Finding Aid for the Lillian Faderman papers, 1976-1989
Processed by Janine Liebert; machine-readable finding aid created by Caroline Cubé.
UCLA Library Special Collections
Room A1713, Charles E. Young Research Library
Box 951575
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575
Email: spec-coll@library.ucla.edu
URL: http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/special/scweb/
© 2009
The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
Descriptive Summary
Title: Lillian Faderman papers
Date (inclusive): 1976-1989
Collection number: 1849
Creator:
Lillian Faderman
Extent:
18 manuscript boxes.
8 oversize boxes.
Abstract: Faderman's papers consist of drafts of her published papers and book reviews and manuscript and typescript versions of three
of her books:
Surpassing the Love of Men (1981);
Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers (1991) and
Chloe Plus Olivia (1994). The papers also include background research for her various publications; correspondence relating to her publications
and speaking engagements; publicity materials and lesbian, gay and women's publications produced by now defunct small presses
and various organizations.
Language: Finding aid is written in
English.
Repository:
University of California, Los Angeles. Library. Department of Special Collections.
Los Angeles, California 90095-1575
Physical location: Stored off-site at SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact the UCLA Library, Department
of Special Collections Reference Desk for paging information.
Selected digitized images from this collection.
Administrative Information
Restrictions on Access
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF: Open for research. Advance notice required for access. Contact the UCLA Library, Department
of Special Collections Reference Desk for paging information.
Restrictions on Use and Reproduction
Property rights to the physical object belong to the UCLA Library,
Department of Special Collections. Literary 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.
Provenance/Source of Acquisition
Gift of Lillian Faderman, 1991.
Processing History
The collection was processed by Janine Liebert in 2007-2008.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Lillian Faderman papers (Collection Number 1849). Department of Special Collections, Charles E.
Young Research Library, UCLA.
Biography
Lillian Faderman is an internationally-known literary scholar and historian of lesbian history. She has published nine books
and numerous articles on lesbian history, literature and criticism, including Surpassing the Love of Men (1981), an acclaimed
study of five centuries of love between women, and Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers (1991), a history of twentieth-century lesbians
in America, which were both named among The New York Times notable books of the year; her memoir, Naked in the Promised Land
(2003) and her latest book, Gay L.A. (2006), which she co-authored with Stuart Timmons.
Faderman's work has centered on establishing a lesbian tradition, on what she calls a "usable past." In her early works, especially
in Surpassing the Love of Men and Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers, she showed that so-called romantic friendships between women
were considered neither abnormal nor undesirable in prior centuries. Accordingly, women who loved women in the past were not
always made to live like outlaws. Only after 1980, in the aftermath of sexology, did same-sex love between women come to be
seen as suspect, degenerate or even criminal. Faderman has also written on the theme of same-sex love and romantic friendship
in poems and letters of Emily Dickenson; in novels by Henry James, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and
in popular magazine fiction of the early twentieth century.
Faderman's later book,
To Believe in Woman: What Lesbians Have Done for America–A History (1999) is the culmination of her two previous books,
Surpassing the Love of Men and Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers. It charts romantic friendships between women and lesbian love through some of the most important social movements in the
U.S. and shows how these same-sex partnerships made major feminist causes of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries
possible.
Faderman's other major books, each groundbreaking when it was published, are
Lesbians in Germany (1980), her first work in lesbian history;
Scotch Verdict (1983), which chronicles the 1810 trial of two Scottish schoolteachers accused of lesbianism;
Chloe Plus Olivia (1994), an anthology of lesbian literature since the seventeenth century and
I Begin My Life All Over: The Hmong and the American Immigrant Experience (1998), which records the story of 36 Hmong immigrants to California. Her articles on lesbian life and literature have appeared
in diverse academic, feminist and lesbian journals, including
The New England Quarterly,
The Massachusetts Review,
Journal of Popular Culture, Higginson Journal,
Journal of Homosexuality,
Signs,
Conditions and Gay Books Bibliography.
Faderman was born July 18, 1940 in the Bronx, New York, the daughter of a single working mother who lost most of her family
in the Holocaust. Throughout her childhood, Faderman's dream was to become a movie star. Faderman's family moved to east L.A.
when she was a teen and she later attended U.C. Berkeley, where she worked as a burlesque stripper to support herself. She
received a B.A. in English literature from U.C. Berkeley in 1962, an M.A. in English from UCLA in 1964, and a Ph.D. in English
from UCLA in 1967. In 1967, Faderman started teaching in the English department at California State University, Fresno, where
she began her career co-editing two anthologies of American multi-ethnic literature: Speaking for Ourselves: American Ethnic
Writing (1969; 1975) and From the Barrio: A Chicano Anthology (1973).
