BreakOUT! is a New Orleans-based organization that began in 2011 with the incentive to end criminalization, harassment, and discrimination against New Show moreBreakOUT! is a New Orleans-based organization that began in 2011 with the incentive to end criminalization, harassment, and discrimination against New Orleans's queer and gender non-conforming community, with a focus on youth and communities of color. The BreakOUT! records collection consists of the organization’s born-digital promotional materials such as digital photographs, videos, flyers, posters, mailers, and newsletters. These materials document the organization’s involvement in New Orleans police reform, advocacy on transgender rights, LGBTQ youth leadership and empowerment, and mobilization for racial justice and equality. The BreakOUT! records were acquired through the Newcomb Archives’ collaborative relationship with the LGBT+ Archives Project of Louisiana in 2018. Show less
This Photograph Collection consists of 200 black and white and some color photographs that were created for the purpose of publication in Distaff, the Show moreThis Photograph Collection consists of 200 black and white and some color photographs that were created for the purpose of publication in Distaff, the first and only feminist newspaper published in New Orleans. Distaff was founded in 1972 and served as a forum for women's voices in politics, activism, and the arts. One of the few newspapers published by and for women in the Gulf South, Distaff covered a wide range of topics and issues, including reproductive rights, pay equity and women’s rights in the workplace, lesbian activism, the Equal Rights Amendment, literature and the arts, and women in politics. Issues were edited and produced by a coalition of New Orleans women known for their activism in political spheres. A preview issue was published in 1973 and the newspaper continued to be published until 1982. There was a hiatus in publication from 1976-1978.
Access to Newcomb Archives and Vorhoff Library Special Collections' complete collection of digitized issues of Distaff can be found in the Tulane University Digital Library (TUDL): https://digitallibrary.tulane.edu/islandora/object/tulane%3Adistaff. All images actually published in Distaff that appear in this online collection will include a link to the corresponding page located in TUDL.
Ethical Use of Distaff
The material featured in the Distaff resource is primarily intended for the purposes of non-commercial private study, teaching, learning and research. We ask that users treat the materials on this website with respect. We ask that anyone using content from Distaff apply the following principles: please credit the author, artist, or photographer; please respect the creators’ works, including their moral rights; Please ensure you consider traditional cultural expressions and all ethical concerns in using the material, and make sure that any information relating to the creator is clear and accurate. If you wish to use material published in Distaff but are unclear whether your use is appropriate, please either seek permission from the staff of the Newcomb Archives and Vorhoff Library Special Collections or obtain legal advice. The Newcomb Archives and Vorhoff Library Special Collections respects intellectual property rights, as well as ethical, moral and traditional knowledge concerns. This usage guide is based on goodwill. It is not a legal contract. We ask that you respect it.
Redaction Requests
Distaff has been digitized and made available via the Tulane University Digital Library with the express permission of Mary Gehman, editor of Distaff, through her donation of a complete run of the paper to the Newcomb Archives and Vorhoff Library Special collections. The Newcomb Archives and Vorhoff Library Special Collections respects the intellectual property rights, as well as ethical, moral and traditional knowledge concerns of the many individuals who contributed to Distaff. Should the creators of any content in Distaff prefer that it not be made digitally available to the public, please contact the staff of the Newcomb Archives to discuss options for redaction and controlled access. Show less
The Janet Allured papers consist of research materials gathered by Dr. Janet Allured while writing her book, Remapping Second-Wave Feminism: The Long Show moreThe Janet Allured papers consist of research materials gathered by Dr. Janet Allured while writing her book, Remapping Second-Wave Feminism: The Long Women’s Rights Movement in Louisiana, 1950-1997. Many accounts of the women’s movement in the United States focus on Northern feminists and political activities at a national level. Allured’s research focuses on the often-overlooked work of Southern activists, whose regional and religious backgrounds — heavily influenced by the Civil Rights Movement — produced a grassroots movement that achieved many lasting results. Remapping Second-Wave Feminism was published in 2017 by the University of Georgia Press.
The records in the collection include interviews, clippings, transcripts, correspondence, resumés, biographical sketches, notes, and email correspondence gathered during Allured’s research. The records provide information on the activities of several feminist activists and organizations involved in the women’s movement from the early 1950s through the 1990s. A finding aid to the complete collection can be found online.
