Freeman (Sanford and Barbara) Collection of Vivian Messetti Materials, 1943-1946

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Summary

Title:
Sanford and Barbara Freeman Collection of Vivian Messetti Materials
Dates:
1943-1946
Creators:
Freeman, Barbara, Freeman, Sanford, and Messetti, Vivian
Abstract:
The materials 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 correspondence.
Extent:
0.8 linear feet
Language:
English .
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Sanford and Barbara Freeman Collection of Vivian Messetti Materials, D-277, Archives and Special Collections, UC Davis Library, University of California, Davis.

Background

Scope and content:

Collection contains correspondence, manuscript materials, and ephemera pertaining to Henrique Vivian Messetti's activities between 1943-1946.

Biographical / historical:

Sanford and Barbara Freeman lived in the San Fernando Valley, raised two daughters, and in 1972 purchased and operated an antique store in Corona del Mar, California, called The Memory Box. After selling the store, they traveled throughout the United States selling antiques. Barbara Freeman died on February 25, 2020, in Newport Beach, California. The Freemans possibly obtained Messetti's materials through the course of buying and selling items for their antiques business.

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 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

"Barbara Jean Freeman." Dignity Memorial, 2020. https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/corona-del-mar-ca/barbara-freeman-9066769. Accessed 16 April 2026.

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

Acquisition information:
Donated in 1999.
Processing information:

Processed by Rebecca Wendt in 2001. EAD finding aid created by Sara Gunasekara in 2004. Reparative metadata description completed by Michelle Trujillo in 2026.

Reparative Metadata Revision Statement

Collection title was changed from "Sanford and Barbara Freeman Collection of Henrique Vivian Messetti Materials" to "Sanford and Barbara Freeman Collection of Vivian Messetti Materials" to align with Messetti dropping use of her former first name (or, deadname). However, 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 or 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 language that was retained

Arrangement:

Organized into three series: 1. Correspondence, 2. Manuscript, and 3. Ephemera.

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

Date Encoded:
This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2026-05-11 16:09:34 -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], Sanford and Barbara Freeman Collection of Vivian Messetti Materials, D-277, 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
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