http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/01/arts/dance/new-york-public-library-acquires-its-first-hip-hop-archive.html 2016-09-30 19:53:09 New York Public Library Acquires Its First Hip-Hop Archive Much of the archive, of Michael Holman’s materials, is video: filmed underground performances by b-boys and break-dancers. === The The library has acquired the archive of Michael Holman, a hip-hop polymath who since the late 1970s has been a downtown dance impresario, filmmaker and journalist, as well as a musician and choreographer. This acquisition will become the library’s first hip-hop collection. “The library is making a statement,” Mr. Holman said in an interview. “Ballet, modern dance, tap — the library is placing hip-hop culture on the same pedestals as other established dance movements.” Much of Mr. Holman’s archive is video: filmed underground performances by b-boys and break-dancers, with appearances by “I was wearing all these different hats,” Mr. Holman said. “If you wanted to do that, there was no one to stop you.” Now, he added, he is glad he thought to preserve all these materials. He hopes future researchers glean how D.I.Y. hip-hop was in its early days. “There was this great subcultural alchemy,” he said. “They were able to make something from thin air.”