Lesbian Legacies in Special Collections

at the Michigan State University Libraries

Please note:
Having brought our major projects to a happy conclusion, we dissolved Purple as of August 31, 2023. This site functions only as a repository of information about the Lesbian Legacies Endowment we created, and as a record of Purple’s herstory.

Start with an overview of the whole Michigan State University Libraries Special Collections enterprise. Then check out the list of highlighted collections under the Our Collections tab. If you look them over, you will see that quite a few categories contain tantalizing tidbits relating to lesbians/womyn, notably Comic Art (Hothead Paisan, anyone?), Radicalism, and Zines. 

Under the Purpose or Scope of Collection tab on the Collection Development Policy Statement: Special Collections LGBTQ+ Collection page, there is a sketch of the history of the collection, from efforts of bibliographer Anne E. Tracy in response to the Gay Liberation Movement in the early 1970s and soon, mid-decade, through records of local and regional activities like the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival and activities on the MSU campus such as several annual Everywoman’s Weekends—seen as complementing the American Radicalism Collection—through the commitment in 1992 to “build and expand upon the existing LGBT materials housed in Special Collections” to cover a longer time period (to the present) and to include pop cultural materials among the more conventional holdings.

There is also a loose list of examples of topics covered, all of which include materials of interest to lesbian/womyn visitors. But the motherlode for our purposes is the Archival Collections. That is where you will find the following materials, as described on the web pages quoted here:

Goldenrod Music records

Biographical / Historical
Goldenrod Distribution Inc. (also known as Goldenrod Music) was founded in April of 1975 by Terry Grant (b. 1951) and is still operating under the ownership of Susan Frazier and MJ Stephenson. Goldenrod Music is a wholesale distributor primarily of independent women’s music labels to music stores, bookstores and gift shops. Goldenrod also sold recordings nationwide at concerts and festivals such as the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival (MichFest) and the National Women’s Music Festival. Their mission is to “promote and market music which affirms the lives and passions of Women, Lesbians and members of other alternative diverse communities and self-identified cultures, empowering them and encouraging personal growth and positive social and political change” (Catalog, Spring 2006). They market music and media in the genres of women’s music, gay men’s music, New Age, Celtic, Native American music, folk, blues, jazz, comedy, world, holiday music, children’s music, songbooks, and videos. At the business’ peak, Goldenrod represented nearly 800 artists represented in its catalogs, including Sweet Honey in the Rock, Holly Near, Ani Difranco, Shawn Colvin, Dar Williams and Melissa Ferrick. Prior to the advent of digital downloading, Goldenrod’s sales were close to $2 million, while only having a staff of twenty. They also produced concerts of women musicians and had a retail outlet in Lansing, MI.

Goldenrod Music acquired other businesses across the country, including Horizon Distribution in 1985, a Boston-based company distributing across New England, Paradigm (west coast), and Ladyslipper Music’s wholesale division. Other records contained within the collection include the separate Goldenrod Records LLC (founded in the mid 1990s by Grant, Frazier, and Lori English), a record label licensing recordings from artists and releasing them on their label. Artists on the label included Tret Fure, Cris Williamson, Sistrum and Nedra Johnson. Mellow Muse Productions (founded 1977 by Grant, Sue Emmert, and Susan Wittcoff) produced many concerts of touring women musicians, mostly in the Lansing-East Lansing area and Detroit. Act Two Productions and River Women Productions (also involving Grant, Emmert, and other women) continued the work of Mellow Muse. Tenth Muse Productions (Susan Frazier was involved in the collective) was a business based in Kent, OH.

Scope and Contents
The Goldenrod Music records contain catalogs, meeting minutes, sale statistics, internal correspondence and correspondence with retailers and artists, and other administrative records of the company. Additionally, this collection contains records of other companies associated with Goldenrod founder Terry Grant, including the Goldenrod Records LLC record label, Mellow Muse Productions, Act Two Productions, and River Women Productions. Also included in the collection are posters and press information for Tenth Muse Productions (provided by current Goldenrod owner, Susan Frazier) and some records relating to Ladyslipper Music. Particularly rich in the collection are artists’ press kits and promotional photographs, photographs and ephemera from music festivals, as well as approximately 700 recordings in vinyl, cassette, and CD formats by lesbian and feminist women musicians. Born out of the second wave feminist movement and women’s music movement, Goldenrod was originally one of more than 60 independent women’s music distributors, and as a result of the evolving music industry, became the last still in operation. This collection is a rich resource for information on women’s music, musicians and entertainers, and the broader evolving music industry.

