Sara Mildred Strauss Newman Collection

Collection

Identifier: SC-MS-199

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The Sara Mildred Strauss Newman Collection was donated by Dorothy Nesbitt. It consists of biographical information on her life, likely compiled by Dorothy Nesbitt, as well as correspondence by Newman and Nesbitt. Along with information surrounding Sara Mildred Strauss Newman’s time as a dance instructor, teacher, and writer in New York, the collection also includes materials relating to her opening another dance studio in Midtown Wilmington. Photos relating to her dance career as well as her dance classes for children appear as well, and a manuscript she wrote on dance and body movement is also included in this collection.

Dates

Creation: 1905-2006

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research use.

Copyright Statement

Copyright retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Biographical Note

Sara Mildred Strauss Newman was born in New York City in 1896. She was a successful writer, dance teacher, choreographer, and producer. She created studios in New York, California, and eventually in Wilmington, North Carolina. The majority of her career was focused in New York. She had studios at the Ziegfeld Theatre and Carnegie Hall. However, she did organize summer tours to Europe during the 1920s and 30s and travelled to Hollywood, and she then returned to New York to teach in the Action Department of the American Academy for Dramatic Arts for 15 years. Over the course of her life, she authored two books, titled The Dance and Life(1916) and Here an Inch, There an Inch(1966), respectively. Likely sometime between 1968 and 1973, she moved to Wilmington and married Isaac Bear Newman. In 1979, she died at the age of 82.

Sources: New York Public Library Archives & Manuscripts, Sara Mildred Strauss papers, https://archives.nypl.org/dan/19804 “Sara Mildred Strauss,” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sara_Mildred_Strauss

Extent

2 Containers (Contains 1 document box and 1 oversize folder.)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Arrangement

Series 1 contains biographical information on Sara Mildred Strauss Newman, including items like an autobiography, newspaper clippings, articles, and photographs. Also included is correspondence from Dorothy Nesbitt to various individuals following Strauss' death and primarily pertaining to the donation of her papers to the New York Public Library. Series 2 contains materials relating to Strauss's career in dance and dance education. Included are materials pertaining to courses she taught, her studios in New York and Wilmington, North Carolina, and her writing on dance. Lastly, Series 3 contains various articles of ephemera from this collection, from a postcard written by Strauss when she was young, to a playing card.