Alix Kates Shulman papers, 1892-2014, bulk 1968-2014

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Portions of the collection are restricted. The materials in series 6 are all restricted, and portions of the 2014-0176 series are restricted as described in the box list. Researchers must register...
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Summary

Creator:
Shulman, Alix Kates
Abstract:
Prominent feminist, author, and political activist in the 1960s and 70s. Author of MEMOIRS OF AN EX-PROM QUEEN (1972), ON THE STROLL (1980), and DRINKING THE RAIN (1995). The materials in the Alix Kates Shulman Papers span the dates 1892 to 2000, with the bulk of materials dating from 1968 to 2000. These materials include: manuscripts, notes, clippings, published books, correspondence, photographs, audio and videotapes, microfilm, address and date books, family and business records. The primary focus of the collection is Shulman's writing and literary career. The secondary focus is the women's liberation and feminist movements, in which Shulman was and continues to be very active (from 1968 to 2000). However, feminism and feminist activism are inextricably intertwined with Shulman's writing career, and her 1972 novel MEMOIRS OF AN EX-PROM QUEEN is regarded by many as the first novel to "come out of" the women's liberation movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Extent:
39.5 Linear Feet
29,625 Items
Language:
English.
Collection ID:
RL.01183

Background

Scope and content:

The materials in the Alix Kates Shulman Papers span the dates 1892 to 2000, with the bulk of materials dating from 1968 to 2000. These materials include: manuscripts, notes, clippings, published books, correspondence, photographs, audio and videotapes, microfilm, address and date books, family and business records. The primary focus of the collection is Shulman's writing and literary career. The secondary focus is the women's liberation and feminist movements, in which Shulman was and continues to be very active (from 1968 to the present). However, feminism and feminist activism are inextricably intertwined with Shulman's writing career, and her 1972 novel Memoirs of an Ex-Prom Queen is regarded by many as the first novel to "come out of" the women's liberation movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Other topics covered by the collection include: her teaching and other academic work; her public speaking and conference activities; and her involvement in political activities besides feminism. This collection sheds valuable light on the concerns and tensions within the women's liberation and second-wave feminist movements. In particular, the materials document debates and disagreements among those active in the movement with regard to sexuality, marriage and domestic relations, women's financial situation and careers, health care, civil rights and cultural expression. Many of these issues are raised in Shulman's own work, including her novels, essays, short fiction, personal letters and her teaching materials.

The collection is divided into seven series. The Personal Papers Series contains Shulman's family history papers, photographs, biographical papers, and her personal correspondence (with writers, academics, political activists and family members). Notable correspondents include Ros Baxandall, Jay Bolotin, Kay Boyle, Rita Mae Brown, Phyllis Chesler, Judy Chicago, Andrea Dworkin, Candace Falk, Marilyn French, Lori Ginzberg, Hannah Green, Erica Jong, Kate Millett, Honor Moore, Robin Morgan, Tillie Olson, Lillian Rubin, Sue Standing, and Meredith Tax. The Political Work Series contains material relating to Shulman's involvement with feminist and other liberal political groups, including Redstockings, New York Radical Women, the PEN Women's Committee, No More Nice Girls, the Women's Action Coalition, and Women Against Government Surveillance

The Literary Work Series contains a variety of materials relating to Shulman's literary career, including financial and other dealings with publishing houses, notes and research, photocopies of publications, reviews of her work, articles and notes she collected regarding the literary scene, and original manuscripts. This series contains information about her early children's books; several books she edited of Emma Goldman's writings; her essays and short fiction; her novels Memoirs of an Ex-Prom Queen (1972), Burning Questions (1975), On the Stroll (1977), In Every Woman's Life . . . (1980); and her memoirs Drinking the Rain (1995) and A Good Enough Daughter (1999). A small amount of correspondence regarding book reviews of other authors' work is also included.

