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Bradley (Marion Zimmer) papers
LSC.1955
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Contributing Institution:
UCLA Library Special Collections
Title: Marion Zimmer Bradley papers
Creator:
Bradley, Marion Zimmer
Identifier/Call Number: LSC.1955
Physical Description:
1.2 Linear Feet
(3 document boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1956-1999
Abstract: Marion Zimmer Bradley was born June 3, 1930 in Albany, New York during the Great Depression. She was interested in science
fiction and fantasy as a teenager, participating in amateur fiction contests as an adjunct and as a contestant, most notably
for Fantastic Amazing Stories in 1949. Always promoting and supporting the work of other writers, Bradley not only encouraged
and participated in the world of fan fiction, but also became the editor of anthologies and periodicals supporting up-and-coming
authors. She became active in the gay and lesbian community not just through her writings and bibliographic work, but also
through counseling services. After becoming ordained in the Eastern Orthodox priesthood she volunteered her time at the Gay
Pacific Center offering pastoral counseling services. She died on September 25, 1999 after a struggle with heart disease.
A year after her death she was awarded with Lifetime Achievement by the World Fantasy Awards, an international award begun
in 1975 recognizing outstanding achievement in the Fantasy genre. This collection houses two copies of Marion Zimmer Bradley's
Lesbian, Variant and Homosexual Literature annotated bibliography as well as an unpublished manuscript, unedited versions of published materials, her obituary, and
brochures from fan gatherings, as well as some of her husband's work.
Physical Location: Stored off-site. All requests to access special collections material must be made in advance using the request button located
on this page.
Language of Material: Materials are in English.
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 objects belong to UCLA Library Special Collections. All other 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.
Provenance/Source of Acquisition
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 .
[Identification of item], Marion Zimmer Bradley Papers (Collection 1955). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young
Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
Processed by Stacy Wood, 2011. Description enhanced and further physical processing completed by Sabrina Ponce in 2016.
The
June L. Mazer Lesbian Archive at UCLA is 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.
Collections are processed to a variety of levels depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived user
interest and research value, availability of staff and resources, and competing priorities. Library Special Collections provides
a standard level of preservation and access for all collections and, when time and resources permit, conducts more intensive
processing. These materials have been arranged and described according to national and local standards and best practices.
We are committed to providing ethical, inclusive, and anti-racist description of the materials we steward, and to remediating
existing description of our materials that contains language
that may be offensive or cause harm. We invite you to submit feedback about how our collections are described, and how they
could be described more accurately, by filling out the form
located on our website:
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Collections.
UCLA Catalog Record ID:
9969612743606533
Marion Zimmer Bradley was born June 3, 1930 in Albany New York during the Great Depression. She was interested in science
fiction and fantasy as a teenager, participating in amateur fiction contests as an adjunct and as a contestant, most notably
for Fantastic Amazing Stories in 1949. Her first published story, entitled "Women Only" was showcased in Vortex Science Fiction
in 1953.
She married Robert Alden Bradley in 1949. They had one child and divorced in 1964. During their marriage Marion Zimmer Bradley
published her first novel
The Door Through Space, which launched her writing career. She also became marginally involved with then-burgeoning lesbian activist organization
Daughters of Bilitis. During this time she also published several works under various pseudonyms. Many of these publications
were gay and lesbian paperback pulp novels, most famously the novel
I Am a Lesbian in 1962 under the name Lee Chapman.
1958 brought the first instance of the Darkover world in her novel
The Planet Savers. The Darkover novels became one of her more famous and recognizable series. Although she wrote the majority of the novels
contained within the series, it was occasionally supplemented by other authors with her blessing and continued after her death.
In 1964, shortly after her divorce from Bradley, Marion married Walter Breen, an American author and numismatist. They collaborated
on a bibliography of gay and lesbian literature. They had two children and separated in 1979, but remained married until 1990.
She received her BA from Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Texas in 1965. She pursued graduate studies at the University
of California at Berkeley until 1967, where she met Diana Paxson, a medieval studies graduate with whom she founded the Society
for Creative Anachronism in 1966. During this time in Berkeley and through the 1970s and 1980s, Bradley would consider herself
a neo-pagan, including interests in clairvoyance, extrasensory perception and reincarnation. She began the Centre for Nontraditional
Religion which hosted various non-traditional groups such as Wiccans. Bradley was raised in the Episcopal tradition and returned
to those roots in the 1990s.
In addition to separating from Walter Breen in 1979, Marion published what is ostensibly her most famous and groundbreaking
work,
The Mists of Avalon. Working within a feminist, revisionist framework, Bradley retells the Arthurian legend through the lens of its female characters,
predominantly through the eyes of Morgaine.
Always promoting and supporting the work of other writers, Bradley not only encouraged and participated in the world of fan
fiction (publishing her own "The Jewel of Arwen" based on a character in J.R.R. Tolkien's
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy), but she also became the editor of anthologies and periodicals supporting up-and-coming authors. In 1984 she began
Sword and Sorceress, an anthology series devoted to fantasy stories with non-traditional or challenging heroines. She edited the series until
her death, and it continued until 2008. In 1988 she began Marion Zimmer Bradley's Fantasy Magazine, which included short stories
and humorous pieces as well as interviews with recognizable science fiction and fantasy authors. She became active in the
gay and lesbian community not just through her writings and bibliographic work, but also with counseling services. After becoming
ordained in the Eastern Orthodox priesthood (along with her husband) by Mikhail Itkin, she volunteered her time at the Gay
Pacific Center offering pastoral counseling services.
She died on September 25, 1999 after a struggle with heart disease. A year after her death she was awarded with Lifetime Achievement
by the World Fantasy Awards, an international award begun in 1975 recognizing outstanding achievement in the Fantasy genre.
| June 3, 1930 | Marion Zimmer Bradley born in Albany, New York |
| 1949 | Marion wins a science fiction writing contest for AMAZING STORIES |
| 1949 | Marion marries Robert Alden Bradley |
| 1953 | Marion publishes "Women Only," her first published short story in Vortex Science Fiction |
| 1957 | Marion publishes Falcons of Narabedla, her first novel-length work |
| 1958 | First appearance of the Darkover world in The Planet Savers |
| 1962 | I Am a Lesbian is published under Marion's pseudonym Lee Chapman |
| 1964 | Divorces Robert Alden Bradley and marries Walter Breen |
| 1965 | B.A. from Hardin- Simmons Unversity in Abilene, Texas |
| 1966 | Marion helps to found the Society for Creative Anachronism and coins its name |
| 1979 | Separates from Walter Breen, although the two remain married and friendly |
| 1979 | The Mists of Avalon is published |
| 1984 | Sword and Sorceress Anthology Series begins |
| 1988 | Marion Zimmer Bradley's Fantasy Magazine begins |
| 1990 | Divorces Walter Breen |
| September 25, 1999 | Dies of heart failure after a long struggle with heart disease. |
This collection contains two copies of Marion Zimmer Bradley's bibliography of gay and lesbian literature, published and unpublished
fiction manuscripts, a program from a fan convention, obituaries, some of her husband's work, and other assorted materials.
Arranged chronologically.
See
The Daughters of Bilitis Collection which is also housed in UCLA Library Special Collections.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Lesbians in literature -- Bibliography.
Homosexuality in literature -- Bibliography.
Women authors, American -- Archives.
Gays in literature -- Bibliography.
University of California, Los Angeles. Library
June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives
June L. Mazer Lesbian Archive at UCLA
Bradley, Marion Zimmer -- Archives