MF 150 WST 301 Women Studies

Northeast Archives of Folklore and Oral History: MF 150 WST 301 Women Studies

Number of accessions: 14
Dates when interviews were conducted: 2006
Time period covered: 2nd half of the 20th and early 21st century
Principal interviewers: various
Finding aides: index
Access restrictions: no restrictions on interviews; video may not be copied
Description: A series of interviews with women activists conducted by students in WST 301: Intermediate Topics in Women’s Studies, spring 2006, taught by Susan Iverson.

NA3555 Ashley Burns, interviewed by Kristen Hirsch, April 21, 2006. Burns talks about MAPS/My Choice; gay and lesbian adoption access; people who utilize these services; the finality of adoption; open adoptions; women; roadblocks. Text: 2 pp. selective transcript. Recordings: C 2481 / CD 1022 143 minutes.

NA3356 Cindy McLellan, interviewed by Ashley Burns, April 13, 2006. McLellan talks about her background; her work at the My Choice Program; doing the assessments at the homeless shelter for women; adoption agency MAPS; funding problems; subsidized housing. Text: 2 pp. selective transcript. Recording: C 2482 / CD 1023.

NA3357 Deanna Partridge, interviewed by Catherine Kurr, April 19, 2006. Partridge talks about her background and education; being a social change journalist; working in Northern Ireland; working for Communities United for Reproductive Safety (a Mabel Wadsworth Women’s Health Center project) in Bangor, Maine; women’s rights/reproductive rights; human rights; bodily integrity/physical autonomy; now the Development Coordinator; nonprofit; Terry Derosure; changes she’s seen in her 10 years there (staff, budget, clients); volunteers; health care providers; mission; abortion care; being pro-choice; future of CURS. Text: 6 pp. index with select transcribed quotes. Recording: C 2483 / CD 1024.

NA3358 Sharon Barker, interviewed by Catherine Kurr, March 24, 2006. Barker talks about her background; moving to the US from New Brunswick; participating in the anti-war movement (Vietnam War); working with community organizing; experiencing gender discrimination; participating in a women’s group; reasons for interest in reproductive rights; working for Family Planning in Old Town; Mabel Wadsworth; working in a clinic in Bangor for Family Planning; Terry Derosure; CAP Agency; being let go; being part of the start of the Mabel Wadsworth Center; abortions; community relationship; Communities United for Reproductive Safety; thoughts on reproductive health. Text: 8 pp. index. Recording: C 2484 / CD 1025.

NA3359 Vivianne Holmes, interviewed by Donna Buckley, March 10, 2006. Holmes talks about WAgN (Women’s Agricultural Network) network in Vermont; how it was started in Maine; why WAgN was needed; women farming in Maine; working for Extension; overcoming unfair treatment of WAgN and female farmers; reproductive rights; sexism; women networking together; license plate situation; stereotypes; Women in the Woods; Daughters of Yarrow; success of WAgN. Text: 5 pp. index with selective transcribing. Recording: C 2485 / CD 1026.

NA3360 Susan Elizabeth Watson, interviewed by Donna Buckley, March 21, 2006. Watson talks about her background and childhood; job as a soil scientist for USDA; change to working with sheep fibers; Australian locker hooking; felting; buying a farm; her flock of sheep; working full time also as the project coordinator for the Resource Conservation Development Office; working with WAgN (Women’s Agricultural Network); why WAgN is needed; challenge female farmers face; issues associated with the size of Maine; “A Time to Act” bill; how farming has changed; need for farming community unity; importance of a network for farming women; Gloria Varney form Nazzizget Farm; Vivianne Holmes. Text: 5 pp. index with selective transcribing. Recording: C 2486 / CD 1027.

NA3361 Gilda E. Nardone, interviewed by Margaret Camden, March 16, 2006. Nardone talks about her parents, background, and childhood; her marriage; her sons; her education and early jobs; volunteering; move to Maine; involvement with the Displaced Homemakers Program (DHP); Women Work and Community (WWC); Merle Nelson, being the 1st coordinator of DHP; what DHP did; changes in the program; success of the program; men in the program. Text: 3 pp. index/selective transcription. Recording: C 2487 / CD 1028.

