OLOC SUGGESTED READINGS AND VIDEOS

This Suggested Reading and Viewing List was compiled by Sally T. Duplaix, MLS for OLOC in February 1999. Click here to download this list as a pdf

AGEISM

GENERAL

ESSAYS

BIOGRAPHIES/AUTOBIOGRAPHIES/MEMOIRS

SOCIOLOGY/PSYCHOLOGY

FICTION & POETRY

PERIODICALS

VIDEOS

WEBSITE

AGEISM
Bird, Caroline. Lives of Our Own: Secrets of Salty Old Women. NY: Houghton Mifflin, 1995.

Copper, Baba. Ageism in the Lesbian Community. Freedom, CA: The Crossing  Press, 1987.

Heilbrun, Carolyn G. The Last Gift of Time: Life Beyond Sixty. NY: Dial Press, 1997.

MacDonald, Barbara and Cynthia Rich. Look Me in the Eye: Old Women, Aging and Ageism. Expanded ed. SF, CA: Spinsters Ink, 1991.

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GENERAL
Adelman, Marcy, ed. Lesbian Passages: True Stories as Told by Women Over 40. LA, CA: Alyson Pubs., 1996. (Previously published as Long Time Passing: Lives of Older Lesbians.)

Coleman, Penny. Village Elders. IL: University of Illinois Press, 2000.

Cruikshank, Margaret, ed. Fierce with Reality: an Anthology of Literature on Aging. St. Cloud, MN: North Star Press, 1995. (Includes “Seasoning” by
Ida VSW Red and “Memory is as Uncertain as Grace” by Mary Meigs.)

Cruikshank, Margaret, ed. New Lesbian Writing. SF, CA: Grey Fox Press, 1984. (Includes “Casting a Net” by Elsa Gidlow, “The Making of a Deviant” by Monika Kehoe, and “Excerpt from The Medusa Head, Pt. II” by Mary Meigs.)

Durable Dauntless Dykes. Selections from the Writings of Durable Dauntless Dykes. San Francisco, CA: GLOE, 1987.

Gershick, Zsa Zsa. Gay Old Girls. LA, CA: Alyson Books, 1998.

Jay, Karla, ed. Dyke Life: A Celebration of the Lesbian Experience. NY: Basic Books, 1995. (Includes “We Never Promised You Role Models” by Jeanne Adelman, “RV Life Begins at Seventy” by Shevy Healey, and “About Being an Old Lesbian in Love” by Mary Meigs.)

Martin, Del & Phyllis Lyon. Lesbian/Woman: 20th Ann. Ed. S.F.: Volcano Pr., 1992.

Murphy, Marilyn. Are You Girls Traveling Alone? Adventures in Lesbianic Logic. LA, CA: Clothespin Fever Press, 1991. (Includes “Old is In” and “And the Walls Came Tumbling Down”.)

Neild, Suzanne and Rosalind Pearson. Women Like Us. London: Women’s Press, 1992.

Rich, Cynthia. The Desert Years: Undreaming the American Dream. SF, CA:  Spinsters/Aunt Lute, 1989.

Sinister Wisdom 53 (Summer/Fall 1994). Old Lesbians/Dykes. Berkeley, CA: 1994.

Women and Aging: An Anthology. In Calyx, a Journal of Art and Literature by Women. Winter 1986. (Vol. 9, Nos. 2 & 3) (Includes “Both Feet in Life: Interviews with Barbara MacDonald and Cynthia Rich” by Jean Swallow, “Growing to be an Old Woman” by Shevy Healey, and “Voices: On Becoming an Old  Woman” by Baba Copper.)

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ESSAYS
Adelman, Marcy. “Quieting our Fears: Lesbians and Aging”. In Out/Look, Fall 1988(Vol. l, No. 3).

Auger, Jeannette. “Lesbians and Aging”. In Lesbians in Canada, ed. by Sharon D. Stone. Toronto: Between the Lines, 1990.

Corinne, Tee A. “Remembering as a Way of Life”. In Lesbian Culture: An Anthology, ed. by Julia Penelope and Susan Wolfe. Freedom, CA: Crossing Press, 1993.

Dunker, Buffy. “Aging Lesbians: Observations and Speculations”. In Lesbian Psychologies: Explorations and Challenges, ed. by Boston Lesbian Psychologies Collective. Urbana, IL: Univ.of Illinois Press, 1987.