Around the time of the book’s publication, Allured collaborated with photographer Dr. Carrie Chrisco on an exhibit of portraits that served as a companion to the book, titled “The Personal is Political: Portraits of Louisiana Second-Wave Feminists. ”Digital files of the portraits and recorded interviews with the subjects are included here. Show less
Jean “Shewolf” Boudreaux is a significant figure in lesbian-feminism in the 20th century and played a crucial role in building communication networks Show moreJean “Shewolf” Boudreaux is a significant figure in lesbian-feminism in the 20th century and played a crucial role in building communication networks among lesbians living in land-based communities. Jean Boudreaux, better known as Shewolf in lesbian communities, was born March 19, 1932, on Desire Street in New Orleans and was raised there with her two brothers. Shewolf identified deeply with her Southern roots and loved to tell stories about what it was like in the 1930s and ‘40s in Louisiana. She went to college at the University of Louisiana in Lafayette, then to graduate school in West Virginia where she earned a master’s degree in Education, Psychology, and Speech. She earned her doctorate in Speech Pathology at Case Western Reserve in Cleveland, OH on an assistantship, after which she began her career at the University of Arizona in Tucson as a Professor of Speech Therapy, where she earned national recognition in the field. The University of Louisiana at Lafayette eventually recruited her for an open position. This is when she began her feminist lesbian political life.
Shewolf immediately found and started organizing the women professors of ULL to get equal pay and equal tenure. At that time, male professors made forty percent more than women professors. They also found inconsistencies concerning the promotions of female professors, with men getting tenured more quickly than their female counterparts. Her group was able to investigate this and prove these discrepancies, and shortly thereafter the university raised women's salaries and changed the system of promotions.
Shewolf knew no one when she first moved to Lafayette around 1970. She soon began searching for and organizing lesbians in Lafayette. Visiting a newcomers’ group, she discovered that the group leader was a lesbian. They decided to start a potluck group for lesbians. This woman knew three or four lesbians and they talked to each other, and by the time the weekly potluck began they were a group of fifteen.
Shewolf left for California after retiring in 1985 and traveled back and forth across the country many times. She began doing research to find and stay with lesbians on the road, at their homes, or on lesbian land, before leaving. One of her sources for finding places was Joyce Cheney’s Lesbian Land. Each lesbian home she came upon inspired the next stop in her travels. She realized she was compiling current information that she wished to share by printing her own directory of women’s lands. Shewolf’s Directory of Wimmin’s Lands and Lesbian Communities was subsequently published six times (first in 1993), and her travel stories fostered connections between like-minded women. She photographed, made slides, and spread the word about women’s lands. Her work inspired new lesbian lands, like Lake Annie Womonspace near Melrose, Louisiana, and the Carefree Community near Fort Myers, Florida. Her own Woman World was a place where women, though invited to stay long term, came primarily for workshops, camping retreats, and short stays.
Kate Ellison described Shewolf as “our troubadour, carrying the news from one place to the next, singing the praises of what each community was accomplishing. Our lands were so remote, and we didn’t know the other dykes who lived remotely too. She knew us all, and she sat in on all the meetings. She was careful not to spill the beans, not to gossip or tear down any of the communities she visited. She was as likely to say, ‘Why, what did you hear?’ To seemingly agree without adding to the question of someone’s mistake or misbehavior. Her job was to bring women together on the land, to invite and connect. She called, wrote, cajoled and persisted to get all the lesbian land groups to write their entries in the book, Shewolf’s Directory of Wimmin’s Lands and Lesbian Communities. The first one was published in 1993, and she kept up her networking through the 6th edition in 2016. Other than Lesbian Connection, which occasionally published a listing, there was no other way to find our communities.”
Shewolf bought a house among the “village community” of lesbians in Melrose, Florida in 2002 and moved there in 2004. Though not living on the same piece of land, the community had regular outings (that Shewolf called “Friday Fillies”) as well as potlucks and card parties and organized mutual help with work projects. She began searching for gay-friendly retirement communities as independent living became increasingly challenging, with the desire to bring her wealth of woodworking tools wherever she moved. She settled in Sun City Center, FL, where she lived for three and a half years until her death on April 24, 2020, at the age of 88.
