Margit Heskett papers

The Margit B. Heskett Collection includes a variety of documents which when taken together comprise a relatively complete picture of her life beginning with her youth in Teplice, Czechoslovakia in the 1920’s and 1930’s through her post retirement years and the early writing stages of a second memoir before her death in 2010.

The correspondence and news clippings provide considerable detail about her life in dance, her associates, her folk dancing studies abroad, her travels, a vast interest in the arts, and her commitment to Ethnic Studies at BGSU. Since Margit was the only child of Karl and Flora Bloch, family documents comprise a large portion of the collection beginning with her parents’ correspondence in 1913.

The photographs are a comprehensive document of Mrs. Heskett’s childhood, family, career, and friendships. Photographs and designs of her family villa in Teplice and other buildings in that area attributed to her engineer/architect father, Karl, are a useful historic record of construction in that part of eastern Europe on the eve of WWII.

Researchers of dance would find useful the documents and notes recording the dance notation, choreography and musical accompaniment for staging various dance productions Margit Heskett directed during her time at BGSU. She collaborated with colleagues from all branches of the arts to create unique productions that blended together creative forces. An original production of Antigone was filmed by the university television station, WBGU, as a documentary in the late 1960’s. The collection contains performance details and musical accompaniment by Paul Pasteur for this television program. No film copy of this production is included.

The collection does, however, include performance footage of several dance selections by the university performing dance group, Orchesis, (some featuring Margit Heskett) filmed by WBGU between 1966 and 1970. This visual record of Mrs. Heskett and her dancers is a valuable resource to anyone interested in studying dance at the university during this time period. The collection also contains programs printed for university dance performances offering additional details about the productions.

Researchers should bear in mind that some correspondence and printed materials within the collection are in Czech, German and French languages.

INCOMING CORRESPONDENCE; 1938-2010 scattered; arranged chronologically. Letters and cards sent to Margit Heskett by colleagues, friends, and others concentrate primarily upon her career as dance instructor, educator, traveler, and entertainer. Some are written in Czech, German or other languages.

OUTGOING CORRESPONDENCE; 1973-2006 scattered; arranged chronologically. Letters and cards written by Margit Heskett regarding her research and teaching of folk dances abroad, traveling in Europe, and her efforts to have property belonging to her father in the Czech Republic returned to her family. Some are written in Czech, German or other languages.

REFERENCE LETTERS; 1945-1988 scattered; arranged chronologically. This correspondence was sent from employers and colleagues and documents Margit Heskett's career accomplishments. Some are written in Czech, German or other languages.

FAMILY CORRESPONDENCE; 1913-1972, scattered, undated; arranged chronologically. These letters were sent to Karl and Flora Bloch, Margit Heskett's parents. Some letters were sent by Karl and Flora and were often written in Czech or German.

DANCE RESEARCH FILES; 1970-1983 scattered; arranged chronologically. Correspondence, credentials, summaries, reports, travel itineraries are included from Mrs. Heskett's dance research, instruction, and performance in the U. S. and in Europe.

VIKTOR MALCEV FILES; 1968; The files of Czech dancer/choreographer Viktor Malcev contain documents in the Czech language devoted primarily to details about the ballet Narodniho.

MARGIT HESKETT FAMILY FILES; 1938-2007 scattered; The files contain legal documents and correspondence sent to Margit by Czech family members when she was writing her memoir. Other documents pertain to her husband Cliff.

MARGIT'S RED BOOK FILES; 2007-2008; These include correspondence and notes regarding Margit’s on-line publication of her memoir. A cd of images used in the book is also included.

PERSONAL FILES; 1971-2008 scattered; These include Margit’s resumés, documentation about her philanthropy, travel, and friends.

M. HESKETT PUBLICATIONS; 1962-2002 scattered; Printed copies of Margit Heskett's literary works are included.

DANCE PRODUCTION RECORDS; 1966-1977 scattered; Most arranged by name of production Includes documents and notes pertinent to the choreography, musical/vocal accompaniment and artistic elements of particular BGSU dance productions performed while Margit Heskett was dance instructor.

MARGIT'S RED BOOK AND MY BOHEMIAN HERITAGE MANUSCRIPTS; 1987-2010 scattered; Includes edited copies of Margit’s memoirs along with some notes. My Bohemian Heritage was unfinished at her death.

MISCELLANEOUS LITERARY WORKS; 2000, undated; Publications and literary manuscripts by colleagues and friends of Margit Heskett are included.

GUEST BOOKS; 1931-2010 scattered; These were kept by Margit and her parents for various social events held at their homes both in the U.S. and abroad. The 2010 volume commemorates Margit’s 90th birthday party.

1915-1990 scattered, undated; Copies of Arthur Bloch, Flora Bloch, and Margit Heskett’s naturalization papers are included. Some family burial plot deeds, passports, power of attorney, teaching certificates and the like are included.

1931-2010, scattered; arranged by type of documents. Documents featured can include materials from both BGSU and elsewhere for dance performance programs and handbills, workshop/ course descriptions, Health Physical Education and Recreation conference/ meeting materials, travel brochures, invitations of various kinds. Karl Bloch’s engineering and Rotary publications, dance texts, books, various postcards of European folk costume and dance, newsclippings and the like are also included.

1915-2010, scattered. arranged by topic. The photographs include images of Margit Heskett, her family,friends, colleagues, student dancers, travels, pets, and her father’s architectural designs. There are also some “art photos” taken by her father.

MOTION PICTURE FILM 1966-1970; WBGU filmed dance productions on two units feature Margit Heskett and the university performing dancers. Digital recordings of these films are included in the collection.

1951, 1978, undated; Three LP's can include brief dance accompaniment (vocal and instrumental) and four Czech folk dances.

ARTWORK; undated; Features a watercolor by Margit Heskett when she was a child and several miscellaneous prints created by various artists.

ARTIFACTS; 1967-1971; Charm bracelet with charms given to Margit Heskett on the occasion of the performance of various BGSU dance productions. A hand tooled leather book cover possibly from Europe is included.