Kirkwood (Carla) Collection, 1969-2011

Printable guide [HTML]

Summary

Title:
Carla Kirkwood Collection
Dates:
1969-2011
Creators:
Kirkwood, Carla
Abstract:
The collection pertains to social activist Carla Kirkwood and is related to her interest in women’s rights, the working class, and her art projects.
Extent:
3.5 Linear feet (5 boxes)
Language:
and Collection materials are in English and Spanish.
Preferred citation:

Carla Kirkwood Collection, MS 208, San Diego History Center Document Collection, San Diego, CA.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection contains materials pertaining to the activities of social activist of Carla Kirkwood as they relate to women’s issues, unions, and the working class, and her art projects. Publications regarding women’s liberation in the 1960s and 1970s are held in the collection, including board meeting documents related to the founding of the San Diego State College Women’s Studies Program in 1969 through the early 1970s. The collection also includes publications and flyers regarding union and labor activities in the 1970s and early 1980s, as well as flyers regarding an Ironworkers union strike in August of 1980 from the National Steel and Shipbuilding Company (NASSCO). There are pamphlets, reports and flyers on international women’s issues from the NGO Forum on Women ’95 in Beijing, China and the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women held in August and September 1995, both of which she attended. The collection also includes publicity for Kirkwood’s art projects, as well as scripts and VHS recordings of her performances.

Biographical / historical:

Born into a military family in San Diego, Carla Kirkwood is an Emmy-winning writer, director, and social activist. Kirkwood’s activism has focused on women’s liberation and issues of the working class. In 1969, as a student at San Diego State College, she helped found the nation’s first women’s studies program. From 1974-1977, Kirkwood was active in the International Association of Machinists in San Diego. She was also safety steward for the United Steel Workers Local 1010 at Inland Steel Corporation in East Chicago, Indiana, before turning her attention to theater.

Kirkwood studied classical and contemporary Chinese Theater from 1982-1984 at the Central Drama Academy in Beijing, China, earning a graduate degree in performance studies. In 1986 she received her Master’s of Fine Arts Degree from the University of Leeds in England with an emphasis in global performance practices. Kirkwood received her Ph.D. from the University of California, San Diego in theater and dance.

Kirkwood is an accomplished writer and director, winning three Emmy awards for her work with KPBS-TV, the San Diego Public Broadcasting affiliate. Kirkwood’s artwork and performances often deal with social issues she would like to draw attention to. In the early 1990s, Kirkwood received acclaim for the public art project “NHI” (No Humans Involved) and the accompanying performance piece “MWI” (Many Women Involved), which drew attention to the unsolved murders of 45 San Diego women. Two of Kirkwood’s solo performances, “War Diaries” and “Bodies of Evidence” were performed at the Whitney Museum of American Art in the mid-1990s. Her collaborative public art projects include “There Are 206 Bones in the Human Body” (1988) and “Welcome Back Emma! We Have Missed You So!” (1989).

From 1994-1997 Kirkwood was a visiting professor of theater and art at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. In 1995 she attended the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women and the parallel NGO Forum on Women, in Beijing. She currently holds a faculty position at Southwestern College in Chula Vista, where she has worked for over 20 years.

Acquisition information:
Accession number 2000.050.
Processing information:

Collection processed by Alison Hennessey on April 17, 2012.

Collection processed as part of grant project supported by the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) with generous funding from The Andrew Mellon Foundation.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged into five series:

Series I: Women’s Studies Program, San Diego State College

Series II: Women’s Issues

Series III: Labor and Unions

Series IV: NGO Forum on Women, Beijing ‘95

Series V: Art Projects

Items within each series are arranged by subject. Original order and/or titles have been retained for most of the collection.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Finding aid prepared by Alison Hennessey
Sponsor:
Collection processed as part of grant project supported by the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) with generous funding from The Andrew Mellon Foundation.
Date Prepared:
April 17, 2012
Date Encoded:
This finding aid was produced using the Archivists' Toolkit 2012-12-20T16:46-0800

Access and use

Restrictions:

This collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

The San Diego History Center (SDHC) holds the copyright to any unpublished materials. SDHC Library regulations do apply.

Preferred citation:

Carla Kirkwood Collection, MS 208, San Diego History Center Document Collection, San Diego, CA.

Location of this collection:
1649 El Prado, Suite 3
San Diego, CA 92101, US
Contact:
(619) 232-6203
Website