Collection context
Summary
- Title:
- Catherine Lord papers
- Dates:
- 1966-2011
- Abstract:
- Writings, promotional material, clippings, photographs, correspondence, video recordings, and other materials, 1966-2011, documenting the career of artist, writer, curator and scholar, Catherine Lord. The bulk of the collection includes materials related to Catherine Lord and Millie Wilson's project "Something Borrowed," a mixed media installation for SITE Santa Fe in 1995. The collection also includes material from the Woman's Building in Los Angeles, research files on topics of interest, and materials documenting Lord's scholarly writings and curatorial projects.
- Extent:
- 4.6 Linear Feet 5 boxes.
- Language:
- English .
- Preferred citation:
-
[Box/folder #, or item name] Catherine Lord Papers, Coll2018-014, ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries, University of Southern California.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
This collection comprises materials, 1966-2011, documenting the career of artist, writer, curator and scholar, Catherine Lord. The personal papers in the collection includes journals, programs, and promotional material documenting Lord's scholarly writings and curatorial projects.
The bulk of the collection includes project records related to Catherine Lord and Millie Wilson's project "Something Borrowed," a mixed media installation for SITE Santa Fe in 1995. This material includes notes, correspondence, photographs, slides, video recordings, and exhibition reviews.
The collection also includes material from the Woman's Building in Los Angeles, including correspondence, application paperwork, program notes, and clippings.
The subject files in the collection include newspaper and periodical clippings addressing a variety of queer and gender-related subjects.
- Biographical / historical:
-
Catherine Lord was born in 1949 in Roseau in the Caribbean nation of Dominica. As a child, she attended a boarding school in Barbados until the family moved to Iowa when she was a teenager. She graduated from Harvard University in 1971, and went on to earn an MFA at the Visual Studies Workshop through the State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo.
Lord is a visual artist, writer, curator, and scholar whose work explores feminism, queerness, cultural politics, and colonialism.
She is the author of the text/image narrative, The Summer of Her Baldness: A Cancer Improvisation, the conceptual translation Sa Calvitie, Son Colibri: Miss Translation, and Art and Queer Culture, 1885-2005 (in collaboration with Richard Meyer).
Her curated exhibitions include "Pervert," "Trash," "Gender, fucked," and "Memories of Overdevelopment: Philippine Diaspora in Contemporary Visual Art."
Her work as a visual artist was included in the 1995 inaugural biennial of SITE Santa Fe, and has been shown at the New York Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, Post Gallery (Los Angeles), La Mama (NYC), DNJ and Thomas Jancar (Los Angeles), Manifesta (Murcia, Spain), and the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center, among other venues.
Previously, she has worked as professor and chair of the Department of Studio Art at the University of California, Irvine, and as director of the UCI Gallery. She has also received numerous fellowships and honors throughout her career, including the Harvard Arts Medal, which she received in 2010.
As of 2024, Catherine Lord lives in New York.
SITE Santa Fe is a contemporary arts organization based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Established in 1995, it organized an international biennial exhibition of contemporary art, and since then has expanded to year-round exhibition. Catherine Lord and Millie Wilson were among the participating artists at this 1995 exhibition, and put together "Something Borrowed," a mixed-media installation. "Something Borrowed" focused on individuals in the state of New Mexico who lived outside of the culture of heterosexuality, with a particular focus on lesbian women. The installation displayed borrowed objects that held some significance to their owners, along with explanations of their significance written by the lenders.
Operating from 1973 to 1991, the Woman's Building was an arts and education center in Los Angeles established to give focus to women artists, develop women's artistic skills and sense of identity, and address the exclusion of women artists in major museums and art spaces. The project was spearheaded by artist Judy Chicago, graphic designer Sheila de Bretteville, and art historian Arlene Raven, who founded the Feminist Studio Workshop as the first independent school for women artists. Numerous programs and groups were born from the FSW, and the Woman's Building continued to promote women's creative accomplishments until its closure in 1991.
- Acquisition information:
- Gift of Catherine Lord, February 2, 2013.
- Processing information:
-
Collection processed by Kimberly Sims, March 2018.
- Arrangement:
-
The collection is arranged into the following series:
Series 1: Personal papers, 1990-2011
Series 2: "Something Borrowed" project, 1994-1996
Series 3: Woman's Building, 1969-1992
Series 4: Subject files, 1966-2007
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Indexed terms
About this collection guide
- Date Encoded:
- This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2025-04-15 16:06:49 -0700 .
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
The collection is open to researchers. There are no access restrictions.
- Terms of access:
-
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.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Box/folder #, or item name] Catherine Lord Papers, Coll2018-014, ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries, University of Southern California.
- Location of this collection:
-
909 West Adams BoulevardLos Angeles, CA 90007, US
- Contact:
- (213) 821-2771