Collection context
Summary
- Title:
- Joan Robins papers
- Dates:
- 1972-1991
- Creators:
- Robins, Joan
- Abstract:
- The Joan Robins Papers contain documents related to various lesbian and feminist organizations and conferences. Also included is information related to organizing in defense of the Equal Rights Amendment and reproductive rights, and against the Family Protection Act.
- Extent:
- 0.4 linear feet (1 document box)
- Language:
- and Materials entirely in English.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], Joan Robins Papers (Collection 1952). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
The Joan Robins Papers contain documents related to various lesbian and feminist organizations and conferences, as well as several personal items. These papers include organizational documents, flyers, information pamphlets, newsletters, press releases, and handwritten notes. The collection dates from 1972-1985.
- Biographical / historical:
-
Joan Ellen Robins, also known as Joan Hoffman, was born in 1947. She was the co-founder, along with Dorothy Bricker and Marianne Yatrovsky, of the first consciousness - raising (CR) group in Los Angeles. They convened at the Haymarket Center. The group grew rapidly and was necessarily moved to a church in South Central Los Angeles that would accommodate their larger attendance. The group was notorious for dramatic and aesthetically detailed protesting tactics.
Joan Robins also started the Women's Center in Los Angeles, which hosted various CR groups as well as labor union groups and lesbian activist groups that had splintered from the Gay and Lesbian Center of Los Angeles. The group Lesbian Feminist, of which Robbins was an original member, originated at the Women's Center. Lesbian Feminist held the first formalized dialogue concerning divergences and convergences as well as shared political goals for gay, straight, and bisexual people. They also interrupted the meetings of The National Organization for Women (NOW) in order to bring lesbian visibility to the center of their agenda. Joan Robbins was also a founding member of the anti-rape squad.
In 1968, Joan Robins wrote the Handbook of Women's Liberation alongside her then husband, Frank Hoffman. The handbook was only available at the Women's Center.
In 1973, Joan Robins helped to organize the Los Angeles Commission on Assaults Against Women. She became their director of education in 1975 and handled media appearances, commentary and outreach programming. She eventually left the organization as its rapid growth could not be supported by its infrastructure.
She attended the University of Southern California School of Social Work and is a licensed medical social worker. She also holds a Bachelor's degree from University of California, Los Angeles.
- Acquisition information:
-
Provenance unknown.
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 information:
-
Processed by Molly S. Jacobs, 2011. Description enhanced and further physical processing by Sabrina Ponce in 2017.
- Arrangement:
-
Materials are arranged chronologically.
- Physical location:
- Stored off-site at SRLF. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance through out electronic paging system using the "Request items" button.
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Indexed terms
About this collection guide
- Date Prepared:
- Online finding aid last updated 9 March 2017.
- Date Encoded:
- This finding aid was produced using the Archivists' Toolkit 2017-08-21T13:01-0700
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF: Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance through out electronic paging system using the "Request items" button.
- Terms of access:
-
Property rights to the physical object belong to the 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 The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], Joan Robins Papers (Collection 1952). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
- Location of this collection:
-
A1713 Charles E. Young Research LibraryBox 951575Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575, US
- Contact:
- (310) 825-4988