Sallie Bingham papers, 1900-2023 and undated

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Summary

Creator:
Bingham, Sallie
Abstract:
Feminist and author. The Sallie Bingham Papers provide rich documentation of the personal life, literary development, and philanthropic activities of Sallie Bingham, feminist and writer. The papers, dated 1900-2011, with the bulk of the materials dating from the 1940s to 2011, are comprised of correspondence, speeches, writings, subject files, personal papers, diaries and notebooks, legal and financial papers, audiovisual recordings, and photographic media. Included also are some records of The Kentucky Foundation for Women, a philanthropic organization founded by Bingham; The American Voice, a literary journal founded by Bingham and published under the auspices of The Kentucky Foundation for Women; and Santa Fe Stages, a regional theater founded by Bingham. Arranged into the following series: Audiovisual Materials, Correspondence, Diaries and Notebooks, Kentucky Foundation for Women, Legal and Financial, Miscellaneous, Photographs, Poetry, Santa Fe Stages, Speeches, Subject Files, Writings, and Oversize Material, with the Writings, Diaries and Notebooks, and Correspondence Series composing the bulk of the collection. Multiple additions have been added since the collection was processed; these are represented at the end of this finding aid.
Extent:
93.75 Linear Feet
Language:
English.
Collection ID:
RL.00112

Background

Scope and content:

The Sallie Bingham Papers provide rich documentation of the personal life, literary development, and philanthropic activities of Sallie Bingham, feminist and writer. The papers, dated 1900-2022, with the bulk of the materials dating from the 1940s to 2022, are comprised of correspondence, speeches, writings, subject files, personal papers, diaries and notebooks, legal and financial papers, audiovisual recordings, and photographic media. Included also are some records of The Kentucky Foundation for Women, a philanthropic organization founded by Bingham; The American Voice, a literary journal founded by Bingham and published under the auspices of The Kentucky Foundation for Women; and Santa Fe Stages, a regional theater founded by Bingham. Arranged into the following series: Audiovisual Materials, Correspondence, Diaries and Notebooks, Kentucky Foundation for Women, Legal and Financial, Miscellaneous, Photographs, Poetry, Santa Fe Stages, Speeches, Subject Files, Writings, and Oversize Material, with the Writings, Diaries and Notebooks, and Correspondence Series composing the bulk of the collection.

The Writings Series is central to the collection, and is correspondingly substantial, comprising over half of the papers. It includes drafts, research, correspondence and publicity related to such novels as Small Victories, Upstate, Matron of Honor, and Straight Man, her memoir Passion and Prejudice, the writing and production of the plays The Awakening and The Death of Henry Flagler as well as poetry and many short, personal essays. The Poetry Series consists of individual poems, while compendiums of poetry are in the Writings Series. Many of Bingham's writings (including poems, novels, short stories, plays and essays) exist as electronic files and are available to researchers. These files are listed in the Poetry and the Writings Series. The Diaries and Notebooks Series contains material spanning her entire life -- from her adolescence in Louisville, Kentucky in the 1940s to her experiences living in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and contain many ideas for writings and references to the process of writing. The Correspondence Series also spans the same period of time, and contains family correspondence spanning many decades, as well as literary and personal correspondence between Bingham and such well-known authors, activists and artists as Judy Chicago and Gloria Steinem. The smaller Speeches Series houses writings by Bingham for public engagements, and in addition to contributing to a portrait of Bingham as a writer, documents her explication of feminist issues relating to women in the corporate world, in publishing, and women in history.

