Collection context
Summary
- Creators:
- Weathers, Carolyn and Wrenn, Jenny (Jennifer Joy Wrenn)
- Abstract:
- Photographs, event records, financial records, bankruptcy records, published books, catalogs, periodicals, postcards, clippings, correspondence, contracts, ephemera, book reviews, flyers, conference records, distribution records, and other administrative records of Clothespin Fever Press (CFP), 1981-2012. CFP was established in 1986 to publish "books that reflected the lesbian viewpoint, had literary and artistic merit and were written by a lesbian."
- Extent:
- 2.7 Linear Feet 3 boxes.
- Language:
- English
- Preferred citation:
-
[Box/folder #, or item name] Clothespin Fever Press Records, Coll2013-092, ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries, University of Southern California.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
Photographs, event records, financial records, bankruptcy records, published books, catalogs, periodicals, postcards, clippings, correspondence, contracts, ephemera, book reviews, flyers, conference records, distribution records, and other administrative records of Clothespin Fever Press (CFP), 1981-2012. The materials document CFP's operations, including books published, distribution, conferences, publicity and other activities.
- Biographical / historical:
-
Clothespin Fever Press (CFP) was established in 1986 by Carolyn Weathers and Jenny Wrenn. Located in the Highland Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, CFP's founders sought to address the vacuum left by mainstream publishers who seldom published works by out lesbian authors. "Weathers and Wrenn believed that lesbians were a genuine minority population group which mainstream presses never really understood. Therefore Clothespin Fever Press was interested in publishing books that reflected the lesbian viewpoint, had literary and artistic merit and were written by a lesbian." The company was run solely by Weathers and Wrenn, and Gail Suber and Ayofemi Stowe-Folayan volunteered editing services. Among CFP's accomplishments, the book In a Different Light: An Anthology of Lesbian Writers (edited by Carolyn Weathers and Jenny Wrenn) was one of the finalists for the 1990 Gay and Lesbian Task Force of the American Library Association's Gay/Lesbian Book Award; and the book Loss of the Ground-Note: Women Writing about the Loss of Their Mothers (edited by Helen Vozenilek) received the 1993 Susan Koppelman Honorable Mention Award from the Women's Caucus of the Popular Culture Association and the American Culture Association. CFP eventually moved to San Diego, California, where it later ended operations in 1996.
Source: Jenny Wrenn email correspondence, October 26, 2017.
- Acquisition information:
- Gift of Carolyn Weathers, June 20, 2012.
- Processing information:
-
The materials in this collection were originally part of the Carolyn Weathers Photographs and Papers (Coll2014-008). In 2017, upon request of the donor, the materials were separated from the Weathers collection to become its own Clothespin Fever Press Records (Coll2013-092). Collection was originally processed by Kyle Morgan with assistance from volunteers, 2014.
- Arrangement:
-
The collection is arranged alphabetically.
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
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] Clothespin Fever Press Records, Coll2013-092, 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