Subjects

(https://findingaids.lib.msu.edu/repositories/4/resources/5913)

Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival records

Biographical / Historical
The Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival was an annual international music festival for women by women. In 1976, Lisa Vogel, her sister Kristie Vogel, and Mary Kindig organized a women-only event in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan where approximately 2,000 women congregated for a three-day music festival from August 20 to 22. From 1976 to 1981 the festival took place in a wooded area near Hesperia, Michigan, during which time the festival grew from a regional to a national event. In 1982, the festival moved to its final location near Hart, Michigan, to 650 acres of private land where each year women assembled tents, built stages, and delivered a variety of services and workshops at the space called “The Land.”

The Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival, often referred to as MWMF or MichFest, was produced by We Want the Music Cooperative (WWTMC), later known as We Want the Music Collective, and We Want the Music Company. Artists of all genres were welcome to perform at MichFest. From the beginning, the festival attracted feminist and lesbian activists, with many of the performers as active members of these communities. As the number of artists and attendants grew, so did the complexity of the festival, with pre-festival activities, a variety of workshops, shopping tents, separate childcare services for toddlers, boys, and girls, as well as services for people with disabilities. The complexity of the festival was reflected not only in the activities held but also in the set-up of “The Land,” which changed every year to meet the needs of a self-sustained community. To many participants, this was a magical, transformative place, although the controversial stance of restricting the space to womyn-born womyn only* eventually led to its closure in 2015.

*We (Purple) take exception to this characterization. Michfest neither relinquished its Intention to be a space for womyn-born-womyn, nor—except for one lamented and apologized-for incident in 1991—violated its firm policy of never questioning the sex of anyone who sought entry.

Macdonald, Jocelyn (October 24, 2018). "Setting the Record Straight About MichFest." AfterEllen. Archived from the original on 2018-12-19. Retrieved 27 June 2022.

Scope and Contents
The Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival records (1976-2015) contain crew guides and handbooks, maps, banners, t-shirts, programs, brochures, posters, meeting minutes, correspondence, inventories, press clippings, as well as recordings and photographs taken during the festival. The collection gives an insight of the intense effort and amount of coordination it took to make the festival possible, and how it evolved and grew more complex with each iteration.

Arrangement
The Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival records are arranged into six series. Please note the box and folder information when requesting materials. Each series and subseries has been arranged by particular themes, and follows a chronological order when possible.

  • Series 1: Contains crew set-up guides for tents, stage and other festival grounds, as well as handbooks for services and workshops. Arranged intellectually to display the physical setting of the festival.
  • Series 2: HerStory includes interview transcripts, and miscellaneous records for the show Rock Chix Lix. 
  • Series 3: Artifacts such as maps, banners, wooden signs, mugs, t-shirts, and wristbands. 
  • Series 4: Publicity including festival programs, brochures, posters, press reviews and clippings.
  • Series 5: Business Records including committee minutes, correspondence, and inventories. 
  • Series 6: WWTMC Media Archive includes audio and visual material produced during the festival.

(https://findingaids.lib.msu.edu/repositories/4/resources/5913)

Personal archives such as those of the following:

  • Anne E. Tracy
    Anne Elizabeth Tracy (1939-2003) worked at MSU Libraries for 32 years as a Library Assistant and Bibliographer. She helped build several collections for Special Collections, such as the Radicalism, and Popular Culture collections, and was the founder of the LGBT collection. Tracy also worked part-time as a music director for the North presbyterian Church in Lansing. In 2002, Tracy received a Prism Award from the Lansing Association for Human Rights for her leadership in the LGBT community, and building the LGBT collection in Special Collections.

    The Anne E. Tracy collection contains correspondence, notes, inventories, and miscellaneous material related to the creation of the Special Collections LGBTQ+ collection at MSU Libraries, as well as some biographical material on Anne E. Tracy. The collection traces some of the research done by Tracy to build the LGBT collection, and gives examples of how the collection began to be used in course instruction.