The Jean "Shewolf" Boudreaux digital collection consists of 500 photographs that provide vital documentation of Boudreaux’s life and lesbian life during the 20th century. The Jean "Shewolf" Boudreaux papers include documents recording the work conducted by Jean “Shewolf” Boudreaux in creating Shewolf’s Directory of Wimmin’s Lands and Lesbian Communities, as well as documents that capture Boudreaux’s life as an activist, publisher, and furniture maker/woodworker.
Community Documentation Project
Did you know Jean Shewolf Boudreaux? Were you around lesbian land communities in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s? Are you willing to spend time looking at snapshots and providing additional information about them? If so, Sinister Wisdom and the Newcomb Archives would love your help providing richer descriptions of a trove of snapshots left by Jean Shewolf Boudreaux. If you have any information you'd like to share regarding these photographs, please complete this form: (https://bit.ly/3hNptL2) or email newcombarchives@tulane.edu
For more information, please refer to the resources below:
"An Invitation to Participate in the Preservation of the Legacy of Jean Shewolf Boudreaux": (https://newcomb.saas.dgicloud.com/islandora/object/navlsc%3A2756).
Cronewrite, B. L. (2015). Shewolf's Womonworld, South Louisiana. Sinister Wisdom, 98, 115-120. (print copy available in the Newcomb Archives reading room)
Barbara Esrig and Kate Ellison interview with Shewolf, February 19, 2013, Southern Lesbian-Feminist Activist Herstory Project: (https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4bz65p23). Show less
This collection consists primarily of ephemera, correspondence, and personal effects of Josephine Louise Newcomb, founder of Newcomb College. Included Show moreThis collection consists primarily of ephemera, correspondence, and personal effects of Josephine Louise Newcomb, founder of Newcomb College. Included in the collection are cards and letters addressed to Newcomb from family and acquaintances, as well as a small collection of letters relating to Newcomb College. Also included in the collection are poems written by Josephine Louise Newcomb and by her daughter, Harriott Sophie Newcomb.
Josephine Louise Newcomb (1816-1901) is known as the founder of the H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College of New Orleans, Louisiana. She was born in Baltimore, Maryland to Mary Sophia Waters and Alexander LeMonnier. In 1845, she married Warren Newcomb. Newcomb gave birth to a son who died in infancy, in 1853. Her daughter, Harriott Sophie Newcomb, was born in 1855. In 1865, Newcomb's husband, Warren, died, leaving her as the heir to his estate. Through careful management and financial acuity, Newcomb was able to preserve and greatly expand her husband's fortune. In his memoir, Brand V.B. Dixon remarks that, "From the time that Mrs. Newcomb came into control of this property, mostly in securities of various kinds, she personally directed the investments and sales of her holdings with such judgment and skill that at the time of her death in 1901, she had given away in numerous donations or left by will nine or ten times the amount received from her husband."
In 1870 at age sixteen, Newcomb’s daughter, Sophie, died of diphtheria. Greif-struck, Newcomb spent many years searching for a fitting way to memorialize her daughter’s life. She devoted her life to philanthropy and gave generously to various causes. In 1886, Newcomb was approached by William Preston Johnston, Tulane University’s first president, about establishing a coordinate women’s college in New Orleans. Her initial donation of $100,000 established the H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College in 1886, “for the higher education of white girls and young women.”
Although the Newcombs had lived in New York during the Civil War, their sympathies aligned with the Confederacy – their New York residence was known as a gathering place for those with southern leanings. During his lifetime, Warren Newcomb dealt in wholesale of sugar, cotton, molasses, tobacco, and other southern products dependent on enslaved labor and the plantation economy. As Josephine's will and initial gift show, the establishment of Newcomb College was rooted in and supportive of the racially segregated politics and laws of the South during and after Reconstruction. A policy of segregation would remain in place at Newcomb College for the better part of a century, until the early 1960s, when Tulane University finally de-segregated after a lengthy court battle. Newcomb College admitted its first Black student in the fall of 1963.
In the years following her initial donation, Newcomb continued to give regularly to support the growth of the college. Upon her death in 1901, Newcomb bequeathed her fortune to the College. Over the course of her life, Newcomb gave over three and a half million dollars to the College.
After her death, a suit was brought by Newcomb’s relatives contesting her will. Citing examples of Newcomb’s eccentric character, her relatives sought to overturn her bequest to the College on the grounds that she was mentally unstable. The suit lasted nearly eight years but was finally ruled in favor of the College in support of Newcomb’s will.
