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Title: Stephanie Sugars papers
Dates: 1970-2016
Collection Number: 2016-19
Creator/Collector:
Sugars, Stephanie
Extent: 11.25 linear feet (9 cartons)
Repository:
GLBT Historical Society
San Francisco, California 94103
Abstract: Stephanie Sugars (1956-2016) was a Sonoma County lesbian-feminist writer and activist; editor of Runes and Women’s Voices;
and blogger regarding chronic illness. This collection includes 150 notebooks, loose papers, and issues of Women’s Voices
and other feminist publications. The notebooks span the years 1970 to 2016 and contain Sugars’ reflections on relationships
with friends and lovers in Sonoma County’s lesbian-feminist community, chronic illness, alternative medicine, and death; daily
to-do lists; poetry; and some pencil sketches.
Language of Material: English
This collection is unprocessed. Third-party names (including given names and surnames) that are included in the unpublished
material are restricted. Please contact the Archivist for further information regarding options for accessing this collection.
Copyright to materials created by Stephanie Sugars has been transferred to the GLBT Historical Society. All requests for reproductions
and/or permission to publish or quote from material must be submitted in writing to the GLBT Historical Society Archivist.
Copyright to other materials in the collection may be held by their creators, or the creators' heirs or assigns. Transmission
or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the
copyright owners. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.
[Identification of item]. Stephanie Sugars papers. Collection Number: 2016-19. GLBT Historical Society
Gift of Stephanie Sugars, September 2016. Addition by Judy Helfand, January 2017.
Biography/Administrative History
Stephanie Sugars (1956-2016) was a lesbian-feminist writer and activist. Born in San Francisco in 1956, Sugars spent much
of her childhood in Woodland, California, before moving to Sonoma County in 1971. In 1976-1977, Sugar attended the University
of California, Santa Barbara, where she was active with the Isla Vista Women’s Center, helped to produce WomanFire magazine,
and came out as a lesbian-feminist. In 1978, Sugars moved back to Sonoma County and became involved with the lesbian-feminist
community there, participating in collective living for a time; helping to produce the newspaper Runes and, later, Women’s
Voices; and participating in Sisters of Lesbos Against Radiation and other anti-nuclear groups. Apart from a year in San Francisco
(1980-1981) and Carmel (1986), Sugars lived in Sonoma County for the rest of her life. Early in childhood Sugars developed
Peutz-Jeghers syndrome (PJS), a genetic disorder that leads to an increased lifetime risk of several cancers. In 1990, Sugars
developed bilateral breast cancer. From 1991, Sugars managed her cancer through alternative and holistic medicines. Sugars
wrote prolifically about chronic illness, disability, and alternative medicine, contributing to numerous print publications,
an online PJS support group, smartpatients.org, and, in the final four years of her life, her blog (https://web.archive.org/web/20230000000000*/https://www.mylifeline.org/StephanieSugars/).
Sugars died in 2016.
Scope and Content of Collection
This collection includes 150 notebooks, loose papers, and issues of Women’s Voices and other feminist publications. The notebooks
span the years 1970 to 2016 and contain Sugars’ reflections on relationships with friends and lovers in Sonoma County’s lesbian-feminist
community, chronic illness, alternative medicine, and death; daily to-do lists; poetry; and some pencil sketches.
LGBTQ
Lesbians
Health
People with disabilities
Sonoma County (Calif.)
Diaries