Evelyn M. Atkiesson dance scrapbook

Collection — Box: 1

Identifier: Dance-MS-Atkeisson

Staff Only

Scope and Content of the Collection

Scrapbook is bound in leather, with items glued in.It is a commercial scrapbook, with places for notes, personal messages, and autographs. Items include letters, clippings, invitations, greeting cards, programs, and pictures cut from the Carl Schurz High School yearbook. Atkeisson cut out pictures of classmates from the yearbook and pasted them beside the personal messages written by that classmate. Loose items that accompanied the scrapbook include a brochure from the European Ballet School where Atkeisson took classes and taught; invitations; information about her high school sorority, Zeta Chi, and her wedding invitation from 1925.

Dates

Creation: 1916-1927

Creator

Atkeisson, Evelyn M. (Person)

Language

Materials are in English.

Conditions Governing Access

This material is available for research.

Ownership and Literary Rights

The Evelyn M. Atkeisson scrapbook is the physical property of the Newberry Library. Copyright may belong to the authors or their legal heirs or assigns. For permission to publish or reproduce any materials from this collection, contact the Roger and Julie Baskes Department of Special Collections at reference@newberry.org.

Biography of Evelyn M. Atkeisson

Chicago dancer, actress, and musician.

Evelyn Martha Atkeisson was born in 1906 in Chicago. "Evie" was the daughter of John E.H. Atkeisson, an anesthetist, and Martha ("Mattie") A. Petrie. She had one brother, Charles. Atkeisson attended Carl Schurz High School and graduated from there in February 1923. While in high school, she danced and even gave dance lessons under the direction of Mme. Marie Yung, Director of the the European Ballet School Chicago. Yung was an instructor of the Chicago Grand Opera Ballet. Atkeisson sometimes went under the stage name of "Evelyn Francine," and clippings show that she was a sometime actress and saxophonist. Atkeisson married Elmer John Koester in 1925; she died in 1990.

Extent

0.2 Linear Feet (1 box)

Additional Description

Abstract

Scrapbook and loose material from the scrapbook documenting the dance career of Chicago dancer-actress-musician Evelyn "Evie" Martha Atkeisson (b. 1906). Atkeisson performed with the European Ballet School, Chicago, taught at the Lyon & Healy Music Building, and danced at the formal opening of the Drake Hotel.