Works Consulted
Brandt V. B. Dixon papers (NA-110), Newcomb Archives and Nadine Robbert Vorhoff Collection, Newcomb Institute of Tulane University.
Dixon, Brandt V.B. A Brief History of H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College 1887–1919: A Personal Reminiscence. New Orleans, LA: Hauser Printing Company, 1928.
Willinger, Beth and Tucker, Susan "Josephine Louise Le Monnier Newcomb" knowlouisiana.org Encyclopedia of Louisiana. Ed. David Johnson. Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, 24 Feb 2011. Web. 7 Dec 2017. Show less
The Lena Richard papers consist of photographs, correspondence, notebooks and ephemera relating to Lena Richard’s long career as a chef and entreprene Show moreThe Lena Richard papers consist of photographs, correspondence, notebooks and ephemera relating to Lena Richard’s long career as a chef and entrepreneur. The photographs are primarily publicity photographs depicting the locations of Richard’s restaurants, her cooking show, and family members. Notebooks contain recipes and notes from her time as a chef for the Travis House in Colonial Williamsburg. Among the materials relating to Richard’s time in Colonial Williamsburg is the Report on the Visit of the British High Command to Colonial Williamsburg, May 15th and 16th, 1943. Among the guests in the British High Command were Clementine Churchill and her daughter Mary Churchill. A copy of this report was given to Lena Richard by Gerald Horton Bath, expressing to her, “you made such an important contribution to the success of this occasion, Mr. Chorley would like you to have a copy of this report to keep as a memento of the event.” Also included in this collection is an original book jacket for her book, New Orleans Cookbook, and a notebook tracking sales of the cookbook. Show less
The Newcomb College Alumnae Oral History Project grew out of a popular weekly series hosted by the Newcomb College Center for Research on Women (then Show moreThe Newcomb College Alumnae Oral History Project grew out of a popular weekly series hosted by the Newcomb College Center for Research on Women (then known as the Newcomb Women’s Center) in the early 1980s, during which faculty members would interview a local alum. The recordings of these interviews formed the beginning of the Newcomb Archives’ oral history collection. The Alumnae Oral History Project officially began in 1986, with a series of interviews inspired by the College’s centennial year. Over the years, the collection has grown to include interviews with alumnae from 1910 through the late 1990s.
When it first began, no formal program was in place. For this reason, permission forms and additional paper work may be missing for some interviews. Most of interviews were originally recorded on cassette tapes. Since 2004, interviews have been recorded in a digital format. Since the early 2000s, the staff of the Newcomb Archives has worked to digitize all interviews.
The alums interviewed explore memories of their days in college, as well as how their lives evolved after leaving Newcomb. Many have different perspectives on Newcomb’s past, and every alum has an individual voice. Together, the interviews create a more complete picture of the historic Newcomb College and its influence on the lives of its alums. Show less
The Newcomb: Tech Zine is a yearly publication comprising the work conducted by feminist-minded technologists who make up Newcomb Institute's Technolo Show moreThe Newcomb: Tech Zine is a yearly publication comprising the work conducted by feminist-minded technologists who make up Newcomb Institute's Technology and Digital Humanities Lab. These cohorts include the Digital Research Interns, the Information Technology Interns, the Grace Hopper Celebration grantees, the Gender and Tech grantees, and student groups. The zine examines the intersections of gender and technology. Interns share posters detailing their collaborative projects with project owners such as Tulane faculty and the New Orleans community. Interns also develop an interest article exploring a unique facet of technology through a feminist-minded approach. Grace Hopper Celebration grantees reflect on their experience attending the various educational sessions and networking events at the conference. Additionally, the zine also provides a digital environment for the Gender and Tech grantee to publish a summary of their research project and findings. This synthesis of perspectives and experiences represents the multidisciplinary efforts of the tech cohorts and provides a space for reflection, discourse, and exchange regarding tech and gender issues. Show less
The Pat Denton papers include correspondence, photographs, video recordings, newsletters, and publications collected or created by Pat Denton during h Show moreThe Pat Denton papers include correspondence, photographs, video recordings, newsletters, and publications collected or created by Pat Denton during her long career as a feminist activist in New Orleans. Denton was involved with a number of women’s political organizations during the 1970s and 1980s, including the National Organization for Women, the Louisiana Women’s Political Caucus, the League of Women Voters, and several others. Because of her involvement with these organizations, the records in this collection reflect a broad range of women’s issues and political activity during the second-wave feminist movement.
