Helen Oakley Dance was a jazz producer, journalist and writer. To the general public, she is not as well-known as her husband, Stanley Dance, also a jazz journalist. Helen Oakley Dance produced early recordings for Duke Ellington, among others, and was the first jazz contributor to Downbeat magazine in the 1930s. She also served in the OSS from 1942-1945.
The Papers of Stanley Dance and Helen Oakley Dance are currently being processed at the Gilmore Music Library’s Special Collections. The Papers will be open for research this summer.