Kehoe, Monica. “Lesbians Over 65: A Triply Invisible Minority” and “A Portrait of the Older Lesbian”. In Historical, Literary, and Erotic Aspects of Lesbianism, ed. by Monica Kehoe. New York: Harrington Park Press, 1986.

Lee, Julie. “Aging is a State of Mind”. In Lavender Culture, ed. by Karla Jay and AllenYoung. NY: HBJ, 1978.

Martin, Del and Phyllis Lyon. “The Older Lesbian”. In Positively Gay: New Approaches to Gay and Lesbian Life, ed. by Betty Berzon. Berkeley, CA: Celestial Arts, 1992. (Also 1995 expanded edition.)

Meigs, Mary. “Falling Between the Cracks”. In Inversions: Writing by Dykes, Queers and Lesbians, ed. by Betsy Warland. Vancouver, BC: Press Gang Pubs., 1991.

Meigs, Mary. “My Evolution as a Lesbian Feminist Writer”. In Bringing It Home: Women Talk about Feminism in Their Lives, ed. by Brenda Lea Brown. Vancouver, BC: Arsenal Pulp Press, 1996.

Nestle, Joan. “I Lift My Eyes to the Hill: the Life of Mabel Hampton as told by a White Woman”. In A Fragile Union: New & Selected Writings by Joan Nestle. SF, CA: Cleis Press, 1998.

Nestle, Joan. “Surviving and More: Interview with Mabel Hampton”. In Sinister Wisdom 43/44, Summer 1991. Berkeley, CA, 1991.

Poor, Matile. “Older Lesbians”. In Lesbian Studies, Present and Future, ed. by Margaret Cruikshank. New York: The Feminist Press, 1982.

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BIOGRAPHIES/AUTOBIOGRAPHIES/MEMOIRS
Gidlow, Elsa. Elsa: I Come With my Songs, the Autobiography of Elsa Gidlow. SF, CA: Booklegger Press & Druid Heights Books, 1986.

Grumbach, Doris. Coming into the End Zone. NY: Norton, 1991.
Extra Innings: A Memoir. NY: Norton, 1993.
Fifty Days of Solitude. Boston: Beacon Press, 1994.
Life in a Day. Boston: Beacon Press, 1996.
The Pleasure of Their Company. Beacon Press, 2000.

Lapsley, Hilary. Margaret Mead and Ruth Benedict: the kinship of women. Amherst, MA.: University of Massachusetts Press, 1999.

Meigs, Mary. The Box Closet. Vancouver, BC: Talonbooks, 1987.
In the Company of Strangers. Vancouver, BC: Talonbooks, 1991.
Lily Briscoe: A Self-Portrait, by Mary Meigs. Vancouver, BC:Talonbooks, 1981.
The Medusa Head. Vancouver, BC: Talonbooks, 1983.

Mikels, Elaine. Just Lucky I Guess, from Closet Lesbian to Radical Dyke. 2nd ed. Santa Fe, NM: Desert Crone Press, 1994.

Peters, Margot. May Sarton: A Biography. NY: Knopf, 1997.

Sarton, May. At Eighty-Two: a Journal. NY: Norton, 1996.
At Seventy. NY: Norton, 1984.
Encore: A Journal of the Eightieth Year. NY: Norton, 1993.
Endgame: A Journal of the Seventy-Ninth Year. NY: Norton, 1992.

Schanke, Robert. Shattered Applause: The Eva LeGallienne Story. NY: Barricade Books, 1995 (c.1992).

Squire, Elienne. A Lantern in the Wind: the life of Mary Ellen Chase. Santa Barbara, CA: Fithian Press, 1996 (?).

Summerscale, Kate. The queen of Whale Cay. NY: Viking, 1998. (The life of Jo Carstairs.)

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SOCIOLOGY/PSYCHOLOGY
Almvig, C. The Invisible Minority: Aging and Lesbianism. NY: Utica College of Syracuse University, 1982.

Clunis, D. Merilee & G. Dorsey Green. “Growing Older Together”. In Lesbian Couples. Seattle, WA: Seal Press, 1988.

