Library acquires Irene Castle collection
July 1, 2021
Ballroom dancer. Silent film star. Fashion designer. Animal rights advocate. Irene Castle wore many hats – and donned countless dazzling costumes – as a celebrity during the early twentieth century.
Through a gift from John Foote ’74 and Kristen Rupert ’74, Cornell University Library recently acquired Castle’s collection of professional and personal mementos chronicling her colorful, trendsetting career.
Aficionados of silent film, lovers of local lore, and scholars in filmmaking, fashion, and other disciplines have a lot to explore and learn from the collection, according to Foote, who lectures at the Cornell Institute for Public Affairs and is a distant relative of Castle’s.