Allison Delarue, Princeton Class of 1928, is a graduate of the Peddie School who received both his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees from Princeton University.  While continuing graduate studies at Oxford University he became fascinated with the renaissance of ballet in England; he studied dance with the Hon. Martin-Haney and bought his first ballet print at Cyril Beaumont's famous London bookshop in Charing Cross Road.  Returning to the United States, he pursued his interest in the ballet while on the staff of the Cooper Union Museum in New York City.  A talented photographer as well as a collector and writer, for many years Mr. Delarue was on the staff of the McCarter Theatre in Princeton.  His professional memberships have included the Theatre Library Association and the American Society for Theatre Research. 

     Mr. Delarue is the author of The Chevalier Henry Wikoff: Impressario, 1840 (Princeton University Press, 1968), and Fanny Elssler in America (Dance Horizons, 1976).  His many published articles include "The Stage and Ballet Designs of Eugene Berman" (Dance Index, December 1946); "Ballet Figurines in Porcelain" (Dancing Times, November 1973); the foreword to Let Joy Be Unconfined: An Exhibition Representing Three Centuries of Ballet, Princeton University Library, 1980; and "Alfred-Edouard Chalon's Pas de Quatre" (The Princeton University Library Chronicle, Autumn, 1986). 

     It is no exaggeration to say that the staffs of the Theatre Collection at Princeton University Library over the past forty or more years have been most grateful to Mr. Delarue for his continuing support of our endeavors.  We are always eager to share with others the generosity and beauty he has entrusted to us.  For that reason, this web site is dedicated to him, with love and unending appreciation. 

Mary Ann Jensen, Curator 
William Seymour Theatre Collection 
19 September 1999