Sara Halprin Interviews of Seema Weatherwax MS.153
Brock Stuessi and Alix Norton
University of California, Santa Cruz
2020
1156 High Street
Santa Cruz 95064
speccoll@library.ucsc.edu
Contributing Institution:
University of California, Santa Cruz
Title: Sara Halprin interviews of Seema Weatherwax
Creator:
Halprin, Sara
source:
Halprin, Sara
Identifier/Call Number: MS.153
Physical Description:
1 Linear Feet
2 boxes
Physical Description:
60.21 GB
(130 digital files)
Date (inclusive): 1976-2004
Abstract: Sara Halprin was an American writer,
filmmaker, teacher, and therapist. This collection contains interviews and research
materials the writer collected while working on her 2005 biography of photographer Seema
Weatherwax,
Seema's Show: A Life of the Left. Accordingly, the bulk of the
collection consists of recorded conversations between Halprin and Weatherwax. Topics covered
include Weatherwax's life from her birth in 1905 in Chernigov, Russia; her immigration to
Leeds, England in 1912; her immigration to Boston in 1918; her involvement in the Young
Communist League and later the Communist Party; moving cross country to Los Angeles during
the Great Depression; her time in Tahiti in the early 1930s; working as a photography
developer for Ansel Adams in Yosemite from 1938-1941; her marriage with writer Jack
Weatherwax; her move to Santa Cruz, California, in 1985; and life in Santa Cruz through
2001. Forms of materials in this collection are digital files, MiniDiscs, and VHS
tapes.
Language of Material:
English .
Conditions Governing Access
Collection open for research. Digital files are available in the UCSC Special Collections
and Archives reading room. Some files may require reformatting before they can be accessed.
Technical limitations may hinder the Library's ability to provide access to some digital
files. Access to digital files on original carriers is prohibited; users must request to
view access copies. Audiocassettes were reformatted by the UCSC Library in 2022. VHS tapes
and MiniDiscs are unavailable until reformatted. Contact Special Collections and Archives in
advance to request access to audiovisual media and digital files.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright for the items in this collection is owned by the creators and their heirs.
Reproduction or distribution of any work protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair
use requires permission from the copyright owner. It is the responsibility of the user to
determine whether a use is fair use, and to obtain any necessary permissions. For more
information see UCSC Special Collections and Archives policy on Reproduction and Use.
Preferred Citation
Sara Halprin Interviews of Seema Weatherwax. MS 153. Special Collections and Archives.
University Library, University of California, Santa Cruz.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Sara Halprin, 2006.
Biographical / Historical
Sara Halprin was an American writer, filmmaker, teacher and therapist. Born Barbara Joan
Sakofsky on February 19, 1943 in New York City, she legally changed her name to Sara Halprin
in 1982. As an academic, Halprin received a master's degree from the University of Edinburgh
and a master's degree and doctorate from Columbia University. She taught at several colleges
including the University of Toronto, Marylhurst University, and Lewis and Clark College. As
a writer Halprin published two books:
Seema's Show: A Life on the Left
(University of New Mexico Press, 2005) and
'Look At My Ugly Face!' - Myths And
Musings On Beauty And Other Perilous Obsessions With Women's Appearance
(Penguin
Books, 1995). As a filmmaker and film critic, Halprin worked under the pen name of Barbara
Halpern Martineau. She was a key political and intellectual voice in lesbian feminist
criticism on the Toronto scene in the late 1970s and early 1980s, writing a regular column
in the Toronto women's magazine
Broadside and contributing reviews and
articles to Canadian film magazines such as
Cinema Canada and
Take
One
. As a documentary filmmaker, she was responsible for proto-transgender
manifesto
Keltie's Beard (1983) and
Heroes: A Transformation
Film
(1983). Halprin settled in Portland, Oregon in the 1990s with her husband,
Herbert D. Long where she studied and worked as a Process Work therapist under Amy and
Arnold Mindell. She died from complications related to cancer on November 10, 2006 at age
63.
Seema Aissen Weatherwax was an American photographer. She began her photography career in
Boston in the 1920s, and continued her work throughout the United States until her death in
2006. Weatherwax associated and collaborated with artists and activists such as Ansel Adams,
Edward Weston, Imogen Cunningham, and Woody Guthrie.
Scope and Contents
This collection contains interviews and research materials collected by the writer,
filmmaker and therapist Sara Halprin for her book
Seema's Show: A Life on the
Left
chronicling the life of photographer Seema Weatherwax. The collection
includes interviews Halprin conducted with Weatherwax, Tamara "Tama" Smith (Weatherwax's
sister), Jason Weston and Marge Frantz; a series of interviews between Joy Gonzales
(Weatherwax's niece, daughter of Tama) and Reva Aissen (Weatherwax's mother); recordings of
memorial services for her husband Jack Weatherwax and Virginia Adams; personal videotapes of
various celebrations and gatherings; and radio and television programs about Weatherwax.
These interviews and ephemera cover Weatherwax's life from her birth in 1905 in Chernigov,
Russia; her immigration to Leeds, England in 1912; her immigration to Boston in 1918; her
involvement in the Young Communist League and later the Communist Party; moving
cross-country to Los Angeles during the Great Depression; her time in Tahiti in the early
1930s; working as a photography developer for Ansel Adams in Yosemite from 1938-1941; her
marriage with Jack Weatherwax; her move to Santa Cruz in 1985, and her life in Santa Cruz
through 2001. Forms of materials in this collection are digital files, MiniDiscs, and
VHS.
Arrangement
This collection is arranged in three series:
- Series 1: Interviews with Seema Weatherwax
- Series 2: Interviews with Weatherwax's family
- Series 3: Other recordings
Materials within each series are arranged chronologically by date created.
Processing Information
This collection was processed by Brock Stuessi in the Center for Archival Research and
Training (CART) with assistance from Alix Norton in 2020. Descriptions of digital files were
created during processing and offer a summary of each interview. Descriptions in quotation
marks denote transcriptions of original audiocassette labels. The interviews in the
collection were originally recorded on tape, both VHS and audiocassette. Some of these tapes
were digitized to CD prior to the collection donation, and the CDs were transferred to
digital files by Special Collections staff in 2019. The remaining audiocassettes were
digitized in 2020 and 2022. Audiocassettes, CDs, and duplicate or out-of-scope digital files
were not retained.
Finding aid revision statement
This finding aid was revised in the Reparative Archival Redescription Project in 2021-2022.
Previous versions of this finding aid are available upon request.
Related Materials
Related materials on Seema Weatherwax include:
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Photographers -- Interviews
Video recordings
Interviews
Weatherwax, Seema, 1905-2006
Halprin, Sara
Interviews with Seema Weatherwax
1987-2001
Scope and Contents
This series comprises recordings of interviews between Sara Halprin and Seema
Weatherwax from between 1987 to 2001. Early recordings give a broad overview of
Weatherwax's life for Halprin's 1986 film
Re-entry: Stories of Six Women.
Recordings made after 1997 were created for Halprin's book,
Seema's
Show
.
ms0153_rec_0130a
1987 February
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .3656 GB, 32
minutes
Scope and Contents
"From consolidated films to settling in Santa Cruz, with flashes of background"
ms0153_rec_0130b
1987 February
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .3664 GB, 32
minutes
ms0153_rec_0131a
1987 February
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .3634 GB, 32
minutes
Scope and Contents
"Early life and photographs, Ansel Adams, Yosemite, unemployment"
ms0153_rec_0131b
1987 February
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .3618 GB, 31
minutes
ms0153_rec_0132a
1987 February
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .3663 GB, 32
minutes
ms0153_rec_0132b
1987 February
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .0918 GB, 8
minutes
ms0153_med_0001
1987
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .4957 GB, 49
minutes
Scope and Contents
In this interview, originally recorded on video, Sara Halprin talks to Seema
Weatherwax who gives a broad overview of her life from childhood to her early
thirties. Weatherwax discusses her childhood in Chernigov, Ukraine (then a part of
Tsarist Russia) and the position of her mother and father in that community with
particular attention to their Jewish identity. Additionally she describes her family's
attempt immigrating to England, their subsequent imprisonment, and later successful
migration to Leeds, Yorkshire in 1913. Weatherwax briefly discusses life and school in
England and the family's immigration to the United States in 1922 following her
father's death. Following this, Weatherwax gives a brief overview of her first
marriage to James Lacey, moving to Los Angeles, her time in Tahiti, and the start of
her work with Ansel Adams in Yosemite.
ms0153_med_0002
1987
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .4543 GB, 43
minutes
Scope and Contents
In this interview with Halprin, originally recorded on video, Weatherwax gives an
overview of her time living in Los Angeles from 1939 onward following her time in
Yosemite. She is joined in the interview by her friend of 40 years, Hattie Brown.
