Finding Aid for the Jean Miller papers, 1964-1980 LSC.2139

Finding aid prepared by Kimberlee Granholm; machine-readable finding aid created by Caroline Cubé.
UCLA Library Special Collections
Room A1713, Charles E. Young Research Library
Box 951575
Los Angeles, CA, 90095-1575
(310) 825-4988
spec-coll@library.ucla.edu
Online finding aid last updated 24 August 2017.


Title: Jean Miller papers
Identifier/Call Number: LSC.2139
Contributing Institution: UCLA Library Special Collections
Language of Material: English
Physical Description: 0.8 linear feet (2 boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1964-1980
Abstract: Jean Lewis Miller was a Bay Area feminist lesbian activist and Berkeley Public Library employee. Her papers document her political and legal struggles with the city of Berkeley. The collection also contains suffragist literature, unpublished manuscripts and personal documents.
Language of Materials: Materials are in English.
Physical Location: Stored off-site at SRLF. All requests to access special collections material must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.
Creator: Miller, Jean Lewis

Conditions on Access

COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF: Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.

Conditions on Use and Reproduction

Property rights to the physical object belong to UCLA Library Special Collections. Literary rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where UCLA Library Special Collections does not hold the copyright.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Jean Miller Papers (Collection 2139). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

Acquisition Information

This collection is part of an outreach and collection-building partnership between the June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives,   the UCLA Center for the Study of Women (CSW)   and the UCLA Library.  

Processing History

Processed by Kimberlee Granholm, 2012.
Description enhanced and further physical processing completed by Jessica Tai in 2016.
This collection is part of an outreach and collection-building partnership between the June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives,   the UCLA Center for the Study of Women (CSW)   and the UCLA Library.   These collections expand the pool of primary source materials available to researchers and to the community at large. This partnership was initiated by CSW and is funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to inventory, organize, preserve, and digitize more than eighty Mazer collections pertaining to lesbian and feminist activism and writings.

UCLA Catalog Record ID

UCLA Catalog Record ID: 7347941 

Biography/History

Jean Lewis Miller was a Bay area feminist lesbian activist. Miller was an early participant in Women's Liberation as a member of Women of the Free Future and Women in Solidarity. She worked part-time as an employee of the Berkeley Public Library. In 1971 she was fired for writing a published article in the Berkeley Post to expose sexism and racism in the library. After 25 women marched on the Board of Directors meeting, she was reinstated, and dedicated herself to serving women's needs within the library through her self-created Women's Project. This group was later discontinued by the library after her formation of the Berkeley Women's Affirmative Action Union. After public protest, Miller became the first person arrested at a City Council meeting. Thereafter, she endured a nine day hunger strike in Santa Rita, was jailed a second time, was fired and jailed a third time; from which charges she was acquitted, but jailed for contempt of court. Jean filed a lawsuit in federal court charging sex discrimination and political retaliation in 1974. Years later, the case was dismissed. In 1980, Miller died after a two month battle with cancer.

Scope and Content

The Jean Miller Papers consist of documents relating to her political struggles with the city of Berkeley over affirmative action, sexual, and racial discrimination. Included are legal documents, suffragist literature, college research papers, letters to her son, materials relating to Inez Garcia, and unpublished manuscripts on motherhood and women's sexuality.

Organization and Arrangement

This collection has been organized chronologically.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

June L. Mazer Lesbian Archive at UCLA.
June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives.
Miller, Jean Lewis
Lesbian activists--United States--Archives.
Lesbian librarians--United States--Archives.

Box 1, Folder 2, Box 1, Folder 1

Quotations circa 1960s-1970s

General Physical Description note: Printed and handwritten documents

Scope and Contents note

Manuscript sheets of quotations about women and men, especially concerning the status of women.
Box 1, Folder 3

Suffragettes course circa 1960s-1970s

General Physical Description note: Printed and handwritten documents

Scope and Contents note

Contains course outline, reading list, background notes, class roster, and quotations.
Box 1, Folder 4

Unpublished Manuscripts and Reports circa 1960s-1970s

General Physical Description note: Printed and handwritten documents

Scope and Contents note

Contains: Motherhood is Man-Made, a Sacred-Cow, dedicated to my friend, Brenda; (paper on heterosexuality, contraception and birth control); Report on the Study of the Cataloguing of Books About Women; More on Improving Library Service to Women; Interview with Jean Miller on Books, Libraries, and Women, Sexism in Library; What's Wrong (with the Women's Liberation Movement); The Theory of Monosexual Dominance (a review)
Box 1, Folder 5

Women of the Free Future circa 1960s-1970s

General Physical Description note: Printed and handwritten documents

Scope and Contents note

Draft of statement of purpose, philosophy, flyers, position papers.
Box 1, Folder 6

