Research Catalog

Title

Interview with Charles Humphrey Woodford [sound recording].

Author

Woodford, Charles Humphrey.

Publication

1970.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Cohen, Selma Jeanne, 1920-2005.
• National Endowment for the Arts, 2010-2011.
• New York State Council on the Arts, 2010-2011.
• Oral history archive.

Description

4 sound discs (ca. 229 min.) : digital; (4 3/4 in.)

Summary

• Disc 1 (ca. 60 min.). Charles Humphrey Woodford speaks with Selma Jeanne Cohen about his mother, Doris Humphrey and his father , Charles Francis Woodford, including their communal life at the apartment on 10th Street, in New York City where he grew up; his childhood, including his governess, his childhood nickname, and the family's financial situation; stories about life at Charles Weidman's farm in Blairstown, N.J.; the studio at 18th St. [in New York City]; more anecdotes about his childhood including when at Mills College with his mother and Pauline Lawrence; the family's long-time adherence to the [William Howard] Hay diet; his school friends and his realization that his family was different from most other families; life at home during his mother's tours.
• Disc 2 (58 min.). Charles Humphrey Woodford speaks with Selma Jeanne Cohen about his mother, Doris Humphrey and his father, Charles Francis Woodford, including the apartment on 10th Street in New York City where they lived; watching performances and rehearsals; summer camp; changes in family life after the move from 10th Street and the advent of World War II; the musical play Sing out, sweet land!; Katherine Manning; the apartments on 22nd Street and on 16th Street; anecdotes about Humphrey as a mother; the decline in her health; certain acquaintances of her mother including Adele Brandon (?) and Elizabeth Dooley; more on Humphrey's financial difficulties; more on her health; her retirement from dancing and searching for a new direction in her life.
• Disc 3 (48 min.). Charles Humphrey Woodford speaks with Selma Jeanne Cohen about his mother, Doris Humphrey, including Humphrey's relationship with her mother; summers spent away from New York City; his education; his solitary childhood; his mother's tutoring him at home; his years at Lafayette College; more about the farm; the form his parents' marriage took as being perfect for their personalities and careers; the role of the Quakers in his life; more on life with his parents [ends abruptly but continues directly on disc 4].
• Disc 4 (ca. 64 min.). Charles Humphrey Woodford continues to speak with Selma Jeanne Cohen about life at home with his parents Doris Humphrey and Charles Francis Woodford; his mother's preparation for rehearsals; her assistance to aspiring choreographers; his joining the U.S. Navy; his mother's physical decline and increasing aloofness [gap]; more on his mother as a mother; more on her arthritis; her final illness and death; her writing in the last years of her life; her domestic activities; briefly, Pauline Lawrence [gap]; Humphrey's split with Charles Weidman [gap; when recording resumes, an unidentified female appears to have joined the conversation]; celebrating Christmas with his family, the Limóns, and other members of their circle.

Subjects

• Audiotapes > Woodford, C
• Woodford, Charles Francis
• Lawrence, Pauline
• Woodford, Charles Humphrey
• Humphrey, Doris, 1895-1958

Note

• Interview with Charles Humphrey Woodford conducted by Selma Jeanne Cohen on Jan. 16, 1970 in New York City. This recording was made as part of the research for Cohen's completion of Humphrey's autobiography: Doris Humphrey: an artist first (Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1972). Beginning on track 12 of disc 4 an unidentified female joins the conversation.
• Sound quality overall ranges from good to fair. Woodford's voice is almost always intelligible but Cohen's voice, which is very soft, often is not. In addition there are occasional short gaps and extraneous noises as well as a continuing tapping noise on track 12 of disc 4.

Funding (note)

• Preservation was funded in part by the New York State Council on the Arts, 2010-2011 and the National Endowment for the Arts, 2010-2011.

System Details (note)

• Transferred from 4 sound cassettes (ca. 229 min.; 1 7/8 in. per sec.; 2 channels; originally recorded in 1970) to wav file and compact disc formats in 2010.

Source (note)

• Selma Jeanne Cohen.

Call Number

*MGZTL 4-949 no. 5-8

OCLC

78575223

Author

Woodford, Charles Humphrey. Interviewee

Title

Interview with Charles Humphrey Woodford [sound recording].

Imprint

1970.

Funding

Preservation was funded in part by the New York State Council on the Arts, 2010-2011 and the National Endowment for the Arts, 2010-2011.

System Details

Transferred from 4 sound cassettes (ca. 229 min.; 1 7/8 in. per sec.; 2 channels; originally recorded in 1970) to wav file and compact disc formats in 2010.

Local Note

Former call number: *MGZTC 3-949 no. 5-8

Dubbing master: *MGZTD 4-949 no. 5-8

Former archival originals: *MGZTCO 3-949 no. 5-8

Source

Gift; Selma Jeanne Cohen.

Added Author

Cohen, Selma Jeanne, 1920-2005. Interviewer

Selma Jeanne Cohen. Donor

National Endowment for the Arts, 2010-2011.

New York State Council on the Arts, 2010-2011.

Oral history archive.

Research Call Number

*MGZTL 4-949 no. 5-8