Weatherwax spends the majority of the interview talking about her marriage with Jack
Weatherwax and the various places they lived together. She and Hattie discuss the
community of Commonwealth Avenue they were a part of in Los Angeles and the various
political activities going on there in the 1950s. In addition, Weatherwax talks about
the political organizing she and Jack did throughout their time in Los Angeles, and
their move to Santa Cruz at the end of Jack's life.
ms0153_med_0003
1987
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .4965 GB, 47
minutes
Scope and Contents
In this interview with Halprin, originally recorded on video, Weatherwax describes
various photographs from her life, including photographs and scenes from her life in
Chernigov, Leeds, Patterson, New Jersey, Yosemite and Los Angeles. She also describes
relationships with James Lacey, Chan Weston, Jack Weatherwax and Ansel Adams. There is
an undigitized video component to this video on VHS in the collection.
ms0153_med_0004
1987
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .4957 GB, 47
minutes
Scope and Contents
Weatherwax gives a broad overview of her life from childhood to her early thirties.
She discusses her childhood in Chernigov, Ukraine (then a part of Tsarist Russia) and
the position of her mother and father in that community with particular attention to
their Jewish identity. She describes her family's attempt immigrating to England,
their subsequent imprisonment, and later successful migration to Leeds, Yorkshire in
1913. Weatherwax briefly discusses life and school in England and the family's
immigration to the United States in 1922 following her father's death. Weatherwax
gives a brief overview of her first marriage to James Lacey, moving to Los Angeles,
her time in Tahiti, and the start of her work with Ansel Adams in Yosemite.
Additionally, Weatherwax describes her introduction to Marxist philosophy in Boston in
the 1920s, the 1933 Long Beach earthquake and her activities with the Film and Photo
League in the 1930s.
ms0153_med_0005
1987
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .4945 GB, 47
minutes
Scope and Contents
Seema Weatherwax talks about the success of her relationship with Jack Weatherwax.
She talks about her inability to have children and the many young people her and Jack
had parent-like relationships with throughout their life together. Weatherwax talks
about her time in Boston with specific attention to the development of her political
thought there. She also goes into detail about her mother Reva Aissen.
ms0153_med_0006
1995 March 16
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .8463 GB, 80
minutes
Scope and Contents
Weatherwax mostly discusses her current state of mind and life at the age of 90 in
Santa Cruz. She discusses her social life in the La Posada retirement community, her
concept of peace and involvement in social activism, her husband Jack's death, and her
life without him. Additionally, Weatherwax talks about how she thinks about her own
death and the kind of legacy she is working toward leaving. Lastly, she discusses how
she perceives her appearance and body as well her spiritual beliefs and regrets she
has looking back on her younger self.
ms0153_rec_0127
1997 February 17
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .2177 GB, 19
minutes
Scope and Contents
"England to Boston. Names change, language differences, schooling, resilience, school
systems, caste system, Father's death, quota system, science studies, gender
discrimination, move to Boston, work instead of school, photo lab apply, first job in
photography."
ms0153_rec_0133
1997 February 17
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .3814 GB, 33
minutes
Scope and Contents
"Russia. Childhood in Chernigov, orchard, garden, radishes for kids because they grow
fast, exams for sister, 100% needed, anti-Semitism in England, Mother and Father
together, the bookstore. The smuggle attempt (age 6): train 'trip' for family, Seema
'where is the bread?' (wheat fields), underground railroad, smuggler's hut, baby
crying... back to Chernigov, 3 prison 'camps' inmates social/political, Mother and
children back to house, empty house, remember Father's assistant sleeping in the cubby
hole, payment for legal transport, furnishings gone, empty house, family possessions
shipped to England, Samavor, grandparents, Orthodox, parents' views, cultural
aspects/religious aspects, sexist aspects"
ms0153_rec_0128a
1997 April 3
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .54 GB, 47
minutes
Scope and Contents
"Yosemite. Studio description, artwork, concessions, printing work, murals procedure,
first arrival floods of Merced, camera workshop, Jeffrey Rockefeller, Chan visiting
interim, Wolfe family, buildings layout, Ron Partridge, 'Nan', entertaining, LA
visits, back to LA with Neil, Adams' senior, SF, Ansel recognition, meet Jack (Li-po
reference), date for New Years, return to LA, married in 42, interspersed with photo
identification"
ms0153_rec_0128b
1997 April 3
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .5421 GB, 47
minutes
ms0153_rec_0129
1997 April 3
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .1704 GB, 15
minutes
Scope and Contents
"Yosemite cont."
ms0153_rec_0134a
circa 1997
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .0735 GB, 6
minutes
Scope and Contents
"Tahiti. Arrival - no phones or mail (no Clarence), pretty fishes in water, hotel
room, meet lady educated in States, formerly of Royal Family, boat from Moorea -
Clarence! - burial grounds, Roger Fowler, Hollywood shooting scandal, Crusoe crew,
Farnum, Cameraman banished back, boat from US to Tahiti, Dorothy Dix 'dear Dorothy
play', return trip 3rd class, crew sneaks food to cabin, Captain of Moorea boat,
licensed for length, Tahitian breadline?!, work conditions, water problem"
ms0153_rec_0134b
circa 1997
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .3636 GB, 32
minutes
Scope and Contents
Tahiti
ms0153_rec_0135a
circa 1997
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .2336 GB, 20
minutes
Scope and Contents
"Tahiti, Woody. Tahiti: Waterfront, Mademoiselle Sophie, name change reference,
Tahiti tourism, Mrs. Farnum. Back to LA from Yosemite period: Jack, Woody, government
farming, Dust Bowl, description of photos on wall, tin tents, camp conditions,
housing, day care."
ms0153_rec_0135b
circa 1997
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .2266 GB, 20
minutes
ms0153_rec_0136
circa 1997
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .434 GB, 38
minutes
Scope and Contents
"Yosemite. First met Ansel circa 1937, Virginia, Seema's personal life and need a
healing environment, (lots of Seema and Charles looking for photos of apartment, and
more), Studio, Best Family, Darkroom (height of faucet), tall people, Ray Wolfe,
(Charles and Seema looking at photos) Virginia and Wine and Seema, outings, Chan, Chan
interlude to LA photo workshop circa 39, 40, lots of Adams. Back to LA, Jack meet,
Naturalization occasion (1940), Virginia and Best Family."
ms0153_rec_0137
circa 1997
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .2723 GB, 24
minutes
Scope and Contents
"Los Angeles 40s Woody Guthrie. Woody Guthrie photo IDs, LA, 1941-1942, Woody's
children and first wife, second wife, Arlo."
ms0153_rec_0138a
circa 1997
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .5605 GB, 49
minutes
Scope and Contents
"Los Angeles 40's. Meet Jack, chronology- move to LA, Woody, Mary and children
(Guthrie), jaunts to beach, skid row, CIO hall benefit, Bakersfield, Las Vegas -
divorce and wedding - Castleslab, Holmes lab, film strips, Laguna Beach factory,
x-rays for airplane flaws, camera union, Jack and Hopi, apps for war effort and offer
declined, Jack's radio programs (Woody Guthrie meet), United Nations established, East
Coast with Fords, Santa Barbara, Porters in SF and SB, jobs chronology, war issues,
follow ups, and merging ahead."
ms0153_rec_0138b
circa 1997
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .554 GB, 48
minutes
Box 1
1998 February 09
Physical Description: 2 VHS
Scope and Contents
"Kasandra 'La Posada' also Jack"
Box 1
1998 October
Physical Description: 4 VHS
Scope and Contents
"Russia to Tahiti 1906 - 1931-32, Tahiti 1931-32; Yosemite 1938 (Spring)"
ms0153_med_0007
1999 May 12
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .671 GB, 67
minutes
Scope and Contents
Weatherwax details her early life and family history in Chernigov, Ukraine from 1905
to 1912. She talks about her paternal grandparents (the Aissen family) and her father
Avram Aissen's commitment to self-education. Additionally, she describes what she
remembers about being Jewish at that time in Tsarist Russia, her own experiences with
racism and what she remembers of her older sister Freda's experience in Orthodox
Christian school. Lastly, Weatherwax discusses her father's bookshop and the upper
middle class social position he and the family enjoyed because of it.
ms0153_med_0008
1999 May 12
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .3368 GB, 32
minutes
Scope and Contents
Weatherwax talks about the experience of attempting to migrate with her family from
Russia to England in 1912 to try to escape her father's compulsory military service.
