Finding aid to the Nancy Stockwell Papers, [1956?]-2006
GLC 47
Finding aid prepared by Tim Wilson.
James C. Hormel LGBTQIA Center, San Francisco Public Library
100 Larkin Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
415-557-4567
info@sfpl.org
2007
Title: Nancy Stockwell Papers,
Date (inclusive): [1956?]-2006
Date (bulk): 1975-1998
Collection Identifier: GLC
47
Creator:
Stockwell, Nancy
Physical Description:
2 boxes, 1 oversized flat box, 1 document case
(2.5 cubic feet)
Contributing Institution:
James C. Hormel LGBTQIA Center, San Francisco Public Library
100 Larkin Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
415-557-4567
info@sfpl.org
Abstract: The collection documents the life of Nancy
Stockwell through her correspondence, subject files, diaries, and draft and printed
copies of her writings. Stockwell was an author and professional golfer. She was one
of the founders of
Plexus, a San Francisco Bay Area
feminist magazine. Stockwell's
Out Somewhere and Back
Again
contains some autobiographical material.
Physical Location: Open for research. The collection is
offsite and advance notice is required for retrieval. Material must be requested at
least 4 business days in advance of visit.
Language of Materials: Collection materials are in English.
Access
The collection is open for research and available for use during San Francisco
History Center hours. Photographs are available during Photo Desk hours. This
collection must be requested at least 4 business days in advance of visit.
Series 5 which is closed to research until 2060 per Nancy Stockwell.
Publication Rights
Copyright and literary rights for Stockwell's published and unpublished works were
bequeathed to the Kansas University Endowment Association, P.O. Box 928, Lawrence,
Kansas, 66044-0928.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Nancy Stockwell Papers (GLC 47), LGBTQIA Center, San
Francisco Public Library.
Provenance note
The Nancy Stockwell Papers were donated to The San Francisco Public Library by Deanna
L. Nikodym for the Estate of Nancy Stockwell in May 2000. 11 additional items were
donated by Nikodym in April 2010.
Biography
Nancy Stockwell was born in Paola, Kansas on September 8, 1940. She was diagnosed
with bronchiectasis, a congenital pulmonary disorder in 1951. In 1966 she graduated
from the University of Kansas with a Master's degree in Speech/Theatre. That same
year she moved to Boston, Massachusetts and began her career as a writer. The
unpublished novella "Lucky Girls" chronicles her early days in Boston. She taught
high school, was an editor at Arthur D. Little, Inc. from 1970-1973, and was a grant
writer and administrator at the Girls' Club in Lynn, Massachusetts from
1972-1973.
In 1973 Stockwell moved to Berkeley, California where she became one of the founding
mothers of the journals
PLEXUS (1974-1977) and
The Bright Medusa. It is at this time that she made the
acquaintance of members of the early lesbian-feminist movement. In 1977 she returned
to the east coast. In 1978
Out Somewhere and Back Again: the
Kansas Stories
was published. In 1979 she attended the first gay and
lesbian March in Washington, DC where she was living. In 1980 she began managing the
Lambda Rising Bookstore in Washington, DC and was a delegate to the Democratic
National Convention. A piece of hers was published in
A True
Likeness
edited by Felice Picano, Seahorse Press. In 1981 she founded The
Good Earth, a landscaping and construction business (1981-1985). In 1985 she was
admitted into the Ladies Professional Golf Association and returned to the west
coast.
In 1987 Stockwell became the first female golf club professional in San Francisco at
Harding/Lincoln Parks. Later that year, she was hired as head teaching professional
at the Stony Run Sports Center in Denver, Pennsylvania, and opened the PRO shop in
Ephrata, Pennsylvania. In 1990 she was hired as the manager and teaching
professional at Blue Skies Country Club in Yucca Valley, California.
In 1992 Stockwell moved from the desert to Paola, Kansas due to failing health. She
founded the Old Faithful Trading Company and taught college-level sociology. In 1996
she purchased a home and moved to Kansas City, Kansas to be near KU Medical Center.
A piece of hers was published in
Best Lesbian Erotica
1996
edited by Tristan Taormino, Cleis Press. She read from "The Telling
Kind" at OUTWRITE on February 25, 1996 in Boston.
