Resources

PNB's Archives

Collection Summary

• Programs from the earliest performances to the most recent
• Newsletters published by the Ballet
• Posters from 1975 to the present
• Season brochures and promotional flyers advertising performances
• Press releases; press cuttings/newspaper clippings (including reviews of performances, articles about individual dancers and artistic directors)
• Correspondence
• Materials related to education and outreach programs and to DanceChance
• Administrative materials (e.g., contracts, board of trustees' papers, financial statements, fundraising records, budgets)
• Materials relating to artistic direction and production (e.g., rehearsal schedules, casting lists, repertory planning, choreographic notes, production budgets)
• Touring records
• Special events files
• Slides and photos (of individual dancers, company rehearsal and performance photos, social events, administrators and artistic directors)
• Selected costume and set design drawings
• PNB School documentation (primarily located at the Francia Russell Center, Eastside)

Donations of Materials Welcomed

PNB is particularly interested in items that may fill gaps in the current collection. Please contact Archives for information.

Access

Pacific Northwest Ballet Archives are not open to the general public, but individuals with special research interests are welcome to contact the Archives regarding the availability of materials and possible access to them. Some documents are restricted to internal Company use.

Contact Our Archivist

Sheila C. Dietrich
Sheila@pnb.org
Phone: 206 441-9411, ext 4147

Collection Background

The process of archiving Pacific Northwest Ballet's historical materials began in the early 1990s and gained impetus in 1996, several years following the Company's move from the Good Shepherd Center in Wallingford to the Phelps Center. Currently located on the second floor of the Phelps Center, PNB Archives represent an ongoing effort to record and preserve the Company's history.

The collection documents early attempts to bring ballet to Seattle in the 1960s (by sponsoring the Joffrey Ballet and by building local support for creating a resident company) and the development of Pacific Northwest Ballet from its incorporation as Pacific Northwest Dance in November 1972. Although primarily a company-based archive, the collection does include some material related to performances by touring companies in Seattle in the 1930s-1970s, and by local dance schools in the 1930s-1980s.