin (1897 or 1899-1976) was a Polish-American publisher and bookseller, particularly in the areas of dance and drama.

Born on November 15, 1897 (or 1899) in Warsaw, Poland, Kamin left Poland to come to the United States while still in his teens. After mastering English he enrolled at the University of Baltimore and continued his studies in linguistics, philosophy and economics at the University of Geneva in Switzerland where he earned his Ph.D.

In 1920 Kamin married Sarah (Sally) Katz, a school teacher from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. For a number of years she had been associated with the Wisconsin Players as a dramatic actress and dancer performing under the name Sara Nikov. The Kamins resided in Paris during the 1920's and 1930's where Martin began his publishing career. He published Contact: A Quarterly Review (edited by William Carlos Williams and Nathaniel West), Both Sides, Films, and Current Controversy. The Kamins became a part of the "lost generation" which included Hemingway, Fitzgerald and Gertrude Stein. His address book from that period registers the names Aaron Copland, Gustav Holst, Darius Milhaud, Serge Prokofieff, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Picasso, and more.

In addition to his publishing business Kamin operated a book store in New York City which eventually began to specialize in materials on the dance. For many years the Kamin Dance Book Shop was an internationally known center for books and manuscripts relating to all phases of that art.

After his wife's death and his retirement Kamin married briefly for a second time, but spent most of his later years weakened by a stroke and living in virtual poverty in various nursing homes. He died on September 4, 1976.

Return to top

Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Martin Kamin Collection is comprised of the main collection and a later addition, which has not been integrated. Because the two parts of the collection both begin with "Box 1," please specify box number and "1991 addition" when requesting material from the later accession.

Main collection

The main collection is divided into ten series: Art, Autographs, Biographical Data, Clippings, Correspondence, Miscellaneous, Photographs, Printed Material, Published Material, and Sarah Katz Kamin.

Art includes costume and set design, prints, a self-portrait by Enrico Caruso, a Marie Taglioni paper doll, and other items.

Autographs contains the signatures of many well-known figures in the arts, including Prokofieff, Villa-Lobos, de Falla, and Stravinski.

Clippings is composed of pictures cut from souvenir dance programs and magazines.

Correspondence includes both letters to the Kamins and letters collected by the Kamins. Some of the correspondents are Tamara Toumanova, Ted Shawn, Anton Dolin, Walter Toscanini, Leon Bakst, A. A. Ounanian-Ounanoff. The oldest letter in this series (1832) is from Paul Taglioni. He was the father and teacher of Marie Taglioni, the first ballerina to dance on the points of her toes before the days of toe-stiffened ballet slippers.

Miscellaneous includes Kamin's Parisian address book and a 1789 holograph describing several country dance figures.

The collection contains a large number of Photographs, of ballet companies (among them Ballet Russe, Diaghilev Ballet, Martha Graham Dance Company, and the San Francisco Ballet), individual dancers (Alexandra Danilova, Alicia Markova, Nijinsky, Moira Shearer, and others), and specific dances (including Bluebeard, Camille, Giselle, Princess Aurora, and Swan Lake), as well as conductors and choreographers.

Printed material contains concert programs, dance instruction material, dance notation material, magazine and newspaper clippings, and programs and souvenir booklets.

Published material consists of typescripts for articles, ballet scenarios, books, essays and miscellaneous other pieces of writing.

The Sarah Katz Kamin series contains scripts, photographs, programs, and reviews relating to Mrs. Kamin's career as an actress from 1911-1924.

1991 additions

The 1991 additions consists of three boxes, containing biographical material, correspondence, subject files, writings, and memorabilia, as well as a small amount of Sally Kamin material.

Of particular note in the Correspondence are Martin Kamin's letters to his wife Sally, as well as letters of Agnes de Mille, Martha Graham, Jean-Paul Le Chanois, Peter Neagoe, Walter Toscanini and Carl Van Veachten.

Subject files includes dance-related material, dance bibliographies, and material relating to Kamin's publishing and bookstore endeavors.

Kamin's Writings include diary fragments, notes on Michel Licht, and writings on the Middle East. Also included here are a few pieces written by others.

Sally Kamin material consists of fellowship information, manuscripts, memorabilia and photographs.

Memorabilia contains financial records (bank statements, medical information), photographs (family portraits and general dance-related), printed material (including some in French), and miscellany.

Return to top

Arrangement of the Collection

Approximately 20 folders of general correspondence contained at the beginning of the 1991 addition are arranged chronologically. All other material is arranged alphabetically by name (in the case of correspondence), by topic (in the case of subject files and memorabilia), or by type and title (in the case of writings).