Faderman served in various administrative positions (1971-1976) at California State University, Fresno, including Chair of
the English Department, Acting Dean of the School of Humanities and Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs and then
decided she preferred teaching and writing. Faderman, along with Phyllis Irwin, helped establish the first women's study program
at California State University, Fresno in 1972. She was promoted to full Professor of English in 1973. Irwin later became
her domestic partner of 40 years. They have one child: Avrom (1975- ).
Throughout her career, Faderman has been sought after as a speaker, teacher, critic, and visiting lecturer. Faderman has been
a frequent speaker at lesbian and feminist organizations, universities, and lesbian, gay and women's organizations nationally
and internationally, including the Modern Language Association (MLA), the National Women's Studies Association (NWSA), GAU
(Gay Academic Union) and the Berkshire Women's History Conference.
Faderman's work has been translated into numerous languages, including German, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Turkish, Czech,
and Slovenian. Among her many honors are six Lambda Literary Awards, two American Library Association Awards, and several
lifetime achievement awards for scholarship, including Yale University's James Brudner Award, the Monette/Horwitz Award, the
Publishing Triangle Award, the ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives Culture Hero Award, and the American Association of University
Women's Distinguished Senior Scholar Award. She divides her time between Fresno and San Diego.
Chronology
| 1940 |
Born July 18, Bronx, NY. |
| 1962 |
Received B.A. in English Literature from U.C. Berkeley. |
| 1964 |
Received M.A. in English from UCLA. |
| 1967 |
Received Ph.D. in English from UCLA. |
| 1967 - Present |
Started teaching in the English department at California State University, Fresno. |
| 1969 |
Co-edited Speaking for Ourselves: American Ethnic Writing |
| 1971 - 1976 |
Served in various administrative positions at California State University, Fresno, including Chair of the Department of English,
Acting Dean of the School of Humanities, and Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs.
|
| 1973 |
Co-edited From the Barrio: A Chicano Anthology |
| 1973 |
Promoted to full Professor of English California State University, Fresno. |
| 1980 |
Co-authored Lesbians in Germany, first book on a lesbian topic |
| 1981 |
Published Surpassing the Love of Men: Romantic Friendship and Love Between Women from the 16th Century to the Present. |
| 1983 |
Published Scotch Verdict |
| 1991 |
Published Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers |
| 1994 |
Published Chloe Plus Olivia |
| 1998 |
Published I Begin My Life All Over: The Hmong and the American Immigrant Experience. |
| 1999 |
Published To Believe in Woman: What Lesbians Have Done for America-A History |
| 2003 |
Published Naked in the Promised Land |
| 2006 |
Co-published Gay L.A.: A History of Sexual Outlaws, Power, Politics and Lipstick Lesbians with Stuart Timmons |
Scope and Content
The Lillian Faderman papers document the internationally acclaimed lesbian historian's professional life. Papers date from
1975-1994, with the majority spanning the period 1979-1989. Among the papers are drafts of her published papers and book reviews
and manuscript drafts of three of her books; correspondence, publicity materials, background research, contracts and royalty
statements, printed matter, photographs and audio materials.
Publications, 1981-1994 (Series 1, Boxes 1-13), include drafts of Faderman's published papers and book reviews and manuscript
drafts of three of her books: Surpassing the Love of Men (1981), an acclaimed study of five centuries of love between women;
Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers (1991), a history of twentieth-century lesbians in America and Chloe Plus Olivia (1994), an
anthology of lesbian literature since the seventeenth century.
Correspondence, 1979-1989 and undated (Series 2, Boxes 14-17), is with individuals; agents and publishers and institutions
and organizations and concerns awards and prizes; the editorial process for Surpassing the Love of Men, including Faderman's
choice of a commercial New York publisher; requests for reviews, speaking engagements and for Faderman's participation in
programs or events; fan mail; legal matters, including foreign subsidiary rights and research files. Also included are letters
and cards from Faderman's friends and a photograph of Phyllis Irwin, Faderman's domestic partner.
Printed Matter, 1975-1990 (Series 3, Box 18 and oversized boxes 19-27) includes newsletters, periodicals and newspapers of
various lesbian, gay and women's organizations and groups and now defunct small presses.
Audio Materials, 1980-1981 (Series 4, Box 18) consists of both taped materials and compact discs covering interviews by Faderman
with Barbara Gittings, an early pioneer lesbian activist, and Mariana Romo-Carmona, a Latina lesbian artist from New York
City, for Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers.
