Cookie Teer papers, 1971-2000, bulk 1983-1997 31.2 Linear Feet
The materials in the Cookie Teer papers date from 1971 to 2000, with the bulk of the collection dating between 1983 and 1997. These materials include: newspaper clippings, magazines, correspondence, photographs, meeting minutes, manuscripts, notes, published books, audio and videotapes, organizational records, and court transcripts. The collection documents Teer's activism during this period; the feminist issues with which she was concerned; feminist and anti-pornography activism in and around Chapel Hill and Durham, N.C.; and the activities of the organizations of which Teer was a member, including the National Organization for Women (N.O.W.) and Pornography Awareness.
The materials provide detailed documentation of the social, cultural, and political debates over pornography in the United States in the 1980s and 1990s, with materials from both proponents and opponents of anti-pornography legislation, as well as detailed documentation of the pornography industry, with a focus on publications such as Playboy and Hustler. Transcripts from hearings organized by the Attorney General's Commission on Pornography supplement these materials, with testimony from all sides of the pornography debate.
Teer's extensive subject files (37 boxes) contain newspaper and magazine clippings, correspondence, and printed items pertaining to women's rights, feminists, feminist organizations and events, and social issues related to women and children such as rape, pornography, incest, prostitution, domestic violence, child custody, and child abuse. Other materials relate to her ownership of the Southern Sisters bookstore (Durham, N.C.), such as promotional materials, newsletters, events fliers, several rolodex files, rubber stamps, and calendars.
The collection also contains materials related to particular feminist activists and theorists, including Nikki Craft, Catherine MacKinnon, and Andrea Dworkin.