The family was caught and brought to prison for a few months before being let go
without any further charges. Weatherwax details this prison experience she went
through with her mother and sisters and the effect it had on her. She then describes
the bribe her father paid to obtain legal travel papers and what she remembers from
the subsequent trip to Leeds, England, where they initially stayed with her maternal
grandparents, the Abelovs.
ms0153_med_0009
1999 June 06
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .5017 GB, 48
minutes
Scope and Contents
Weatherwax describes what she sees as a thread running through her life of sharing
time and sharing people. She discusses this in the context of her time in Santa Cruz
from 1984 to 1999 and the variety of projects she involved herself with during that
time. She talks about joining the WILPF and NAACP in Santa Cruz. She describes her
photography collection and the time she has spent organizing, collecting, and
distributing her photographs in various ways.
ms0153_med_0010
1999 June 06
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .5013 GB, 48
minutes
Scope and Contents
Weatherwax talks about her involvement in the Santa Cruz chapter of Women's
International League of Peace and Freedom (WILPF). She also talks extensively about
how she came to join the Santa Cruz NAACP and the work she has done to help create a
dialogue between WILPF and the NAACP in Santa Cruz. In a related segment, Weatherwax
discusses her experiences with and perceptions of racial struggle in the United States
beginning in the 1930s in Los Angeles. Halprin and Weatherwax discuss Weatherwax's
contemporary day-to-day life.
ms0153_med_0011
1999 June 06
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .4028 GB, 38
minutes
Scope and Contents
Weatherwax continues the discussion of her current life in Santa Cruz. She talks
about her time as a child in England: how her and her sister's names were changed in
school, World War I, the restaurant and hotel her parents owned and operated, and the
social life that formed around that hotel, the Continental in Leeds. She also talks
about attending Jewish school and learning Hebrew while at the same time learning
English and deliberately forgetting Russian. Lastly she again discusses the experience
in prison in Russia, and her dream life as both a young child and adult.
ms0153_med_0012
1999 June 13
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .343 GB, 33
minutes
Scope and Contents
Weatherwax answers various specific questions from Halprin, presumably filling in
gaps or missed information from previous interviews. They discuss Weatherwax's
continued belief in communism following the revelations about Stalin's violence toward
the Soviet people. She briefly talks about her own photography and why she had not
printed many of her photos until very recently. They talk about Jack's appearance
before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1942. Lastly, they discuss
Weatherwax's views on sex and her life of many loves.
ms0153_med_0013
1999 July 19
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .5035 GB, 48
minutes
Scope and Contents
Weatherwax describes photographs hanging on the walls of her apartment. These photos
include photographs of the Commonwealth Community in LA, Yosemite National Park, Dust
Bowl refugee camps, Woody Guthrie, and Fred Ross. Additionally Weatherwax discusses
her early life in England and living through the Spanish Flu epidemic that took her
father Avram's life in 1918.
ms0153_med_0014
1999 July 19
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .5026 GB, 48
minutes
Scope and Contents
Weatherwax discusses her relationships with her sisters Tama and Freda and how they
were each affected by their father's death and moving from England to Boston. She
discusses her romantic relationships in England. Weatherwax also talks about her
school life in England: specifically, her experiences as a woman interested in
studying math and science, having to petition the board of education to attend the
technical college to study chemistry, and being the only woman at the technical
college.
ms0153_med_0015
1999 July 20
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .5025 GB, 48
minutes
Scope and Contents
Weatherwax talks about sex and relationships throughout her life. She talks about the
culture shock of moving from Leeds, England to Boston and the sexual naivete of both
her and her sisters. Additionally, she talks about the progressive political friends
she became involved with when she first lived in Boston. Weatherwax talks about her
marriage with James Lacey in 1925 at the age of 19 and the dysfunctionality between
them that followed. Weatherwax talks about their cross-country trip during the start
of the depression and being homeless, jobless, and hungry in the midwest and
southwest. Once in Los Angeles, she talks about the end of her marriage with James and
the beginning of her relationship with Clarence Lingerman, with whom she traveled to
Tahiti.
ms0153_med_0016
1999 July 20
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .5112 GB, 49
minutes
Scope and Contents
Weatherwax talks about the end of her time in Tahiti and the subsequent end of her
relationship with Clarence. She talks about needing companionship in her
relationships. Additionally, Weatherwax talks about the experiences she had working in
the darkroom for the Winstead Brothers and facing sexual discrimination and abuse in
the workplace.
ms0153_med_0017
1999 July 20
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .5796 GB, 55
minutes
Scope and Contents
Weatherwax talks about joining the Film and Photo League in 1934 in Los Angeles. She
talks about the various political activities the League took part in, but mostly
discusses her relationship with Chan Weston, whom she met through the League. She
talks about her romantic relationship with Chan, and the connections she built with
his father, photographer Edward Weston. Weatherwax also briefly describes going to
Yosemite in 1938 in the context of her relationship with Chan. In the second half of
the interview, Weatherwax begins to discuss her ideas about the importance of sharing
as a political act. This discussion includes how this concept developed importance in
her life and some of the criticisms she holds about progressive politics.
ms0153_med_0018
1999 July 21
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .5017 GB, 48
minutes
Scope and Contents
Weatherwax talks about her political life in Los Angeles, specifically during the
time she and Jack Weatherwax were living in the predominantly African American
community on Commonwealth Avenue. She also talks about childhood and learning about
relationships and sex through books. Weatherwax then talks about her time in England,
the male companions she had there, and her early thoughts about class and ethics.
Lastly, Weatherwax talks about the boat ride from Liverpool to Boston and first
getting settled in Boston.
ms0153_med_0019
1999 July 21
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .4991 GB, 47
minutes
Scope and Contents
Weatherwax talks about her first professional experiences working in photo
development in Boston. She talks about sexual discrimination in the workplace,
expectations of working women, and being fired for being a woman. She also talks about
working at a summer camp in Massachusetts and the first sexual experience she had
there. Weatherwax ends the interview talking about her marriage with James Lacey and
the sexual dysfunction between them that she believes led to the quick end of the
relationship.
ms0153_med_0020
1999 July 21
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .5075 GB, 48
minutes
Scope and Contents
Weatherwax and Halprin walk around Weatherwax's apartment and talk about the various
photographs and art works she has on her walls. They discuss a group of Mexican
artists surrounding Diego Rivera, who Weatherwax collected a brochure from early on in
their career. Weatherwax talks about her own photography, both portraiture work and
landscape; she talks about why she never took her own photography seriously.
Additionally, Weatherwax talks about photographs of Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, and
Dorothy Lange, all artists she knew, hanging on her walls.
ms0153_med_0021
1999 July 21
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .5054 GB, 48
minutes
Scope and Contents
Weatherwax talks about the various pieces of artwork and photography on the walls of
her apartment. She discusses photos she took of Ansel Adams and photos taken by Ansel.
Additionally, Weatherwax discusses artwork by Pablo Higgins, Emmy Lou Packard, Diego
Rivera, and folk art. Weatherwax talks about the house she and Jack shared on Edgemont
Street in Los Angeles. Weatherwax discusses the development of her feminist philosophy
at a young age.
ms0153_med_0022
1999 July 21-22
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .5048 GB, 48
minutes
Scope and Contents
Weatherwax begins with talking about the art and photographs on her walls. She talks
about various photographs she took in Las Vegas and in Julian, California.
