Sometimes, people store their things in a friend’s home. Short term? Longer until they find a new place? Promising to remove then as soon as possible?
In the early 2000’s, we worked for the estate of a client who was very active in theater and dance productions here in New York. He, Franklyn, lived in a 2-story apartment which he filled with costumes, props, memorabilia and posters.
We shipped some things to family members, sold many posters and theater ephemera, donated costumes and ultimately sorted through remaining odds and ends for recycling or discarding. As we were preparing for the final “broom clean”, we discovered 22 boxes, loosely packed and with no labels, hidden under the staircase. The Executor said, “Just throw those out. They are not his things”. Understandable reaction. But, we asked permission to open them and do a preliminary sorting to determine if the contents were of any historic or popular value. The Executor said “OK. But, don’t waste much time on them. They’re probably just junk.”
We pulled these dusty boxes into the light and began digging. We found scraps of paper with all sorts of incomplete notes, cartoon style scribbles, arrows drawn in different directions in circular or curved patterns. Some were written on paper napkins, others on backs of envelopes from an apartment rental office. Musical notations were written on manuscript paper. I recognized names of some dancers who autographed ballet performance programs. Curious. These documents were very different from our client’s belongings. Different handwriting. The contents seemed to be tossed into the boxes in a hurry.
We called the Executor right away and reported what we found. “Oh! I completely forgot all about those. These belonged to Katherine Flowers, famous dancer, choreographer and historian. She was moving and just parked her belongings in my nephew’s apartment. She was the first person we know of who actually watched and wrote down the movements of historic ‘Negro’ dances that were done in secret and at night in towns down South, dances like ‘Cake Walk’ and ‘Jump the Broom’”. I said “Wow!”
With the Executor’s permission, we researched Katherine Flowers. Turns out, she was a student at Northwestern University. Thumbing through her Yearbook, we found a classmate who had been enrolled in theater and dance classes with her. We contacted him. He connected us with the archival person at Northwestern. We sent samples to the archivist, explaining how we found these original, handwritten documents as well as tons of programs, photos, letters, articles, and detailed notes, many written on scraps of paper. We suggested that these could be a fabulous research project for a PhD student. Northwestern enthusiastically agreed to take all of the boxes containing this remarkable collection of important historical documents. Our client’s Executor agreed to cover the cost of shipping all 22 boxes to Illinois.
You never know what you will find when sorting through the lives of a person who has passed away. At BERGFELD’s, we love honoring history and finding appropriate homes for for precious documents. and the contributions of our clients such as Katherine Flower’s friend who generously stored her remarkable collection and kept it safely hidden in his apartment.