The video recordings in this collection largely date from Denton’s tenure as president of New Orleans Women in Video. As part of a municipal endowment grant awarded by the city of New Orleans, Denton and her colleagues in New Orleans Women in Video produced a short documentary entitled Feminist! Are YOU One? The documentary included interviews with several prominent Louisiana political figures, including Mary Landrieu, Lindy Boggs, Sidney Barthelemy, Sylvia Roberts, Maurice Durbin, and Rupert Richardson. Interviews were also conducted with local activists, as well as “on-the-street” interviews with members of the New Orleans community. The interviews with political figures largely deal with changes in women’s political power in Louisiana, while the street interviews are concerned with popular perceptions of feminism and feminists. A complete copy of the documentary, along with raw footage of the interviews, is available in this collection. Show less
This collection consists of digital photographs, protest signs, oral histories, buttons and postcards pertaining to the Women's March on Washington th Show moreThis collection consists of digital photographs, protest signs, oral histories, buttons and postcards pertaining to the Women's March on Washington that took place on January 21, 2017. The digital photographs were taken by Tulane University students who attended the March, and by Newcomb College Institute affiliates who also attended the march in Washington or in New Orleans.
The Women’s March on Washington collection documents the experiences of Newcomb College Institute students, staff, faculty and affiliates who attended the Women’s Marches in Washington D.C. and in New Orleans. On January 21, 2017, in response to the U.S. Presidential Inauguration, one of the largest protests in history took place in Washington and in many cities around the globe. The Women's March was organized to advocate for a wide range of political and social justice causes, including women’s rights, immigration reform, environmental conservation and climate change, and reproductive rights. The march in Washington drew between 400,000 and 500,00 participants. Satellite protests in several U.S. cities and world-wide brought the number of participants up to an estimated five million.
The Newcomb College Institute along with other campus departments sponsored a bus to transport fifty-five students and one faculty member to Washington D.C. for the Women's march. The journey took about twenty hours each way, and those who went slept for two nights on the bus in order to attend the March. Additionally, several NCI staff members, faculty, and affiliates attended the March on Washington, while others attended the concurrent march in New Orleans. Photographs in this collection preserve what students and staff saw and experienced at the march. After the students returned, oral history interviews were conducted in order to preserve their first-hand accounts of the march and their views on the U.S.'s political climate in the wake of the election. Show less
The Zale-Kimmerling Writer-In-Residence Program in an ongoing, annual event that provides a unique opportunity for students and members of the communi Show moreThe Zale-Kimmerling Writer-In-Residence Program in an ongoing, annual event that provides a unique opportunity for students and members of the community to meet with a notable woman writer as she spends a week on campus. The program was established by Dana Zale Gerard (NC ’85), made possible by an annual gift from the M.B. and Edna Zale Foundation of Dallas, Texas. In 2010, the program became fully endowed through a gift from Martha McCarty Kimmerling (NC’63).
Interviews recorded with past Zale-Kimmerling authors are available as part of the Zale-Kimmerling Writers Project records. In addition to the interviews,the collection contains author biographies, promotional posters and flyers.Among the authors included in the collection are Ann Patchet, Lee Smith, Ellen Bryant Voigt, Deb Margolin, Allison Lurie, Ellen Douglas, and Octavia Butler.The bulk of the collection dates from 1996-2003. The collection also includes information about the Program, including expense reports, plans, foundation material, invitations to events, and scripts by the authors.A finding aid to the complete collection is available online. Interviews recorded with past Zale-Kimmerling authors are available as part of the Zale-Kimmerling Writers Project records. In addition to the interviews,the collection contains author biographies, promotional posters and flyers.Among the authors included in the collection are Ann Patchet, Lee Smith, Ellen Bryant Voigt, Deb Margolin, Allison Lurie, Ellen Douglas, and Octavia Butler.The bulk of the collection dates from 1996-2003. The collection also includes information about the Program, including expense reports, plans, foundation material, invitations to events, and scripts by the authors. Show less
Created Date
2018-10-31T19:24:24.278Z
Library/Archive
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