History of Sexuality: Resources in the Special Collections Library at Duke University

The following are descriptions of manuscript collections and rare books held by the Special Collections Library at Duke. These materials are suggested as possible primary sources for the history of sex, sexuality and the construction of gender. Similar titles and archival collections are available at public, university, and community libraries throughout the world. Contact your local librarian for items available in your area. Feel free to enlist the help of the Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History and Culture if you need more information about such materials at Duke.

• Early Works: 17th and 18th Century
• 19th Century
• 20th Century and Contemporary

Early Works: 17th and 18th Century

Artus, Thomas, sieur d'Embry. Description de l'isle des hermaphrodites, nouvellement découverte, contenant les moeurs, les coutumes & les ordonances des habitans de cette isle, comme aussi le discours de Jacophile à Limne, avec quelques autres pièces curieuses.

Pour servir de supplement au journal de Henri III. 1724. (Utopia 12 mo A792D)

Aubignac, François-Hédelin. Abbé d'. Les conseils d'ariste a Celimene sur les moyens de conserver sa Réputation. 1692.

Courtesy book addressed to a young woman soon to be married. Depicts social world of female courtier as fraught with danger. (E 12mo A893C)

Barnabé Brisson, Antoine Hotman and François Hotman. De veteri ritu nuptiarum & jure connubiorum. 1662.

Legal texts on ancient and modern laws of marriage by three influential French legal theorists. (E 12mo B859D)

Nevizzano, Giovanni. Silva Nuptialis, 1602 (originally published in 1521).

Celebrated legal miscellany on numerous judicial problems connected with marriage and sexual matters, with much on domestic manners and morals of the period. Contains virulent passages against the female sex, which were modified in later editions. (E N529S)

Petit, Pierre. De Amazonibus Dissertatio, 1685.

Treatise on the Amazons, with accounts taken from various sources--some asserting, some doubting their existence. Includes engravings, which are mostly depictions of Amazons taken from coins and monuments. (E P489A)

Restif de La Bretonne. Le pornographe, ou, Idées d'un honnête-homme sur un projet de réglement pour les prostituées : propre à prévenir les malheurs qu'occasionne le publicisme des femmes : avec des notes historiques et justificatives / par M. Rétif de-la-Bretone. 1776.

A contemporary of the Marquis de Sade, Restif, derided as the "Rousseau of the Gutter," wrote volumes about the "peasant" class and the subject of "vice," from incest to prostitution. This volume, part of a series of works under the general title of Les idées singulières, is Restif's utopian vision of reform for the casual or brothel whores of Paris, ahead of its time in its call for regulation of the industry. (E #4190)

Schalkhausen, Virginius Liebtreu von. Jungfraw-Spiegel : das ist eigentlicher Bericht von der Natur und Eigenschaft, Zufällen, Freyheiten und Rechten ... / durch Virginium Liebtrew von Schalckhausen.

German erotica. 20th-century facsimile of the 1627 ed. (Jantz #2134)

X. Y. Z. Der Grosse Klunkermuz.

German erotica. 20th-century facsimile of the 1671 ed. (Jantz 12mo #392)

19th Century

Advertising Archives.

See "20th Century," below.

Anthologie satyrique: répertoire des meilleures poésies et chansons joyeuses parues en français depuis Clément Marot jusqu'à nos jours; publié par et pour la Société des bibliophiles cosmopolites. 1876-78.

8 volumes of poems and songs in the tradition of Rabelais--extravagant, robust, boisterously satirical. (E A628S)

Eugenia Hargous Balch Papers.

Correspondence from family and friends, mostly women, concerns the role of women in Victorian society. A lengthy 1892 letter from Alice Faucon describes her dilemma as an unwed pregnant schoolgirl trying to find someone to perform an abortion in Paris.

David Barrows Papers.

Ca. 1850s letters from Ann Rusby and diary entries by Barrows reveal much about their courtship, their sexual relationship, and their secret marriage. Barrows was a working class English emigrant to Philadelphia and Rusby was his "adult ed" teacher. Racy stuff.

John Emory Bryant Papers.

A series of letters to Bryant from his wife Emma in 1873 provide one side of a heated argument arising from his accusations that her relationship with her gynecologist was out of line. Her responses contain graphic descriptions of her gynecological problems and examinations, as well as extensive feminist rhetoric on trust and obedience in married life.

