Anna Eleanor Wallace papers (Ms. 90.17)

The Anna Eleanor Wallace papers contain some of her personal belongings such a diary and birthday book, material regarding her education, and material used in her career as a performer and teacher of dance, dramatics, elocution and physical education. Most of the material consists of recitation pieces, instructions for dances, and photographs. All the newspaper clippings in the papers have been photocopied with the exception of those that are pasted into photograph albums. The material in the papers is dated between 1874 and 1982, with most dated between 1902 and 1936.

The papers have been organized into the following series:

Series 1. Personal papers consists mostly of material related to Miss Wallace's elementary and secondary education and catalogs from the schools she attended to study dance, eloction and physical training. This series also includes some of Miss Wallace's personal belongings, such as her diary, birthday book and reading glasses; her Rhode Island Teacher's certificate, a copy of her obituary from The Providence Journal, her sister Margaret's undated school copybook, and ephemera such as her Rhode Island Public Transit Authority bus pass and menus from a hotel in New Hampshire. Very little correspondence is included in this series. The material is dated between 1874 and 1982, with most dated between 1902 and the mid-1930's.

Series 2. Teaching and performance materials contains dance books, which are written instructions for various dances; copybooks of recitations, games and calesthenics; and sets of recitations used by Miss Wallace in her classes. This series also includes the roster of her students from 1906 to 1949, certificates of accomplishment for her students, programs of her students' recitals, and publicity material such as cards and flyers advertising her classes.

Most of the copybooks containing recitations are not numbered. They are identified by the title of the recitation that appears first. Miss Wallace compiled an "Elocution Index" which contains an alphabetical list of dances as well as the titles of recitations that she had arranged into four sets. Her original arrangement of this material has been retained. Titles beginning with "A" or "An" are filed under "A" and titles beginning with "The" are filed under "T". Many of the recitations appear in more than one set.

The material in Series 2 is dated between 1904 and 1949.

Series 3. Photographs contains loose photographs as well as eight photograph albums. While most of the photographs are not dated, those that are were taken between 1908 and 1958. Most of the identified loose photographs are of Anna Wallace and her sister Margaret. The albums contain newspaper clippings as well as photographs. Most of the newspaper clippings are about Miss Wallace's programs and students' recitals or about people who were probably known to her. Many of the photographs are of Miss Wallace and her friends on various trips in the United States and abroad. Very few of the people in the albums are identified, and only a few of the newspaper clippings are dated.

The names of the people in the photographs of the Branch Avenue Grammar School commencement and the Wallace school recital are written on the back of the photograph.