Return to top

Restrictions

Access Restrictions

There are no access restrictions on this material.

Use Restrictions

Written permission must be obtained from SCRC and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.

Return to top

Related Material

Special Collections Research Center has a number of collections relating to dance and drama. Please refer to the SCRC Subject Index for a complete listing.

Return to top

Subject Headings

Persons

Corporate Bodies

Subjects

Genres and Forms

Occupations

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Martin Kamin Papers,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Library

Acquisition Information

Some material gift of Lyall Squair, 1970, 1987.

Other material, unspecified, 1961, 1965, 1971, 1980.

Finding Aid Information

Created by: DMB
Date: 3 Apr 1979
Revision history: Feb 1991 - additions (KM); 1 Jun 2010 - converted to EAD (MRC)

Return to top

Inventory

	Art
Box 1		Costume design (4 folders)
Oversize 1		Costume design, oversize
Box 1		Original (2 folders)
Oversize 1		Original, oversize
Box 1		Prints (4 folders)
Oversize 1		Prints, oversize
Box 1		Self portrait by Enrico Caruso
Box 1		Set design
Oversize 1		Set design, oversize
Box 1		Taglioni (Marie) paper doll

	Autographs
Box 1		Miscellaneous (3 folders)

	Biographical data
Box 1		Miscellaneous

	Clippings
		Ballet Companies
Box 1			Denishawn Dancers
		Dancers
Box 1			Danilova, Alexandra
Box 1			Dolin, Anton
Box 1			Duncan, Isadora
Box 1			Fonteyn, Margot
Box 1			Lichine, David
Box 1			Markova, Alicia
Box 1			Massine, Leonide
Box 1			Pavlova, Anna
Box 1			Toumanova, Tamara
Box 1			Various

	Correspondence
Box 2		Dayal, Leela 1955-1956
Box 2		Evans, Mary Stewart 1939-1949
Box 2		Foreign language 1832-1962 (6 folders)
Box 2		General 1853-1967
Box 2		Greeting and postcards 1925-1957 (2 folders)
Box 2		Hughes, Langston 1926
Box 2		Jankovic, Ljubica and Danica 1954-1956
Box 2		Love, Paul 1951-1953
Box 2		Nijinsky, Romola 1950-1963
Box 2		Prendergast, A. H. D. 1907-1909
Box 2		Strate, Walter V. 1954-1955
Box 2		White, Walter 1946-1947

	Miscellaneous
Box 2		Assorted miscellaneous items

	Photographs
		Ballet companies
Box 2			Adolph Bolm Ballet
Box 2			Australia
Box 2			Ballet Intime
Box 2			Ballet Rambert
Box 2			Ballet Russe 1931-1956
Box 2			Ballet Theatre at McCarter Theatre
Box 2			Denishawn Dancers 1913-1928
Oversize 2			Denishawn Dancers, oversize
Box 2			Diaghilev Ballet
Box 2			Diaghilev Production Staff
Oversize 2			Diaghilev Production Staff, oversize
Box 2			Martha Graham Dance Company
Box 2			National Ballet of Canada
Box 2			New York City Ballet
Box 2			San Francisco Ballet
Box 2			Ted Shawn and His Men Dancers
Box 2			Various
		Dancers
Box 2			Baronova, Irina
Box 2			Danielian, Leon
Box 2			Danilova, Alexandra
Box 2			de Mille, Agnes George
Box 2			Dolin, Anton
Box 2			Duncan, Irma and Child Dancers
Box 2			Dunham, Katherine
Box 2			Essen, Viola
Box 2			Franklin, Frederic
Box 2			Karsavina, Tamara
Box 2			Kaye, Nora
Box 2			Kovach, Nora
Box 2			Krassovska, Nathalie
Box 2			Lichine, David
Box 2			Markova, Alicia
Box 2			Massine, Leonide
Box 3			Moncion, Francisco
Box 3			Moylan, Mary Ellen
Box 3			Nijinsky
Box 3			Pavlova, Anna
Box 3			Primus, Pearl
Box 3			Rabovsky, Istvan
Box 3			St. Denis, Ruth
Box 3			Shearer, Moira
Box 3			Slavenska
Box 3			Tallchief, Maria
Box 3			Tcherina, Ludmilla
Box 3			Toumanova, Tamara
Box 3			Unidentified
Box 3			Various (2 folders, 4 scrapbooks)
Oversize 2			Various
Box 3			Various, autographed
Box 3			Young, Loretta
Box 3			Youskevitch, Igor
		Dances
Box 3			The Black Swan
Box 3			Bluebeard
Box 3			Camille
Box 3			Carmen
Box 3			Coq d'Or
Box 3			Don Quixote
Box 3			Giselle
Box 3			Henry VIII
Box 3			Le Rendezvous Manque
Box 3			La Spectre de la Rose
Box 3			Les Sylphides
Box 3			Nutcracker
Box 3			Pas de Quatre
Box 3			Pas de Trois
Box 3			Petrouchka
Box 3			Princess Aurora
Box 3			Romantic Age
Box 3			Romeo and Juliet
Box 3			Scheherazade
Box 3			Swan Lake
Box 3			Sylvia
Box 3			Unidentified
Box 3			Various
Box 4			Various
		General
Box 4			Conductors, choreographers, etc.
Box 4			Costume design
Box 4			Folk dances
Oversize 2			Folk dances
Box 4			Folk dances (Spanish)
Box 4			Kamin Dance Book Shop
Box 4			Miscellaneous
Box 4			Movie stills
Box 4			Negatives

