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Clothespin Fever Press records

 Collection
Identifier: Coll2013-092

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Scope and Contents

Photographs, event records, financial records, bankruptcy records, published books, catalogs, periodicals, postcards, clippings, correspondence, contracts, ephemera, book reviews, flyers, conference records, distribution records, and other administrative records of Clothespin Fever Press (CFP), 1981-2012. The materials document CFP's operations, including books published, distribution, conferences, publicity and other activities.

Dates

  • Creation: 1981 - 2012

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open to researchers. There are no access restrictions.

Conditions Governing Use

All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the ONE Archivist. Permission for publication is given on behalf of ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives at USC Libraries as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.

Biographical / Historical

Clothespin Fever Press (CFP) was established in 1986 by Carolyn Weathers and Jenny Wrenn. Located in the Highland Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, CFP's founders sought to address the vacuum left by mainstream publishers who seldom published works by out lesbian authors. "Weathers and Wrenn believed that lesbians were a genuine minority population group which mainstream presses never really understood. Therefore Clothespin Fever Press was interested in publishing books that reflected the lesbian viewpoint, had literary and artistic merit and were written by a lesbian." The company was run solely by Weathers and Wrenn, and Gail Suber and Ayofemi Stowe-Folayan volunteered editing services. Among CFP's accomplishments, the book In a Different Light: An Anthology of Lesbian Writers (edited by Carolyn Weathers and Jenny Wrenn) was one of the finalists for the 1990 Gay and Lesbian Task Force of the American Library Association's Gay/Lesbian Book Award; and the book Loss of the Ground-Note: Women Writing about the Loss of Their Mothers (edited by Helen Vozenilek) received the 1993 Susan Koppelman Honorable Mention Award from the Women's Caucus of the Popular Culture Association and the American Culture Association. CFP eventually moved to San Diego, California, where it later ended operations in 1996.

Source: Jenny Wrenn email correspondence, October 26, 2017.

Extent

2.7 Linear Feet (3 boxes.)

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

Photographs, event records, financial records, bankruptcy records, published books, catalogs, periodicals, postcards, clippings, correspondence, contracts, ephemera, book reviews, flyers, conference records, distribution records, and other administrative records of Clothespin Fever Press (CFP), 1981-2012. CFP was established in 1986 to publish "books that reflected the lesbian viewpoint, had literary and artistic merit and were written by a lesbian."

Arrangement

The collection is arranged alphabetically.

Other Finding Aids

Carolyn Weathers Photographs and Papers, Coll2014-008, ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries, University of Southern California.

Los Angeles Committee to Free Sharon Kowalski Records, Coll2014-048, ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries, University of Southern California.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of Carolyn Weathers, June 20, 2012.

Processing Information

The materials in this collection were originally part of the Carolyn Weathers Photographs and Papers (Coll2014-008). In 2017, upon request of the donor, the materials were separated from the Weathers collection to become its own Clothespin Fever Press Records (Coll2013-092). Collection was originally processed by Kyle Morgan with assistance from volunteers, 2014.

Title
Finding aid to the Clothespin Fever Press records, 1981-2012
Status
Completed
Author
Kyle Morgan, Loni Shibuyama
Date
© 2017
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Description is in English.

Repository Details

Part of the ONE Archives at the USC Libraries, University of Southern California Repository

Contact:
909 West Adams Boulevard
Los Angeles California 90007 United States
(213) 821-2771