GSU Library Research Guides: Women's Collections: Subject Guide: Arts

Arts: Manuscript Collections

Atlanta Feminist Women's Chorus Records, 1980-2009 (W100)
The Atlanta Feminist Women's Chorus (AFWC) was an all-woman singing group that performed in Atlanta, the Southeast and the United States from 1981-2009. The AFWC records document the formation and life of this unique southern musical group as well as its interaction with the rest of Atlanta and the LGBT community.

Gayle Austin Papers 1979-2010 (W093)
Gayle Austin was coordinator and literacy manager for the Women's Project in New York City before becoming a professor of Communication at Georgia State University. Her scholarly interests included gender and performance, dramaturgy, and interdisciplinary forms of performance. She also authored feminist theory plays. Gayle Austin's papers comprise research and course materials as well as records related to theatrical productions and performances. The materials reflect Austin's career both before and during her time at Georgia State University.

M. Charlene Ball Papers 1977-2004 [bulk 1988-1994] (W102)
M. Charlene Ball worked as the Administrative Coordinator of the Women's Studies Institute at Georgia State University. She writes about feminist revisionist archetypal theory, revisionist Jungian theory, lesbian writing, and the writing of borderland authors. Her papers reflect her work at Georgia State University and her involvement in the Atlanta Feminist Women's Chorus (AFWC) and comprise articles, event programs, correspondence, and other printed materials, photographs and artifacts, 1977-2004.

EstroFest Productions, Inc. Records 1997-2004 (W081)
Established in 1999, EstroFest Productions, Inc. produced and sponsored programs that promoted and affirmed the creative talents and technical skills of women in the visual, performing and fine arts. EstroFest was active until the end of 2003. The records contain administrative records, documentation of EstroFest performances, and reference files.

Saribenne Evesong Artwork Collection 1971-1978; undated (W068)
The collection is comprised of paperworks, watercolors and an autobiography.

Lynn Hesse Papers 1985; 2011; undated (W104)
Lynn Hesse is a former policewoman of DeKalb County, Georgia, as well as a playwright, dancer and short story author. The collection primarily documents the sex discrimination case of plaintiff Marsha Cofield, police officer, in 1985 against DeKalb County Government, but also includes some of Hesse's artistic works and her biography and resume.

Lynn Kear and K.V. Herndon Papers (Q181)
The Lynn Kear and K.V. Herndon papers, 1976-2018, consist of correspondence, diaries, notebooks, a day planner, astrological readings and charts as well as extensive file related to Kear's writings. These include drafts and manuscript versions of screenplays: Just One of Those Things, Lures and Lies, Snow Angels, and Vengeacide: A Modern-Day Fable, Watseka Wonder, novels and short stories: The Search for Laura Seabrook, Free Lunch, View From the Tracks, and works of non-fiction: Kay Francis and reincarnation. Lastly, the papers contain audiotapes, photographic prints, and photographic negatives as well as born digital materials.

Charlee C. Lambert Papers 1897; 1922; 1955-2013 (W140)
Charlee Lambert was recognized as a leader in her career as a playwright, director and advocate for the elderly. Her papers contain plays, short stories, manuals, news clippings and audio visual material (1955-2013) documenting the production of her plays locally and nationally.

Mildred and Stella Playbill, early 1990s (W091)
This collection consists of one playbill for the Feminist play "Mildred and Stella" by Gayle Austin.

Other Voices, Inc. Records (W141)
Correspondence, a scrapbook, audiovisual materials, and posters make up the records of Other Voices, Inc. Correspondence includes documentation of grant funding, while the scrapbook chronicles the history of the organization and includes photographs and publicity. Audiovisual materials include slides used in production, as well as photographs and videos of productions. Folders are arranged alphabetically by subject. The oversize items in this collection are housed separately.

Pici Red Dyke Theatre Records (Q179)
Pici papers, 1949-2004 (bulk 1979-1981) document Atlanta’s lesbian community of the 1970s with artifacts of the Red Dyke Theatre group, Atlanta Lesbian Feminist Alliance (ALFA), and community events. This collection consists of event flyers, meeting minutes, performance programs, business communications, brainstorming ideas, and handwritten and typed scripts from the Red Dyke Theatre group. There are also photos, negative slides, CDs, and VHS tapes of the group and its’ members during performances and community events. The collection contains the Red Dyke Theatre T-shirt and costume pieces.

Sisters of No Mercy Records, 1978-1984 (W083)
The Sisters of No Mercy, feminist theater troupe, performed for more than three years in the early 1980s. Scripts, newsletters, newspaper clippings, research materials and photographs make up the records of the Sisters of No Mercy's performances at activist and feminist events in the Atlanta, Georgia area.

Women's Words: On Record Records, 1991-2010 (W207)
Women's Words: On Record was established in the early 1980s as a writing group for women to give them a voice in the male dominated literary world. The then 12 members set up bylaws, published a monthly magazine, critiqued each others work, and shared publishing successes. Today the group publishes an online magazine called the "Record."

