Collection Guide
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Weathers (Carolyn) photographs and papers
Coll2014-008
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Table of contents
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries, University of Southern California
Title: Carolyn Weathers photographs and papers
creator:
Weathers, Carolyn, 1940-
Identifier/Call Number: Coll2014-008
Identifier/Call Number: 662
Physical Description:
3.8 Linear Feet
4 boxes + 2,400 digital images
Date (inclusive): 1961-2015
Abstract: Personal papers, professional records, and digitized photographs of LGBT and feminist activist Carolyn Weathers, 1961-2015.
The collection includes documentation of the Alcoholism Center for Women, and information about Brenda Weathers, Jenny Wrenn,
among others.
The collection is arranged in two series:
Series 1. Personal and professional papers, 1970-2013
Series 2. Audiovisual resources, 1970-1992
Carolyn Weathers was active in the gay and lesbian bar scene in the 1960s in San Antonio, Texas. She moved to Los Angeles
in 1968 where she became involved in the emerging gay liberation movement. As a member of the Gay Liberation Front, Weathers
held feminist issues workshops, helped form the Gay Women's Speakers Bureau, performed in agitprop events, and participated
in protests such as the takeover of the Behavior Modification Conference at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles to protest the
use of aversion therapy on gay people.
In 1970, she joined the Lesbian Feminists group at the Crenshaw Women's Center in Los Angeles, where she was involved in protests
and workshops on lesbian and feminist issues. She wrote "The True Story of Lesbianism by Frank Straight" and spoke at conferences,
festivals, and other events. She became one of the first out lesbians on Los Angeles television when she appeared on Regis
Phibin's "Tempo Show." She protested for abortion rights, women's equality, and the end of sexist/racist labor practices.
In 1975, she joined her sister, Brenda Weathers, to protest against fiscal mismanagement at the Gay Community Services Center
in Los Angeles and helped her establish the Alcoholism Center for Women (ACW). Weathers was a printer at the ACW Press and
helped create promotional material to fight Anita Bryant and the Briggs Initiative. She worked at the café at the Women's
Building in Los Angeles and was an original member of the Southern California Women for Understanding. In 1984, she inaugurated
the Lesbian Writers Series at A Different Light Bookstore in Silver Lake. Weathers has written and published numerous works,
including the books "Leaving Texas: A Memoir," "Shitkickers and Other Texas Stories," and "Crazy." In 1986, Weathers and her
partner Jenny Wrenn founded Clothespin Fever Press to publish books by lesbian writers. In 1987, Weathers and Wrenn formed
the Los Angeles Committee to Free Sharon Kowalski. Carolyn Weathers has remained active in LGBT and feminist causes, speaking
to researchers and the community regarding LGBT and feminist history.
The collection is open to researchers. There are no access restrictions.
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the ONE Archivist. Permission
for publication is given on behalf of ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives at USC Libraries as the owner of the physical
items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.
Existence and Location of Copies
A sample of Weather's approximately 2,400 digitized photographs, 1961-1990, can be accessed online at http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/search/collection/p15799coll4/searchterm/weathers/order/nosort.
Existence and Location of Originals
Carolyn Weathers has retained the original photographs from this collection.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Donated by Carolyn Weathers in June 2012.
[Box/folder #, or item name] Carolyn Weathers Photographs and Papers, Coll2014-008, ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, USC
Libraries, University of Southern California.
Collection processed by Kyle Morgan and volunteers, 2014. In 2017, upon request of the donor, some materials from this collection
were separated to become two other distinct collections: Clothespin Fever Press Records (Coll2013-092) and the Los Angeles
Committee to Free Sharon Kowalski Records (Coll2014-048).
Correspondence, clippings, flyers, pamphlets, programs, event records, financial records, bankruptcy records, conference records,
published materials, book reviews, writings, awards, contacts, meeting minutes, court records, research records, ephemera,
photographic prints, and digitized photographs documenting the activities and interests of Carolyn Weathers, 1961-2015. The
collection includes the administrative records of the Alcoholism Center for Women, and information about Brenda Weathers,
Jenny Wrenn, among others.
Separated to the ONE Archives poster collection:
UGLA, University of Gay and Lesbian Achievers, Spring Semester 1988, The Gay and Lesbian Community Services Center.
Separated to the ONE Archives pamphlet collection
About our Parents, Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, Los Angeles, 1986.
Kepner, Jim. Gay Los Angeles: The Early Days. Los Angeles: International Gay and Lesbian Archives, 1988.
Roberts, Shelly. Make News! Make Noise!: How to Get Publicity for your Book. San Diego: Paradigm Publishing Company, 1994.
Read This Before Coming Out To Your Parents, T.H. Sauerman, 1984.
Separated to the ONE periodical collection
Connexxus, v.2, no.2, 7, 9, 10 (1986).
Dare, Tennessee's gay and lesbian newsweekly, v.3, no.31 (August 3, 1990).
Feminist News, v.6, no.7 (July 1988).
GALTA News, Los Angeles, v.1, no.1 (February 1988).
Gay Flames Pamphlet, no.1-13. (includes information on the Revolutionary People's Constitutional Convention)
GLAS-LA, Gay and Lesbian Arab Society of Los Angeles, v.1, no.4 (September 1991).
Happenings, Whitman-Brooks, v.10, no.6 (July/August 1989).
Lesbian Central Newsletter, Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center (October 1988).
Lesbian Herstory Archives, no.13 (June 1992).
Lesbian Tide, v.14, no.3 (October 1988).
San Diego Lesbian Press, v.5, no.6 (August/September 1990).
The Visionary, v.4, no.1 (March/April 1991).