In 1998 Stockwell arrived in San Diego, California in January to await a double lung
transplant at UCSD Medical Center. On September 18, 1998 she underwent successful
double lung transplant surgery and was discharged from the hospital in 10 days. In
December she returned to Kansas to assist with the care of her mother who had been
diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Nancy Stockwell died at the Kansas University Medical
Center on March 13, 1999 due to complications from the lung transplants and
immuno-suppression.
Scope and Contents Note
The collection contains correspondence, subject files, diaries, and draft and printed
copies of Stockwell’s writings. Most of the material covers the years 1975
through 1998.
Arrangement Note
The material is arranged in five series: Series 1. Correspondence; Series 2. Subject
Files; Series 3. Works; Series 4. Audiovisual Materials; and Series 5.
Diaries/Journals.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Stockwell, Nancy -- Archives
Feminism--Periodicals.
Gays--California--San Francisco--Social life and customs--20th
century.
Lesbian authors--California--San Francisco--Biography.
Lesbian authors--United States--Biography.
Lesbians--California--San Francisco--Social life and
customs--20th century.
San Francisco (Calif.)--Biography
Women golfers--California--San Francisco--Biography.
Women golfers--United States--Biography.
Series 1
Correspondence,
1963-1999
1975-1998
Physical Description:
111.0 folders
Scope and contents note
This series contains correspondence with many significant women in the
lesbian and feminist publishing communities, among them: Nancy Bereano,
Sandy Boucher, Sandra Dasmann, Cynthia Gair, Barbara Grier, Bertha Harris,
Helaine Harris, Ann Meredith, Ann Stokes. There is a small amount of
correspondence with such notables as: Jane Rule, Adrienne Rich, Eudora
Welty, Minnie Bruce Pratt, Felice Picano, Kate Millett, Susan Griffin, Peg
Cruikshank, Tee Corinne, Charlotte Bunch, and Margie Adam. There is also
some correspondence with family. Subjects are often specific to pieces of
writing by Stockwell or the correspondent, or a community publishing project
such as
Plexus or
The
Bright Medusa
. Occasionally the subjects include various writing
workshops, such as Women in Print, other community gatherings, and common
friends and acquaintances. In later correspondence, Stockwell's health
issues become increasingly important.
Arrangement note
Arranged alphabetically by name of correspondent.
Box 1, Folder 4
Arnold, June,
1976-1977, undated
See also:
Box 1 / Folder 10 Boucher, Sandy
Box 1, Folder 5
Assiter, Nyla,
1977-1978, undated
Box 1, Folder 6
Barry, Marion, Jr., Mayor of Washington, D.C.,
1980-1981
See also:
Box 1 / Folder 16 Chorlton, Tom
See also:
Box 1 / Folder 40 Hockenberry, Clint
Girls Club of Lynn (Mass.), Inc.
Box 1, Folder 8
Bereano, Nancy,
1992-1998
Box 1, Folder 9
Bolsterli, Margaret,
1977
Box 1, Folder 10
Boucher, Sandy,
1977-1998
Bowman, Parke--See: Box 1 / Folder 4 Arnold, June
Bowman, Parke--See: Box 1 / Folder 10 Boucher, Sandy
Box 1, Folder 11
Breathitt, Mary Fran,
1980
General Note
House of Reps. Committee on Education and Labor, 1980
Box 1, Folder 12
Brownmiller, Susan,
undated
Box 1, Folder 14
Bunch, Charlotte,
1976
See also:
Box 1 / Folder 28 Gair, Cynthia
FEN [Feminist Economic Network]
Box 1, Folder 15
Chatelle, Bob,
1977, 1983
Barry, Marion, Jr., Mayor of the District of
Columbia
Commission on Arts and Humanities
Gay Activists Alliance of Washington, D.C.
Commission on Arts and Humanities--See: Box 1 / Folder 16
Chorlton, Tom
Box 1, Folder 19
Costanza, Margaret "Midge,"
1978
Box 1, Folder 20
Cruikshank, Margaret (Peg),
1977-1978
Box 1, Folder 21
Dasmann, Lauren,
1989-1996
Box 1, Folder 22
Dasmann, Sandra,
1983-1998
Daughters, Inc.--See: Box 1 / Folder 4 Arnold, June
Daughters, Inc.--See: Box 1 / Folder 10 Boucher,
Sandy
Diana Press--See: Box 2 / Folder 1 Reid, Coletta
Box 1, Folder 24
DuBois, Jan Marie,
1976-1996
Box 1, Folder 25
Duff, Diana,
1983-1998, undated
Box 1, Folder 26
Fauntroy, Walter E. (Congressman),
1981
Feminist Economic Network--See: Box 1 / Folder 14 Bunch,
Charlotte
FEN [Feminist Economic Network]--See: Box 1 / Folder 14 Bunch,
Charlotte
Firebrand Books--See: Box 1 / Folder 8 Bereano, Nancy
Box 1, Folder 28
Gair, Cynthia,
1976-1980
See also:
Box 1 / Folder 37 Harris, Helaine
See also:
Box 2 / Folder 74 (photographs).
