Finding Aid to the Marjorie Greenfield Corresondence on Homophobic Headings Coll2014.064
Michael C. Oliveira
Processing this collection has been funded by a generous grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.
ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries, University of Southern California
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Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries, University of Southern California
Title: Marjorie Greenfield correspondence on archaic headings
creator:
Greenfield, Marjorie
creator:
Ulrich, Otto H.
Identifier/Call Number: Coll2014.064
Physical Description:
0.1 Linear Feet
1 folder
Date (inclusive): 1974-1991
Abstract: Correspondence related to the successful effort to remove "homosexuality" from archaic and disparaging headings in the National
Library of Medicine's classification systems, 1974-1978, and the World Health Organization's International Classification
of Disease, 1985-1991. The projects were championed by Marjorie Greenfield, a lesbian woman, Philadelphia Metropolitan Hospital
librarian, and member of the Gay and Lesbian Task Force of the American Library Association.
Marjorie Greenfield was a medical librarian at Philadelphia Metropolitan Hospital. She was active in the lesbian and feminist
movements and wrote under the pseudonym Marjorie Morgan. In the mid-1970s she worked to have the subject heading "homosexuality"
removed from hierarchies that placed it under "Perversion," "Sickness," etc. Along with Otto Ulrich, other medical librarians,
and health professionals, their campaign succeeded. The National Library of Medicine, an international authority on medical
cataloging and classification, updated the cataloging of "Homosexuality," removing it from disparaging hierarchies. In the
1990s she worked to update the World Health Organization's International Classification of Diseases. Greenfield was also a
member of the American Library Association Gay and Lesbian Task Force where she collected and preserved correspondence that
included personal stories and letters of thanks for the Task Force's efforts.
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.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Marjorie Greenfield, August 13, 1991.
[Item] Marjorie Greenfield Correspondence on Archaic Headings, Coll2014-064, ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries,
University of Southern California.
Collection processed by Michael C. Oliveira, September 2014.
The collection consists of copies of Marjorie Greenfield's out-going correspondence and replies from Otto H. Ulrich, Michael
McConnell, Clifford A Bachrach, Emilie V. Wiggins, Lillian R. Kozuma, Cal Gough, Andy Elliott, Sanford Berman, James A. Paulsen,
and Peggy Hanley-Hackenbruck. The exchange of correspondence, 1974-1978, relates to the successful effort to remove "Homosexuality"
from archaic and disparaging headings in the National Library of Medicine's classification systems. The later exchange of
correspondence, 1985-1991, refers to the successful effort to remove "Homosexuality" from disparaging headings in the World
Health Organization's International Classification of Disease.
American Library Association Gay Task Force and Social Responsibilities Round Table Collection, Coll2011-017, ONE National
Gay & Lesbian Archives, Los Angeles, California
Barbara Gittings and Kay Tobin Lahusen gay history papers and photographs, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York
Public Library.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Correspondence
Homosexuality -- History
Reclassification (Libraries)
Greenfield, Marjorie
Ulrich, Otto H.
folder 1
Correspondence 1974-1991