Organization and Arrangement
Arranged in the following series:
- Series 1. Publications, 1981-1994. Boxes 1-13
- Series 2. Correspondence, 1979 - 1989, n.d.. Boxes 14-17
- Series 3. Printed matter, 1975-1990. Box 18 and oversized boxes 19-26
- Series 4. Audio materials, 1987, Oct.. Box 18
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Subjects
Lillian Faderman
Related Material
Container List
Series 1.
Publications
1981-1994
Physical Description: Boxes 1-13
Scope and Content Note
This series contains manuscript and typescript drafts of various publications by Faderman. The largest section of files includes
the manuscript drafts and galley proofs of three books written by Faderman: Surpassing the Love of Men: (1981); Odd Girls
and Twilight Lovers (1991) and Chloe Plus Olivia (1994). There are also drafts of published papers and book reviews written
by Faderman and prospectuses and outlines for forthcoming publications.
Arrangement
Arranged alphabetically by folder label or chronologically by date.
Subseries 1.
Surpassing the Love of Men
1981
Physical Description: Boxes 1-9
Box 1
Completed manuscript draft of Surpassing the Love of Men
1981
Physical Description: 8 folders
Box 2
Surpassing the Love of Men uncorrected galley proofs with edits
1981
Physical Description: 11 folders
Box 3
Surpassing the Love of Men uncorrected galley proofs with edits
1981
Physical Description: 6 folders
Note
Contains Start - Pg. 96; see Box 4 for Pg. 97 to end.
Box 4
Surpassing the Love of Men uncorrected galley proofs with edits
1981
Physical Description: 6 folders
Note
Contains Pg. 97 to end; see Box 3 for Start - Pg. 96.
Box 5
Surpassing the Love of Men uncorrected galley proofs with edits (most recent draft)
1981
Physical Description: 6 folders
Scope and Content Note
Contains Start to Pg. 265; see Box 6 for Pg. 266 to end.
Box 6
Surpassing the Love of Men uncorrected galley proofs with edits (most recent draft)
1981
Physical Description: 6 folders
Scope and Content Note
Contains Pg. 266 to end. See Box 5 for start to Pg. 265.
Box 7
Surpassing the Love of Men corrected galley proofs
1981
Physical Description: 10 folders
Scope and Content Note
Contains Start - Pg. 233; see Box 8 for Pg. 234 - end.
Box 8
Surpassing the Love of Men corrected galley proofs
1981
Physical Description: 11 folders
Scope and Content Note
Contains Pg. 234 - end; see Box 7 for start to pg. 233.
Box 9
Surpassing the Love of Men master galley proofs
1981
Physical Description: 11 folders
Note
Includes artwork and typescript.
Subseries 2.
Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers
1991
Physical Description: Box 10
Box 10
Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers uncorrected proofs
1991
Physical Description: 7 folders
Subseries 3.
Other publications
1979-1987
Physical Description: Box 11
Arrangement
Alphabetical by folder label and then chronological by date.
Box 11
Prospectuses and outlines
1979-1987
Physical Description: 1 folder
Scope and Content Note
Proposed publications include Surpassing the Love of Men (1981); Love Between Women in the Twentieth Century and Women and
War: History and the Present.
Box 11
Published papers and book reviews
1979-1987
Physical Description: 13 folders
Scope and Content Note
Drafts of published papers and book reviews written by Faderman, including articles on the theme of same-sex love and romantic
friendship in poems and letters of Emily Dickenson; in novels by Henry James, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow;
and in popular magazine fiction of the early twentieth century. Also includes Faderman's publications on the Scottish schoolmistresses
whose lesbian libel suit inspired Lillian Hellman's The Children's Hour and led to the publication of Faderman's Scotch Verdict.
Subseries 4.
Chloe Plus Olivia
1994
Physical Description: Boxes 12-13
Box 12
Completed manuscript draft of Chloe Plus Olivia
1994
Physical Description: 7 folders
Scope and Content Note
Start - Pg. 657. See Box 13 for Pg. 658 - End.
Box 13
Completed manuscript draft of Chloe Plus Olivia
1994
Physical Description: 5 folders
Scope and Content Note
Pg. 658 - End. See Box 12 for Start - Pg. 657.
Series 2.
Correspondence
1979 - 1989, n.d.
Physical Description: Boxes 14-17
Scope and Content Note
Contains correspondence and memoranda, contracts and publicity materials related to Faderman's publications and speaking engagements.