Gay Activists Alliance of Washington, D.C.--See: Box 1 / Folder
16 Chorlton, Tom
Girls Club of Lynn (Mass.) Inc.--See: Box 1 / Folder 7 Beaton,
Susan
Box 1, Folder 32
Grier, Barbara,
1976-1983
Box 1, Folder 33
Griffin, Susan,
1975-1979
Box 1, Folders 34-35
Gugino, Jeanne E.,
1974-1999
Hard Labor--See: Box 1 / Folder 13 Brueske,
Judy
Box 1, Folder 36
Harris, Bertha,
1976-1997
See also:
Box 1 / Folder 10 Boucher, Sandy
Box 1, Folder 37
Harris, Helaine,
1976-1995, undated
Haynes, Nan--See: Box 1 / Folder 17 Conley, Sue
Hellman, Daryl--See: Box 1 / Folder 7 Beaton, Susan
Box 1, Folder 38
Hershey, Annie,
[1979]-1998
Box 1, Folder 39
Hess, Leah,
1983, undated
International Gay Association
International Gay Association--See: Box 1 / Folder 40
Hockenberry, Clint
Box 1, Folder 43
Keller, Marcia Lynn,
1978-1979
Kempley, Rita--See: Box 2 / Folder 9 Schneider, Ed
Box 1, Folder 48
Layton, Elizabeth,
1980-1992, undated
Box 1, Folders 50-52
Lester, Marianne,
1978-1998, undated
Levy, Becky--See: Box 1 / Folder 33 Griffin, Susan
Box 1, Folder 55
J.B. Lippincott Company,
1963
Box 1, Folder 59
Meredith, Ann,
1978-1998, undated
Box 1, Folder 60
[Messinger], Lynne,
undated
Box 1, Folder 64
Moskin, Julia,
1993
General Note
Re:
Lucky Girls.
Naiad Press--See: Box 1 / Folder 32 Grier, Barbara
Box 1, Folder 66
Norton, Camille,
1992-1993
Box 1, Folder 67
O'Connell, Jeanette,
1975-1989
Box 1, Folder 69
Ostrow, Joanne,
1983-1999, undated
Parrent, Joanne--See: Box 1 / Folder 14 Bunch,
Charlotte
Box 1, Folder 70
Picano, Felice,
1980-1995
Box 1, Folder 71
Plexus,
1976-1996
See also:
Box 1 / Folder 22 Dasmann, Sandra
Box 1, Folder 73
Pratt, Minnie Bruce,
1995-1996
Quindaro--See: Box 2 / Folder 32 Whitehead,
Fred
Box 2, Folder 1
Reid, Coletta,
1977
General note
Re: Diana Press.
Box 2, Folder 2
Reynolds, Malvina,
[1977?]
Box 2, Folder 5
Rothaizer, Susan,
1975-1998, undated
General note
Also known as "Tequila" and "Shoshana." Stockwell was "Kahlua."
