Collection Guide
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Hershman-Leeson (Lynn) papers
M1452
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Table of contents
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
Title: Lynn Hershman-Leeson Papers
Identifier/Call Number: M1452
Physical Description:
155 Linear Feet
(100 manuscript boxes, 90cartons)
Date (inclusive): 1976-2004
Abstract: Lynn Hershman Leeson (1941-) is an American artist and filmmaker. Her collection of archival papers, audio-visual media, publications,
artifacts, photographs, and letters document Hershman-Leeson's art works and projects created since the 1970s.
Accessions 2004-316 and 2012-209 are open for research; material must be requested at least 36 hours in advance of intended
use. Accessions 2011-154, 2016-107, and 2016-190 are closed until processed.
Accessions 2021-026 and 2021-052 contain streaming digital content, accessible at the catalog record:
https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/5742522
Selected audiovisual material in this collection has also been digitized and can be browsed at the collection's catalog record
as well. Availibility is restricted to users with a Stanford login or onsite researchers. In order to access this content,
please contact specialcollections@stanford.edu.
Lynn Hershman Leeson (b. 1941) is a performance artist and filmmaker who, in various media, has investigated the idea of selfhood
and what establishes an individual as a sentient, gendered, unique person. Between the years of 1974 and 1978, Hershman Leeson
spent much of her time performing as an alter ego, the character Roberta Breitmore. Much of the work--drawings, photographs,
clothing, medical records, letters, etc.--Hershman Leeson produced during the Breitmore years related to the character's emotional
and practical existences. Hershman Leeson seemed to be demonstrating that the two existences could and should not be easily
separated--nor should the artist herself be easily separated from the character she created. Hershman Leeson's work in film,
video, and new media has been equally focused toward exploring the ways that bodies interact and define themselves.
Lorna (1983-84), described by the artist as "the first interactive video art disc," allowed the viewer to experience the emotions
of the title character while also, at key points, making important decisions for her. The viewer was both entwined with and
removed from Lorna's life. In the 1980s and 90s, Hershman continued to focus on new media, expanding her work in video and
creating online environments that incorporated artificial intelligence. Concurrently, she began to direct feature films; her
first film,
Conceiving Ada (1997), situated the nineteenth-century computer science innovator Ada Lovelace in juxtaposition with the twentieth-century
computer reality that she helped to create. A winner of numerous awards and honors for her contributions to art practice,
Hershman Leeson is currently Chair of the Film Department at the San Francisco Art Institute. She is Professor Emerita at
the University of California, Davis, and an A.D. White Professor at large at Cornell University.
!Women Art Revolution reflects years of interviews that Hershman Leeson has compiled in order to tell the story of the feminist art movement in
the artists' own words.
Women art revolution : videotape interviews by Lynn Hershman-Leeson for film, 1990-2008, M1639. A digital collection containing
the video interviews, as well as transcripts, is available online:
https://exhibits.stanford.edu/women-art-revolution
Gerald Lutovich collection of Lynn Hershman art works (MSS PRINTS 0385)
https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/9142421
While Special Collections is the owner of the physical and digital items, permission to examine collection materials is not
an authorization to publish. These materials are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study. Any transmission
or reproduction beyond that allowed by fair use requires permission from the owners of rights, heir(s) or assigns.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Hershman-Leeson, Lynn