The Ward M. Canaday Center for Special Collections The University of Toledo

Finding Aid

Marie Bollinger Vogt Papers, 1929-2001

MSS-149

Size: 6 linear feet

Provenance: received from Marie Bollinger Vogt

Access: open

Related Collections:  The Marie Bollinger Vogt Rare Book Collection.  This collection, donated by Mrs. Vogt in 1992, is comprised of various books and periodicals on dance from her personal library.  It also includes books written and illustrated by Mrs. Vogt.

Processing Note:  The photographs, which came from albums, were removed from their binders and placed in folders in the order in which they were arranged. The contents of some of the scrapbooks were removed and placed in folders in the order in which they were arranged.  Box 3, folder 23 holds the contents of a magnetic scrapbook from 1972.  The materials were damaged by the glues in the original book and have been preserved as well as possible. Box 15 contains materials that are contaminated with mildew.  These materials must not be mixed with other materials.  All other material is arranged either chronologically or alphabetically when applicable according to series and subseries.

Copyright: The literary rights to this collection are assumed to rest with the person(s) responsible for the production of the particular items within the collection, or with their heirs or assigns.  Researchers bear full legal responsibility for the acquisition to publish from any part of said collection per Title 17, United States Code.  The Ward M. Canaday Center for Special Collections may reserve the right to intervene as intermediary at its own discretion.

Completed by:  Maria Halovanic, Archival Assistant, Spring 2000 and Marlo A. Kitchen,
2002.

 

Biographical/Historical Sketch

            Born in Toledo, Ohio, Marie Bollinger Vogt's career in the arts began early in her childhood. The older of two daughters of Dr. Herman Bollinger and Fannie Millbaubt Bollinger, Mrs. Vogt credits her mother with instilling in her a love of literature, theater, music, and dance.  Her primary and secondary education at Whittier Elementary and DeVilbiss High School was complemented by lessons in riding, art, composition, reading, writing, and piano, and her greatest love, dance.  "Nobody dreamed I would be so serious about dance,” Mrs. Vogt recalled in a 1991 interview in the Toledo Magazine.  "I think my mother wanted me to be a concert pianist, but dance was what was contagious to me."
            Her first serious dance instructor was Vaslav Nowicki (a resident of Detroit) from the Russian Imperial Ballet School of St. Petersburg.   During the summers, she studied at George Balanchine's School of American Ballet.  Through her studies of classical Greek dance with Nicholas Tsoukalas, classical Spanish dance with Jose Fernandez and Eduardo Cansino and Paco Cansino, and Flamenco with Lola Bravo, Mrs. Vogt gained an appreciation for ethnic dance in general and Spanish dance in particular.  By the time Mrs. Vogt was a freshman in high school, she began teaching dance herself.  "I always had a passion for teaching, imparting whatever knowledge I had for exploring dance," she said.
As a freshman in high school, she taught at the Bach Conservatory and in 1939, produced, choreographed, and starred in the first performance of The Nutcracker in Toledo.
            After graduating from high school she entered the University of Toledo where she was a member of Pi Beta Phi.   She continued to direct, choreograph, and star in various theatrical events.  After graduating in 1945, she was presented by the Toledo Museum of Art in a concert where over 1000 people had to be turned away for lack of seats.   That year Mrs. Vogt began a five year tour in her solo performance of "Dance and Music of Old Spain.”  In 1949, while choreographing the annual Toledo Junior Bar Association's Gridiron Show, she met attorney Theodore Vogt.  In November of that year they married, and Mrs. Vogt continued teaching dance at the Bach Conservatory in downtown Toledo and also conducted children’s classes in ballroom dancing at many public schools.
            In 1958, the Toledo Ballet Association was founded by a group of citizens interested in supporting Mrs. Vogt’s mission of presenting quality dance.  In 1963 The Toledo Ballet Association was incorporated as a non-profit organization.  Also that year Mrs. Vogt founded the Toledo Ballet School at Cricket West on Central Avenue.  In 1982, Mrs. Vogt moved the school and its activities to its present location at the Franklin Park Mall at the invitation of James Rouse, developer of the mall. 
            Mrs. Vogt was the artistic director of the Toledo Ballet for fifty-five years.  She introduced Toledo audiences to ballets such as Coppelia, A Midsummer's Night Dream, Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet, and Cinderella.  She brought internationally known dancers like Edward Villella, Violette Verdy, Ann Koesun, Ted Shawn, Melissa Haydn, Simon Dow, and John Kriza to dance in featured performances with the Toledo Ballet. Further, she was responsible for other ballet companies giving performances in Toledo.  Among these were the American Ballet Theatre, Agnes DeMille's Heritage Dance Theatre, and the Vaganov Academy of the Kirov Ballet.  And, of course, there is the Nutcracker, which continues to delight Toledo audiences every Christmas season. 
            Of equal importance was her running of and teaching at the Toledo Ballet School.  Over the years, she taught literally thousands of students, instilling in them a love of the dance and an appreciation for the hard work and discipline required to succeed in both dance and life. 
            As a result of her tireless work, Mrs. Vogt has received numerous awards, among them the Arts Commission Award, Zonta International Woman of Achievement Award, the University of Toledo's Gold T Award, and the Women in Communications Achievement Award.
            In 1995, after her final production of The Nutcracker, Marie Vogt stepped down from her position as artistic director of the Toledo Ballet.  She remains founder and artistic director emerita of both the school and the Toledo Ballet Association.  She also serves on the board of directors of the association, and is a trustee of numerous other Toledo cultural arts organizations.  Although she is no longer in charge of the myriad productions of the company she founded, her influence can still be felt through the students she instructs at the Toledo Ballet School.
            Besides being a talented dancer, choreographer and teacher, Mrs. Vogt is also a talented writer, having published three books on dance and her memoir.  She continues to write for the Sylvania Advantage, and illustrates many of her articles that appear in the paper.