Box 2, Folder 8
Samuelson, Brooke,
1976-1977, undated
Box 2, Folder 10
Shackelton, Polly (Council of the District of
Columbia),
1980
Box 2, Folder 12
Shelley, Martha,
1996, undated
Box 2, Folder 14
Sorrels, Rosalie,
1975-1976
Box 2, Folder 17
Staten, Pat,
1983-1984, undated
Box 2, Folder 18
Stewart, Sue,
1978-1984, undated
Box 2, Folder 19
Stockwell, Herbert (grandfather),
1977, undated
Box 2, Folder 20
Stockwell, Melvin and Sara (parents),
1976-1998
Box 2, Folder 24
Taormino, Tristan,
1995, 1998
Box 2, Folder 26
Tilchen, Maida,
1996-1998
Box 2, Folder 27
Tomb, Aaron and Bronwyn,
1990-1993
[Tomb], Bronwyn--See: Box 1 / Folder 21 Dasmann,
Lauren
Box 2, Folder 31
White, Kate ("de Kansas"),
1996-1998, undated
Box 2, Folder 33
Williamson, Mary,
1976-1998
Women in Print Conference
Box 2, Folder 34
Winslow, Margaret,
1979
See also:
Box 2 / Folder 74 (photographs)
Box 2, Folder 35
Winter, Nadine (Council of the District of Columbia),
1981
Women in Distribution--See: Box 1 / Folder 28 Gair,
Cynthia
Women in Distribution--See: Box 1 / Folder 37 Harris,
Helaine
Women in Print Conference--See: Box 2 / Folder 33 Williamson,
Mary
Yeats, Leighton--See: Box 1 / Folder 42 Jones, Sparky
Box 2, Folder 36
Young, Evelyn (aunt),
1977
Series 2
Subject Files,
1978-2006
Physical Description:
9.0 folders
Scope and contents note
Of particular interest are the interview of Stockwell which appeared in
The Hill Rag and the article by Susan
Brownmiller. The biographical outline and list of published works are a
helpful synopsis of Stockwell's life and work. The collected memories of
Stockwell's life are touching and really illustrate the impact of her work
and her personality. The official ballot for the Democratic National
Committee includes Stockwell as a candidate.
Arrangement note
Arranged alphabetically by folder title. Items larger than 8-1/2 x 14 inches
are filed in Box 3.
Box 2, Folder 38
Biographical outline,
undated
Box 2, Folder 39
An Exceptional Gift: remembrances of Nancy Stockwell,
2000
Box 3, Folder 1
"From Kansas to Capitol Hill: A feminist writer’s views"
by Celeste McCall,
1978
General Note
Interview of Stockwell published in
The Hill
Rag
, vol. 2 (7), June 10-July 8, 1978 (Washington, DC).
Box 2, Folder 40
List of correspondents,
undated
Box 2, Folder 41
Nancy Stockwell Scholarship announcement,
2006
Box 2, Folder 42
Official ballot...Election of delegates to the Democratic
National Committee. District of Columbia. Congressional District
II,
1980
Box 2, Folder 43
Old Faithful Trading Co. business card,
undated
Box 2, Folder 44
Publications list,
undated
Box 2, Folder 45
References to Stockwell in: Brownmiller, Susan.
In Our Time: Memoir of a Revolution (Dial
Press, 1999),
1999
Series 3
Works,
1974-1998
Physical Description:
33.0 folders
Scope and contents note
There are several short stories, and drafts and proofs of a number of printed
pieces including
Out Somewhere and Back Again.
A few of the pieces are autobiographical. Of interest are the paste-ups of
The Bright Medusa and the printed copies of
Plexus; both titles document early
publishing by the San Francisco Bay Area's feminist community.
Arrangement note
Arranged alphabetically by title. Items larger than 8-1/2 x 14 inches are
filed in Box 3.
Box 3, Folder 2
"Beaver Dams" in
Washington Review,
vol. 6 (2), (Washington, DC),
August-September 1980
Box 2, Folder 46
The Bright Medusa, v. 1 (1),
[paste-up],
Fall 1976
Box 2, Folder 47
The Bright Medusa, v. 1 (2),
[paste-up],
Spring 1977
Box 2, Folder 49
Deadman's Curve,
1983, [1995]
Box 3, Folder 3
"The Diva" in
Washington Review,
vol. 10 (2), (Washington, DC),
August-September 1984
Box 3, Folder 4
"The Economics of Art / Myths and Rituals" in
Amazon: a Midwest journal for women, vol. 5
(4), (Milwaukee, WI),
October/November 1976
Box 2, Folder 52
Grace (
Quest editorial),
undated
Box 2, Folder 53
How Virginia Bought-it in California,
undated
Box 2, Folder 54
[Letter to friends],
October 1996
Box 2, Folder 55
Lucky Girls: a novel,
1993
Box 2, Folder 56
Lucky Girls [excerpt] in
Best Lesbian Erotica 1996, selected and
introduced by Heather Lewis, edited by Tristan Taormino (Pittsburgh,
Pa.: Cleis Press, 1996),
1996
Box 2, Folder 57
Our Queer Future: a new species emerges, or, who are we and when
will we know?
undated
Box 2, Folder 58
Out Somewhere and Back Again. Page
proofs,
undated
General note
For correspondence, see: Box 1 / Folder 62 Meyers, Joan C.