Additionally, Weatherwax discusses photographs taken by Ansel Adams and her
experiences working with him. In the second half of the interview, Weatherwax talks
about the beginning of her friendship with Sara Halprin through one of Halprin's
documentaries.
ms0153_med_0023
1999 July 22-23
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .5018 GB, 48
minutes
Scope and Contents
Weatherwax talks about the trip she took with Halprin to Yosemite in 1987. It was the
first time she had been back since the mid-1960s and she reminisces about how much the
park had changed during that time. Additionally, Halprin asks Weatherwax about her
experience throughout her life with money. Weatherwax talks about learning how to
budget and the times she had no money while traveling cross-country during the
depression. When talking about this cross-country trip, Weatherwax talks about the
various jobs she had in Kansas City and Phoenix.
ms0153_med_0024
1999 July 23
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .5014 GB, 48
minutes
Scope and Contents
In this interview, Weatherwax talks about money and the various forms of importance
money had at different times in her life. She talks about always working as a way for
maintaining her independence. Additionally, she talks about taking control of finances
from Jack and their differing philosophies about money. She discusses Jack's will and
an early change in it that left half of his inheritance to his business partners in
Los Angeles. Weatherwax talks about her sexual relationships with Clarence and Chan,
specifically when she spent time with Chan in Santa Cruz after Jack had passed
away.
ms0153_med_0025
1999 July 23
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .5015 GB, 48
minutes
Scope and Contents
Weatherwax begins by talking about her relationship with Chan Weston. Halprin
questions her about the specifics of their sexual connection and the times he would
come to visit Weatherwax in Yosemite. They also discuss dinners at Ansel Adams's house
and the times Jack and Weatherwax traveled to Yosemite together. Lastly, Weatherwax
begins to discuss the beginning of her relationship with Jack, including the first
time they slept together.
ms0153_med_0026
1999 July 23
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .3804 GB, 36
minutes
Scope and Contents
Weatherwax mostly talks about her relationship with Jack. Weatherwax discusses the
beginning of their relationship in Los Angeles and their sexual relationship.
Weatherwax talks about how that relationship changed over the years, especially when
Jack got sick and her thoughts on romance after Jack's death.
ms0153_med_0027
1999 November 17
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .4943 GB, 47
minutes
Scope and Contents
Weatherwax mostly discusses the beginnings of her political involvement in Boston in
the early 1920s. She talks about joining The Young Pioneers and later the Young
Communist League. She talks about the actions she took part in with these groups and
the political life of her sisters and mother. Halprin and Weatherwax discuss Reva's
(Weatherwax's mother) involvement with the Workmen's Circle in England and the ties
between her family after leaving Russia and the Bolshevik revolution.
ms0153_med_0028
1999 November 17
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .1428 GB, 14
minutes
Scope and Contents
Weatherwax talks about her political involvement and beginning of her identification
with the working class and the working class struggle.
ms0153_med_0031
1999 November 22
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .502 GB, 48
minutes
Scope and Contents
Halprin and Weatherwax discuss Weatherwax's involvement with the Communist Party
throughout her life. Weatherwax talks about her own personal political philosophies,
and why she still believes in the communist philosophy. The majority of the interview
is a debate between Halprin and Weatherwax about the historical understanding of the
Soviet Union, and the relationship between oppressive governmental power and
communism.
ms0153_med_0032
1999 November 22
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .5057 GB, 48
minutes
Scope and Contents
Weatherwax continues to discuss politics and the various political organizations she
was involved with throughout her life. She talks about the Unemployment Council and
the Young Communist League. Weatherwax and Halprin continue to debate the merits of
communism in a historical context.
ms0153_med_0033
1999 November 24
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .5056 GB, 48
minutes
Scope and Contents
Halprin and Weatherwax discuss what they believe Halprin's book should be about and
what is currently missing from the interviews of Weatherwax. They then continue to
talk about politics and the Communist Party. Weatherwax talks about Jack's writing and
experiences with publishing and attempting to sell his books. She also talks about
Ansel Adams's political views. Lastly, Halprin and Weatherwax continue to talk about
communism, and Weatherwax's current views on both the philosophy and the party.
ms0153_med_0034
1999 November 24
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .2617 GB, 25
minutes
Scope and Contents
Weatherwax talks about her affiliations with the Communist Party chapter in Santa
Cruz. Additionally, Halprin talks to Weatherwax about the kind of things she needs
from Weatherwax to make her book successful. The two finish their talk with a
discussion about spirituality.
ms0153_med_0035
1999 December 10
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .666 GB, 63
minutes
Scope and Contents
Weatherwax gives an overview of various highlights of her life from England to Long
Beach. These highlights include convincing the Leeds school board to allow her into
technical school, learning photography development by sneaking into the dark room in
Boston, her photo job in Paterson, New Jersey, and moments on her cross-country trip
during the Great Depression in Kansas City and Phoenix. The interview concludes with
Weatherwax talking about meeting Clarence, and a miscarriage she experienced in Long
Beach.
ms0153_med_0036
1999 December 10
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .6658 GB, 63
minutes
Scope and Contents
Weatherwax talks about her experiences in the Film and Photo League in Los Angeles
and her time in Yosemite. She begins with discussing the end of her relationship with
Clarence and involvement in showing films of the Spanish Civil War around Los Angeles.
The bulk of the interview has to do with Weatherwax's time in Yosemite. She talks
about Yosemite Valley in the 1940s and her day-to-day life there. She also talks about
her friendship with Imogen Cunningham and draws a vivid picture of who Ansel Adams
was.
ms0153_med_0037
1999 December 10
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .6651 GB, 63
minutes
Scope and Contents
Weatherwax continues to talk about the various political activities she was involved
with in the 1940s. She talks about her time in the Dust Bowl refugee camp in Shafter,
California (near Bakersfield) with Woody Guthrie and Jack and the photographs she took
there. Halprin and Weatherwax also discuss why Weatherwax is hesitant to call herself
or the people she was affiliated with communists. They talk about Jack's appearance
before the Tenney/Un-American Activities Committee, the Free India movement, and the
1945 meeting of the United Nations in San Francisco.
ms0153_med_0038
1999 December 11
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .6767 GB, 64
minutes
Scope and Contents
Weatherwax continues to talk about her various political involvements in Los Angeles.
She talks about distributing the People's World newspaper and the social anxiety she
often felt doing political organizing work. She also talks about putting her own
creative work aside to support Jack and the partial regret she feels in making that
decision. Lastly Weatherwax talks about her time living with Jack in Laguna Beach and
working in an airplane factory during World War II.
ms0153_med_0039
1999 December 11
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .6847 GB, 65
minutes
Scope and Contents
Weatherwax continues to talk about her various political involvements in Los Angeles.
She talks about living in the Commonwealth community and her and Jack's involvement
with the Black Baptist church in that area. She talks about her role in the Los
Angeles Communist Party and an FBI investigation into her and Jack in the early 1950s.
Additionally, Weatherwax talks about the Interracial Council she helped to found in
the Commonwealth community and her views on the disconnect between the Communist Party
and racial justice issues..
ms0153_med_0040
1999 December 11
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .6706 GB, 64
minutes
Scope and Contents
Weatherwax continues to talk about her various political involvements in Los Angeles.
She talks about living in the Commonwealth community and the sewing group she started
there as a women's organization. They also talk about the National Association of
Colored Women that Weatherwax was involved with and Jack's work with the Hopi people.