The materials also include some information on foreign subsidiary rights relating to Surpassing the Love of Men and Scotch
Verdict and permissions for various publications by Faderman to be reprinted.
Arrangement
Arranged alphabetically by folder title, and then chronologically by date.
Box 14
Awards correspondence
1982-1983
Physical Description: 1 folder
Scope and Content Note
Correspondence and memoranda related to awards and honorary degrees conferred, including the 1982 Gay Academic Union (GAU)
"Literature Award", the 1982-83 California State University, Fresno (CSUF) "Distinguished Professor" award and the 1982 American
Library Association (ALA) Gay Task Force's "Gay Book Award."
Box 14
Fan mail
1977-1988
Physical Description: 10 folders
Scope and Content Note
Fan mail consists of letters, postcards and greeting cards and contains general letters and specific ones lauding Surpassing
the Love of Men, Scotch Verdict and other publications. Correspondents are individuals, including personal friends, women's
studies professors, colleagues, teachers, students, politicians, editors and activists.
Note
Correspondence related to awards and honorary degrees conferred, including the 1982 Gay Academic Union (GAU) "Literature Award",
the 1982-83 California State University, Fresno (CSUF) "Distinguished Professor" award and the 1982 American Library Association
(ALA) Gay Task Force's "Gay Book Award," was removed and placed in the Awards Correspondence folder (also in Box 14).
Box 15
Correspondence relating to Surpassing the Love of Men and Scotch Verdict
1978-1989
Physical Description: 9 folders
Scope and Content Note
Correspondence and memoranda concerning the editorial process for Surpassing the Love of Men and Scotch Verdict. Correspondence
is with agents, publishers and editors and concerns contracts, royalty statements, subsidiary rights and permissions, translations,
editorial changes and publicity.
Box 16
Correspondence relating to published papers and book reviews
1976-1989
Physical Description: 10 folders
Scope and Content Note
Consists mainly of proposed submissions for articles and book reviews and for speaking engagements; calls for papers and requests
to write and review.
Note
See Box 11 for related published papers and book reviews. Folder series originally labelled Acceptances, Rejections and Requests
to Write and Review.
Box 16
Correspondence relating to editorial boards and requests to write/review
1979-1989
Physical Description: 1 folder
Scope and Content Note
Consists mainly of requests for Faderman's participation on editorial boards and panels.
Box 16
Correspondence relating to speaking engagements and publicity materials
1976-1987
Physical Description: 6 folders
Scope and Content Note
Requests for Faderman's participation in conferences, programs and events and as visiting lecturer. Publicity materials concern
Surpassing the Love of Men and Scotch Verdict and include press announcements, book reviews and clippings.
Box 17
Other correspondence
1976-1989
Physical Description: 10 folders
Scope and Content Note
Contains a mixture of personal and professional correspondence that is not related to the editorial process for Faderman's
publications. Correspondence concerns Faderman's speaking engagements, research relating to her publications and to lesbian
and women's studies and requests for reviewers. Publicity materials and ephemera relating to Faderman's publications and to
lesbian and women's publishing are also included here. Correspondents include various lesbian, gay and women's groups and
publications, institutions and organizations and various individuals. The most noteworthy of these include Barbara Grier,
Barbara Gittings, and Phyllis Irwin. Also of interest is the Judith Schwarz/Jonathan Katz correspondence which explains the
issues surrounding Faderman's choice of a commercial publisher (William Morrow) for Surpassing the Love of Men.
Note
Folder 8 includes a photograph of Phyllis Irwin, Faderman's domestic partner, from Taos, 1987.
Series 3.
Printed matter
1975-1990
Physical Description: Box 18 and oversized boxes 19-26
Scope and Content Note
Contains newspapers, newsletters and periodicals by now defunct small presses and various lesbian, gay and women's organizations
that do not include works written by Faderman.
Arrangement
Chronological by Date of Publication.
Subseries 1.
Newsletters and periodicals
1975-1988
Physical Description: Box 18
Arrangement
Arranged alphabetically by folder title, and then chronologically by date.
Scope and Content Note
Publications produced by now defunct small presses and various lesbian, gay and women's organizations and groups that do not
include works written by Faderman.
Box 18
Gay Life Magazine (St. Louis, MO)
1979, Feb - March
Physical Description: 1 folder
Box 18
Gay Literature (Fresno, CA)
1975
Physical Description: 3 folders
Box 18
Gay Teachers Association Newsletter (New York City, NY)
1978-1982
Physical Description: 3 folders
Note
Full run for 1978-1979; partial run for 1980-1982.
