Telewoman Newsletter records, 1976-1986

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Summary

Title:
Telewoman Newsletter Records
Dates:
1976-1986
Creators:
Telewoman.
Abstract:
Telewoman is an independent, self-published lesbian newsletter, based in Pleasant Hill, California, which ran from the late 1970’s to mid 1980’s. Founded as a networking resource for lesbian writers, artists and educators, the newsletter served to connect isolated lesbians in remote and urban centers, especially mothers, differently-abled, low-income, incarcerated and agoraphobic women. It ran primarily on the work and personal charisma of its founder and sole editor, Anne J. D’Arcy. As evidenced in her personal correspondence and the Telewoman publications, she was invested in community and spirituality. Her role as Telewoman editor was one of advisor, confidante and a figure connecting otherwise isolated women.
Extent:
4.4 linear ft. (10 document boxes, 1 flat box)
Language:
and Materials are in English.
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Telewoman Newsletter Records (Collection 2142). Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA.

Background

Scope and content:

This collection provides administrative, publicity-related and contextual material concerning Telewoman, primarily in the form of the extensive correspondence of founder-editor Anne D’Arcy. Its primary significance is the light it sheds on the cultural environment in which the newsletter existed, specifically regarding the lesbian community in Northern California, as well as nationally. This environment is represented by D’Arcy’s correspondence with a close network of founders and editors of a number of other Bay Area lesbian publications as well as with artists and writers in the Mid-West, East Coast and elsewhere. This environment and network is also represented in this collection by the informational material received by Telewoman and Anne D’Arcy from publications, projects and organizations serving lesbian communities and needs.

While this collection does not contain issues of the Telewoman newsletter, which can be found elsewhere, it does contain paste-ups and production material of select issues and ads. In addition, the collection includes author files of contributors to the newsletter; article and poetry submissions, photographs and drafts of spotlight articles. These materials give an idea of the style, form and type of content found in the newsletter, which in turn provide an idea of its aims and function in the lesbian communities within which it circulated.

Biographical / historical:

Telewoman is an independent, self-published lesbian newsletter, based in Pleasant Hill, California, which ran from the late 1970’s to mid 1980’s. It ran primarily on the work and personal charisma of its founder and sole editor, Anne J. D’Arcy. Its circulation had extended nationally by the time of its closing. Founded as a networking resource for lesbian writers, artists and educators, the newsletter served to connect isolated lesbians in remote and urban centers, especially mothers, differently-abled, low-income, incarcerated and agoraphobic women. Its primary goals were not so much radical as they were meant to create and foster a safe and productive space for lesbian women. To this end, Telewoman, in addition to its newsletter, regularly hosted community gatherings and parties.

The collection consists largely of the papers of Editor Anne D’Arcy. Intentionally never married, she was a single mother of three children. Her long-time lover with whom she had a very close, albeit complicated, relationship was still in a non-sexual marriage and battling agoraphobia, and seems to be one of the primary motivations for D’Arcy’s founding of Telewoman. As evidenced in her personal correspondence and the Telewoman publications, she was invested in community and spirituality, following Ram Dass, Jiddu Krishnamurti, the Seth material, Ron Hubbard (Scientology) and others. Her role as Telewoman editor was one of advisor, confidante and a figure connecting otherwise isolated women. Aside from her work on Telewoman, D’Arcy continued her work in the legal profession in a social services agency where she supervised social workers and counselors and represented government action in legal proceedings.

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 Pallavi Sriram in 2013 in the Center for Primary Research and Training (CFPRT), with assistance from Jillian Cuellar.

The processing of this collection was generously supported by Arcadia.

Arrangement:

This collection has been arranged in the following series:

  • Series 1: Administrative Records 1977-1986
    • Subseries 1.1 Personal Correspondence 1977-1986
    • Subseries 1.2 General/Business Correspondence 1977-1986
    • Subseries 1.3 Other Organizations 1981-1986
  • Series 2: Marketing and Production 1977-1986
  • Series 3: Author Files 1976-1986

Series are arranged alphabetically.

Physical location:
Stored off-site at SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact the UCLA Library Special Collections Reference Desk for paging information.
Rules or conventions:
Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: a Content Standard

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Finding aid prepared by Pallavi Sriram; machine readable finding aid created by Caroline Cubé.
Date Prepared:
© 2013 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
Date Encoded:
This finding aid was produced using the Archivists' Toolkit 2013-05-14T13:27-0700 . Supplementary encoding and revision by Caroline Cubé using Notetab Pro.

Access and use

Restrictions:

COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF: Open for research. Advance notice required for access. Contact the UCLA Library Special Collections Reference Desk for paging information.

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], Telewoman Newsletter Records (Collection 2142). Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA.

Location of this collection:
A1713 Charles E. Young Research Library
Box 951575
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575, US
Contact:
(310) 825-4988
AskLSC@library.ucla.edu
Website