The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts Acquires Michael Holman Archive, First Hip-Hop Collection in its Holdings

Archive encompasses the complete working files and private collections of the iconic hip-hop dance impresario, filmmaker, experimental musician, journalist, and television producer


October 3, 2016 -- The Jerome Robbins Dance Division at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts has acquired the complete archives of Michael Holman, iconic downtown New York dance impresario, filmmaker, experimental musician, journalist, and television producer. The archive contains an unrivaled trove of underground video and film footage capturing the moves of b-boys and breakers at the dawn of hip-hop dance culture, and is the first archive of hip-hop materials in the Dance Division's collections. 

The Michael Holman Archive encompasses more than eight linear feet of paper materials, includes over 500 audio and moving image items, and three terabytes of electronic records. Spanning the years 1978 through 1984 and beyond, the present archive of Holman's original video and film footage, audio recordings, production notes, media clippings, manuscripts, typescripts, screenplay drafts, event flyers, and personal diaries comprises a one-of-a-kind primary source collection for researchers interested in the origins and influences of hip-hop culture, particularly as it relates to popular dance, both in live performance and its representations through film and television.

"The Michael Holman Collection is a tremendous addition to The Library for the Performing Arts' collection," said Jacqueline Z. Davis, Barbara G. and Lawrence A. Fleischman Executive Director of The Library for the Performing Arts. "Michael's multidisciplinary impact on the arts, and particularly in the realm of hip-hop is unparalleled. Because Michael worked in so many performing arts fields, his archive will not just enrich our dance holdings, but our holdings throughout the Library."

"In all the years I have visited The New York Library for the Performing Arts to do various kinds of research, I never once imagined my achieves would be a part of this important, distinguished institution," said Holman. "But now that my own history is a part of a rich tapestry that includes the papers and artifacts of artists like: Isadora Duncan, Jerome Robbins, Merce Cunningham and Mikhail Baryshnikov, I could not be more proud. In the Jerome Robbins Dance Division resides my hip-hop and downtown art scene dance, art and film archives, waiting to educate and hopefully inspire the next generation of artists and arts researchers for years to come. I am speechless."

Highlights from the Michael Holman Archive include:

  • Studio-master broadcast tapes for Holman's legendary Graffiti Rock hip-hop dance television program
  • Rich videotape library documenting in-studio television appearances and international touring live performances of Holman's renowned troupe, The New York City Breakers
  • Press clippings from Holman's career as a journalist, including the 1981 East Village Eye article in which he interviewed Afrika Bambaataa and introduced the term "hip-hop" to the printed page
  • Holman's own personal collection of 16 mm and 8mm film footage capturing New York City's vibrant downtown scene between 1981 and 1983
  • Projection reels of his best-known  experimental short films, including Stilwend, Vincent Gallo as Flying Christ and Money Dog
  • Original audio materials in the archive include studio master and live rehearsal recordings of Holman's experimental music and performance art collaboration with Jean-Michel Basquiat as the band Gray
  • Audiotape recordings featuring dozens of hours of oral history and research interviews with members of Basquiat's inner circle, conducted by Holman in the early 1990s
  • Born-digital sound recordings of his recent interviews with various first-generation hip-hop legends in New York City
  • Hundreds of pages of assorted manuscript and print document files for Holman's creative projects dating back to 1977
  • Born-digital word processing texts including original drafts of his screenplay for the 1996 Miramax feature film Basquiat
  • Graphic art including more than a dozen early hip-hop flyers for parties at Negril and elsewhere
  • More than 100 original photographs by Holman, Martha Cooper and others

An influential observer of popular culture and entertainment, Michael Holman is a filmmaker, artist, writer, and musician, based in New York City. A pioneer in the Downtown New York art scene and Uptown hip-hop Scene, Holman founded the band Gray - an industrial atmospheric, noise group - with painter Jean-Michel Basquiat, as well as created and produced the first hip-hop television show, Graffiti Rock in 1984. Holman is a writer/director/producer/educator of film, television, theater (he wrote and directed live stage performances for Nile Rodgers and Tommy Boy Music) and writes art criticism for the British magazine, Art Monthly. Holman and original band mate Nick Taylor continue to record and perform as Gray in museums around the world. Holman is also a painter of works on canvas.

After the Michael Holman Collection is processed by archivists and preservationists, it will be made available for researchers at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts in Lincoln Center.

Press Contact: Nora Lyons | noralyons@nypl.org

About The New York Public Library For The Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center

The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts houses one of the world’s most extensive combinations of circulating, reference, and rare archival collections in its field. These materials are available free of charge, along with a wide range of special programs, including exhibitions, seminars, and performances. An essential resource for everyone with an interest in the arts — whether professional or amateur — the Library is known particularly for its prodigious collections of non-book materials such as historic recordings, videotapes, autograph manuscripts, correspondence, sheet music, stage designs, press clippings, programs, posters, and photographs. The Library is part of The New York Public Library system, which has 90 locations in the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island, and is a lead provider of free education for all.