Ann Heintze papers
Collection
0005-LIT
Ann Heintze (1921-1987), was a professional dancer and ballet instructor and one of Katherine Anne Porter's nieces. She danced with the San Carlo Opera Ballet, Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, and at Radio City Music Hall before her marriage to Walter Heintze in 1950. She maintained a close relationship with Porter and traveled with her to Europe and Mexico in the 1960s. The collection consists of letters and postcards to Mrs. Heintze and her family from Porter. There is also correspondence relating to Mary Alice Holloway, Mrs. Heintze's sister who died in 1919.
This collection is open for research.
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0.50 Linear Feet
English
The papers of Ann Holloway Heintze date 1912 to 1977 and primarily consist of correspondence from Katherine Anne Porter to Mrs. Heintze (1936-1976). The collection also contains correspondence from Miss Porter to Gay Porter Holloway, Walter Heintze, and the Heintzes' two sons, David and Donald. Scattered throughout the collection are miscellaneous periodical clippings that related to the content of the letters. The papers also contains correspondence from 1912 and 1918 that had belonged to Gay Porter Holloway. The correspondents in this portion include T.H. Holloway (Mrs. Heintze's father), Miss Porter, and Harrison Boone Porter (Miss Porter's father). This portion also contains two photographs of Gay Porter Holloway.
Ann Holloway Heintze, who was a professional dancer and dance teacher, developed a warm and mutually supportive relationship with her aunt Katherine Anne Porter. Mrs. Heintze began writing to her aunt at the age of fourteen, and they continued to correspond throughout Porter's life. They traveled extensively together: in 1958, to Mexico; in 1963, to France and Italy; and, in 1964, to Mexico again.
Ann Heintze was born on June 16, 1921, in Houston, Texas, the daughter of Porter's older sister Gay and her husband T.H. Holloway. She grew up in Houston, and studied ballet at Katchy Ballet School through high school. In 1938, she joined the San Carlo Opera Ballet, dancing under the professional name of Anna Gay. In 1940, she married Walter Hemmerly, a fellow member of the San Carlo Opera and moved to New York City. While they were living in New York, Hemmerly joined the armed services. While Walter served in Europe during World War II, Ann taught ballet and took dance and Spanish lessons.
In 1945, she joined her aunt in Santa Monica, California, and studied with Bronislava Nijinska. Ann joined the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo in 1946, leaving the company to dance at Radio City Music Hall from 1947 to 1951, with time out to join the Ballet Russe at Convent Garden in 1947.
As a result of her work at Radio City Music Hall, she was invited to Venezuela in 1949 to perform briefly with the resident opera company; she returned to New York of the same year. Also in 1949, while still dancing at Radio City Music Hall, she divorced Walter Hemmerly. On April 21, 1950, Ann Holloway married Walter Heintze, a successful Swedish industrial designer. Mr. and Mrs. Heintze settled in New Canaan, Connecticut, and raised two sons, David (b. 1952) and Donald (b. 1954). In 1956, she opened her own ballet school, New Canaan Ballet School.
In 1987, Ann Holloway Heintze died.
This collection has been arranged as one series.
The University of Maryland at College Park Libraries purchased the papers from Mrs. Heintze in 1981.
When the collection was processed in 1982, the correspondence was separated by type, letters and postcards, and then filed roughly chronologically. When it was reprocessed in 1994, all of the items were interfiled chronologically. Staples and paper clips have been removed and replaced with plastic clips. The correspondence has been placed in acid-free folders in an acid-free box. Newspaper clippings have been photocopied onto acid-free bond paper, and the originals destroyed.
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