Cottin, Sophie Marie Risteau. Mathilde, ou Mémoires tirés de L'Histoire des Croisades . 1805.

Depicts awakening of a young girl to passion, while hinting at forbidden imaginings. Christianity conquers but does not erase passion. (SCL DOSS 843.69 C848M)

Davenport, John. Curiositates eroticæ physiologiæ; or, Tabooed subjects freely treated . 1875.

Written to combat the "exaggerated delicacy" with which his contemporaries treated the subject of "the Reproduction of the Human Race," Davenport tackles head-on six related areas (generation, chastity and modesty, marriage, circumcision, eunuchism, and hermaphrodism), placing them in historical and scientific context. (E D247C)

Walter Patterson Duke Papers.

Letters between several unmarried brothers (J.E. Duke et al.) in the late 1860s and 1870s describe intimate love relationships with women.

Mary Wager Fisher Papers.

Papers of a pre-eminent Victorian journalist contain letters with women friends that offer unusual insight into the emotionally intense friendships that flourished among professional women of the 19th century.

William Holgate Papers.

Large collection of family papers include the personal correspondence, 1872-1911, of Fannie Holgate. Letters in 1879 and 1880 contain frank discussions about birth control and abortion with a newlywed relative. Evaluate these and other letters between the women for their level of intimacy and power of sharing "taboo" or sexual information. Compare with letter in Jacob H. Bechtel Papers (9/12/1860) where Jacob jokes to a male relative about his ideas of birth control.

Howard, Clifford. Sex Worship: An Exposition of the Phallic Origin of Religion. 1897.

(SCL DOSS 291.212 H848)

Kelly, Walter Keating. Erotica: The Elegies of Propertius, The Satyricon of Petronius Arbiter, and The Kisses of Johannes Secundus. 1854.

Literally translated and accompanied by poetical versions from various sources. To which are added, the love epistles of Aristaenetus translated by R. Brinsley Sheridan and Mr. Halhed. (E #9840)

Burwell Boykin Lewis Papers.

Letters during the 1860s and 1870s between Boykin and his wife Rose concern love and sexuality, women's health and pregnancy, and raising teenage daughters.

Love letters.

Many manuscript collections contain courtship letters between men and women. Levels of intimacy and passion vary, but you might want to try Walter Lee Sutton Papers (1883-1886); Rawley Martin Papers (1850s); James Otis Moore Papers(1851-2), written prior to his marriage to his wife, Mary Elizabeth Ross; Mildred J. Howe Letters (1886-1902); Clydie Scarborough Papers (African American family 1920s). The Hinsdale Family Papers is a large collection of family papers contain the courtship letters of sisters Elizabeth (and Jack Winfree), 1903-1904, and Annie (and Harold Joslin), 1904.

Emily Georgiana Elise Benyon Pigot Diary.

An extraordinary farrago of narrative and desire from her life before and after her 1850 marriage to Sir Robert Pigot, a man 25 years her senior. Lady Pigot documents her feelings of stultification within her passionless marriage, as well as her frenzied lust for Captain Glastonbury Neville, with whom she had an affair.

Sheet Music Collection.

Over 7,000 items spanning years 1820 to 1940. Song lyrics and cover graphics reflect stereotypes of women's sexuality from the promiscuous coquette to the virginal and pure. You might want to look at a particular time period (Victorian, Roaring 20s), a particular sexual category (vamps, Madonnas), or ethnic distinction (African-American women as Jezebels or sexless mammies). This requires some digging around and can be time-consuming (but fun!).

John Addington Symonds Papers.

Letters written by Symonds, a British author and critic, to Edmund Gosse discuss Symonds's writings on male homosexuality in ancient Greece. Other passages concern Symonds's frustration and anger with Victorian repression and condemnation of homosexuality; the effect of reading Greek classics on schoolboys; and his admiration for German bodybuilder Eugene Sandow. Symonds is also the author of A Problem in Greek Ethics: Being an Inquiry into the Phenomenon of Sexual Inversion: Addressed Especially to Medical Psychologists (1901), which we hold in Special Collections. (E S988PG)

William Eliza Terrell Papers.

Includes letters to Eliza Terrell from her friend Mary Telfair of Savannah, Ga. in the mid-1800s which contain much gossip about mutual friends. Some letters allude to the scandalous conduct and lesbian tendencies of a particular acquaintance.

