Guide to the Pat Bond Papers, 1910-1994 [bulk dates 1979-1985]
Processed by Jessica Moll; machine-readable finding aid created by
Gabriela A. Montoya
Gay and Lesbian Historical Society of Northern California
P.O. Box 424280
San Francisco, California 94142
Phone: (415) 777-5455, #2
Email: glhsnc@aol.com
URL: http://www.glhs.org/collectn/glhsmss.htm
© 1999
The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society. All rights reserved.
Guide to the Pat Bond Papers, 1910-1994 [bulk dates 1979-1985]
Accession number: 92-5
Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society
San Francisco, California
Contact Information:
- Gay and Lesbian Historical Society of Northern California
- P.O. Box 424280
- San Francisco, California 94142
- Phone: (415) 777-5455, #2
- Email: glhsnc@aol.com
- URL: http://www.glhs.org/collectn/glhsmss.htm
- Processed by:
- Jessica Moll
- Date Completed:
- March 1997
- Encoded by:
- Gabriela A. Montoya
© 1999 The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society. All rights reserved.
Descriptive Summary
Title: Pat Bond Papers,
Date (inclusive): 1910-1994 [bulk dates 1979-1985]
Accession number: 92-5
Creator:
Bond, Pat
Extent: 3.5 linear feet
Repository: The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society.
San Francisco, California.
Language:
English.
Administrative Information
Acquisition
The Papers (#92-5) were donated to GLHS in 1992.
Access
Collection is open for research.
Publication Rights
The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society holds copyright to unpublished photographic image
only.
Audio-Visual Materials
The Papers contain photographs, audio cassette tapes, and VHS cassette tapes.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Pat Bond Papers, 92-5, The Gay and Lesbian Historical Society
of Northern California.
Biography
Patricia Childers was born on February 7, 1925 in Chicago. She grew up in Davenport, Iowa. In 1945 she joined the Women's
Army Corps with the hope of meeting other lesbians. In the army, she cared for wounded soldiers returning from the South Pacific
and later served in occupied Japan. In 1947, in Tokyo, 500 women were dishonorably discharged from the army on the charge
of homosexuality. Pat escaped this "witch hunt," in which many lesbians testified against each other in trial, because before
going to Japan she had married a gay man, Paul Bond, in San Francisco. With her marriage license Pat Bond was able to get
an honorable discharge from the army on July 3, 1947, and she moved to San Francisco. She studied theater at San Francisco
State College, earning a B.A. and an M.A., and for the next several decades she acted in various small theater groups, did
some bartending, and for a short time owned her own bar.
In the late 1970s, she started to write a book about Gertrude Stein, but was overwhelmed with the project until her friend
Nancy Adair suggested she transform the book into a performance piece. In 1978, Pat was interviewed for the documentary
Word is Out, directed by Peter Adair. Pat's performance in this film, in which she speaks humorously and poignantly about her experiences
in the army, stole the show, and her career as an actress and comedienne was launched. In the 1970s and 1980s she performed
four one woman shows in small theaters and at colleges and universities across the country:
Gerty, Gerty, Gerty Stein is Back, Back, Back;
Conversations with Pat Bond;
Murder in the WAC; and
Lorena Hickok and Eleanor Roosevelt: A Love Story.
Gerty was shown repeatedly on national public television. Pat also played the part of Nurse Maxine in the movie
The House of God (1980). In the 1980s she served on the board of directors of Theater Rhinoceros in San Francisco and directed several plays
there. During the 1980s an oral history was done by historian Allan Bérubé for the book
Coming Out Under Fire. She was also taped for the documentary film based on the book but didn't appear in the movie, because she had become too sickly
by that time.
In 1990 she was honored by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors for her service during World War II. She died in Marin County,
California on December 24, 1990. In Pat's memory, her friends established the Pat Bond Memorial Old Dyke Award to honor lesbians
over the age of sixty. Pat's papers and photograph albums were collected by her close friends and donated to GLHS.
Scope and Content
The collection (3.5 linear feet) consists of the background research, notes, early drafts, and manuscripts for Pat's four
one woman shows. Also included are Pat's correspondence, her poetry, writing practice, character sketches, stories, incomplete
manuscripts, as well as reviews and awards for her shows. Finally, the collection includes Pat's diaries from 1966 through
1987. Some of the diaries are journals with substantial entries; however, most of the diaries are date books in which Pat
kept a record of her daily life, including comments about the weather and doctors' appointments as well as notes about friends
and relationships.
