Students and researchers whose work focuses on women or gender studies can apply for a research grant of up to $1,500 from the Friedman Feminist Press Collection at Colorado State University.
The collection was established within Archives & Special Collections at Morgan Library in 2013 in recognition of the legacy of alumna June Friedman. It includes books and other materials published in the 1970s and 1980s that brought women and women’s words out in to the world.
The largest archive in the Rocky Mountain West of works from feminist presses, the FFPC provides original sources in feminist/lesbian literature and second-wave feminism, multi-genre works of fiction, poetry, memoir and essays as well as materials related to the study of feminist publishing of that era. It is open to all researchers interested in the development of feminist thought, feminist literature, and the history of second-wave feminism.
The research grant supports projects that make substantial use of the collection, including historical research and documentation projects resulting in dissertations, publications, exhibitions, educational initiatives, documentary films, or other multimedia works. Research projects must make substantial use of the materials from the FFPC and include a focus on women and/or gender.
June Friedman’s legacy
Friedman graduated in 1981 from CSU, where she was active with the CSU Feminist Group, dedicated to raising awareness of women’s equality on campus. A co-organizer of the first Take Back the Night march in Fort Collins, she was also a contributor to The CSU Feminist Newsletter. After Friedman was murdered in 1982 in her apartment in Lakewood, her love of literature by and about women and feminism led friends and family to establish the Friedman Feminist Press Collection in her memory.
“This press collection was first established to encourage students and scholars to read and study books published by feminist presses that were integral to the development of the feminist movement but may no longer be in print,” explained author Kayann Short, a Feminist Group member and friend who founded the collection. “These works are meant to inspire women to challenge the limitations they face in their lives.”
Many of the books in the collection were donated from the private collection of Short, whose dissertation examined the development of feminist publishing, and from K. Foula Dimopoulos, director of CSU’s Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Resource Center (now The Pride Resource Center). Publishers represented in the collection include the Women’s Press Collective; Shameless Hussy Press; Diana Press; Daughters, Inc.; Naiad Press; Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press; Spinsters Ink; The Feminist Press; Seal Press; and Firebrand Press. The collection also houses the records of Boulder’s Word is Out Bookstore. The collection catalog can be viewed on the collection website.
For more information about the collection, visit the collection’s page. For more information on the grant, visit the Library website.
About the grant
The awards of up to $1,500 are intended to support research visits of a minimum of three weeks to the collection in Morgan Library. Recipients are expected to present an informal work-in-progress colloquium to the CSU community during their residency.
Applications are due Jan. 21, 2020. Awards will be announced, and applicants will receive a written notification, on International Women’s Day, March 8, 2020. Grant funds are paid following completion of the requirements of the grant, no later than Aug. 31, 2020.
Applicants should submit the following materials with their application:
• a brief description (no more than two pages) of the project and a preliminary list of collection materials to be consulted to conduct the research
• a current CV or resume
• a proposed budget (can be used for travel, scans, and photocopies)
• graduate students should also submit a letter of support from their graduate advisor, attesting to the value of the research for their master’s or doctoral thesis.
All materials must be submitted electronically as a single file.
For more information, contact Mark Shelstad, coordinator for Digital and Archive Services for Colorado State University Libraries, 1201 Center Avenue Mall, Fort Collins, CO 80523. He can be reached at (970) 491-2820 or mark.shelstad@colostate.edu