NA3362 Eloise Vitelli, interviewed by Margaret Camden, March 16, 2006. Vitelli talks about her parents; her childhood; parents as activists; her father’s sabbaticals; 1st husband; Vietnam War; working at Head Start; Women’s Business Survival Skills Project; going to USM; Gilda Nordone; being a Vista volunteer; joining Maine Women’s Lobby; working with Women Work and Community (WWC), Bath Center, as the Bathe Local Coordinator; micro-enterprise; involvement with policy making; what WWC does; changes in WWC; men in the programs now; rewarding parts of her job. Text: 3 pp. index /selective transcription. Recording: C 2488 / CD 1029.

NA3363 Peg Cruikshank, interviewed by Karen Johnson, March 5, 2006, at her home in Corea, Maine. Cruikshank talks about Gay Foundation in San Francisco; Women’s Studies program at Mankato State College; moving to San Francisco in 1977; Nancy Manahan; wrongful firing lawsuit; being hypnotized; her education; being Resource Director of Gay Foundation; Brigg’s initiative, Harvey Milk, Sally Miller Gearhart; Anita Bryant; her book The Lesbian Path and one about Thomas McCauley; Daughter of Bilitus; being a writer; pros to living in San Francisco; aging; fixed income; keynote speaker about Learning to Be Old; living in Maine; Medicare; care giving; parents with dementia; loss of power; being a Tribal Elder; housing for elderly; class; gay communities in Maine; lesbian culture; gender discrimination; Gay Studies; no spousal Social Security; ageism; religion and gays; convents. Text: 6 pp. index with selective transcription. Recording: C 2489 / CD 1030, CD 1031.

NA3364 Gabrielle Wellman, interviewed by Karen Johnson, March 26, 2006. Wellman talks about her mother, a Holocaust survivor; becoming a teacher of languages; coming out to herself and her parents; Adrienne Rich; job; Smith College and feminism and lesbianism; lesbian culture; Caren McCourtney; gender roles; Jewish lesbian subculture; Shiram a singing group in the Midcoast; Old Dyke’s Home; grandfather; retirement planning; class issues; her father; ageism; practicing Shiatsu, acupuncture massage, and the Feldenkrais Method. Text: 2 pp. index with selective transcription. Recording: C 2490 /CD 1032.

NA3365 Sarah A. Bigney, interviewed by David Kujawa, May 9, 2006, Maine. Bigney talks about her involvement with the UMaine Won’t Discriminate Campaign; being a co-campus organizer with Smatthew Small; student organizations involved; Progressive Student Alliance; social justice issues; campus attitude; why this time the PSA referendum succeeded; next step for gay rights in Maine. Text: 2 pp. index with selective transcript. Recording: C 2491 / CD 1033 80 minutes.

NA3366 Suzanne “Sue” Estler, interviewed by David Kujawa, May 9, 2006, Maine. Estler talks about her involvement with the No one 1 campaign; history of sexuality and the Maine Civil Rights Bill; Charlie Howard; being director of Equal Opportunity on UMaine; attitude toward gay people at the time; change it attitudes; why the outcome was successful; attitude of UMaine compared to the rest of the state; next steps for gay rights in Maine. Text: 3 pp. index with selective transcript. Recording: C 2492 / CD 1034.

NA3367 Safia Nur, interviewed by Elizabeth A. Cates, April 18, 2006. Nur talks about her family history; being from Kenya, Africa; places she has lived in the US including Lewiston, Maine; difference between her and her classmates; hardest thing about school; language barriers; not having American friends outside of school; her Muslim clothes; boys and marriage; family dynamics; sharing; feeling more Muslim than American; prejudices she has faced; Steven Wesler; educating her peers; white supremacist rallies in Lewiston; teachers; her father. Text: 2 pp. index.

NA3368 Anne Akoa, interviewed by Elizabeth “Liz” A. Cates, March 21, 2006. Akoa talks about her family history; coming to America from Cameroon; schooling here and there; misconceptions Americans have about Africa; friendships; white boyfriend; body image; American Dream; American women’s clothing; money; diet; how American’s deal with race; race and gender; hip hop music (negative influence); religion; her opinions of the American school system; plans for the future. Text: 2 pp. index.