Boxes 1 and 2 contain the manuscripts of Pat's productions, arranged in chronological order. While The
Only Gay Bar in Town and Pat's Autobiography were never produced or published, they are included in Box 2 because they are substantial works. Box
3 contains miscellaneous documents and manuscripts. All of the legal sized documents from all series are included in Box 4.
Pat Bond's photographic collection consists of her head shots and performance pictures (8" x 10", black and white, positive
and negative images) as well as six photo albums comprised of her personal snapshots (different sizes but mostly 3 1/2" x
5"; color and black and white). The personal pictures show: Pat's grandmother and mother in the 1910s and 1920s; Pat as a
child in the 1920s and 1930s; Pat as a young woman in the 1940s; Pat with friends (gay male friends and women friends) in
Marin County and at the Russian River in the 1950s and 1960s. The majority of the pictures are from the early 1980s and show
Pat and her friends, dogs, and cats at her home in Marin County. The photographs do not seem to have been placed in any particular
order in the albums, but the order of the albums has been maintained.
The collection also consists of video and audio of Pat Bond's performances, and some of the costumes she wore during her shows.
Related Collections
Title: Phyllis Abry Kaplan Papers,
Identifier/Call Number: 95-8
Title: World War Two (WW II) Project - Records,
Identifier/Call Number: 95-16
Title: Valencia Rose - Records,
Identifier/Call Number: 93-7
Container List
Box Box 1
Gerty, Gerty, Gerty Stein is Back, Back, Back
The Script (early version -- no date)
An Evening with Gertrude Stein and Friends (no date)
Gerty production schedule (May 1979)
Script of
Gerty with Pat Bond's handwritten annotations for the PBS TV show
Entry for Gertrude Stein writing contest (1984)
Conversations with Pat Bond
A Conversation with Ms. Bond (1980)
Notes for army plays (no date)
Sample from The WAC (no date)
The WAC: full draft (no date)
The WAC: revision I (no date)
Women in Uniform (no date)
The Andrew Sisters join the Army (no date)
Murder in the WAC: notes (1981)
Murder in the WAC: revised version #2 (1981)
The Only Gay Bar in Town (no date)
Come Out of the Closet/The Only Gay Bar in Town (1981)
One Act Play -- Bush Street Incident (1981)
The Piece About Me (no date)
Our Hearts Were Young and Gay (no date)
Lorena Hickok and Eleanor Roosevelt: A Love Story
Outline of Hickok (1982-1983)
Outlines and drafts (1983 notebook)
Lorena Hickok and Eleanor Roosevelt: A Love Story (1983)
Reviews, Publicity, and Awards
Gerty, Gerty, Gerty Stein is Back, Back, Back
Conversations with Pat Bond
Lorena Hickock and Eleanor Roosevelt
Show announcements: miscellaneous shows
Advertisement in
The Advocate
Cartoon Drawing of Pat Bond
Miscellaneous Newspaper cutouts
Published Pieces 1980-1986
Literary Studies (1975-1977)
Correspondence (1975-1990)
Writing Practice (1971-1985)
Writing Practice (no date)
Eudora Welty Correspondence
Poster for The Member of the Wedding (1983)
WAC Literature: Sex Hygiene Course
Original newspaper articles with photos of Pat Bond
Portraits/Head Shots (8" x 10", Black and White and Color, with some negatives)
Performances (8" x 10", Black and White, some negatives)
Conversations with Pat Bond (Color, 3 ½" x 5")
Album #4, 5, & 6 -- memorabilia
Duplicates of Black and White 8" x 10" photos -- for exhibition purposes
Box Box 7
Army cap, the vest, blouse, and skirt she wore as Gertrude Stein, and two argyle sweaters she wore as Lorena Hickock.
Pat Bond reads Songs of Bilitis
Pat Bond performing
Conversations at "The City," San Francisco, Feb 20, 1978
Pat Bond interview with Studs Terkel on WFMT, Feb 17, 1981
Gerty, Gerty, Gerty Stein is Back, Back, Back . PBS version, Sep 1980
Lorena Hickok and Eleanor Roosevelt: A Love Story . Rough cut, San Francisco State University, Apr 12, 1984
Pat Bond at Institute for Human Sexuality, San Francisco State University, Jun 1986
Pat Bond Award, Apr 24, 1994
Oversized Folder
Note
[Located in various Mss collections, oversized materials, Box B]
Posters for Pat's shows and copies of newspaper articles
