STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF MISSOURI RESEARCH CENTER-ST. LOUIS
UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-ST. LOUIS
For a list of the images in this collection click here and go to the WHMC photograph database
Related collection:
s18 MACNUTT, AGNES CADY (1877-1975), SCRAPBOOK 1913-1929
Anna Agris and Leah Millman donated the Anna Agris papers in 1985-86.
Anna Agris (nee. Agress) was born in St. Louis in 1906. She began her study of dance under Miss Agnes Cady. At the age of 19 she attended a dance camp taught by ballet masters Andreas Pavley and Serge Oukrainsky. They rewarded her performance with a job offer at the Pavley-Oukrainsky Dance School in Chicago. Anna took the job and spent the next seven years in Chicago working at the school as Andreas Pavley’s secretary. After his sudden death in 1931, she took over teaching classes until Serge Oukrainsky could return from Paris. Oukrainsky subsequently closed the school and moved to California. Anna stayed in Chicago at the Century of Progress as executive director. Anna later returned to St. Louis and formed her own dance studio. She also taught dance at St. Joseph’s Academy and the St. Louis School of the Theater. She arranged choreography for several local organizations including Catholic Charities of America, the American Legion, and the International Ladies’ Garment Worker’s Union.
SCOPE AND CONTENT
The Anna Agris Papers include correspondence, newspaper clippings, articles, dance programs, and scripts. The collection also includes a file on the Harikuda Israeli Dance Company directed by Leah Millman. The second series in the collection contains photographs collected by Anna Agris. The series includes autographed portraits and also several pages of a scrapbook put together by Agris and photographic negatives.
FOLDER LIST
Series 1 – Papers, 1921-1984, Folders 1 – 15
1. Career Biography of Anna Agris, 1933
2. Certificate, 1933
3. Corey, Arthur, Danse Macabre: The Life and Death of Andreas Pavley,
nd.
4. Correspondence, 1934-1979
5. “Dance in St. Louis”, 1983-1984
6. Dance Instruction, 1939-1941
7. Dance Teaching Materials, 1934-1938
8. Harikuda Israeli Dance Company, 1959-1965
9. International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union, 1936-1941
10. Music, nd.
11. Newspaper Clippings, 1921-1967
12. Pavley-Oukrainsky Dance School, 1922-1979
13. Performance Programs, 1921-1960
14. Scrapbook, 1930-1942
15. Scripts, nd.
Series 2 – Photographs, Folders 16 – 19
16. Photographs 804.01-804.30
17. Photographs 804.31-804.49
18. Photographs 804.50-804.93
19. Photographs 804.94-804.100
INDEX
"A Century of Progress", f. 2
“The Emancipator”, f. 9
Oukrainsky, Serge, f. 4, 12
Pavley, Andreas, f. 3, 12
“The St. Louis Garment Worker”, f. 9
“Surging Forward”, f. 9
“Tomorrow Must be Ours”, f. 9, 15
“The Restless Flame”, f. 13, 14, 15