Collection context
Summary
Background
- Scope and content:
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This is a copy of an unpublished 400-page typewritten autobiographical novel, "Dark Birth," written by Ruth Reid. According to her friend, writer Jacquelyn Marie, Reid used that term because she changed names and used poetic license, but the stories were essentially true. Reid (1903-1981) moved to the San Francisco Bay Area after World War II and started a 30-year relationship with Kent Hyde, who was assigned female but lived publicly as a man. "Dark Birth" covers the ups and downs of a long-term, non-monogamous relationship, and depicts the Bay Area lesbian scene at the time. Reid owned a weaving business with a partner. Portions of Reid's novel appeared in print, and Marie decided to publish excerpts of it, interwoven with information about her life and times, in "Wife of a Lesbian: A Memoir by Ruth Reed," in 2006. This version is available online with photographs, at http://www.lulu.com/items/volume_45/549000/549225/8/print/549225.pdf and attached here on the OAC. GSSO linked terms: http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/GSSO_000381; http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/GSSO_000130; http://purl.bioontology.org/ontology/MESH/D008091
- Acquisition information:
- Gift of Karen Sjoholm on February 27, 2001.
Indexed terms
Access and use
- Restrictions:
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Collection is open for research.
- Preferred citation:
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Ruth Reid autobiographical novel. GLBT Historical Society
- Location of this collection:
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989 Market Street, Lower LevelSan Francisco, CA 94103, US
- Contact:
- (415) 777-5455