Box 2, Folder 59
Out Somewhere and Back Again. #1 proof
copy,
undated
Box 2, Folder 60
Out Somewhere and Back Again. Reviews and
promotional postcard,
1978-1979
Box 2, Folder 61
Out Somewhere and Back Again
[button],
undated
Box 3, Folder 5
Plexus, vol. 1 (4-10, 12-13),
May-November 1974,
January-February 1975
Box 3, Folder 6
Plexus, vol. 2 (1-11),
March-December 1975,
January-February 1976
Box 3, Folder 7
Plexus, vol. 3 (1-2, 4-5, 7-9),
March-April, June-July, September-November
1976
General note
Article clipped from page 5-6 of November 1976 issue.
Box 3, Folder 8
Plexus, vol. 4 (1),
March 1977
General note
Piece clipped from back cover.
Box 2, Folder 62
Plot Outline, [Katherine Jenkins, vice-president elect, murdered
by husband],
undated
Box 2, Folder 63
Prairie Fairies at Gay Games (in
Freedom
Coalition Bulletin
, v. 3 (2),
1994 August
Box 2, Folder 64
The Ruby Shoe Rebellion,
[1992]
Box 2, Folder 66
Seven Hours from the Border,
[1998]
Box 2, Folder 67
Tell Your Mother,
undated
Box 2, Folder 69
"An Uphill Lie" in
A True Likeness: lesbian
and gay writing today
, edited by Felice Picano (New York: Sea
Horse Press, 1980),
1980
Box 2, Folder 70
"We are the pot-of-gold theory of like kind of
family,"
undated
Series 4
Audiovisual Materials,
[1956?]-1998
Physical Description:
4.0 folders
(2 audiotapes, 1 videotape, 5 photographs, 4 newspaper clippings of
photographs)
Scope and contents note
This series contains an audiotape of Stockwell's talk at the Outwrite
conference in 1996 and a videotape of
The Challenge of
Nancy Stockwell
produced by Ann P. Meredith in 1997. The
photographs include a small oval high school era photo, a snapshot with
Cynthia Gair, an 8x10 photo of Stockwell at the October 1979 national gay
rights march on Washington, D.C., and two 1998 Polaroid shots of Stockwell
post-lung transplant. The clippings are of Stockwell as an adult: one on the
steps of her Washington, D.C. home, two in golf attire, and one playing
fiddle.
Arrangement note
Arranged alphabetically by title.
Box 2, Folder 72
The Challenge of Nancy Stockwell by Ann P.
Meredith,
October 1997
Physical Description:
1.0 videotape
General note
VHS videotape. Kansas City, KS. Producer: Ann P. Meredith. Distributor:
Dyke TV.
Box 2, Folder 73
OutSpoken Reading Series. OutWrite '96
(Boston, Massachusetts: 1996),
February 25, 1996
Physical Description:
2.0 audiotapes
General note
The 6th National Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered Writers'
Conference. Features: Laura Koplewitz, Mona de Vestal, Alan Brown,
Michael Thomas Ford, Rochelle Schwab, Charlene Allen, Jackie Lapidus,
Alvia Golden, David Stein, Ellen Farmer, Nancy Stockwell, Alan
Helms.
Box 2, Folder 74
Photographs,
[1956?], 1979, 1998,
undated
Physical Description:
5.0 images
General note
Cynthia Gair, Margaret Winslow.
Box 2, Folder 75
Photographs clipped from newspapers,
undated
Physical Description:
4.0 items
Series 5
Diaries/Journals,
1986-1998
Physical Description:
8.0 volumes
Access
This series is closed to research until 2060 per Nancy Stockwell.
Scope and contents note
This series contains journals and diaries that document Stockwell's
activities, thoughts and feelings in the twelve years prior to her death.
Unfortunately, her early journals from the 1960s through the 1980s were
destroyed by the family in the years between her death and when her other
papers were donated to the library.
Arrangement note
Arranged chronologically.
Box 4, Item 1
Journal #17,
January 1986, July
1986-January 1992
Box 4, Item 2
Journal #18,
January 1992-July 1992
Box 4, Item 3
Journal #19,
July 1992-February
1993
Box 4, Item 4
Journal #20,
February 1993-May
1994
Box 4, Item 5
Journal #21,
May 1994-May 1995
Box 4, Item 6
Journal #22,
May 1995-December
1996
Box 4, Item 7
Journal #23,
January 1997-June
1998
Box 4, Item 8
Spiral Bound notebook,
September 1998
