Susan Wicklund papers, 1970-2013

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Summary

Creator:
Wicklund, Susan
Abstract:
Dr. Susan Wicklund is a former abortion provider from Wisconsin. The papers chiefly document her professional career, centering on her work in the Midwest, where she operated abortion clinics in Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, and Wisconsin from the 1990s to 2013. Materials include many items of correspondence from patients, supporters, and opponents; files on national and local abortion rights and women's movement groups; articles and newspaper clippings; conference papers; materials related to anti-abortion groups; legal documents, including court case records; a recording of her 1992 "60 Minutes" television interview, and drafts of her book, This Common Secret: My Journey as an Abortion Doctor (2007). A few clinic documents also exist in the form of leasing records, sample charts, manuals, and anonymized guestbooks. Acquired as part of the Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History and Culture.
Extent:
8 Linear Feet (16 boxes)
Language:
English
Collection ID:
RL.11321

Background

Scope and content:

The Susan Wicklund papers include personal correspondence and professional papers regarding her work as an abortion provider in Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, and Wisconsin. Materials relate mostly to her work at Mountain Country Women's Clinic in Livingston, Montana in the 1990s, and include newspaper clippings, letters of support, patient reviews, donations, and administrative documents relating to the clinic in the form of sample charts, manuals, and anonymized guestbooks.

Materials relating to Wicklund's 1992 television interview on the "60 Minutes" program include a VHS tape of the interview, clippings, and many letters of support as well as hate mail.

The collection also contains materials related to anti-abortion groups and their harassment of Wicklund; these records also include legal documents referring to a related court case.

Also present in the collection are materials about various women's health organizations, support groups, conferences, and other clinics and centers, including Planned Parenthood, National Women's Organization, and the National Abortion Rights Action League. Drafts of Wicklund's book, This Common Secret: My Journey as an Abortion Doctor (2007) are also in this collection.

Biographical / historical:

Susan Wicklund was born in 1954 and spent her career as an abortion provider in the Midwest. In her early twenties, she herself received an abortion just three years after the procedure was legalized. Her experience was relatively traumatic due in part to the apathy of the providers. This inspired her to pursue a career in medicine so that she could one day be the kind of abortion provider she wished she had when she underwent the procedure. She opened her own clinic in 1993, after which she faced constant threats from anti-abortion groups, and was targeted as a murderer of children. Despite fearing for her life, she continued practicing until 2013, when she retired and closed her clinic, the Mountain Country Women's Clinic in Livingston, Montana. She recounts her experiences in her own words in her book This Common Secret: My Journey as an Abortion Doctor, which was published in 2007.

Acquisition information:
The Susan Wicklund papers were received by the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book Manuscript Library as a gift in 2016.
Processing information:

Processed and encoded by Amelia Verkerk and Paula Jeannet, February 2020.

Accession(s) described in this collection guide: 2016-0270

Arrangement:

The papers are arranged in the original order in which they were received.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Contents

Using These Materials

Using These Materials Links:

Using These Materials

Restrictions:

Original audiovisual media is closed to use. Access copies may be requested in advance.

Collection contains sensitive information. Contact the Rubenstein Library for access: https://duke.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8fblaT2NbgbQujj

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], Susan Wicklund papers, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.