Lastly, they discuss a joint art show between visiting Soviet artists and the Black
Los Angeles art community in the 1950s and the fallout in the U.S. Communist Party
after the revelations about Stalin came to light in the 1950s.
ms0153_med_0041
1999 December 12
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .67 GB, 63
minutes
Scope and Contents
Weatherwax discusses the ways she has felt about aging throughout her life and the
various significant deaths in her life. She discusses her own bouts of pneumonia and a
stroke she suffered in 1979. She also talks about the death of her mother, Reva Aissen
and her older sister, Freda in the early 1980s. Lastly she discusses Jack's health
struggles and the pancreatic cancer that eventually killed him in 1985.
ms0153_med_0042
1999 December 12
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .6566 GB, 62
minutes
Scope and Contents
Weatherwax discusses the ways she has felt about aging throughout her life. She talks
about feeling herself getting older and her experience of menopause. She reflects on
what she perceives to be the most full parts of her life and the work she did during
her sixties. Halprin and Weatherwax then talk about Weatherwax's life post-retirement,
and the ways she and Jack kept themselves entertained when not dealing with
health-related matters. Lastly, Weatherwax talks about taking care of loved ones and
the stress it brought her.
ms0153_med_0043
1999 December 16
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .5555 GB, 53
minutes
Scope and Contents
Weatherwax begins by continuing her discussion of aging. Halprin asks her about her
current sexual desire and Weatherwax's experience of the sexual aging process. In the
second portion of the interview, Halprin asks Weatherwax to talk about her life in
Boston both socially and professionally. Weatherwax goes into detail about learning
the craft of photographic development and printing. In the process she details the
barriers she encountered to learning that craft related to being a woman and the ways
she taught herself much of what she learned.
ms0153_med_0044
2000 January 06
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .6768 GB, 64
minutes
Scope and Contents
Weatherwax begins with a discussion of her experiences with homeopathic medicine. She
talks about this in specific relation to an allergic reaction she experienced to photo
development chemicals in the mid-1930s. In the second part of the interview, Halprin
asks Weatherwax about her time in Boston, specifically about her experiences with the
Young Communist League. Weatherwax details how she got involved with the Young
Communist League and the summer camps she attended and worked at for the Young
Communist League. Weatherwax then talks about the family she had around her in Boston,
specifically highlighting the strands of political radicalism in her extended family.
Included in this discussion is Weatherwax's mother, Reva Aissen, and the Workmen's
Hall meetings she regularly attended.
ms0153_med_0045
2000 January 13
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .4992 GB, 47
minutes
Scope and Contents
Weatherwax details her first photo finishing job in Boston. She talks about the
specific processes she learned there and the ways that she picked up photo developing
skills by watching people work in the darkroom. Additionally, Weatherwax describes her
Aunt Weatherwax and Uncle Oscar and more specifics of her extended family structure in
Boston. Weatherwax describes what she remembers of her home in Leeds.
ms0153_med_0046
2000 January 20
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .3284 GB, 31
minutes
Scope and Contents
Weatherwax talks about the time living with her first husband, James Lacey, in
Paterson, New Jersey. Halprin asks her about her job as photo machine attendant and
what she learned in that role. Weatherwax describes the unhappiness she felt in
Paterson and the small social world she had there.
ms0153_med_0047
2000 February 08
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .5065 GB, 48
minutes
Scope and Contents
Weatherwax discusses her journey cross-country from New Jersey to Los Angeles during
the beginning of the Great Depression. Halprin asks Weatherwax about the time
Weatherwax spent with the labor organizer, Ella Reeve Bloor, or Mother Bloor, in
Kansas City. Weatherwax then goes on to detail the various ways she made money in
Kansas City and Omaha, Nebraska. She also talks about the various camps and union
halls she stayed with her husband, James Lacey.
ms0153_med_0048
2000 February 10
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .4722 GB, 45
minutes
Scope and Contents
Weatherwax continues to talk about her journey cross-country with her husband James
Lacey from New Jersey to Los Angeles during the beginning of the Great Depression. She
talks about her time in Phoenix, the work she found there, and contracting the flu.
Weatherwax then talks about arriving in Los Angeles and reconnecting with Reva, Tama,
and Freda while staying at her mother's house.
ms0153_med_0049
2000 March 07
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .5041 GB, 48
minutes
Scope and Contents
Halprin asks Weatherwax specifics about her time living in England and in Long Beach.
Weatherwax talks about flowers and the significance she remembers in always having
freshly picked flowers in the house in both Leeds and Boston. She also talks about a
trip she took to London in 1921. In the second half of the interview, Weatherwax talks
about her job with the Winstead Brothers in Long Beach and the beginning of her
relationship with Clarence Lingerman.
ms0153_med_0050
2000 March 07
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .4953 GB, 47
minutes
Scope and Contents
Weatherwax talks primarily about her time with Clarence Lingerman. She talks about
the first time she met Clarence and the time they spent together in Tahiti. Weatherwax
also talks about swimming in the ocean for the first time in Santa Monica, and her
relationship with smoking and alcohol.
ms0153_med_0056
2000 March 14
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .51 GB, 49
minutes
Scope and Contents
Halprin and Weatherwax discuss the time in her life between her relationships with
Clarence Lingerman and Chan Weston. She discusses the various partners she had during
that time. One of these unnamed partners was part of the Lincoln Brigade during the
Spanish Civil War and died in Spain. Weatherwax also talks about the various political
projects she became involved with during that time, including organizing with the
African American community around the Scottsboro Boys trial and involvement with Works
Project Administration photography initiatives.
ms0153_med_0057
2000 March 14
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .505 GB, 48
minutes
Scope and Contents
Weatherwax discusses her relationship with Chan Weston during the late 1930s. She
talks about Chan's house in Los Angeles and Weatherwax's relationship with the Weston
family, including Chan's mother, Laura. Weatherwax talks about the parties she would
go to with Chan -- she refers to them as "orgies." Lastly, Weatherwax talks about her
introduction to homeopathic medicine in attempting to treat an allergy she acquired to
photo developer fluid.
ms0153_med_0060
2000 May 16
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .3368 GB, 32
minutes
Scope and Contents
Jason Weston joins Weatherwax as she talks about her first interactions with Ansel
Adams via Edward Weston and her interview for the developing job in Yosemite.
Weatherwax describes arriving in Yosemite, her first impressions of the Yosemite
Valley, and of working with Ansel. She details the cottage she stayed in during her
time there and the darkroom.
ms0153_med_0061
2000 May 16
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .2891 GB, 28
minutes
Scope and Contents
Jason Weston joins Weatherwax as she talks about her working relationship with Ansel
Adams in Yosemite and what she learned from him both about developing and shooting
photographs. She talks about the process of critique and feedback that went on in
Ansel's dark room and her perception of the work as quite easy. Lastly, Weatherwax
talks about the growing fame of Ansel and the visitors which increasingly came to see
his studio. Related to this popularity, Weatherwax discusses Ansel's first photography
workshop he held in Yosemite and the ways she assisted in the workshop.
ms0153_med_0067a
2000 May 31
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .3286 GB, 31
minutes
Scope and Contents
Weatherwax talks about various aspects of her time in Yosemite working for Ansel
Adams. Weatherwax talks about the development of the Valley and her knowledge of and
acquaintance with the Curry family. Weatherwax talks about the various ways she spent
her time while not working and the group of friends she had in the valley. Lastly,
Weatherwax talks about her friendship with Virginia Adams and the things they would do
together during time off.
ms0153_med_0067b
2000 May 31
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .1771 GB, 31
minutes
Scope and Contents
Weatherwax talks about her experiences learning to ice skate and the various friends
she made in Yosemite. Lastly, Weatherwax discusses the record
Strange
Fruit
by Billie Holiday and sharing that record with others in Yosemite.
ms0153_med_0068a
2000 June 13
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .336 GB, 31
minutes
Scope and Contents
Weatherwax talks about her own photographic practice and getting her photographs
appraised. She also talks about watching both Edward Weston and Ansel Adams work.
Lastly, Weatherwax talks about spending time in the ocean and an early form of
bodyboarding she did.
ms0153_med_0068b
2000 June 13
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .3342 GB, 31
minutes
Scope and Contents
Weatherwax talks about learning to ride a bicycle and the various times in her life
she owned a bicycle. Halprin asks Weatherwax about dancing, how she learned to dance,
and her experiences dancing with different partners. Weatherwax talks about playing
basketball in England during her primary and high school years in the 1910s and 1920s.
Lastly, Weatherwax talks about arriving in Yosemite and seeing the Yosemite Valley for
the first time.
ms0153_med_0070
2000 July 7
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .5044 GB, 48
minutes
Scope and Contents
Weatherwax discusses the period of time she was working for Ansel Adams in Yosemite.
They discuss Weatherwax's friendship with Imogen Cunningham and the impression
Weatherwax had of her work. Weatherwax talks about photography's relationship to the
fine art and her thoughts on more experimental forms of photography in the 1940s.