    (https://findingaids.lib.msu.edu/repositories/4/resources/6423)

  • Marilyn Frye papers
    Born in 1941 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Marilyn Frye received a Bachelor of Arts with honors in Philosophy from Stanford University in 1963, and a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Cornell University in 1969.

    Dr. Frye was an Instructor (1967-69) and Assistant Professor (1969-74) in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Pittsburgh. In 1974 she joined Michigan State University as an Assistant Professor of Philosophy, where she retired in 2010 as a UniversityDistinguished Professor. During her tenure at MSU she served as a director of Women’s Studies, Associate Chair of the Philosophy Department, and Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Letters, as well as on many college- and university-level committees, and on dissertation committees in Philosophy and related disciplines.

    In 1983 Dr. Frye published her first book of essays on feminist theory, ‘The Politics of Reality’ (The Crossing Press), and a second book in 1991 titled ‘Willful Virgin’ (The Crossing Press).

    Her awards include the State of Michigan Teaching Excellence Award, Distinguished Woman Philosopher award from the Eastern Division of the Society for Women in Philosophy, and a Distinguished Faculty Award from Michigan State University.

    Dr. Frye was a co-founder of the Lansing collective Let’s Be An Apple Pie, the independent publishing company Tea Rose Press, and more recently of Purple, a non-profit supporting various feminist and lesbian events across Michigan.

    The Marilyn Frye papers consist of approximately 13 linear feet of material dating from 1964 to 2013. The collection contains personal and professional correspondence, administrative records, drafts and manuscripts for publication, reprinted materials, reference materials, teaching files, catalogs and other printed ephemera.

    Recordings and other born-digital material will be available in our reading room.

    (https://findingaids.lib.msu.edu/repositories/4/resources/6614)

    See also, Marilyn Frye collection of feminist, gay, and lesbian material (https://findingaids.lib.msu.edu/repositories/4/resources/6019)

  • Bonnie J. Morris Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival collection
    Dr. Bonnie J. Morris, a Women Studies scholar and author, taught at several institutions, including University of California, Berkeley, Georgetown University, and Harvard Divinity School. Morris received a B.A. in Jewish History with a minor in Women’s Studies from American University, and a Ph.D. in Women’s History from Binghamton University.

    In 2019, Dr. Morris donated a collection of personal items in relation to the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival.Dr. Morris attended and worked at the festival for 35 years. Her personal collection is meant to expand and complement MSU Libraries’ holdings of the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival collection.

    The Bonnie J. Morris Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival collection consist of approximately 0.5 linear feet of personal items from the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival dating approximately from 1995 to 2015. The collection includes journals, stage notes, and ephemera.

    Including WBW celebrating Herstory T-Shirt

    (https://findingaids.lib.msu.edu/repositories/4/resources/6532)

  • Terri L. Jewell
    Terri Lynn Jewell (1954-1995) was described in the Lansing State Journal obituary as a “radical black lesbian feminist activist, poet, speaker and writer.” She was born in Louisville, Kentucky, and was a longtime resident of Lansing, Michigan. She belonged to the League of Lesbian Writers (Louisville, Kentucky branch), the Kentucky State Poetry Society, and was a founder of the Black Lesbian Network, Yahimba, and the Pat Parker/James Balwin Society. Her work can be found in more than 70 publications including the African American Review, The American Review, Azalea, Black American Literature Forum, Calyx, Colorlines magazine, Lavender Letter, Lesbian Alliance, NOW! Magazine, Obsidian II, Onyx, Sinister Wisdom, Telewoman, What She Wants, and the Women’s Quarterly Review.
    The Terri L. Jewell papers consist of approximately 15.6 linear feet of material dating approximately from 1968 to 1996. The collection consists of manuscripts of poetry, manuscripts of anthology projects, notebooks, reviews, interviews, research material, photographs, correspondence, obituary, and memorial program.

