Kentucky Foundation for Women records, 1985-2017

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Summary

Creator:
Kentucky Foundation for Women
Abstract:
Sallie Bingham was the founder and first Executive Director of the Kentucky Foundation for Women and profoundly shaped its goals. The overall purpose of the Foundation is to support feminist women in the arts. The collection includes materials about grassroots feminist activism, philanthropy, not-for-profit organizations and artistic patronage, feminist art, and women's culture. Additionally, the collection includes grant applications and files, files for the publication, The American Voice, and information on the Hopscotch House and Wolf Pen Writers Colony, among other materials.
Extent:
66.5 Linear Feet
168 Gigabytes
Language:
English.
Collection ID:
RL.00773

Background

Scope and content:

The Kentucky Foundation for Women Records span the dates 1985-2017. The collection provides a rich source of information about grassroots feminist activism, philanthropy, not-for-profit organizations and artistic patronage, feminist art and women's culture. The records of the Foundation include a range of materials, primarily a large number of grant files, including applications and supporting materials of those awarded grants. Also notable are the files for its publication, The American Voice, which include correspondence, copy-edited drafts of poetry and other writings, business records, other publications, miscellaneous ephemera, broadsides, and books of poetry. In addition, there is information on the Hopscotch House and Wolf Pen Writers Colony, miscellaneous correspondence, subject files, annual reports, newsletters, and brochures. The records consist primarily of files, but videocassettes, audiocassettes, and compact disks are also included. The collection is divided into four series: Administrative Files, Project Files, American Voice Files, and Grant Files.

The Administrative Files Series contains Foundation newsletters; administrative correspondence; minutes of Board of Directors meetings; and financial, legal and tax papers. The Project Files Series contains papers on short-term special projects, as well as long-term projects such as the Hopscotch House and the Wolf Pen Women Writers Colony. The American Voice Files Series contains information regarding the publication of the feminist literary journal The American Voice. The series contains correspondence between the editors ( Frederick Smock and Sallie Bingham) and contributors; copy-edited drafts of poetry, prose, and non-fiction essays; business records; broadsides; chapbooks (i.e. hand-bound books); miscellaneous publications; and a partially complete run of the journal. Some of the better-known authors to be published in The American Voice include: Paula Gunn Allen, Isabel Allende, Wendell Berry, Jorge Louis Borges, Kay Boyle, Jo Carson, Andrea Dworkin, Elaine Equi, Doris Grumbach, Joy Harjo, Fenton Johnson, Robin Morgan, Marge Piercy, Reynolds Price, Joyce Carol Oates, and Anne Firor Scott.

Finally, the largest series, the Grant Files Series, contains documentation on the evolution of the Foundation's grant program over the years, as well as files on those projects that received grant monies from the Foundation from 1986 to 1993. The Foundation awarded grants to both men and women, though women are in the majority. The grants supported the work of visual artists, writers, scholars, musicians, composers, documentary and fiction filmmakers, playwrights, painters, sculptors, puppeteers, quilters and other fabric artists, political activists, advocates for physically handicapped women, and those concerned with women and religion and women's employment issues. A unique concern of the grant givers was supporting the exploration and improvement of the situation of women in Appalachia, encouraging women to explore and study the wilderness, and defining and encouraging the emerging field of Ecofeminism.

The addition (Accession 2001-0012) (2208 items, 3.8 lin. ft.; dated 1986-1999) continues to document the process of publishing The American Voice. Materials include correspondence, board minutes, grant applications and evaluations, financial statements, video (3) and audio (4) cassettes and one audio compact disc, and information files for volumes 32-49. Also included are writings by Sallie Bingham. Acquired as part of the Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History and Culture.

The addition (Accession 2007-0126) (5 lin. ft.) consists primarily of files documenting the organization's grant program, and also includes project files, files related to the feminist literary journal The American Voice, publications, and files from Hopscotch House.

Biographical / historical:
Date Event
1985 Mar. 19
Kentucky Foundation for Women (KFW) incorporated by Sallie Bingham, Founder and Executive Director
1985 Apr. 17
First recorded Board of Directors meeting minutes
1985 June 1
Lease with Heyburn Building in Louisville, Ky.
1985 Oct.
First issue of The American Voice published
1985-1986
Grants paid: $38,708 (fiscal year)
1986 July 24
Investment contract signed with Citizens Fidelity Bank
1986 Sept. 18
Maxine Brown resigned as Executive Vice-President
1986 Nov. 6
Board approved new grants
1986-1987
Grants paid: $2,793,278 (fiscal year)
1987 Feb. 8
Pat Buster hired as administrative assistant
1987 Mar. 30
Hopscotch House property purchased
1987 May 29
Board approved new grants
1987 Sept. 9
Board approved change from biannual to annual grants
1988 July
First Wolf Pen Women Writers Colony
1988 Oct. 20
Board approved a biennial grants cycle based on artistic discipline
Early 1989
Chapel Partnership donated Chapel to KFW
1989 July
Second Wolf Pen Women Writers Colony
1989 Oct.
Patty Wren Smith hired as manager of Hopscotch House
1990 July
Third Wolf Pen Women Writers Colony
1990 Aug.
KFW donated Chapel to Theater Workshop of Louisville
1990 Dec.
Sallie Bingham resigned as Executive Director
1991 Feb. 1
Ann Stewart Anderson began serving as Executive Director
1991 July
Fourth Wolf Pen Women Writers Colony
1991 Sept. 7
First Founders Day Picnic (held annually since)
1993 July
Ecofeminist Writers Colony
1994 July
Ecofeminist Writers Colony
1995
Decade Celebration (events held throughout the year)
1996 Apr. 9
Sallie Bingham donated additional Hopscotch Property to KFW
1996 Sept. 8
First Sallie Bingham Award given to Mary Jefferson
1996 Sept. 7
Sallie Bingham Award given to Alma Lesch
1997 Dec.
Ann Stewart Anderson resigned as Executive Director
1998 Aug.
Judi Jennings began serving as Executive Director
1998 Sept. 13
Sallie Bingham Award given to Ann Stewart Anderson

Sallie Bingham was the founder and first Executive Director of the Foundation and profoundly shaped its goals. The overall purpose of the Foundation is to support feminist women in the arts. This can be seen in the Foundation's first information pamphlet, which states that the Foundation's goal is "illuminating the plight of women and serving as a catalyst for change on their behalf, primarily through the Arts and Humanities." (This pamphlet can be found in the General Information Subseries of the Administrative Files Series). Additionally, with its publication of the journal The American Voice, the Foundation endeavors to support the work of feminist women writers.

Acquisition information:
The Kentucky Foundation for Women Records were received by the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book Manuscript Library as a gift from 1999-2021.
Processing information:

Processed by Don Sechler; Lisa Stark; Katy Fenn.

Completed December 31, 1999.

Encoded by Michael Shumate; Ruth E. Bryan

Accessions 1999-0131 and 1999-0251 were merged into one collection, described in this finding aid.

Addition 2001-0012 processed by Ruth E. Bryan on February 12, 2001.

Addition 2007-0126 added to the finding aid by Meghan Lyon, May 2011.

Additions 2014-0152 and 2018-0026 added by Megan Lewis, 2014-2018

Additions 2018-0027 and 2021-0042 added by Laurin Penland, 2020-2021.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Contents

Using These Materials

Using These Materials Links:

Using These Materials

Restrictions:

Access note. Collection contains fragile audiovisual/photographic formats that may need to be reformatted before use. Contact Research Services for access.

Collection contains electronic records that must be requested and accessed in our reading room. 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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Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Kentucky Foundation for Women Records, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.

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