Series II: Si-Lan Chen Leyda Papers
Scope and Content Note
The Si-Lan Chen Leyda papers document her dancing career and personal activities. The small biographical subseries contains her FBI file, and documents related to her travels. Si-Lan Chen's correspondence is principally with her family and Jay Leyda. There is also correspondence with Pearl S. Buck and Langston Hughes, and a file relating to immigration issues. Her dance career is documented by programs, flyers, dance notations and drawings, a scrapbook, and radio interview transcripts. Her writings include the typescript of her autobiography, Footnote to History (1984), a diary, autobiographical notebooks, and unpublished writings.
Subseries A: Biographical
FBI-file and correspondence, 1944-1979, inclusive
Box: 28, Folder: 1 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)
FBI-file, 1952-1971, inclusive
Box: 28, Folder: 2 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)
Passports - British, Chinese, 1932-1943, inclusive
Box: 28, Folder: 3 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)
Soviet Union documents, 1931-1935, inclusive
Box: 28, Folder: 4 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)
United States documents, 1942, inclusive
Box: 28, Folder: 5 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)
Subseries B: Correspondence
Correspondence (envelopes); 1930s-40s, ca.1930-1949, inclusive
Box: 28, Folder: 6 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)
Correspondence (general), 1929-1986, inclusive
Box: 28, Folder: 7 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)
Buck, Pearl S., 1942, inclusive
Box: 28, Folder: 8 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)
Chen, Carmen, 1945, inclusive
Box: 28, Folder: 9 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)
Chen, Eugene, 1929-1944, inclusive
Box: 28, Folder: 10 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)
Chen family misc., 1931-1938, inclusive
Box: 28, Folder: 11 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)
Chen, Jack, 1931-1985, inclusive
Box: 28, Folder: 12 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)
Chen, Jay, 1982-1984, inclusive
Box: 28, Folder: 13 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)
Chen, Yolanda, 1929-1941, inclusive
Box: 28, Folder: 14 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)
Chen, Yolanda, 1942-1946, inclusive
Box: 28, Folder: 15 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)
Chen, Yolanda, 1947-1983, inclusive
Box: 29, Folder: 1 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)
Chen, Yuan Tsung, 1971-1987, inclusive
Box: 29, Folder: 2 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)
Ewen, Kay (Kathleen); 1980s, 1980-1989, inclusive
Box: 29, Folder: 3 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)
Hughes, Langston, 1933-1946, inclusive
Box: 29, Folder: 4 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)
Immigration issues, 1926-1978, inclusive
Box: 29, Folder: 5 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)
Leyda, Jay, undated, inclusive
Box: 29, Folder: 6 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)
Leyda, Jay, 1933-1935, inclusive
Box: 29, Folder: 7 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)
Leyda, Jay, 1936-1940, inclusive
Box: 29, Folder: 8 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)
Leyda, Jay, 1941-1944, inclusive
Box: 29, Folder: 9 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)
Leyda, Jay, 1946-1973, inclusive
Box: 29, Folder: 10 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)
Pilgrim, Philip, 1941-1942, inclusive
Box: 30, Folder: 1 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)
Rene, Natalie, 1929-1950, inclusive
Box: 30, Folder: 2 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)
Subseries C: Dance and Other Activities
Chinese dance and drama, 1970, inclusive
Box: 30, Folder: 3 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)
Dance notes, notation, undated, inclusive
Box: 30, Folder: 4 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)
Programs, flyers, tickets; 1930s, 1930-1939, inclusive
Box: 30, Folder: 5 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)
Programs, flyers, tickets; 1940s, 1940-1949, inclusive
Box: 30, Folder: 6 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)
Radio interview transcripts, 1938-1948, inclusive
Box: 30, Folder: 7 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)
Reviews, press comments; 1930s-40s, 1930-1949, inclusive
Box: 30, Folder: 8 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)
Scrap book (newspaper clippings), 1932-1939, inclusive
Box: 30, Folder: 9 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)
Subseries D: Writings
Address and note books, undated, inclusive
Box: 30, Folder: 10 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)
Articles by Si Lan Chen, 1941-1982, inclusive
Box: 30, Folder: 11 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)
Chen, Jack: Articles and writings, 1938-1950, inclusive
Box: 30, Folder: 12 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)
Chen, Jack: Drawings, 1933-1936, inclusive
Box: 30, Folder: 13 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)
Diary, 1942, inclusive
Box: 31, Folder: 1 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)
"Footnote to history" (correspondence), 1942, inclusive
Box: 31, Folder: 2 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)
"Footnote to history" (typescript) 1, undated, inclusive
Box: 31, Folder: 3 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)
"Footnote to history" (typescript) 2, undated, inclusive
Box: 31, Folder: 4 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)
"Footnote to history" (typescript) 3, undated, inclusive
Box: 31, Folder: 5 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)
"Footnote to history" (typescript) 4, undated, inclusive
Box: 31, Folder: 6 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)
Printed Sheet Music and Handwritten Scores, undated
Box: 32 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)
"The road to Peking: an idea for a Hope-Crosby-Lamour film" (typescript); 1943 [?], ca.1943, inclusive
Box: 31, Folder: 7 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)
"The summer of my life" (autobiographical notebook) Vol. 1, 1936, inclusive
Box: 31, Folder: 8 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)
"The summer of my life" (autobiographical notebook) Vol. 2, 1936, inclusive
Box: 31, Folder: 9 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)
"The summer of my life" (autobiographical notebook) Vol. 3, 1941, inclusive
Box: 31, Folder: 10 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)
Unpublished writings, undated, inclusive
Box: 31, Folder: 11 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)