Weatherwax describes Virginia Adams's role in the Yosemite day-to-day operations.
Lastly, Weatherwax describes meeting Jack Weatherwax, her future husband, their long
distance relationship, and her eventual decision to leave the Adams darkroom in
Yosemite to be with him.
ms0153_med_0071
2000 July 7
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .5011 GB, 48
minutes
Scope and Contents
Weatherwax talks about her life in the 1940s. This discussion includes her political
awareness during her time in Yosemite and the beginning of World War II shortly after
her return to Los Angeles in 1941. She talks about the various movements and
organizations she was involved with during that time including the Film and Photo
League, the Unemployment Councils and the Free India Movement. In a related note,
Weatherwax discusses living in the Commonwealth Avenue community and the joint art
show she helped to organize between artists in the Black community and artists from
the Soviet Union. Lastly Weatherwax talks about the job she worked in the early 1940s
at a camera store in Hollywood named Castle Brothers.
ms0153_med_0073
2000 August 6
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .6806 GB, 64
minutes
Scope and Contents
Halprin talks to Weatherwax about her upcoming photography show at Mulberry Gallery
in Santa Cruz and her early days with Jack Weatherwax. Weatherwax talks about the
various photos she has selected for the show, all the work that has gone into it, and
her motivations for putting on the show. In the second half of the interview,
Weatherwax talks about the beginning of her relationship with Jack Weatherwax and the
strong connection she felt with him from early on in the relationship.
ms0153_med_0074
2000 August 22
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .6796 GB, 64
minutes
Scope and Contents
Weatherwax talks about the time she spent in Las Vegas in order to get a divorce from
her first husband, James Lacey, to marry Jack Weatherwax. In the last part of the
interview, Weatherwax talks about Jack being called before the Los Angeles Tenney
Committee, an extension of the Anti-Communist House Un-American Activities
Committee.
ms0153_med_0075
2000 August 22
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .2645 GB, 25
minutes
Scope and Contents
Halprin and Weatherwax discuss the various dances Weatherwax and Jack Weatherwax did
together in the 1940s, including the foxtrot, one step, and tango. Weatherwax then
talks about the trip she and Jack took with Woody Guthrie to the Bakersfield Dust Bowl
refugee camps in the mid-1940s. She concludes the interview talking about Jack's
friendship with Woody.
ms0153_med_0077
2000 September 22
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .6761 GB, 64
minutes
Scope and Contents
Halprin interviews Weatherwax about Jack Weatherwax's mother Dody's house on Edgemont
Street in Los Angeles where Weatherwax and Jack lived at the beginning of their
marriage in the 1940s. Weatherwax describes the food of the time and the dining
customs in the house. She also talks about her relationship with the Weatherwax
family, including her friendship with Clara Weatherwax and the death of Jack's
brother, Robert Weatherwax.
ms0153_med_0078
2000 September 22
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .5836 GB, 55
minutes
Scope and Contents
Weatherwax discusses her relationship with Dody Weatherwax, Jack's mother, and what
she knows of Weatherwax family history. She talks about the job she had during World
War II and the continued employment she took on to support her and Jack. Additionally,
Weatherwax discusses what her mother and sisters thought about Jack in the beginning
of their relationship.
Box 2
2000 October 01
Physical Description: 1 VHS
Scope and Contents
"Weatherwax at Mulberry Gallery - Aptos, CA"
ms0153_med_0081
2000 October 14-15
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .6616 GB, 63
minutes
Scope and Contents
Halprin talks to Weatherwax about Weatherwax's time in Santa Cruz and how she thinks
about her life. Weatherwax talks about the Mulberry Gallery show, impressions of her
photography and why it took her until 2000 to show her work. Weatherwax then goes on
to talk about the various ways she has engaged the community in Santa Cruz in the
fifteen years she has been there. This community involvement includes her event
organizing at La Posada retirement community, WILPF, NAACP, and involvement with the
Jewish community. Lastly Weatherwax reflects on her life, why she thinks it's
important to talk about, and how she spends her days at the time of the interview.
ms0153_med_0082
2000 October 14-15
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .6925 GB, 66
minutes
Scope and Contents
Weatherwax discusses her feelings about death and dying. Halprin and Weatherwax talk
about notable artists Weatherwax and Jack Weatherwax helped to organize shows and
concerts for in Los Angeles including Charles White and Paul Robeson. They continue
their discussion on the Communist Party in the 1950s. Lastly, Weatherwax talks about
her film developing job for Frank Holmes in Hollywood and the efforts she made to
unionize the film workers.
ms0153_med_0083
2000 October 14-15
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .6674 GB, 63
minutes
Scope and Contents
Halprin talks to Weatherwax about her jobs working with filmstrip developing and
production in Los Angeles from the 1950s to the 1970s. Weatherwax talks mostly about
working for Frank Holmes and the various attempts at unionizing she was involved with.
She details the processes of all the jobs she did and her coworkers. Additionally, she
talks about the effects these jobs had on her vision and the way her eyesight degraded
over the years.
ms0153_med_0084
2000 October 14-15
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .676 GB, 64
minutes
Scope and Contents
Halprin talks with Weatherwax about various aspects of Weatherwax and Jack
Weatherwax's life in Los Angeles. They discuss the death of Dody Weatherwax, Jack's
mother, and her beliefs in Christian Science. Weatherwax also talks about living on
Commonwealth Avenue and the apartment she and Jack had there. Lastly, Weatherwax talks
about some of the parties she would hold in the Commonwealth neighborhood,
particularly the square dancing they did.
ms0153_med_0085
2000 October 14-15
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .8463 GB, 80
minutes
Scope and Contents
Halprin talks with Weatherwax about various aspects of her life in the late 1970s.
They discuss Weatherwax's sister Tama's marriage to Frank Gonzalez, the unemployment
councils, an arm injury Weatherwax had that kept her from work, and O'Neal Cannon, who
was one of the people working to support and publish Jack Weatherwax's writing in Los
Angeles.
Box 2
2000 December 06
Physical Description: 1 MiniDisc
Scope and Contents
Weatherwax: deaths, Dodie
Box 2
2000 December 07
Physical Description: 1 MiniDisc
Scope and Contents
Weatherwax, control
ms0153_med_0087
2001 March 15
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .3905 GB, 37
minutes
Scope and Contents
Halprin talks to Weatherwax about her continued relationship with the Weston family.
They talk about Weatherwax's friendship with Chan later in life and about Edward
Weston. Additionally, they talk about Edward Weston's widow Charis, Weatherwax's
friendship with her, and her current state of affairs.
ms0153_med_0088
2001 March 22
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .3481 GB, 33
minutes
Scope and Contents
Halprin talks to Weatherwax about various aspects of her current life. They talk
about a library lecture series Weatherwax is giving in Santa Cruz county and
Weatherwax's current health and well-being.
ms0153_med_0089
2001 March 22
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .3447 GB, 33
minutes
Scope and Contents
Weatherwax talks about going through menopause in the 1940s and the difficulties she
encountered at work because of it. She talks about her current life and what is
important to her at the time of the interview. In this discussion, she mostly talks
about her involvement with the NAACP and the activities she misses doing.
ms0153_med_0090
2001 March 29
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .3434 GB, 33
minutes
Scope and Contents
Weatherwax talks about a bicycling accident in Tahiti and one of Imogen Cunningham's
double-negative photographs. She also talks about her three goddaughters and how their
relationships came to be.
ms0153_med_0091
2001 March 29
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .1207 GB, 12
minutes
Scope and Contents
Halprin talks to Weatherwax about political activist and co-founder of the Communist
Party USA, Ella Goldberg Wolfe. Weatherwax talks about meeting her and disliking
her.
ms0153_med_0092a
2001 April 05
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .3303 GB, 31
minutes
Scope and Contents
Weatherwax talks about various aspects of her health including homeopathic medicine
and the diagnosis of her rapid heartbeat. She also talks about her long time friends
Anne and Ron Adams and their daughter, Weatherwax's goddaughter, Janice.
ms0153_med_0092b
2001 April 05
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .3322 GB, 32
minutes
ms0153_med_0093
2001 July 12
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .5505 GB, 52
minutes
Scope and Contents
Weatherwax talks briefly about her time living in Laguna Beach and the job she had in
an airplane factory during World War II. She then talks about her current life
activities that include thoughts about her photography and projects she is working on
at La Posada, the community she lives in. Lastly, Weatherwax talks about giving her
photography collection to UC Santa Cruz Special Collections.