	Printed material
Box 4		Concert programs (2 folders)
Oversize 3		Costume design
		Dance instruction
Box 4			Catalogs of films and music
Box 4			Dance descriptions (2 folders)
Box 4			Examinations
Box 4			Folk dances (2 folders)
Box 5			Folk dances (2 folders)
Box 5			Schools
Box 5			Techniques (3 folders)
Box 5		Dance notation systems
Box 5		Kamin Dance Book Shop
Box 5		Magazine articles (3 folders)
Box 5		Miscellaneous (3 folders)
Oversize 3		Miscellaneous, oversize
		News clippings
Box 5			Lifar, Serge
Box 5			Shawn, Ted and Ruth St. Denis
Box 6		Pamphlets (2 folders)
Oversize 3		Posters and broadsides
		Programs and souvenir booklets
Box 6			Adolf Bolm Ballet
Box 6			Agnes de Mille Dance Theatre
Box 6			Argentina
Box 6			Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo (6 folders)
Box 6			Ballet Theatre (New York) (5 folders)
Box 7			Ballets de Paris
Box 7			Bayanihan Philippine Dance Company
Box 7			Bolshoi Ballet (2 folders)
Box 7			Chicago Opera Ballet (Ruth Page)
Box 7			Covent Garden (2 folders)
Box 7			Dancers of Bali
Box 7			de Basil's Ballets Russes (2 folders)
Box 7			Diaghilev's Ballet Russe (2 folders)
Box 7			Dunham, Katherine
Box 7			Escudero, Vincente
Box 7			Festivals (2 folders)
Box 8			Fokine, Michael
Box 8			Folies Bergere
Box 8			Grand Ballet de Monte Carlo; New Ballet Russe
Box 8			Greco, Jose
Box 8			International Ballet
Box 8			Jooss Ballet
Box 8			Lan-Fang, Mei
Box 8			London's Festival Ballet
Box 8			Markova and Dolin Moiseyev Dance Company
Box 8			Mordkin Ballet
Box 8			National Ballet of Canada
Box 8			New York City Ballet
Box 8			Opera Prive de Paris
Box 8			Original Ballet Russe
Box 8			Pavlova, Anna (2 folders)
Box 8			Polish Ballet
Box 8			Reinhardt, Max
Box 9			Royal Ballet (Great Britain)
Box 9			Royal Danish Ballet
Box 9			Rubenstein
Box 9			Sadler's Wells Ballet (2 folders)
Box 9			Shankar, Uday
Box 9			Shawn and St. Denis
Box 9			Slavenska Ballet
Box 9			Southern Ballet
Box 9			Theatre de la Chauve-Souris
Box 9			Theatre des Champs-Elysees
Box 9			Theatre National de l'Opera (Paris)
Box 9			Various companies (7 folders)
Box 10			Various companies (7 folders)
Oversize 3			Various
Box 10			Vashi, Nataraj

	Published material
		Typescripts
Box 10			Articles in Controversy (2 folders)
Box 10			Ballet scenarios
			Books
Box 10				Arabesque, A Romance of the Ballet by Kyra Alanova
Box 10				The Ballinese Shadow Play by Conn McPhee
Box 10				Bharata Nat am: the Dance of Gesture by Santosh Chatterjee
Box 10				Concerning the Dance
Box 10				Encyclopedie du Ballet by Fernando Reyna (2 folders)
Box 10				The Great Quotations by George Seldes
Box 10			Essays
Box 10			Miscellaneous

	Sarah Katz Kamin
		See also Sally Kamin (1991) and Correspondence (1991): Martin to Sally (wife).
Box 11		Drama scripts
Box 11		Photographs
Box 11		Scrapbook