The Academic Work Series contains materials relating to Shulman's graduate work at NYU; her teaching at Yale, the University of Colorado at Boulder, NYU, and the University of Hawaii at Manoa; as well as her relationships with her students. The Public Speaking Series contains materials relating to Shulman's participation in literary and political conferences and gatherings, personal interviews, lectures and book talks.

Portions of the Restricted Materials Series either may not be photocopied without prior permission of Ms. Shulman or the relevant author, or may not be accessed until a future date. The same organizational categories have been applied to the restricted materials as were used in the unrestricted materials to help researchers easily access overlapping and related materials that have been boxed separately due to the restrictions. The Oversize Materials Series contains miscellaneous oversize materials of a biographical and literary nature.

Acquired as part of the Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History and Culture.

Biographical / historical:

Alix Kates Shulman (given name Alix Audrey Kates) was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1932 to Dorothy Davis Kates and Samuel Kates. Raised in suburban Cleveland Heights, she graduated from Case Western Reserve University in 1953 with a degree in English and History. She moved to New York City after college and began graduate studies at Columbia University where she met and married fellow graduate student Marcus Klein in 1954. After marriage she began a series of research, editorial and writing jobs. She and Klein were divorced in 1958, and she then married Martin Shulman in 1959. She gave birth to her son Ted in 1961 and to her daughter Polly in 1963.

Shulman became involved in the early women's liberation movement groups in New York City in the late 1960s. She participated in the famed Miss America Pageant Protest in Atlantic City in 1968, was an early member of the groups "Redstockings" and "WITCH" in 1969, and joined the "New York Radical Women" in 1970. At approximately the same time she became active in the women's liberation movement, Shulman began her literary career, publishing articles in both feminist and mainstream periodicals, and publishing a number of children's books and non-fiction books about Emma Goldman. She and Martin Shulman drafted a "Marriage Agreement" which was published in the feminist journal Up From Under in 1970. The "Agreement" was re-printed with accompanying articles in Redbook (in 1971) and then in Life (1972). Due to these re-printings, the "Agreement" received much press and raised much controversy. It was attacked by, among others, Norman Mailer and Russell Baker. Also in 1972, Shulman published her first major (and semi-autobiographical) novel, Memoirs of an Ex-Prom Queen.Memoirs became a national best seller, raised much debate about the growing feminist movement and the situation of women in U.S. society, and launched Shulman's writing career on a national level.

Throughout the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, Shulman continued to work as a feminist activist, to write essays and short stories for a wide variety of journals and newspapers, to teach and present speeches and conference papers, and to publish novels and memoirs. She divorced Martin Shulman in 1985 and married former Cleveland Heights High School classmate Scott York in 1989. Her two most recently published books are Drinking the Rain (1995), an account of her solitary, non-technological life on a Maine island, and A Good Enough Daughter (1999), a memoir focusing on her relationships with her late parents. She received an honorary doctorate of Humane Letters from Case Western Reserve University in 2001.

Acquisition information:
The Alix Kates Shulman Papers were received by the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book Manuscript Library as a purchase and gift between 1998 and 2014.
Processing information:

Processed by Kathryn Fenn

Completed 2000

Encoded by Joshua Kaiser; Ruth E. Bryan

Revised by Lindsay Matson, May 2009; by Megan Lewis December 2015

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Contents

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Using These Materials Links:

Using These Materials


Restrictions:

Portions of the collection are restricted. The materials in series 6 are all restricted, and portions of the 2014-0176 series are restricted as described in the box list.

Researchers must register and agree to copyright and privacy laws before using this collection.

All or portions of this collection may be housed off-site in Duke University's Library Service Center. The library may require up to 48 hours to retrieve these materials for research use.

Please contact Research Services staff before visiting the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library to use this collection.

Terms of access:

The copyright interests in this collection have not been transferred to Duke University. For more information, consult the copyright section of the Regulations and Procedures of the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library.

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Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Alix Kates Shulman Papers, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.