Bingham, born into a prominent Louisville, KY, family that owned The Louisville Courier-Journal, worked for the newspaper as book page editor, 1982-1985. She also took an active seat on the board of the Bingham Enterprises, which was responsible for The Courier-Journal and other media corporations in the Louisville area. Bingham's desire to sell her shares in the stock in the newspaper resulted in the sale of The Courier-Journal in 1986. The Bingham family and the break-up of the Bingham Enterprises were the subject of at least four books (The Binghams of Louisville, House of Dreams, The Patriarch, and Bingham's Passion and Prejudice) and much media attention. Materials concerning this aspect of Bingham's life can be found in the Legal and Financial Papers Series and Subject Files Series. Audiovisual materials in the Audiotapes and Videotapes Series document aspects of Bingham's career and life through interviews and other events.

NOTE: This collection also contains numerous additions that have not been processed. For descriptions of later additions, please see below or consult the library's online catalog.

Biographical / historical:
Date Event
1937, January 22
Born Sarah Montague Bingham, Glenview, Ky.; spent childhood there.
1958
Mademoiselle guest editorship in fiction
Married Whitney Ellsworth and lived in New York
BA, Radcliffe College
1960
Published After Such Knowledge (novel)
1960, June 7
Son Barry Ellsworth born
1965
Married Michael Iovenko
1967, June 14
Son Christopher Iovenko born
1968
Published The Touching Hand (novella and short stories)
1970, March 3
Son William Iovenko born
1972
Publication of The Way It Is Now (short stories)
1977
Returned to Louisville, Kentucky
1980, March
Produced Milk of Paradise (play)
1982-1985
Book editor, The Louisville Courier-Journal
1983, January
Produced The Wall Between (play)
1983
Married Tim Peters
1983, November
Produced Couvade (play)
1983-1986
Director, National Book Critics Circle
1984-1985
Produced Paducah (play)
1984-1988
Director, Spalding University
1985
Founder and publisher of The American Voice (literary journal)
Founded The Kentucky Foundation for Women, Inc.
1985-1988
Director, Maryhurst Home for Girls
1986, January
Sale of Bingham Enterprises
1986
Produced In the Presence (play)
1988
Produced Hopscotch (play)
1989, January
Published Passion and Prejudice (memoir)
1989
Father Barry Bingham, Sr. dies
Produced The Awakening (play)
1991
Moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico
1992
Published Small Victories (novel)
1993
Publication of Upstate: A Novel
1994
Founded Santa Fe Stages
Published Matron of Honor (novel)
Resigned from The Kentucky Foundation for Women, Inc.
1995
Mother, Mary Bingham, dies
1996
Published Straight Man (novel)
2002
Publication of Transgressions: Stories
2005
Publication of Cory's Feast (novel)
2006
Published The Hub of Miracle (poems)
Published Nick of Time (novel)
2008
Publication by Sarabande Books of Red Car (short stories)
2011
Publication by Sarabande Books of Mending: New and Selected Stories
Acquisition information:
The papers of Sallie Bingham, feminist, writer, and patron of the arts, were donated to the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book Manuscript Library from 1988 to 2023.
Processing information:

Processed by Tracy Brown

Completed May 27, 1999

Further processing of electronic documents by Walt Evans

Additions processed by Lisa Stark; Alice Poffinberger; Fuad Naeem; Meghan Lyon; Carrie Mills; Jane Metters.

Encoded by Lisa Stark; Walt Evans; Ruth E. Bryan; Elizabeth Arnold; Paula Jeannet; Meghan Lyon; Carrie Mills; and Jane Metters.

Last updated by Leah Tams, May 2023.

Collection restrictions updated by April Blevins, May 2024.

Some additions were cataloged from inventories, so contents and their dates may not be accurate.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Contents

Using These Materials

Using These Materials Links:

Using These Materials

Restrictions:

Access note. Some materials in this collection are fragile audiovisual/photographic formats that may need to be reformatted before use. Contact Research Services for access.

Access note. Some materials in this collection are electronic records that require special equipment. Contact Research Services with questions.

Terms of access:

The copyright interests in this collection have not been transferred to Duke University. For more information, consult the copyright section of the Regulations and Procedures of the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library.

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[Identification of item], Sallie Bingham Papers, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.

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