Suzanne Pharr papers, 1940s-2023, bulk 1975-2023

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Summary

Creator:
Pharr, Suzanne
Abstract:
Suzanne Pharr (b. 1939) is a social justice activist and author. Her papers document her professional life and include writings, speeches, correspondence, interviews, workshop materials, published books, book drafts and production materials, articles related to her research, publicity about her work, and journals documenting her daily work. Acquired as part of the Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History and Culture.
Extent:
11.25 Linear Feet (16 Hollinger boxes, 3 Paige boxes, one flat box, one shoe box)
Language:
Materials in English.
Collection ID:
RL.11982

Background

Scope and content:

The Suzanne Pharr papers contain materials that document her professional life from the 1970s through the 2020s and touch on her professional life from the 1940s through the 2020s.

The first series documents her speeches from the 1980s through the 2020s. A few of the files for early speeches contain the entire text, but the majority of files have handwritten outlines. Exact date and location of the appearances are included when known.

The writings series is broken into three sub-series. The first sub-series is for short-form writings, mostly articles and essays written for a variety of publications beginning in the 1970s and continuing through the 2020s, particularly the Women's Project publication Transformation. Most files contain multiple drafts of the works, including both Pharr's copy and the published copy when available. The Long-form subseries is dedicated to drafts, edits, artwork, and proofs of Pharr's books. The Professional writing materials sub-series contains correspondence about writing, publications citing Pharr, working notebooks, information about book release and advertising, translations of her work, and reviews of Pharr's books. Also included are a few files documenting her time at various writer's residencies.

The Movement work series follows Pharr's work as an activist and leader in non-government organizations from 1980-2023. The first sub-series focuses on the Arkansas Women's Project (also called the Arkansas Women's Training Project and the Women's Project). This sub-series contains correspondence, publications by and histories of the Women's Project, documents about events and workshops hosted or sponsored by the group, and some working files. The second sub-series reflects Pharr's work with many other organizations, mostly in the southern United States. Areas of focus include various coalitions against domestic violence, LGBTQ organizations, and regional and national social justice groups. Organizations include state and national Coalition Against Domestic Violence chapters, the Highlander Center, Southern Movement Alliance, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Southerners on New Ground, and the National Council of Elders.

The Correspondence series consists of professional and some personal correspondence starting in the 1970s and extending through the 2020s; however, the bulk are from the 1990s.

The Personal papers series contains clippings about Pharr as well as interviews and oral histories with her. In addition, it contains a few photographs, awards, CVs and biographies, and materials related to her education.

The final series collects Audiovisual materials, mostly optical discs or cassette tapes of speeches or lectures given by Pharr. There are also a series of optical discs labeled "Memory Book" that document her life from 1981-2002.

Biographical / historical:

Suzanne Pharr is a southern queer feminist, anti-racist activist, organizer, political strategist, author, and public intellectual. Pharr was born in 1939 and raised in Lawrenceville, Georgia. She graduated from the Georgia State College for women in 1961 and earned a master's degree in English from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1964. She began her career teaching English, but changed her focus to social justice organizing later in the 1960s.

In 1980, Pharr founded the Arkansas Women's Training Project as a feminist, anti-racist organization that worked with women in small towns throughout Arkansas to gain skills to confront local issues. The goal of the project was to eliminate systemic racism and sexism, focusing primarily on economic injustice and violence against women. Its original names was the Arkansas Women's Training Project; later it became The Women's Project.

Pharr was also an editor of the New Orleans feminist periodical Distaff, a co-founder of the first domestic violence shelter in Arkansas, a director of the Highlander Research and Education Center, and a founder of Southerners on New Ground. Pharr also worked in a leadership capacity for the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence. Her work as a political organizer includes the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, the Rural Organizing Project, and Esperanza Peace and Justice Center in San Antonio, Texas. She has been a frequently-invited speaker and workshop facilitator.

Pharr's publications include many essays and articles, particularly for Transformation published by the Women's Project in Little Rock. She has written three books, Homophobia: A Weapon of Sexism (1988) and In the Time of the Right: Reflections on Liberation (1996), and Transformation: Toward a People's Democracy (2021). Her accolades include the Harvey Milk Award, The Jeannette Rankin Award, the Ms. Foundation's Gloria Steinem Award, and the Stonewall Award for National Gay and Lesbian Leadership.

Biographical information adapted from the Encyclopedia of Arkansas: https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/suzanne-pharr-13822/ (accessed 17 February 2022)

Acquisition information:
The Suzanne Pharr papers were received by the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book Manuscript Library as a gift in 2021.
Processing information:

Processed by Megan E. Lewis, Febuary, 2022. Reprocessed and additions processed by Ren Bickel, October 2025.

Accessions described in this collection guide: 2021-0156, 2025-0110.

Arrangement:

The Suzanne Pharr papers are arranged into six series: Speeches (1980-2023); Writings (1964-2022), with sub-series for short-form writings (mostly articles, reviews, and essays), long-form writings (her books), and professional writing materials (correspondence, publication materials, notebooks, and more); Movement work (1980-2023), divided into two sub-series, one focused on the Arkansas Women's Project and the other on her work through other organizations; Correspondence (1974-2023); Personal papers (1940s-2023); and Audiovisual materials (1981-2002). Files are arranged chronologically within each series, and original folder titles were preserved where possible.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Contents

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Restrictions:

Access note. Collection contains digital audiovisual materials that require special equipment. Contact Research Services with questions.

Access note. Collection contains 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 Rubenstein Library's Citations, Permissions, and Copyright guide.

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Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Suzanne Pharr papers, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.

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https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/m1v73k