Davis, Nancy.,Ellen Cole & Esther Rothblum, eds. Faces of Women and Aging. NY: Harrington Park Press, 1993. (Includes “Confronting Ageism” by Shevy Healey and “Aging Lesbians” by C.V. Schoonmaker.)

Doress-Worters, Paula and Diana Siegal. The New Ourselves, Growing Older: Women Aging with Knowledge and Power. NY: Touchstone, 1994.

Kehoe, Monica. Lesbians Over 60 Speak for Themselves. NY: Harrington Park Press, 1989.

Farrell, Lorena F., ed. Lambda Gray: A Practical, Emotional & Spiritual Guide for Gays & Lesbians who are Growing Older. N. Hollywood, CA: Newcastle Pubs., 1993.(Includes “Old Lesbians Seizing the Moment, Changing Their World” by SharonM. Raphael and Mina K. Robinson Meyer.)

Lee, John Alan, ed. Gay Midlife and Maturity. NY: Harrington Park Press, 1991.
(Includes “Stigma, Gay Lifestyles and Adjustments to Aging: A Study of Later-Life Gay Men and Lesbians:” by Marcy Adelman; "Lavender and Gray: A Brief Survey of Lesbian and Gay Aging Studies” by Margaret Cruikshank; and “Older Lesbian and Gay People: A Theory of Successful Aging” by Richard A. Friend.)

Quam, Jean K., ed. Social Services for Senior Gay Men and Lesbians. NY: HarringtonPark Press, 1997.

Slater, Suzanne. “Lesbian Couples Over 65”. In The Lesbian Family Life Cycle. NY: S&S (Free Press), 1995.

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FICTION & POETRY
Arnold, June. Sister Gin. Plainfield, VT: Daughters, Inc., 1975.

Birtha, Becky. “In the Life”. In Lovers’ Choice by Becky Birtha. Seattle, WA: Seal Press, 1987.

Gidlow, Elsa. Sapphic Songs Eighteen to Eighty. Rev. ed. Mill Valley, CA: Druid Heights Books, 1982. (Previous ed., Sapphic Songs Seventeen to Seventy, 1976)

Gleason, Madeline. Collected Poems, 1919-1979. Jersey City, NJ: Talisman House, 1999.

Meigs, Mary. The Time Being. Vancouver, BC: Talonbooks, 1997.

Rule, Jane. Memory Board. Tallahassee, FL: Naiad Press, 1987.

Sarton, May. As We Are Now. NY: Norton, 1973.
Coming Into Eighty. NY: Norton, 1994.
The Education of Harriet Hatfield. NY: Norton, 1989.
Mrs. Stevens Hears the Mermaids Singing. NY: Norton, 1965.
The Silence Now. NY: Norton, 1988.

Taylor, Valerie. Prism. Tallahassee, FL: Naiad Press, 1981. Two Women: the Poetry of Jeannette Foster and Valerie Taylor. Chicago: Womanpress, 1976.

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VIDEOS
Fiction and other Truths, a film about Jane Rule. 1995.
Nitrate Kisses. Barbara Hammer. 1992.
Strangers in Good Company. Cynthia Scott. 1990.
Tiny and Ruby: Hell Divin’ Women. 1988.
West Coast Crones: A Glimpse at the Lives of Nine Old Lesbians. Madeleine Muir. 1991
Women Like That. (British Documentary). Suzanne Neild. 1991.
Women Like Us. (British documentary). Suzanne Neild. 1990.
Word is Out: Stories of Some of our Lives. 1991.
World of Light: a Portrait of May Sarton. 1982.

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PERIODICALS
The OLOC Reporter (formerly The Old Lesbian Organizing Committee Newsletter),
(Houston, TX), 1990-present.
Web of Crones (ed. by Emma Joy Crone, Hornby Island, B.C.), 1985-1988?.
We Are Visible (ed. by Vashte Doublex, Mendocino, CA), 1989?-1998.

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WEBSITE

Classic Dykes Online www.classicdykes.com This website is an excellent and thorough Lesbian Aging Bibliography which is frequently updated.

Both the Bibliography and several scholarly articles on old lesbians accessed through the Bibliography’s contributors, as well as other links on the website, tend to be academic and scholarly in nature, and of particular interest to those involved in the social sciences.

The website is an excellent place to begin searching for information about Old Lesbians.

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