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Mikels (Elaine) papers
LSC.1954
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Contributing Institution:
UCLA Library Special Collections
Title: Elaine Mikels papers
Creator:
Mikels, Elaine
Identifier/Call Number: LSC.1954
Physical Description:
1.6 linear feet
(4 document boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1969-2004
Abstract: Born in Los Angeles in 1921, Elaine Mikels spent her early life in California attending UCLA, UC Berkeley, and USC, later
receiving a Master's in Social Work. During this time, Mikels' struggles with expressing and living out her lesbian identity
began as she grappled with forming healthy relationships and finding queer community amid the conformist atmosphere of the
1940s, 1950s, and early 1960s. Documented by over two-hundred photographs in the collection, Mikel's political activism on
a national scale began in the late 1960s and continued throughout her life as she organized demonstrations for the anti-war
movement, created lesbian-feminist communities, and participated in pacifist and civil disobedience actions. The collection
includes materials related to the publication of Elaine Mikels' autobiography, as well as a copy of the final published version.
Also included are personal papers, journals, correspondence, and various personal materials.
Physical Location: Stored off-site. All requests to access special collections material must be made in advance using the request button located
on this page.
Language of Material: Materials are in English.
Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located
on this page.
Conditions Governing Use and Reproduction
Property rights to the objects belong to UCLA Library Special Collections. All other rights, including copyright, are retained
by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue
the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.
UCLA Catalog Record ID:
9969568603606533
Provenance/Source of Acquisition
Provenance unknown.
This collection is part of an outreach and collection-building partnership between the
June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives , the
UCLA Center for the Study of Women (CSW) and the
UCLA Library .
[Identification of item], Elaine Mikels Papers (Collection 1954). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research
Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
Processed by Stacy Wood, 2011. Description enhanced and further physical processing completed by Sabrina Ponce in 2017. Further
desciption enhancement by Eric Olsen in 2022.
The
June L. Mazer Lesbian Archive at UCLA is an outreach and collection-building partnership between the
June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives , the
UCLA Center for the Study of Women (CSW) and the
UCLA Library . These collections expand the pool of primary source materials available to researchers and to the community at large. This
partnership was initiated by CSW and is funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to inventory, organize,
preserve, and digitize more than eighty Mazer collections pertaining to lesbian and feminist activism and writings.
Collections are processed to a variety of levels depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived user
interest and research value, availability of staff and resources, and competing priorities. Library Special Collections provides
a standard level of preservation and access for all collections and, when time and resources permit, conducts more intensive
processing. These materials have been arranged and described according to national and local standards and best practices.
We are committed to providing ethical, inclusive, and anti-racist description of the materials we steward, and to remediating
existing description of our materials that contains language that may be offensive or cause harm. We invite you to submit
feedback about how our collections are described, and how they could be described more accurately, by filling out the form
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Report Potentially Offensive Description in Library Special Collections.
Elaine Mikels was born in 1921 in Los Angeles, and she spent much of her early life in California. Although raised Jewish,
she attended Flintridge, a Catholic boarding school. As a closested lesbian, Mikels spoke about her early relationships with
women who identified as straight and later went on to get married. Similarly to other closeted women living in the 1940s,
she had little concept of how to deal with her own relationships much less build community though shared interests. During
this period she suffered from depression and was hospitalized.
After WWII, Mikels worked in Germany with the Quakers through the State Department. She was expelled from the program because
of her psychiatric records naming her as a lesbian. She returned to the United States and settled briefly in New York, later
traveling for the next several years throughout Europe and the Middle East. In 1951 she settled in San Francisco and pursued
social work.
In San Francisco, she became active in the Mattachine Society and ONE magazine. It was also during this period, in 1959, that
she established the Conard House. The Conard House was the first halfway house in San Francisco, specifically conceived as
a transitional community for people with mental illness who were returning to San Francisco from Napa State Hospital.
Beginning in the late 1960s, Elaine Mikels underwent a period of politicization, "when I broke away from the system. I went
through an amazing personal transformation, not unlike many others during this time of civil strife and the war in Vietnam.
I was no longer afraid of authority figures." Afterwards, Mikels left her professional social work career for full-time activism.
During the 1970s and 1980s, Mikels help found lesbian-feminist communities, organized demonstrations for the anti-war movement,
participated in peace actions and walks, and documented lesbian events across the nation. Later in life, Mikels' activism
shifted focus to highlight the accomplishments and stories of older women through creating networks such as the Older Lesbians
Organizing for Change and publications such as the Older Women's Network. These organizations brought together older feminists
and lesbian women who share resources and support for activist goals, housing, employment, and networks of care. In the early
1990s, Mikels wrote the autobiography
Just Lucky I Guess: From Closet Lesbian to Radical Dyke which documents her life's struggles, accomplishments, relationships, and global travels.
| 1921 | Elaine Mikels born |
| 1951 | Elaine Mikels moves to San Francisco |
| 1959 | Elaine Mikels founds Conard House |
| 1976 | Founding of OWN (Older Women's Network) |
| 1977 | Women's Gathering in Ashland, OR. |
| 1981 | Women's Pentagon Action |
| June 12, 1982 | Nuclear Disarmament Rally |
| June 3 - July 4, 1983 | PeaceWalk from Durham, N.C. to Seneca Peace Camp |
| 1983 | Dyke Olympics |
| 1984 | PeaceWalk from Gainesville, FL to Key West, FL. |
The Elaine Mikels papers are comprised of photographs taken by Elaine Mikels in several different locations and with different
groups of people. Included are photographs of lesbian activist gatherings, lesbian social gatherings and sports clubs, lesbian
writing groups, and self-published newsletters. The collection also includes materials related to the publication of Elaine
Mikels' autobiography,
Just Lucky I Guess: From Closet Lesbian to Radical Dyke, as well as a copy of the final published version. Also included are personal papers, journals, correspondence, and various
personal materials. The pictures contained in the Mikels collection of
Feminary writers, producers, and supporters reflect a new political imperative in Mikel's work. The most prominent participant in
the
Feminary editorial collective was Minnie Bruce Pratt; photographs of her are contained within the collection. Also represented in the
collection are photographs documenting the Women's Pentagon Action, a two-thousand-woman protest that surrounded the Pentagon
in 1981. Eventually, Mikels settled in Santa Fe, but most of her photographic collection represents her time in Oregon and
North Carolina.
Photographs arranged in chronological order are first in the collection. Thereafter, materials are arranged chronologically
with the exception of materials about
Just Lucky I Guess that, as a continuous project, are kept together.
Portions of this collection have been digitized and are available online:
Elaine Mikels papers (14 items).
Old Lesbians Organizing for Change
records (Collection 2203).
Available at UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA.
Papers of Cynthia Rich and Barbara
Macdonald
Available at Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.
Papers of Barbara Deming Available at Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Photographs.
Social workers -- California -- San Francisco.
Older lesbians -- United States -- Archives.
Lesbian activists -- United States -- Archives.
June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives
June L. Mazer Lesbian Archive at UCLA
Mikels, Elaine