Denslow (Jack) Collection, 1922-1948

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Summary

Title:
Jack Denslow Collection
Dates:
1922-1948
Creators:
Denslow, Jack and Messetti, Vivian
Abstract:
These materials, collected by Jack Denslow, document the life of Henrique Vivian Messetti, who was an intersex person. Messetti was a writer, performer, and member of a vaudeville-circus family active during the 1920s-1940s. The majority of the collection contains Messetti's incoming and outgoing correspondence.
Extent:
10.4 linear feet
Language:
English .
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Jack Denslow Collection, D-268, Archives and Special Collections, UC Davis Library, University of California, Davis.

Background

Scope and content:

Collection contains correspondence and general interest files pertaining to Henrique Vivian Messetti's activities between 1922-1948.

Biographical / historical:

Jack Denslow (1944-) was born in Tacoma, Washington and spent his early years in Hawaii and his high school years in Oklahoma. He earned a B.A. in Psychology, a B.S. in Computer Science, and an M.A. in Mythology, and has spent his career working in the technology field. Throughout his life, Denslow collected material on Vivian Messetti that captured Messetti's interests, connections, and pursuits.

Henrique Vivian Messetti was born on September 5, 1918, in Spain, where her parents were performing. Upon the family's return to the United States, Los Angeles became their permanent residence. Messetti began appearing on the stage at the age of four. Most of her work was in vaudeville/circus productions although she also claimed to have performed in a few motion picture serials. In later years she dropped her first name while continuing to perform as a female impersonator. She was with, among others, the touring Messett's Great Road Show, Little Eva's Temptation Company, and F.A. Cunningham's Kick High Musical Circus.

Female impersonation was an art form that in America emerged from popular minstrel shows of the mid-nineteenth century where white men employed racist stereotypes to perform gender impersonations of Black people, both male and female. Gender impersonation flourished from 1890 to World War I, and as its popularity declined in the early twentieth century, female impersonators took their acts to the vaudeville stage.

Sources

Slide, Anthony. Great Pretenders: A History of Female and Male Impersonation in the Performing Arts. Wallace-Homestead Book Company, 1987.

Acquisition information:
Donated by Jack Denslow in 1999.
Processing information:

Processed by Rebecca Wendt. EAD finding aid created by Sara Gunasekara with assistance from Jared Campbell and Jim Sylva. Revised March 23, 2004. Reparative metadata description completed by Michelle Trujillo in 2026.

Reparative Metadata Revision Statement

Use of "Henrique" was retained within notes and descriptions to aid in historical research, as it's unclear whether Messetti used "Vivian" as her primary name and in what contexts, other records of her life use her former name, and she is deceased.

Implemented the use of she/her pronouns when referring to Messetti in order to match her usage and respect her linguistic authority (see "A Little of My Life," 1959, Digital Transgender Archive).

Retained use of "female impersonator" as it refers to a specific art form during a certain period of time and it was also one of Messetti's modes of employment. See Biographical Narrative.

Contextual information and reparative description was completed in consultation with Director and Assistant Director of the Digital Transgender Archive in 2025, who are affiliated with the Digital Transgender Harm Reduction Guide and Homosaurus: An International LGBTQ+ Linked Data Vocabulary. Consultation established that we were not conflating transgender people with intersex people. A statement of harmful content note was also added regarding use of language that was retained.

Arrangement:

Arranged in two series: 1. Correspondence and 2. General Interest Files.

Physical location:
This collection is stored off-site at the Northern Regional Library Facility. Researchers should contact Archives and Special Collections to request collections in advance.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Sara Gunasekara
Date Encoded:
This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2026-05-11 15:51:34 -0700 .

Access and use

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

All applicable copyrights for the collection are protected under chapter 17 of the U.S. Copyright Code. Requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Regents of the University of California as the owner of the physical items. It is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the researcher.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Jack Denslow Collection, D-268, Archives and Special Collections, UC Davis Library, University of California, Davis.

Location of this collection:
University of California, Davis, Special Collections, UC Davis Library
100 NW Quad
Davis, CA 95616-5292, US
Contact:
(530) 752-1621
speccoll@ucdavis.edu
Website