Box 18
GLAD News (Gay and Lesbian Alliance of Greater Danbury, CT)
1988, Feb. - May
Physical Description: 1 folder
Box 18
GLAD Tidings (Deleware's Lesbian & Gay News)
1983, July, Dec.
Physical Description: 1 folder
Box 18
Golden Threads (Quincy, MA)
1988, July
Physical Description: 1 folder
Box 18
GPU News (Gay People's Union, Milwaukee, WI)
1979, Aug.
Physical Description: 1 folder
Subseries 2.
Newspapers
1979 - 1990
Physical Description: Oversized Boxes 19 - 26
Arrangement
Chronological by Date of Publication.
Scope and Content Note
Newspapers produced by now defunct small presses and various lesbian, gay and women's organizations that do not include works
written by Faderman.
Box 19
Gay Life (The Midwestern Gay Weekly, Chicago, IL)
1982, Oct. - Dec
Physical Description: 13 issues
Note
Not a complete run. See Box 20 for 1983, Jan - Feb; 1983, July; 1985, March-April.
Box 20
Gay Life (The Midwestern Gay Weekly, Chicago, IL)
1983, Jan. - Feb., July, 1985, March - April
Physical Description: 7 issues
Note
Not a complete run. See Box 19 for 1982, Oct. - Dec.
Box 20
Gay Paper (published by the Gay Community Center of Baltimore, MD)
1983, April, 1989, Sept. - Oct., 1990, March - April
Physical Description: 8 issues
Note
Not a complete run.
Box 21
Gay People's Chronicle (Cleveland, OH)
1985, Aug., Nov, 1986, April - Nov, 1989, April, Nov.
Physical Description: 10 issues
Note
Not a complete run.
Box 21
GO INFO (Ottawa, Ontario)
1987, July - Sept.
Physical Description: 2 issues
Box 21
Lambda Rising BOOK REPORT (Washington, D.C.)
1989
Physical Description: 1 issue
Box 21
The GLC Voice (Minneapolis, MN)
1982, Nov., 1983, April, June
Physical Description: 4 issues
Note
Not a complete run.
Box 22
Gaysweek
1979, Jan. - June
Physical Description: 15 issues
Note
Not a complete run.
Box 23
Good Times (Columbus, OH)
1984, Dec - 1985, Dec
Physical Description: 13 issues
Note
Not a complete run.
Box 24
Good Times (Columbus, OH)
1986, Jan - 1987, Jan
Physical Description: 13 issues
Note
Not a complete run.
Box 25
GAZE (Memphis, TN)
1979, Dec - 1982, Dec
Physical Description: 30 issues
Note
Complete run for 1979, Dec - 1980, Dec; Missing Jan issue for 1981; Complete run for 1982
Box 26
GAZE (Memphis, TN)
1983, Jan - 1984, Nov
Physical Description: 21 issues
Note
Complete run for 1983; Missing Dec issue for 1984
Box 26
GAZE (Minneapolis/St. Paul and Greater Minnesota)
1987, Dec
Physical Description: 1 issue
Note
Not a complete run.
Series 4.
Audio materials
1987, Oct.
Physical Description: Box 18
Scope and Content Note
Personal interview by Faderman with Barbara Gittings, an early pioneer lesbian activist, and Mariana Romo-Carmona, a Latina
lesbian from New York City, for Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers.
Box 18
Interview with Barbara Gittings, age 55, Philadelphia
1987, Oct. 7
Physical Description: 4 folders
Scope and Content Note
Gittings recalls coming out in 1950 during her freshman year in college, searching the library for any information she could
find about homosexuality, turning to psychiatrists for more understanding of what it meant to be homosexual and tapping into
the lesbian bar culture of New York City and Philadelphia. Gittings also touches upon her initial foree into Daughters of
Bilitis, a lesbian social organization formed in San Francisco in 1955 by Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon. Gittings later established
the New York City chapter of Daughters of Bilitis.
Note
Taped materials transferred to compact discs, which consist of one use copy (two compact discs) and one master preservation
data file (two compact discs).
Box 18
Interview with Mariana Romo-Carmona, age 35, New York City
1987, Oct. 10
Physical Description: 4 folders
Scope and Content Note
Romo-Carmona, a Latina lesbian artist from New York City, discusses the alienation of lesbians of color during the 1970s and
the need to become part of lesbians of color groups. Her experience as an immigrant from Chile coming out during the 1970s
in New York City led her to form the Latina lesbian group Las Buenas Amigas (the Good Friends).
Note
Taped material transferred to compact discs which consist of one listening copy (two compact discs) and one master preservation
data file (two compact discs).