ms0153_med_0094
2001 July 12
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .3242 GB, 31
minutes
Scope and Contents
Weatherwax talks about her friendship with lifelong friend, Hattie Brown. She talks
about organizing going on with the Communist Party in Los Angeles in the 1940s. Lastly
she talks about a summer camp where she worked and taught photography in Lake
Arrowhead in the 1950s.
ms0153_med_0095
2001 July 17
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .7186 GB, 68
minutes
Scope and Contents
Weatherwax talks about Jack Weatherwax's family, including his father, his mother
Dody,and his four siblings. Additionally, Weatherwax details her various involvements
with photography after leaving Yosemite in 1940. She talks about the various portraits
she took, including photographs of the famous Calypso singer, Sir Lancelot. Lastly,
Weatherwax talks about an art show she and Jack organized with a number of artists
from Mexico. This was made possible through a friendship with Pablo O'Higgins.
ms0153_med_0096
2001 July 25
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .5123 GB, 49
minutes
Scope and Contents
Halprin asks Weatherwax about where she was during certain historical moments
surrounding World War II. Weatherwax details Jack Weatherwax's funeral service held
shortly after his death in Los Angeles in 1985. She talks about organizing it and the
variety of people who attended. Lastly Weatherwax talks about starting her life
without Jack in Santa Cruz and joining WILPF and the NAACP.
ms0153_med_0097
2001 July 25
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .3367 GB, 32
minutes
Scope and Contents
Halprin talks to Weatherwax about various aspects of her life in Santa Cruz.
Weatherwax talks about how she has shared her story publicly with radio interviews,
library appearances, and talks at public schools. Additionally Weatherwax talks about
her involvement with the Jewish community in Santa Cruz and the various Seder suppers
she has organized.
ms0153_med_0098
2001 October 11
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .2293 GB, 22
minutes
Scope and Contents
Weatherwax talks about the predominantly Black neighborhood she lived in on
Commonwealth Avenue in Los Angeles. She also speaks about her impressions of the Black
experience in Los Angeles, and the interracial council she and Jack helped to start in
the neighborhood.
ms0153_med_0099
2001 October 15
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .6857 GB, 65
minutes
Scope and Contents
Weatherwax talks about the death of Dody Weatherwax, Jack's mother,and the move she
and Jack made from the Commonwealth community to Dody's house on Edgemont Street at
that time. She also talks about the Commonwealth community, including the People's
World newspaper she distributed there. Lastly, Weatherwax talks about the time she
lived in Los Angeles.
ms0153_rec_0139
undated
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .3782 GB, 33
minutes
Scope and Contents
"Russia"
Interviews with Seema's Family
1976-2000
Scope and Contents
This series comprises interviews of and by various members of Seema Weatherwax's
extended family. These include interviews between Sara Halprin and Tama Smith
(Weatherwax's sister) and Jason Weston, and a series of interviews between Joy Gonzales
(Weatherwax's niece, daughter of Tama Smith) and Reva Aissen (Weatherwax's mother) made
between 1976 and 2000.
Joy Gonzales interviews Reva Aissen
ms0153_med_0101
1976 March 17
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .3293 GB, 31
minutes
Scope and Contents
In this interview, Joy Gonzales, Tama's daughter, talks to her grandmother,
Weatherwax's mother, Reva Aissen. Aissen talks about her early life in Russia and
her relationship with her siblings and parents. Additionally, she talks about the
experience of being Jewish in Tsarist Russia at that time in the late 19th
century.
ms0153_med_0102
1976 March 17
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .428 GB, 41
minutes
Scope and Contents
Aissen tells Gonzales stories from her youth including early 20th century political
activity, traveling she did, and navigating life in Tsarist Russia.
ms0153_med_0103
1976 March 17
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .6438 GB, 61
minutes
Scope and Contents
Aissen talks to Gonzales about meeting Weatherwax's father and their young
marriage. She talks about various marriage customs and how they influenced her and
her sibling's relationships.
ms0153_med_0104
1976 March 17
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .4928 GB, 47
minutes
Scope and Contents
Aissen tells Gonzales about the births of Freda, Seema, and Tama and the house she
lived in at that time. Additionally Aissen talks about the child rearing practices
she used with her daughters and her interests in child psychology.
ms0153_med_0105
1976 March 17
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .4902 GB, 47
minutes
Scope and Contents
Aissen tells Gonzales about the lives of her siblings. She also talks about
immigrating to Leeds, England in order to escape her husband's compulsory military
service. She then talks about the death of her husband from the Spanish Flu in
1918.
ms0153_med_0106
1976 March 17
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .4967 GB, 47
minutes
Scope and Contents
Aissen tells Gonzales about life after the death of her husband and her efforts to
take over his business of selling wholesale textiles. She talks about having to sell
her house to make ends meet and her decision to move to the United States to be with
her family.
ms0153_med_0107
1976 March 17
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .4638 GB, 44
minutes
Scope and Contents
Aissen talks to Gonzales about the boat trip from England to the United States. She
talks about the cultural differences of the United States and what she left behind
in England. Lastly, she discusses the family she and her daughters settled with in
Boston.
ms0153_med_0108
1976 March 17
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .4945 GB, 47
minutes
Scope and Contents
Aissen talks to Gonzales about the house she lived in in Boston and the various
jobs she was able to find making drapes and doing upholstery.
ms0153_med_0109
1976 March
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .4957 GB, 47
minutes
Scope and Contents
Aissen talks to Gonzales about the lives of her daughters. She talks about Seema
and Tama's first relationship experiences in Boston. She also talks about Seema's
marriage to James Lacey.
ms0153_med_0110
1976 March
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .2867 GB, 27
minutes
Scope and Contents
Aissen talks to Gonzales about living in New York City and the work she continued
to do there, making and selling drapes. She also talks about the journey across the
country Seema and Tama took together during the start of the Great Depression.
Box 1
Interview with Seema, Tama, and Charles
1988 June 13
Physical Description: 1 VHS
Scope and Contents
"Info about Tama's time w/ YWCA + WILPF"
Sara Halprin interviews Tama Smith
ms0153_med_0029
1999 November 18
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .5026 GB, 48
minutes
Scope and Contents
Halprin speaks with Weatherwax's younger sister Tama Smith about living in Boston
and England. They talk about the initial shocks she remembers of moving to the
United States and getting involved politically with Weatherwax. Related to politics,
she talks about joining the Young Communist League and the various actions and
protests taking place in the 1920s. Lastly, they discuss living in England and life
after the death of her father.
ms0153_med_0030
1999 November 18
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .2478 GB, 24
minutes
Scope and Contents
Halprin speaks with Smith about what she remembers of living in Leeds and Boston.
They talk about Smith's boyfriends in Boston and the fashion of the time.
Additionally they discuss traveling across the country in the late 1920s at the
start of the great depression. Smith recalls the various labor camps they lived in
on that journey and experiences of being homeless. Lastly, Smith talks about her
marriage with Al, the birth of her daughter Joy, and Al's death.
ms0153_med_0058
2000 March 23
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .3348 GB, 32
minutes
Scope and Contents
Halprin talks to Smith about the birth of her daughter Joy in 1931 and the death of
her husband, Al, shortly thereafter. In the remaining time of the interview, Smith
talks about moving from Los Angeles to New York for four years and discusses her and
Weatherwax's relationships with Chan Weston upon returning to Los Angeles.
ms0153_med_0059
2000 March 23
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .1251 GB, 12
minutes
Scope and Contents
Halprin talks to Smith about various parts of her life in Los Angeles in an attempt
to understand what year Weatherwax stopped dating Clarence Lingerman.
ms0153_med_0072
2000 August 5
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .6023 GB, 57
minutes
Scope and Contents
Halprin talks to Smith about the various houses she lived in during her time in Los
Angeles and the social scenes that formed around them. This includes houses in
Silverlake and Highland Park. They discuss what Smith remembers about the first time
meeting Jack Weatherwax and the beginnings of his and Seema's relationship. They
also discuss Smith's first husband, Al, and the man she met after he died,
Ralph.