 

Scope and Content Note

The materials in this collection have been divided into seven series.  S1. Correspondence, S2. Printed Material, S3. Production Material, S4. Ephemera, S5. Sheet Music, S6. Photographs, and S7. Scrapbooks.

The Correspondence Series is arranged alphabetically, according to the last name of the author.  There is also a miscellaneous folder that contains correspondence that could not be identified.

Printed Material is divided into five subseries:  newspaper clippings, periodicals, programs and tickets, publications, publications written by Marie Vogt, promotional materials, and miscellaneous.  The newspaper clippings are arranged by year from 1942 through 2001.  Unidentified newspaper clippings have been placed in a separate folder labeled "miscellaneous".  Additional newspaper clippings can be found in the Scrapbook Series, and prints of some Toledo Blade photographs used in the newspaper articles can be found in the Photograph Series.

Production Material consists of papers concerning the production of the ballets by the Toledo Ballet Association, including set and costume design, choreography and cast lists from the 1983-1989 Nutcracker.  The Ephemera Series contains art work, awards, and miscellaneous.           

The Sheet Music series contains sheet music used in various productions, including latin dances performed by Mrs. Vogt early in her career.  It also includes music composed by Julia Smith and a song composed by Mrs. Vogt.                                

The Photographs series is one of the largest series in the collection containing candid shots, amateur and professional photographs, head shots, and photographs appearing in the Toledo Blade.  Wherever possible, photographs of identifiable individuals have been given their own folders.  However, because of a lack of information, most of the photographs are arranged generally into company group and productions subseries.  Photographs placed in albums have been removed from the binders and kept in the original order in which they appeared in the album.  Negatives and proofs used for various publications have been included at the end of this series.

The seventh and final series, Scrapbooks, is divided into normal and oversized scrapbooks and arranged chronologically.  Due to the fragility of some of the scrapbooks, the contents of the pages which had become detached during the years have been removed and placed in folders in the order in which they originally appeared.  Some of the contents have been removed because the material the scrapbook was made of had damaged the materials.  The 1972 scrapbook was a magnetic scrapbook and the glue holding the materials on the page had eaten into the materials.  These materials unfortunately show considerable damage.  When viewing the scrapbook series, the researcher should look at both the scrapbook and the removed pages because some of the pages have captions handwritten by Mrs. Vogt.

 