Separated to the ONE audiovisual collection
Alcoholism Center for Women, Inc., part 1 and 2, December 4, 2008. (2 DVDs)
Alcoholism Center for Women jug band and lighten-up group sitting around playing live music, September 12, 1980. (open-reel
videotape, Betacam, DVD)
Alcoholism Center for Women staff in-service training with Barbara Kearney, circa 1975. (open-reel videotape, VHS, DVD)
"The Alcoholic Woman," Ad Lib show, Althea Scott interviews Brenda Weathers, Pauline Baxton, Bea Jorgensen, and Jean S. Vandervort,
1975. (open-reel videotape, Betacam, and 3 DVDs)
Barbara Kearney at the Alcoholism Center for Women talking about chain drinking, undated. (open-reel videotape, VHS, DVD)
Ann Bradley, Robin Podolsky, Carolyn Weathers, and moderator Thais Rothman on KPFK radio IMRU, March 9, 1985. (audiocassette)
Brenda Kay Weathers memorial service, July 30, 2005. (DVD)
Brenda Weathers, Director of the Alcoholism Program for Women at the Gay Community Services Center, at the San Francisco conference
of addiction treatment, circa 1974-1975. (open-reel audiotape, 1 CD)
Carolyn Retter of the Alcoholism Center for Women interviewed by Stony Richards, 1993. (audiocassette, CD)
Carolyn Weathers home videos, July 1995. (VHS)
Carolyn Weathers poetry reading (inaugural reading of the Lesbian Writers Series at A Different Light bookstore with organizer
and host Ann Bradley), February 18, 1984. (VHS and DVD)
Carolyn Weathers reading excerpts from "Cheers Everybody!", "Crab Apple Summer," and Leaving Texas: A Memoir, March 26, 1989.
(audiocassette)
Conversation with Laurie Drabble on Spring Conference, February 2, 1990. (audiocassette)
Dara Robinson, Marsha Salisbury, Nancy Robinson, and Carolyn Weathers on the early lesbian feminist movement from 1969-1971,
IMRU, 1983. (audiocassette, 2 CDs)
Diane Mariechild, "Mother Wit for Children of All Ages," Healing Stars. (audiocassette)
Dyke TV, 100th show. (VHS and DVD)
First National Conference on Lesbian and Gay Aging, California State University, Dominguez Hills. Sharon Raphael, 1981. (3
audiocassettes)
The Historic March on Washington, 1987. (DVD)
"On Honky Tonk Trail...," a talk by Carolyn Weathers. Includes "You Bring the Bible" and "Cheers Everybody," undated. (2 audiocassettes)
Gay and Lesbian Authors at the Los Angeles Central Library, June 6, 1991 (also includes Karen Thompson on W57th Street, March
4, 1989). (DVD)
Gay Liberation Front, lesbian feminists reunion at ONE, July, 25, 2004. (DVD)
"Learning to Be," filmed at the Alcoholic Center for Women, June 1976. (1 DVD)
"Learning to Be," filmed at the Alcoholic Center for Women, May 17, 1976. (4 open-reel audiotapes, 2 DVDs)
"Learning to Be: Funknown," with a voice over introduction, women speaking, and final credits. (Betacam)
NALGAP (the Association of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Addiction Professionals and their Allies) Conferences (includes
a talk by Robert Williams titled "Shame and Particulars for Gay Men and Lesbians"), 1987-1988. (2 audiocassettes)
OutWrite Conference, San Francisco, 1990. (7 audiocassettes)
Party on Avenel Street, Los Angeles, with Kaye O'Brien, Carolyn Weathers, Nancy Kelly, and June Hurlee of the Gay Liberation
Front; and Brenda Weathers taping caseloads; 1970. (audiocassette)
Pat Collins Show, April 1, 1974. Interview with supportive parents of lesbian and gay children (includes interview with Jeanne
Manford, founder of PFLAG). (open-reel videotape, VHS, DVD, mini digital videocassette)
Rader's "The Gay 1980s," six part series, October 29-31, 1980. (U-matic)
S Diane Bogus reading poem "Lady Godiva." (audiocassette)
Strike against the Center, part 1 and 2, KPFK Gay Radio Collective, August 26, 1975. (open-reel audiotape, CD)
"To Jenny [Wren] from Carolyn [Weathers]," a little play for Christmas, December 17, 1985. (audiocassette)
Vicki Randle and Diane Lindsay singing and performing on piano and guitar, parts 1 and 2, circa 1976-1977. (2 open-reel videotapes,
2 VHS, 2 DVD)
Vicki Randle, "Naturally High," a benefit performance for the Alcohol Center for Women's hotline staged at the Women's Building
on Spring Street, February, 28, 1976. (open-reel audiotape, CD)
"The Woman in your Life is You," Alcoholic Center for Women resident skit, October 4, 1980. (open-reel videotape, VHS, DVD)
Women's Music Tour, circa February 13, 1976. (2 open-reel audiotapes, 2 CDs)
Yolanda Retter interviews Brenda Weathers, October 30, 2004. (audiocassette, CD)
Separated to the Non-LGBT newspaper front page collection
Reader, Los Angeles' Free Weekly, "Sisters," v.10, no.28 (April 29, 1988).
Clothespin Fever Press Records, Coll2013-092, ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries, University of Southern
California.
Los Angeles Committee to Free Sharon Kowalski Records, Coll2014-048, ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries,
University of Southern California.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Alcoholism counseling
Lesbian activists -- United States
Lesbian authors
Lesbian feminism -- Archival resources
Weathers, Brenda
Wrenn, Jenny (Jennifer Joy Wrenn)
Alcoholism Center for Women (Los Angeles, Calif.)