Academic Research Papers circa 1964-1967

General Physical Description note: Printed essays

Scope and Contents note

Contains: book review, Voltaire, 1694-1778; Germany and Nazi Totalitarianism; Carl Becker and Relativism in History; Ode to a Grecian Urn; Will Power; I was born...; Linda, being a dull and unimaginative person...; Both Desdemonia and Othello...; An air of oppressiveness...; The fellow is exceptionally honest...; Qu'est-ce que c'est qu'un bon amant?; A good lover...; ...mass conformity; Self-esteem; My parents; The Naked Female; The Religious Need; Chin P'ing Mei; A Critique of the Golden Lotus; book report: Jesuits in China...; The Constitutional Rights of the Negro Protest Movement; The Meaning of Education; L'influence de Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Box 1, Folder 7

Correspondence 1967-1975

General Physical Description note: Letters

Scope and Contents note

Contains letters to the editor of Ramparts Magazine, political and public figures (including President Johnson).
Box 1, Folder 8

Correspondence: John. R Lewis circa 1968

General Physical Description note: Letters

Scope and Contents note

Four letters to John. R Lewis (Miller's son)
Box 1, Folder 9

Bibliographies circa 1970s

General Physical Description note: Printed and handwritten documents

Scope and Contents note

Contains bibliographies on "The militant suffrage movement in Great Britain," as well as a list of books about women and feminism.
Box 1, Folder 10

Organization Trademarks circa 1970s

General Physical Description note: Drawings, logos, handwritten notes

Scope and Contents note

Ideation for organizational trademarks, including Berkeley's Women's Affirmative Action Union trademark.
Box 1, Folder 11

Poetry circa 1970s

General Physical Description note: Printed documents

Scope and Contents note

Organized collection of poems regarding suffrage, men and women.
Box 1, Folder 12

Labor Struggles circa 1970-1971

General Physical Description note: Printed and handwritten documents

Scope and Contents note

Contains materials related to: Co-op discrimination in employment, affirmative action hiring of women; Lucky Stores Strike; Crucheon's Restaurant; dormitory maids at University of California, Berkeley; Bell Telephone Company; gas station exploitation; flyers.
Box 1, Folder 13

Laura X, Women's History Library 1971-1973

General Physical Description note: Printed letters

Scope and Contents note

Letter to Jean Miller from Laura X; letters of support for the Women's History Library.
Box 1, Folder 14

Women in Solidarity 1972-1973

General Physical Description note: Printed and handwritten documents

Scope and Contents note

Budget proposal for Women's Liberation Library, letters of support from Jean Maddox (president, Union W.A.G.E.) and from Colquitt M. Walker (assistant dean, University of California, Berkeley, School of Law); petition, press releases, flyer paste-ups, letters from and to Women's Liberation Library Collective, flyers.
Box 2, Folder 1

Berkeley Women's Affirmative Action Union circa 1973-1975

General Physical Description note: Printed and handwritten documents, cheques

Scope and Contents note

Flyer paste-ups, circulated petition, drafts of copy for leaflets, checking account book, cancelled checks, and flyers.
Box 2, Folder 3, Box 2, Folder 2

Legal Documents 1973-1977

General Physical Description note: Legal briefs, printed documents, letters

Scope and Contents note

Contains materials related to Jean Miller's case, concerning her suspension and termination from the Berkeley Public Library due to her refusal to give up work on an approved women's library access project; statements, correspondences with Mary Morgan, depositions.
Box 2, Folder 4

Inez Garcia 1975

General Physical Description note: Printed and handwritten documents, letters

Scope and Contents note

Letter to Inez from Judy Agnes, "Liz," Anne Flower Cumings, Susan B. Jordan; copy of brief of State of California vs. Inez Garcia; police report on demonstration in support of Inez Garcia; The People vs. Inez Garcia, documentary or distortion? by Viva Inez Committee
Box 2, Folder 5

Berkeley Coalition 1971

General Physical Description note: Printed documents, letters

Scope and Contents note

Letter describing the Coalition and its relation to women's liberation from Wendy Schlesinger; two other memos and letters
Box 2, Folder 6

Photographs circa 1971

Scope and Contents note

Contains 3 photographs.
Box 2, Folder 7

The Feminist 1975

General Physical Description note: Letters, newspapers, printed documents and memos

Scope and Contents note

A front page article on Jean Miller featured in The Feminist newspaper.
Box 2, Folder 8

Plexus memorial 1980

General Physical Description note: Printed memoriam

Scope and Contents note

July, 1980 article by Kaye Beth in memoriam of Jean Miller.