19th Century Prescriptive Literature.

The 19th and early 20th century gave rise to a vast body of literature that instructed men and women on their proper place in society. These instructive books cover etiquette, education, household management, medicine, marriage, and parenting. They contain all sorts of information about sex roles, sexuality, and sexual practices (including birth control, masturbation, concubines, VD, and prostitution). For specific titles see the bibliography Nineteenth-Century Prescriptive Literature for Women.

20th Century and Contemporary

Kathy Acker Papers.

Manuscript drafts, rare editions, and art work of contemporary punk novelist and essayist whose provocative works focus on sexual adventures, alternate sexualities, and gender distortion. Check the on-line catalog for Acker's printed works.

Advertising Archives.

Archives of two large advertising agencies (JW Thompson and DMB & B) plus an historic (19th century) advertising collection provide a wealth of information on sex role stereotypes and the use of sex to sell products. Consult the Hartman Center Reference Archivist, Lynn Eaton, for specific product lines and advertising campaigns.

Atlanta Lesbian Feminist Alliance Archives and Periodicals Collections.

The ALFA Archives contains early records of ALFA and other gay and counterculture groups active in Atlanta and the southeast during the 1970s and early 1980s and are particularly rich in documenting lesbian activism and culture. The ALFA Periodicals contain numerous grassroots newsletters and periodicals including Black & White Men Together, Lavender Tide (Tuscaloosa, Al.), Lesbian Feminist Flyer (Richmond, Va.), Maize, A Lesbian Country Magazine,On Our Backs (lesbian erotica), Tits and Clits Comix - the list is endless. Several newsletters and periodicals related to AIDS, prostitution, pornography, celibacy, etc. Detailed guides are available in the Special Collections Library for these collections.

Nikki Craft Papers.

Craft, a contemporary radical activist, uses guerrilla theater to protest the media's control of women's bodies: anti-porn, anti-beauty contest, topless rights, exposing sex offenders, etc. Small collection of flyers, photos, and newspaper accounts of her projects.

The Joy of Sex (1972) and More Joy (1974).

Classic How-to manuals published just after the sexual revolution and at the height of women's liberation movement.(E #1143 and E #2551, respectively)

Kearney, Patrick J. The Private

Case: An Annotated Bibliography of the Private Case Erotica

Collection in the British (Museum) Library. 1981.

A follow-up to Peter Fryer'sPrivate Case-- Public Scandal (1966), Kearney has meticulously cataloged erotica held by the British Museum Library through 1975. Good starting point for researching the collection and preservation of erotica and forbidden books in public institutions. (Biblio K24P)

Lesbian Pulp Novels.

A small but growing collection of literature published from 1950s-1970s. See the Queer Pulp Fiction bibliography for specific titles.

Love letters.

See entry under "19th Century."

Julia Penelope Papers.

Kicked out of both Florida State University and the University of Miami in 1959 for being an "obvious" lesbian, Penelope, a separatist, later went on to a prolific career as a writer. This collection contains a prodigious amount of information about lesbian sexuality--some of it assimilated, some not.

Postcard Collection.

Another source of popular culture images spanning the years 1910 to the present. Postcards are indexed geographically and by subject matter, and images ripe for race and gender analysis can be found throughout. Graphics range from work scenes to pinups to the derogatorily "humorous."

Sheet Music Collection.

See entry under "19th Century."

Florence Moss Smith Papers.

Consists of letters, 1942-1945, exchanged between Florence and Frank Smith during their courtship and early marriage while Frank was serving in WWII. There is also a long letter "intended as a lecture" from Smith to her daughter ca. 1960s the topic of which is "to not be alarmed of BOYS." Smith is concerned that her daughter is spending too much time with girls and not enough time getting to know the opposite sex.

Alma Strikeleather Wall Papers.

Includes the 1928 adolescent "boy-crazy" diary of Kathryn Wall as well as correspondence and scrapbooks entries focused on her sister Margaret, whose career as a scientist was abruptly halted when she was accused of being a lesbian and suffered a nervous breakdown in 1942.

Wood-Allen, Mary, M.D. Almost a Man: Teaching Truth Series. 1915.

A woman physician's advice to young men in matters of sex and reproduction. (E 12mo #4175)

Compiled by Diane McKay and Ginny Daley for the Special Collections Library, 8/95