Inventory of the Kentucky Foundation for Women Records, 1985-2000

Contains information regarding the conception and incorporation of the Foundation in 1985, as well as the running of the Foundation from its early years through the 1990s. The major administrative figures represented in this series are Sallie Bingham, Maxine Brown, Pat Buster, Ann Stewart Anderson, Tim Peters, Mona Murphy, and Frederick Smock. The General Information and Correspondence folders document the range of ideas and goals for the Foundation originally proposed by its founder, Sallie Bingham, and detail the decisions made about which ideas to pursue and which to abandon. Information on the evolving role of the grant process illuminates the Foundation's increasing focus on women in the arts in Kentucky over the years. The Sallie Bingham correspondence also contains letters she wrote to family members, as well as responses to numerous personal requests for financial support or donations, the majority of which she turned down. The set of newsletters (1985-1999) and Board meeting minutes provide a concise summary of the decisions made and the course of activity followed by the Foundation. The financial, legal and tax papers document the process by which the Foundation acquired and dispensed funds, as well as the overall growth of the Foundation. Original arrangement retained.

Contains information about special projects undertaken by the Foundation, some of which were short-lived and some of which continued indefinitely. The Hopscotch House category contains information about the acquisition of the property; discussions about potential and actual events and projects undertaken at the house; the hiring of Patty Wren Smith (a previous grant recipient) as house manager and resident naturalist in 1989; and a run of newsletters written by Smith documenting events at the House including lectures and gatherings. This grouping also contains a file of requests to use the house by various local non-profit groups and reports of their activities. The Wolf Pen Women Writers Colony folders detail the planning and running of the Colony and document the four summer meetings of the Colony, from 1988 to 1991. The group also contains the applications and supporting documents for the women writers who applied to take part in the Colony. The Names and the Topics folders document minor projects undertaken by the Foundation over the years--projects that supported the Foundation's mission, but did not become a lasting part of its activities. The folder groupings are arranged alphabetically. Various persons documented in the Project Files Series are also documented in other parts of the collection. In particular, some of the women writers who participated in the Wolf Pen Colony also were contributors to The American Voice (e.g., Sharon Doubiago, Jan Freeman, Terri Jewel, Cia McClannahan, and Marie Williams), while certain artists who worked on a special project for the Foundation were later successful applicants for Foundation grants (e.g., Jo Carson, Cass Irwin, Brenda Marie Osbey, Maryat Lee). Arranged alphabetically within the categories Hopskotch House, Wolf Pen, Names, and Topics.

Documents the origins and development of the literary journal primarily from 1985 through 1993, though there are miscellaneous materials from 1994 to 1998. The journal is feminist in orientation, and highlights (though not exclusively) the work of women writers. The Correspondence folders contain letters between contributors and other interested parties with Frederick Smock and Sallie Bingham, the founders and editors of the journal. The Issue Files folders contain information specific to the publication of numbers one through 31 of the journal. Each issue file contains correspondence about contributions to the journal, correspondence about financial and/or political issues, drafts and galleys of the pieces which appeared in the journal (some of which contain comments by the authors and/or editors), information regarding advertisements and special issues, and letters soliciting or offering material for publication. The journal has featured the work of both well-known and little-known writers. A sampling of the better-known writers includes Marge Piercy, Wendell Berry, Jorge Louis Borges, Elaine Equi, Isabel Allende, Fenton Johnson, Kay Boyle, Joyce Carol Oates, Reynolds Price, Anne Firor Scott, Jo Carson, Doris Grumbach, Paula Gunn Allen, Robin Morgan, Minnie Bruce Pratt, and Joy Harjo. The writing of Sallie Bingham is also often featured in the journal. Other writings are found in the Books grouping: three 1989 chapbooks (hand bound books) of poems on the theme of quilting entitled "No Known Pattern;" and two hard-bound books published under the journal's auspices, namely This Meadow of Time (a 1995 travel memoir written by editor Frederick Smock), and The American Voice Anthology of Poetry (a 1998 collection of poems originally published in the journal, with a preface containing biographical information on Smock). At the end of the grouping is an incomplete run of the journal (nos. 1 through 47, excluding nos. 4 and 30). See oversize materials for broadsides displaying poems published in the journal. Original arrangement retained.

During roughly the first year of its existence, from 1985 to 1986, the Foundation awarded grants on an ad hoc basis. During its "second" year, 1987-1988, the Foundation decided to award two runs of grants -- a "spring" run and a "fall" run. In 1988-1989, only one annual run was awarded, covering the spring and the fall together. In 1988, a biennial grants cycle organized by artistic discipline was instituted so that proposals concerning visual and plastic arts were considered in even years, while those concerning writing and the performing arts were considered in odd years. In 1989, the Foundation decided to award grants at the beginning of each year, so starting in 1990 and continuing to the present, each grant run is dated by a single year only.

This series consists of two types of files: the "Grant Review Papers" and the individual grant files. The "Grant Review Papers" first appeared in the fall and spring of 1987-1988, and then appeared annually from 1989 to 1993. These files contain a list of the recipients for that year (or half year), descriptions of each recipients' project, notes on the decision making processes of the grant review committee, and in later years, notes on consultants brought in to advise on grant applications. Read alone, these files provide a quick overview of the types of grant projects supported by the Foundation and the ways in which those projects evolved over time. They also detail the goals and aims of the grant review committee members, including former grant recipients, and members of Sallie Bingham's immediate family (her husband Tim Peters and son Barry Ellsworth).

The individual grant files are arranged chronologically and alphabetized within each year, reflecting the original order maintained by the Foundation staff. In the files from 1985 to 1986, and 1990 to 1993, files for persons and institutions are intermingled and arranged alphabetically, whereas in the files from the spring and fall of 1987-1988, and 1989, the files for persons and institutions are separated, with the institutional files following the personal files. Each individual grant file contains the recipient's application and supporting materials, notes on the application by Board Members, letters of notification from the Foundation, a final report and follow-up materials on the ways in which recipients used grant monies. In certain cases, an individual or institution received many grants from the Foundation over the years, so that the relationship between the recipient and the Foundation was one of long-term patronage (e.g., Cass Irvin, Leslie Wood, Appalshop, the Speed Art Museum). The grant files also reflect the inter-twined nature of many of the Foundation's projects, since in several cases persons who received grants later became part of the Foundation's administration (e.g., Ann Stewart Anderson, Patty Wren Smith), while other grant recipients were involved with The American Voice (e.g., Lucinda Zoe, Marie Williams, Maryat Lee and Susan Griffin).

The projects described in the grant files cover a wide variety of topics relating to feminism, the arts and humanities, and women's culture. These topics include: literature and literary journals; poetry, prose and scholarly writing; historical and literary conferences; playwriting, theatrical production and performance; African-American storytelling; musical performance and composition; photography; documentary filmmaking; painting; sculpture; puppetry; quilting and other forms of fabric art; women in organized religions; women's political activism and employment issues; environmentalism, ecofeminism, naturalism, wilderness and outdoor adventure activities by women; and the work of lesbians, women of color, and physically handicapped women. The series is arranged by years, then alphabetically by name; note that from 1987 to 1989, corporate entities are filed in a separate alphabetical run after the files for individuals.

Addition consists primarily of files documenting the organization's grant program, and also includes project files, files related to the feminist literary journal The American Voice, publications, and files from Hopscotch House.