Folder List

Box     Folder             Arrangement

		S1.  Correspondence
1	1	Miscellaneous
	2	Arvola, Soili
	3	DeVilbiss High School
	4	Faulkner, Joanne Johnson
	5	Fisher, Ruth Page
	6	Franklin Park Mall
	7	Furney, Linda
	8	Goodman, Donna
	9	Gosline, William
	10	Griffin, Helen Marie
	11	Hauman, Carrie
	12	Hayden, Melissa
	13	Hollinger, Jane
	14	Joseph, Shirley
	15	Koesun, Ruth Ann
	16	Landis, Bernie
	17	Magada, Virginia
	18	Mallery, Polly
	19	New York City Ballet
	20	New York World's Fair
	21	Next Year's News
	22	Pacific Dance Theater, Inc.
	23	PiBeta Phi, Toledo Area Alumnae Club
	24	Polajenko,  Nicholas
	25	Powers, Heather
	26	Purdue, John C.
	27	Roosevelt University, Chicago Musical College
	28	Schmakel, Helen
	29	Thomas, Lewis Edward
	30	Toledo Ballet Association, Inc.
	31	Toledo Cultural Arts Center
	32	Tosi, Christa
	33	University of Toledo
	34	Verdy, Violette
	35	Viscount, Bill Martin
	36	Vogt, Marie
	37	Werner, Bamby
	38	Women in Communications, Inc.
		S2:  Printed Material Newspaper clippings
1	39	Miscellaneous, n.d.
	40	1942-1947
	41	1948-1952
	42	1953-1957
	43	1958-1962
	44	1963-1967
	45	1968-1974
	46	1975-1980
	47	1981-1985
	48	1986-1990
	49	1991-1995
	50	1986-2001
		Periodicals
	51	A Bagful of Ballet
	52	Good Housekeeping
	53	Green Room Notes
	54	Impresario
	55	Toledo Magazine
	56	Toledo Women Today
	57	UT Alumnus
	58	The Wayfarer
	59	WGTE/WGLE Guide
	60	The Wonderful World of Ohio
		Publications
	61	Ballet Instruction, Lola Menzeli, n.d.
	62	The History of the Nutcracker, ETA Hoffmann, 1982
	63	The Sphere of a Woman, n.d.
		Publications by Marie Bollinger Vogt
	64	The Ballet Book, 3rd Edition, 1973, with preliminary materials
	65	Businessman's Ballet Book, 1973
	66	Jill and The Nutcracker Ballet, 1974, with preliminary materials
		Programs and Tickets
	67	Guest Companies
	68	The Nutcracker, 1958-1980
	69	The Nutcracker, 1981-1990
	70	The Nutcracker, 1991-1996
	71	Miscellaneous Performances, 1947-1965
	72	Miscellaneous Performances, 1966-1986
	73	Miscellaneous Performances, 1987-1991
	74	Miscellaneous Performances, 1992-1998
		Promotional Materials
	75	Productions, 1963-1992, n.d.
	76	Toledo Ballet Association
6	3	Posters
15	1	Posters (mildewed, do not mix with other materials)
		Miscellaneous
1	77	Toledo Ballet Association Member List
	79	Castanets, 1936
	80	About Millbaubt Family, Marie Bollinger Vogt's mother's family
	81	Misc. Printed Material
		S3.  Productions
2	1	The Nutcracker, cast lists
	2	The Nutcracker, scene design
	3	Set and Costume Material, 1976-1991, n.d.
	4	Toledo Ballet Logo
	5	Choreography
		S4.  Ephemera
	6	Artwork
	7	Award Programs
	8	Miscellaneous
		S5.  Sheet Music Normal Sized Sheet Music
	9	The Nutcracker Suite, Tchaikovsky
	10	Coppelia, Leo Delibes
	11	Midsummer Night's Dream, F. Mendelssohn Bartholdy
	12	Ballet Classics, arranged by William McDermott
	13	Babes in Toyland, Sweethearts, Victor Herbert
	14	Latin and Spanish Dances
	15	American Dance Suite, Sonatine in C, Episodic Suite, Julia Smith
	16	Spanish Vals, Farucca, Raymond H. Sachse
	17	Blue Mist, Marie Bollinger (Vogt)
	18	Miscellaneous
		Oversized Sheet Music
8	3	Femmes de Seville
		Jose Torres y Fernandez
		One Morning in May, Julia Smith
		Serenade, Tchaikovsky
		S6.  Photographs
	19	Personal
	20	Conductors
	21	Guest Dancers
	22	Toledo Ballet School
15	2	Miscellaneous (mildewed, do not mix with other materials)
		Toledo Ballet Company
2	23	Toledo Ballet Company, Individuals, Identified
	24	Toledo Ballet Company, Individuals, Unidentified
	25	Toledo Ballet Company, Groups, Identified
	26	Toledo Ballet Company, Groups, Unidentified
	27	Ahonen, Leo and Soili Arvola
	28	Bugert, Jenny
2	29	Carr, Darrah
	30	Cernovak, Velta
	31	Cisneros, Evelyn and Randazzo, Anthony
	32	Cousino, Kim
	33	Hilty, Laura
	34	Hyman, Ilana
	35	Jones, Melissa
	36	Koesun, Ruth Ann
	37	Lindsay, Hilary
	38	Miller, Armon
	39	O'Brien, Kevin
	40	Parquette, Kim and Wendy
	41	Powers, Heather
	42	Schaub, Sarah
	43	Sears, Anne Marie
	44	Sheldon, Gary
	45	Swykowski, Hilary
	46	Tosi, Christa
	47	Vogt, Marie
	48	Walter, Cheryl
	48	Wielinsky, Beth
		Productions
3	1	Copellia
	2	A Midsummer's Night Dream
	3	The Nutcracker, black and white photographs
	4	The Nutcracker, color photographs
	5	Old King Cole
	6	Les Patineurs
	7	Toledo Fest
	8	Miscellaneous
		Albums
	9	Miscellaneous
	10	Miscellaneous
	11	Miscellaneous (1 of 2)
	12	Miscellaneous (2 of 2)
		Photograph Production
	13	Proofs
	14	Negatives
		S6.  Scrapbooks Normal Size
	15	1937-1938
	16	1946-1947
	17	1958-1968 (1 of 2)
	18	1958-1968 (2 of 2)
		Oversized
	19	1963-1964 (1 of 2)
3	20	1963-1964 (2 of 2)
	21	1964-1965 (1 of 2)
	22	1964-1965 (2 of 2)
	23	1972
	24	1974
4	1	1929-1945
	2	1929-1945, removed loose-leaf material
5	1	1936-1958
	2	1936-1958, removed page 25
6	1	1942-1943
	2	1942-1943, loose materials
7	1	1942-1968
	2	1942-1968, loose materials
8	1	1947-1972
	2	1950-1952, loose materials
9	1	1948-1958
	2	1948-1958, page 1
10	1	1960-1963
11	1	1960-1989
	2	1960-1989, pages 32 and 33
12	1	1963-1964
13	1	1964-1965
14	1	1963-1985
16	1	Velta Chananok, 1951-1971