Correspondence, Personal and Professional , 1960-2008

Scope and content:

The Correspondence Subseries includes Bart's personal and professional correspondence. Much of the correspondence relates to Bart's plans to travel to conferences or universities to lecture about her research. There are also letters from sociologists, professors, and other scholars requesting copies of Bart's writings or more information on her research. There is very little family correspondence.

While most of the correspondence in this subseries is professional in nature, personal correspondence reflects the turbulent relationships among members of the feminist movement throughout the second half of the 20th century. As the movement expanded, feminists often disagreed with each other on various issues, and these disagreements can be seen in several volatile exchanges in this subseries, in which Bart was either directly or tangentially involved. Some of Bart's more frequent correspondents include feminists such as Catherine MacKinnon, Andrea Dworkin, and Phyllis Chelser.

Particularly in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Bart struggled with her own feminist identity, and she felt as though feminism was generally becoming more conservative while she was becoming more radical. During this time, Bart also struggled with her feelings regarding her own sexuality and her relationships with women, depression, and thoughts of suicide, all of which are reflected in her personal correspondence.

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