Sugars (Stephanie) Papers, 1970-2016

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Summary

Title:
Stephanie Sugars papers
Dates:
1970-2016
Creators:
Sugars, Stephanie
Abstract:
Extent:
11.25 linear feet (9 cartons)
Language:
Preferred citation:

Stephanie Sugars papers. GLBT Historical Society

Background

Scope and content:

This collection includes 150 notebooks, loose papers, and issues of Women’s Voices and other feminist publications. The notebooks span the years 1970 to 2016 and contain Sugars’ reflections on relationships with friends and lovers in Sonoma County’s lesbian-feminist community, chronic illness, alternative medicine, and death; daily to-do lists; poetry; and some pencil sketches.

Biographical / historical:

Stephanie Sugars (1956-2016) was a lesbian-feminist writer and activist. Born in San Francisco in 1956, Sugars spent much of her childhood in Woodland, California, before moving to Sonoma County in 1971. In 1976-1977, Sugar attended the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she was active with the Isla Vista Women’s Center, helped to produce WomanFire magazine, and came out as a lesbian-feminist. In 1978, Sugars moved back to Sonoma County and became involved with the lesbian-feminist community there, participating in collective living for a time; helping to produce the newspaper Runes and, later, Women’s Voices; and participating in Sisters of Lesbos Against Radiation and other anti-nuclear groups. Apart from a year in San Francisco (1980-1981) and Carmel (1986), Sugars lived in Sonoma County for the rest of her life. Early in childhood Sugars developed Peutz-Jeghers syndrome (PJS), a genetic disorder that leads to an increased lifetime risk of several cancers. In 1990, Sugars developed bilateral breast cancer. From 1991, Sugars managed her cancer through alternative and holistic medicines. Sugars wrote prolifically about chronic illness, disability, and alternative medicine, contributing to numerous print publications, an online PJS support group, smartpatients.org, and, in the final four years of her life, her blog (https://web.archive.org/web/20230000000000*/https://www.mylifeline.org/StephanieSugars/). Sugars died in 2016.

Acquisition information:
Gift of Stephanie Sugars, September 2016. Addition by Judy Helfand, January 2017.

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Finding aid created by GLBT Historical Society staff.
Date Prepared:
1970-2016
Date Encoded:
This finding aid was produced using Record Express for OAC5 on July 14, 2025, 2:55 p.m.

Access and use

Restrictions:

This collection is unprocessed. Third-party names (including given names and surnames) that are included in the unpublished material are restricted. Please contact the Archivist for further information regarding options for accessing this collection.

Terms of access:

Copyright to materials created by Stephanie Sugars has been transferred to the GLBT Historical Society. All requests for reproductions and/or permission to publish or quote from material must be submitted in writing to the GLBT Historical Society Archivist. Copyright to other materials in the collection may be held by their creators, or the creators' heirs or assigns. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.

Preferred citation:

Stephanie Sugars papers. GLBT Historical Society

Location of this collection:
989 Market Street, Lower Level
San Francisco, CA 94103, US
Contact:
(415) 777-5455
reference@glbthistory.org
Website