Arts: Oral Histories

Lorraine Fontana
Born in Queens, NY, in 1947, Lorraine Fontana became an anti-war activist and supporter of the Civil Rights and Black Empowerment Movements early in life. After joining VISTA in 1968, she came to Atlanta, and together with other feminists, founded the Atlanta Lesbian Feminist Alliance (ALFA - 1972 to 1994), and later DARII (Dykes for the Second American Revolution). She trained at the People’s College of Law in L.A. (1976-79) and went on to work with the National Jury Project, Georgia Legal Services, the EEOC in New York City (Oct 1999 to Jan, 2004), and Georgia’s Lambda Legal Education & Defense Fund (2006-2012). She was a member of the short-lived Queer Progressive Agenda (QPA), and is currently a supporter of First Existentialist Congregation of Atlanta’s Social Justice Guild, the Georgia Peace & Justice Coalition, Charis Books, the Atlanta Grandmothers for Peace, SAGE Atlanta, and Southerners on New Ground.

Lynn Hesse
Lynn Hesse is a former policewoman of Dekalb County, Georgia, as well as a playwright, dancer, and short story author. Born in 1951 in Chanute, Kansas, she moved with her parents to the Buckhead area of Atlanta when she was a pre-teenager. After reading The Feminist Mystique by Betty Friedan at the approximate age of 15, she self-identified as a feminist. Hesse graduated through Clayton County Academy and went to work for Georgia State University as a police officer (post-certified) in circa 1977, and subsequently became a DeKalb County police officer, rising through the ranks of Master Officer and Field Training Officer to Sergeant. During her tenure as a Dekalb County Police Officer, she was denied her application for promotional testing and her compensation for arrests was diverted to other male officers. She and several other female officers were equally discriminated against. When a class action suit could not be organized, policewoman Marsha Cofield filed an individual law suit, in which Lynne Hesse was actively involved. Cofield won her case. Following her law enforcement career, Hesse has focused on her artistic pursuits which include dance and writing. In 1996, she was graduated (cum laude) in Dance from Georgia State University. She has created an "oral history performed in dance," and play she wrote, based on her own short story, was staged at Emory's Schwartz Center.

Rachel May
One of Synchronicity Theater's original founders, Rachel May has directed more than 15 productions for it, including In the Next Room or the Vibrator Play, Exit Pursued by a Bear, Women + War, 1:23, Language of Angels, Three Sisters and Marisol. Her directing work has been seen in and around Atlanta at Actor’s Express, Aurora Theatre, Theatre Gael, Dad’s Garage and the University of Georgia. Creative Loafing named her best director of 2002 for her work on One Flea Spare and Kia Corthron’s Breath, Boom, the production that led to the creation of our Playmaking for Girls program. In June 2004 she was chosen for the highly competitive NEA/TCG Career Development Program for Directors and was named a Bank of America “Local Hero.” In addition to her executive role at Synchronicity, she actively teaches and leads workshops across Atlanta, and spent eight summers as director of the Ferst Center’s Drama Camp at Georgia Tech.

Janet Metzger
Janet received her degree in music education from Florida State University. She is a member of the professional performers’ unions SAG-AFTRA and Actors Equity. Her theater credits span over three decades in the Atlanta area. She is a cabaret and jazz vocalist with two vocal jazz recordings: So Many Stars and Small Day Tomorrow: Janet Metzger Live At Churchill Grounds.

Charlee Lambert
Born in Madison County, FL, Charlee Lambert started her career as a playwright, director and advocate for the elderly at age 62. For two decades, her production company produced her plays nationally, to educate professionals and the public about elder abuse, domestic violence, and the changing shape of families, promoting dialogue about the realities of these complex issues. She was the co-founder of Georgia’s Council on Elderly Abuse and Neglect and managed its Victim Assistance Line through the Atlanta Legal Aid Society. She has served as an expert witness in elder abuse cases and served as a consultant on elder abuse. At present, Charlee is on the Board of Advisors for the Fuqua Center for Late Life Depression.

Pici
From 1974-1979 Pici was one of the founding mothers of Red Dyke Theatre (RDT), a lesbian feminist theatre troupe. After RDT disbanded, Pici became a City of Atlanta softball umpire, and also went on to Solo-Performance as a Feminist Mime and Comic. In 1982, Pici began her career at CNN in the CNN Library and in 1994 was part of the team who created and deployed CNN.COM. Pici received all of her college degrees from GSU, where she was awarded a B.A. in Communication/Theatre, an M.A. in Communication/Performance Studies, and an ABD Ph.D. in Moving Image Studies. In 2008, Pici started a new career at Emory University working in Woodruff Library’s Access Services, managing the Music and Media Library and is currently the Open Access Repository Analyst in the Library’s Scholarly Communication Office.

Elise Witt