Charlene Spretnak: early feminist spirituality collection, 1971-2006

Summary

Creators:

Spretnak, Charlene, 1946-

Abstract:

The collection consists of journal articles, pamphlets, and newspaper clippings; complete issues of magazines and journals; calendars; posters; audio/visual materials; glossaries; bibliographies.

Extent:

2.5 linear ft. (2 boxes, 1 folio box, 1 map case drawer)

Language:

Languages represented in the collection: English

Preferred citation:

Charlene Spretnak: early feminist spirituality collection, GTU 2006-7-01. Graduate Theological Union Archives, Berkeley, CA.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection consists predominately of loose materials accumulated by Spretnak on various feminist subjects, such as Goddess spirituality and ecofeminism. With the exception of a limited number of notes written by Spretnak, the collection does not include any of her manuscripts or personal papers.

Biographical / historical:

Charlene Spretnak (1946- ) was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and raised in Columbus, Ohio. An author, lecturer, and academic, Spretnak earned her B.A. at St. Louis University, and an M.A. in English and American Literature from the University of California, Berkeley (1981). Beginning her pioneering work in the 1970s, Spretnak is known for her theorizing, scholarship, and activism in the areas of feminism (including women's spirituality), ecological thought (including Green politics), cultural history (including the history of modern art), social criticism, and dynamic interrelatedness. As of 2010, she is a professor in Women's Spirituality in the Philosophy and Religion Program at the California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco, California, and a research fellow at The Green Institute, a center for research and policy of the Green Movement. She was inducted in 1989 into the Ohio Women's Hall of Fame in recognition of her writings on spirituality and social justice. In 2006, she was named by the British government's Environment Department as one of the "100 Eco-Heroes of All Time."

Biographical information based on www.charlenespretnak.com .

Acquisition information:

Materials were originally donated by Spretnak to Belladonna, a feminist center and resource library in Berkeley, California. When Belladonna closed, the files were transferred by Spretnak to the Graduate Theological Union Archives in 2006.

Arrangement:

Titles for the individual file folders were Spretnak's. Folders are arranged within the containers alphabetically. The original order of items within each file folder is unknown, since the collection was not received directly from Spretnak. Periodicals are arranged into alphabetical order by title. The collection contains three series. Each series contains material in the above subjects and is divided by medium. Series 1: Collected Materials in Subject Files; Series 2: Audio-Visual Materials; and Series 3: Posters.

Physical location:

4/K/3

Rules or conventions:

Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: a Content Standard

Related resources

Separated material:

Rare Books: The following books have been removed from the archives collection and cataloged into the Graduate Theological Union Library Rare Materials Collection.

Grimstad, Kirsten and Rennie, Susan, Eds., The New Woman's Survival Catalog (New York: Coward, McCann and Geoghegan, 1973).

Lucie-Smith, Edward and Chicago, Judy, Judy Chicago: An American Vision (New York: Watson-Guptill Publications, 2000).

Politics of Matriarchy (London: Matriarchy Study Group, 1979).

Rush, Anne Kent, Moon, Moon (New York: Random House, 1976).

Weinstein, Marion, Marion Weinstein's Earth Magic: A Dianic Book of Shadows (New York: Earth Magic Productions, 1980), 1st edition.

Winter, Nina, Interview with the Muse: Remarkable Women Speak on Creativity and Power (Berkeley, Calif.: Moon Books, 1978).

Library Circulating Collection: The following books have been removed from the archives collection and cataloged into the Graduate Theological Union Library circulating holdings.

Boston Women's Health Book Collective, The New Our Bodies, Ourselves: A Book by and for Women (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1984).

Coupey, Philippe, Ed., Sit: Zen Teachings of Master Taisen Deshimaru (Prescott, Ariz.: Hohm Press, 1996).

Forfreedom, Ann, Ed., Women Out of History: A Herstory Anthology (Sacramento, Calif.: A. Forfreedom, 1972).

Galland, China, Women in the Wilderness (New York: Harper and Row, 1980).

Gearhart, Sally and Rennie, Susan, A Feminist Tarot: A Guide to Intrapersonal Communication (Watertown, MA: Persephone Press, 1977).

Hall, Manly P., An Encyclopedic Outline of Masonic, Hermetic, Qabbalistic and Rosicrucian Symbolical Philosophy (Los Angeles: Philosophical Research Society, 1978).

Kimball, Gayle, Ed., Women's Culture: The Women's Renaissance of the Seventies (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1981).

Koltuv, Barbara Black, Amulets, Talismans, and Magical Jewelry: A Way to the Unseen, Ever-Present, Almighty God (Berwick, ME: Nicolas-Hays, 2005).

Livingstone, Glenys, Motherhood Mythology (Berkeley, Calif.: G. Livingston, 1984).

Mackenzie, Midge, Shoulder to Shoulder: A Documentary (New York: Knopf, 1975).

Pepper, Elizabeth and Wilcock, John, Witches All: A Treasury from Past Editions of The Witches' Almanac (New York: Grosset and Dunlap, 1977).

Pesek-Marous, Eduard, Salvatore: Bull of Salvation (Rolling Hills, Calif.: Tau Press, 1976).

Phelps, Ethel Johnston, The Maid of the North: Feminist Folk Tales from Around the World, (New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1981).

Spretnak, Charlene, Ed., The Politics of Women's Spirituality: Essays by Founding Mothers of the Movement (New York: Anchor Books, Doubleday, 1994).

Indexed terms

Subjects:

Feminism--Religious Aspects
Feminism--Periodicals
Feminist spirituality
Goddess religion
Ecofeminism

Names:

Budapest, Zsuzsanna Emese, 1940-
Forfreedom, Ann
Grimstad, Kirsten J.
Pare, Louise
Rennie, Susan

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

Copyright has not been assigned to The Graduate Theological Union. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Archivist. Permission for publication is given on behalf of The Graduate Theological Union as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.

Preferred citation:

Charlene Spretnak: early feminist spirituality collection, GTU 2006-7-01. Graduate Theological Union Archives, Berkeley, CA.

Location of this collection:

Graduate Theological Union

2400 Ridge Road

Berkeley, CA 94709, US

Contact:

(510) 649-2523/2501

archives@gtu.edu

Website