	Biographical material (1991)
Box 1		Miscellaneous

	Correspondence (1991)
Box 1		1930s
Box 1		1940s (7 folders)
Box 1		1950s (15 folders)
Box 1		1960s (2 folders)
Box 1		1970s
Box 1		Undated (2 folders)
Box 1		Martin to Sally (wife) (8 folders)
Box 1		Anthony, Gordon
Box 1		Armstrong, Ronald
Box 1		Beckelman Moses
Box 1		Bosco, Henri
Box 1		Buckle, Richard
Box 1		Coton, A. V.
Box 1		Dance Quarterly
Box 1		Daniels, Diana
Box 1		DeMille, Agnes
Box 1		Denoel, Jean
Box 1		DeWulff, Catalina W.
Box 1		Dennis Dobson Ltd.
Box 1		E. P. Dutton
Box 1		Evans, Mary Stewart
Box 1		Gantt, Harry
Box 1		Goldberg, Arthur J.
Box 1		Graham, Martha
Box 1		Grayson, James
Box 1		Gribble, Harry Wagstaff
Box 1		Hall, Martin
Box 1		Harris, Marguerite Tjader
Box 1		Haskell, Arnold L.
Box 1		Jankovic, Danica S.
Box 1		Kirstein, Lincoln
Box 1		Kramer, Chris
Box 1		Krehel, Peter
Box 2		Le Chanois, Jean-Paul
Box 2		Legrand, Edy
Box 2		L'Hommedieu, Bart
Box 2		Lempertz, Thomas Q.
Box 2		Leslie, Kenneth
Box 2		Leslie, Serge and Doris
Box 2		Library of Congress
Box 2		Lilly, Joseph
Box 2		Littell, Ray S.
Box 2		Lloyd, Margaret
Box 2		Markova, Alicia
Box 2		Martin, Ben
Box 2		Martin, John
Box 2		Mayfield, John S.
Box 2		Nagle, Carl
Box 2		Neagoe, Peter (2 folders)
Box 2		New York Public Library
Box 2		Nijinsky, Romola
Box 2		Page, Ruth
Box 2		Raffe, Walter George R
Box 2		Rene, Natalia
Box 2		Rey, Sydor
Box 2		Russell, Henry Tosti
Box 2		Sandoz, Maurice
Box 2		Schonberg, Harriett
Box 2		Seldes, George
Box 2		Shawn, Ted
Box 2		Sorrell, Walter
Box 2		Strate, Walter
Box 2		Stuart Press
Box 2		Thackray, Rupert M.
Box 2		Toscanini, Walter
Box 2		Totten, Vivian
Box 2		Twysden, A. E.
Box 2		Van Vechten, Carl
Box 2		Vassos, John
Box 2		Ward, Lynd
Box 2		White, Walter
Box 2		Yarborough, Lavinia Williams

	Subject files (1991)
Box 2		Dance (2 folders)
Box 2		Dance bibliographies (2 folders)
Box 2		Kamin Dance Bookshop
Box 2		Kamin Publishers
Box 2		Kamin Publishers - reviews

	Writings (1991)
		By Kamin
Box 2			Appraisal notes on Michel Licht
Box 2			Diaries
Box 2			Diary fragments
Box 2			Middle East
Box 2			Military (Air Courier)
Box 2			"Rascals" - notes
Box 2			St. Elmo
Box 2			Miscellaneous notes (2 folders)
Box 3			Miscellaneous (probably by Kamin) (3 folders)
		By others
Box 3			"Larry"
Box 3			Miscellaneous authors (2 authors)
Box 3			Unidentified

	Sally Kamin (1991)
		See also Sarah Katz Kamin and Correspondence (1991): Martin to Sally (wife).
Box 3		Fellowship information
Box 3		Manuscripts (miscellaneous)
Box 3		Memorabilia
Box 3		Photographs

	Memorabilia (1991)
		Financial
Box 3			Bank statements
Box 3			Medical
Box 3			Miscellany
		Photographs
Box 3			Kamin portraits
Box 3			Family albums (2 volumes)
Box 3			Dance
Box 3			Miscellaneous
Box 3			Unidenitified (2 folders)
		Printed material
Box 3			Air Courier (2 folders)
Box 3			Backlog
Box 3			Book lists
Box 3			Le Canard Enchaine
Box 3			French language miscellany
Box 3			The Mid-Ocean Chronicle
Box 3			Programs (3 folders)
Box 3			Miscellaneous (2 folders)
Box 3		Miscellany (2 folders)

Return to top