IOWA WOMEN'S ARCHIVES - Iowa City Women's Press Records

IOWA WOMEN’S ARCHIVES

UNIVERSITY OF IOWA LIBRARIES

IOWA CITY, IOWA

TITLE:»IOWA CITY WOMEN'S PRESS

SUBTITLE:»»RECORDS, 1973-1985

2.25 linear feetQUANTITY:»

ACQUISITION:	The »records (donor no. 305) were donated by »Sandy Pickup in 1995 and succeeding years.
ACCESS:	The »records are open for research.
COPYRIGHT:	»Copyright has not been transferred to the Universityof Iowa.
PHOTOGRAPHS:	»In box 1.
PROCESSED BY:	Your name, year»Erin E. Barber, 1996, and Natalie Brody, 1998.
REVISION:	Robert Jett, January 21, 1999, version WORD97.

»History

From 1973 to 1985 the Iowa City Women's Press (ICWP) published and printed material pertinent to women's lives. Beginning with $2000 and only a few part-time volunteers, the Press expanded to six owner/workers and a much larger facility. By 1984 annual sales totaled $130,000. However, the Press was faced with economic competition from well-capitalized print shops using laser and computer technologies and producing books more cheaply than ICWP. The ICWP was forced to cease publication in 1985.

Scope and Content Note

Begin text here:The» Iowa City Women's Press records date from 1973 to 1985 and measure 2.25 linear feet. The records are arranged in five series: Administration (1977-1985), Photographs (1981-1984 and undated), Printed works published by Iowa City Women’s Press (1972-1985 and undated), Printed works published by other women’s presses (1978-1981), and Artifacts.

The Administration series (1977-1985) contains minutes from the staff meetings of November 1984 to July 1985 including discussions leading up to the decision to close the Press. The financial records from 1977 to 1984 reveal the challenges facing the operation of the Press. Advertisements and publicity, correspondence, and various works of art and cartoons complete the series. Also included are posters printed for the Women’s Coffee House, which was administered by the Women’s Resource and Action Center (WRAC) of Iowa City. (See Box 9 of the WRAC records for further information.) In the minutes of the ICWP references are made to the Lesbian Alliance, which was housed by WRAC. ( See Box 10 of the WRAC records for further information.)

The Photographs series (1981-1984 and undated), includes photographs of women working at ICWP (ca. 1981) and at a Midwest conference for women printers in Madison, Wisconsin, in 1984 and the photographs for Black Lesbians: an annotated bibliography (1981).

The bulk of the collection is devoted to printed works in Printed works published by the Iowa City Women’s Press (1972-1985 and undated) and Printed works published by other women’s presses (1978-1981). In addition to bound volumes, The ICWP series also includes collections of women's poetry in Brainchild 4 (1977) and Womanspirit (1984); Maize, A Lesbian Country Magazine (1983-1985); two calendars depicting women's interests and the cycles of the moon; and layouts, photographs, and text for a book, The Greasy Thumb Auto Mechanics Manual for Women, by Barb Wyatt and Julie Zolot (1976). A smaller number of bound volumes comprises the series.

Printed works published by other women’s presses.

Artifacts consist of two ICWP signs.

Related Collections

Begin text here:»Women's Resource and Action Center (WRAC) Records

Jill Jack Papers

Includes copy of the The Greasy Thumb Auto Mechanics Manual for Women

Box no. Description

Box 1

Administration

Advertisements/publicity, undated [shelved in map case: drawer 10]

Calendars

The Women’s Liberation Calendar: A Yearbook for Manic Lesbians

Sister Heathenspinster’s Lunation Calendar, April 15, 1980 to September 27, 1981 [shelved in map case: drawer 10]

Correspondence, 1981-1984

Financial records, 1977-1984

Meeting minutes, 1984-1985

Quotes, cartoons, 1977-1980 and undated

Posters, undated, [shelved in map case: drawer 10]

Photographs

Print shop, 1981

Midwest Women-in-Print conference, 1984

Miscellaneous, undated

Black Lesbians: an annotated bibliography, 1981

Box 2

Printed works published by ICWP

A Women’s Poetry Reading, Action Studies Program, University of Iowa, 1972.

Brainchild 4, 1977

The Greasy Thumb Auto Mechanics Manual for Women, 1976

Cover

Introduction

Logo

Text, layout (3 folders)

Maize, nos. 1- 5, 1983-1985

Womanspirit, 1984

Women Printers’ Newsletter, 1985

Box 3

Aldridge, Sarah

All True Lovers, 1982

The Nesting Place, 1982

Azpadu, Dodici

Goat Song, 1984

Saturday Night in the Prime of Life, 1983

Brody, Michal, ed., Are We There Yet?, 1985

Carbrey, Anna, The Story of the itsy-bit, 1975

Cheney, Joyce, ed., Lesbian Land, 1985

Clarke, Cheryl, Narratives, 1983

Costa, Carol, et. al., ed., Holding Her Own, 1982

Ettleson, Barbara, ed., Mothers, a photography exhibit of our own, 1978

Fairfield, Gail, Choice Centered Tarot, 1981

Box 4

George, Mary Lee, What Can I Learn?, 1983

Kushner, Leah Pesa, Dragonchild, 1984

Lanning, Lee and Vernette Hart, Ripening, An Almanac of Lesbian Lore and Vision, 1981

Leffler, Ann, et. al., Academic Feminists and the Women’s Movement, 1973

Linc, Deborah, Women’s Wheels, 1982

Martin, Emil and Lucille, Lasagne, 1976

Miller, Dusty, Open Sesame, 1983

Potts, Billie, Witches Heal, 1981

Ressmeyer, Georgia Jo, Bernice, 1984

Roberts, J.R., ed., Black Lesbians, 1981

Scott, Claudia, Lesbian Writer, 1981

Schoenfielder, Lisa, ed., shadow on a tightrope, 1983

Sirius, Jean, And Every One of Us a Witch, 1979

Box 5

Taylor, Valerie, Prism, 1981

Tengemana, Ayida, Ambrosia: A Montage of Inner Recordings, 1976

Tsui, Kitty, The Words of a Women who Breathes Fire, 1983

Van Deurs, Kady, The Notebooks That Emma Gave Me, 1978

Watson, Lynn, Alimony or Death of the Clock, 1981

Black Maria, women speak, 4:3-4 (1984)

Sinister Wisdom

Vol. 20-24, 1982-1983

Box 6

Vol. 25-26, 1984-1985

Special issue: on being old and age, 1979

Spinster, a lighthearted lesbian [card] gayme, Lavender Lace, 1982

Printed Works published by other women’s presses

Grier, Barbara, The Lesbian in Literature, The Naiad Press, 1981

Grilikhes, Alexandra, on Women artists: poems 1975-1980, Cleis Press, 1981

Sheen, Barbara, Shedevils, Metis Press, 1978

Shockley, Ann Allen, The Black and White Of It, The Naiad Press, 1980

Straayer, Arny Christine, Hurtin & Healin & Talkin It Over, Metis Press, 1980

Tanenhaus, Beverly, To Know Each Other and Be Known: Women’s Writing Workshops, The Print Center, 1978

Vivien, Renee, At the Sweet Hour of Hand in Hand, The Naiad Press, 1979

A Woman Appeared to Me, The Naiad Press, 1979

Young, Donna, Retreat: As It Was!, The Naiad Press, 1979

Spring Bouquet, San Francisco, 1978

Oversize:

Artifacts (2 signs)