    (https://findingaids.lib.msu.edu/repositories/4/resources/5577)

  • Jamie Anderson papers
    Jamie Anderson, born in 1957 in Yuma, Arizona, is an out lesbian who has been a constant presence in women’s music since the 1980s. During the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, she performed at open mikes, fundraisers and bars in Phoenix and Tucson. She was also a part of comedy troupe Slique and the Sliquettes, led by Slique Callahan. In 1987, she did her first national tour alongside Martie van der Voort. She toured full time throughout the 1990s and2000s in the US and Canada, mostly as a solo performer. …

    As an author, Anderson has published articles and reviews for various publications, including Acoustic Guitar, AfterEllen.com, Curve, Indie-Music.com, SingOut!, and Sinister Wisdom. Her memoir Drive All Night (Tallahassee, FL: Bella Books, 2014) was a GCLS Goldie Awards Lesbian Anthology/Collection finalist. In 2019, Anderson published her second book, An Army of Lovers: Women’s Music of the Seventies and Eighties (Tallahassee, FL: Bella Books, 2019), this publication was also a GCLS Goldie finalist. The book Drive All Day: Because I’m Too Old to Drive All Night (Tsunami Publishing, 2022) documents Anderson’s life on the road.

    The Jamie Anderson papers consist of approximately 10 linear feet of material dating from 1960 to 2021. The collection consists of personal and business correspondence, ephemera, published articles and reviews, concert and album material, research, photographs, interviews, and recorded performances. Audio and video recordings will be transferred to a digital format for user access.

    (https://findingaids.lib.msu.edu/search?utf8=✓&op%5B%5D=&q%5B%5D=jamie+anderson&limit=&field%5B%5D=&from_year%5B%5D=&to_year%5B%5D=&commit=Search)

  • Penny Gardner
    Biographical / Historical
    Penny Gardener was a mother of three children by the age of 18. She became a Playboy Bunny and worked at entertainment clubs in her early 20s. She earned a BA from Loretto Heights College in Communications in 1976 and earned a graduate degree in Women’s Studies and doctorate in American Studies from Michigan State University. Gardner has been an instructor at MSU’s department of Writing, Rhetoric, and American Cultures until retiring in 2016, activist, and feminist. She has been an integral member of the Lansing-area lesbian community, serving as President of Lesbian Connection, Elsie Publishing, the Lansing Association for Human Rights, Michigan Equality, and holds leadership positions in the National Organization for Women (NOW) and the Women’s Political Caucus. In 1991, she participated in the Reproductive Freedom Riders as one of 11 bicyclists who rode from New York City to Seattle, Washington, which drew international attention to champion topics including women’s health, reproductive rights, sex education, AIDS education, lesbian parenting, domestic and bias-related violence. Gardner also serves on the board for the Tri-County Office on Aging and served as President of the MSU Union of Nontenured-Track Faculty.

    Scope and Contents
    The Penny Gardner papers contain correspondence, photographs, clippings, pamphlets, t-shirts, and other ephemera relating to Gardner’s activism on behalf of the Lesbian/LGBTQ+ community, including records documenting her participation in the 1991 Ride for Reproductive Freedom, her leadership within the Council on Aging, and other organizations.

    (https://findingaids.lib.msu.edu/repositories/4/resources/6159)

…And there’s more, so much more….

*****

In case you are considering coming to view some of the materials in the collection:

VISITING THE SPECIAL COLLECTIONS

Here is general information on simply visiting the MSU Libraries.

These guides to using Special Collections, whether as a casual visitor or as a researcher, will give you a sense of how one goes about it:

TRAVEL GRANTS under the Lesbian Legacies Endowment became available beginning in Fiscal Year 2023, when gifts to the endowment had exceeded the operational minimum of $50,000. The endowment’s expendable sister fund is also available to cover such grants.

The grants are administered under the MSU Libraries’ relatively new Visiting Scholars Program; this is where interested candidates should apply; candidates whose projects accord with ours should mention the Lesbian Legacies Endowment in queries to the Visiting Scholars Program. The window for grant applications during a fiscal year generally opens on November 1 of the preceding calendar year and closes on February 1. For example, the schedule for Fiscal 2026 is as follows:

  • Applications open on November 1, 2025.
  • Applications are due by February 1, 2026.
  • Notifications will be sent by March 15, 2026.
  • Residency period and award may be used between Monday, May 4, 2026 and Friday, August 14, 2026.

We are gratified to note that two of the general MSU Visiting Scholar grants had already been given for the study of the materials our fund now covers.

Random collection of related archives online