Sara Halprin interviews Jason Weston ms0153_med_0076
2000 August 28
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .446 GB, 42
minutes
Scope and Contents
Halprin interviews Jason Weston, the grandson of Chan Weston, who is helping
Weatherwax print the photos for her Mulberry Gallery show. Weston talks about being in
the darkroom with Weatherwax and how the process incorporated both of their printing
styles. He discusses what he finds compelling about both Weatherwax and her
photographs, and gives an overview of the photo printing process more generally.
Box 2
Sara Halprin interviews Joy Gonzales
2000 December
Physical Description: 1 MiniDisc
Joy Gonzales interviews Reva Aissen, Charles Hanson interviews Seema
Weatherwax
ms0153_rec_0140a
undated
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .5483 GB, 48
minutes
ms0153_rec_0140b
undated
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .5089 GB, 44
minutes
Other recordings
1985-2004 and undated
Scope and Contents
This series comprises video recordings and some interviews pertaining to Sara Halprin's
research for her book
Seema's Show. These include recordings of memorial
services for Jack Weatherwax, Virginia Adams, and Paul Robeson; VHS recordings of
Weatherwax speaking in public; recordings of Weatherwax's appearances on radio and
television; VHS recordings of various birthday parties and celebrations; and other
television program recordings.
Jack Weatherwax Memorial ms0153_med_0062
1985
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .5314 GB, 50
minutes
Scope and Contents
In this audio recording of Jack Weatherwax's memorial service, various friends and
family, including Weatherwax, pay tribute to Jack and his life. Most of the discussion
centers on Jack's written contributions. These include Jack's children's literature,
his writings on African American history, his contributions to Los Angeles public
school curriculum, writings on the 1946 United Nations meeting in San Francisco, and a
theatrical production named
Seed.
Box 1
Paul Robeson Memorial
1985 June 20
Physical Description: 1 VHS
Prime Time With Joe Fahey, Elena Leland, Seema Weatherwax, Carolyn
Burke
ms0153_med_0053
1993 August 12
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .5864 GB, 56
minutes
Scope and Contents
Weatherwax appears on the Prime Time radio program with Elena Leland and Carolyn
Burke. Her and Carolyn discuss their experiences emigrating to the United States early
in life and how that experience shaped them. They go on to discuss cultural education
in Santa Cruz and the various ways children of immigrants can be better supported.
Box 2
Seema Weatherwax at Foothill College
1996 January 30
Physical Description: 1 VHS
Talk of the Bay, Erick Sheck and Seema Weatherwax ms0153_med_0066
1998 September 30
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .3394 GB, 32
minutes
Scope and Contents
Eric Sheck interviews Weatherwax for the radio program Talk of the Bay on the station
KUSP. Weatherwax discusses her birth, early life, and childhood in both Chernigov,
Ukraine and Leeds, England. She discusses her family's attempted immigration and their
imprisonment that followed. She also talks about arriving in Boston and the various
political causes she took interest in, specifically the Sacco and Vinzetti trial going
on in Boston. Weatherwax also talks about meeting Woody Guthrie in the early 1940s and
her work for Ansel Adams.
Box 2
Seema Weatherwax on KUSP, "Woman of the Year"
1999 March 15
Physical Description: 1 VHS
Seema Weatherwax on KUSP, "Woman of the Year" ms0153_med_0065
1999 March 17
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .3501 GB, 33
minutes
Scope and Contents
Eric Sheck interviews Weatherwax on the radio station KUSP after receiving a 1999
Woman of the Year award from the California legislature. They discuss Weatherwax's
political work and why she got involved in work surrounding discrimination in the
United States at a very early time. Weatherwax talks about her experiences with
discrimination for being a woman in the workplace, and talks about how this informed
the political work she did on racial discrimination in Los Angeles. Lastly, Weatherwax
discusses her life philosophy and why she believes she has lived such a long life.
Sara Halprin interviews Marge Frantz ms0153_med_0079
2000 October 13
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .6872 GB, 65
minutes
Scope and Contents
Halprin interviews Marge Frantz, a long time political organizer and teacher, about
the Communist Party in the United States. Marge talks about her early involvement in
the Young Communist League in the 1930s in New York and what she sees as the golden
age of the Communist Party in the United States from 1936 to 1941. They talk about the
Communist Party in Oakland during World War II and the shifting politics of the party
in that period. Marge then talks about the ouster of the party leader, Earl Browder,
and her decision to leave the Communist Party in 1956 following revelation about
Stalin's atrocities. Lastly, Marge talks about McCarthyism and the fear that swept
through the Communist Party following World War II.
Sara Halprin interviews Marge Frantz ms0153_med_0080
2000 October 13
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .6663 GB, 63
minutes
Scope and Contents
Halprin talks to Marge Frantz for the first fifteen minutes and Weatherwax for the
remainder of the time. Halprin and Marge discuss Marge's friendship with and
impressions of Weatherwax. They also talk about the opening reception for Weatherwax's
gallery show at the Mulberry Gallery. Halprin and Weatherwax discuss the events
Weatherwax took part in when she first moved to Santa Cruz, specifically a fundraiser
she organized for the cannery workers in Watsonville. They discuss Weatherwax's
involvement in the WILPF and NAACP chapters in Santa Cruz and Weatherwax's lasting
relationship with the Black community. Weatherwax then goes on to talk about what she
sees as broad themes of her life: fighting discrimination, relationships, photography,
and life philosophy.
Box 1
Seema Weatherwax at Watsonville Library
2001 May 12
Physical Description: 1 VHS
Scope and Contents
"Video by Norman Abe"
Seema Weatherwax with Erica Lan Clarke ms0153_med_0063
2004 March
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .8463 GB, 80
minutes
Scope and Contents
In this interview between Weatherwax and Erica Lan Clarke, Weatherwax gives a broad
overview of her life from her childhood in Chernigov to working in Ansel Adams's
Yosemite studio. She discusses her childhood in Chernigov, Ukraine (then a part of
Tsarist Russia) and the position of her mother and father in that community with
particular attention to their Jewish identity. Additionally she describes her family's
attempt immigrating to England, their subsequent imprisonment and later successful
migration to Leeds, Yorkshire in 1913. Weatherwax briefly discusses life and school in
England and the family's immigration to the United States in 1922 following her
father's death. Following this, Weatherwax gives a brief overview of her first
marriage to James Lacey, moving to Los Angeles, her time in Tahiti and the start of
her work with Ansel Adams in Yosemite.
Seema Weatherwax with Erica Lan Clarke ms0153_med_0064
2004 March
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .1601 GB, 15
minutes
Scope and Contents
Weatherwax discusses the last few jobs she held in her life, including her job
developing film for motion pictures in Hollywood.
Virginia Adams Memorial ms0153_med_0055
undated
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .4556 GB, 43
minutes
Scope and Contents
Originally recorded on video, this is an audio recording of the memorial service of
Virginia Adams, Ansel Adams's wife, at the Monterey Unitarian Universalist church in
2000. Her son Michael speaks about her life, and other unnamed family members pay
homage to her life.
Scenes demo ms0153_med_0054
undated
Physical Description: 1 digital file; .1232 GB, 12
minutes
Scope and Contents
Audio demo of Sara Halprin's music project, Scenes.
Box 1
Book TV #152 "Seema's Show"
undated
Physical Description: 1 VHS
Box 1
Happy Birthday Seema 95
undated
Physical Description: 1 VHS
Box 1
Imogen Cunningham at 93 Seema Weatherwax Party
undated
Physical Description: 1 VHS
Box 1
Mr. Robinson Crusoe 1932
undated
Physical Description: 1 VHS
Box 1
For: Joy Gonzales Seema Weatherwax Party
undated
Physical Description: 1 VHS
Box 1
California's Gold: Episode # 601 "Weedpatch"
undated
Physical Description: 1 VHS
Box 1
Home Copy El Taller de Graphica Popula
undated
Physical Description: 1 VHS
Box 1
Dust Bowl Memories
undated
Physical Description: 1 VHS
Box 1
El Taller de Graphica Popular: Who Wants War? Who Wants Peace
undated
Physical Description: 1 VHS