Lesbian Herstory Archives AudioVisual Collections

Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold: Related Audio Recordings, 1977-1990

Title

Description

Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold by Madeline Davis and Elizabeth Kennedy is an intimate history of a lesbian community in Buffalo, New York. Ranging from the mid-1930s through the early 1960s, this ethnography of lesbian society is narrated with the backdrop of a mid-sized American city. Davis and Kennedy’s book is the result of 13 years of research, including an extensive oral history project.

These recordings range from conference proceedings to panel discussions to phone messages from book publishers. In each case, these related materials form an important element of the research, enriching and contextualizing the interviews conducted as part of the Buffalo Women’s Oral History Project. They discuss topics such as the publishing process and initial responses to the draft manuscript, the work of lesbian archives in researching and documenting the emergence of lesbian communities and lesbian consciousness across America, and how the research conducted into a small lesbian community in Buffalo, NY fits into a wider social narrative of establishing gay and lesbian identity and the development of gay and lesbian liberation movements.

For oral history recordings made as part of the research for the book, see Buffalo Women's Oral History Project, 1978-1990.

These recordings were donated to the archives by Madeline Davis and Elizabeth Kennedy, and were subsequently digitized by students from the Pratt Institute, Projects in Digital Archives class, LIS-665.

Collection Items

Boston, November 14, 1981

Side A:

Opens with an unnamed woman singing with guitar playing in a live venue. Continues to go through the concert with intermittent breaks to speak about songs.

Side B:

Blank
Cecilia, 1990

Phone message left by Cecilia from Routledge publishers. In the message she gives feedback on a chapter of the Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold: The History of a Lesbian Community manuscript and discusses the next steps in the publishing process.
Madeline Davis and Liz Kennedy. Boots of Leather Oral History Project Panel Gay Pride, 1979

Side A:

Panel discussion on the history of the archives, including a brief introduction on how they gather information through different interview procedures within the Lesbian community in order to build the oral history project.

Side B:

Panel discussion continues with topic brought up in side A.

Tags Interviews, Lesbian Community, Liz Kennedy, Madeline Davis
Liz Kennedy, 1980 (Tape 2; no Tape 1)

This tape is part of a roundtable discussion between different researchers working on aspects of lesbian social history. Liz Kennedy discusses the early stages of work on the Buffalo lesbian community and how the project was changing from strictly an oral history and becoming a book. She also talks about how the interview format and questions have changed as a result of the earlier attempts and how they were surprised by some of what they were beginning to learn.

Tags Liz Kennedy
MAD Boston

Proceedings from the MAD Conference in Boston
San Francisco Lesbian History Project discusses Buffalo lesbian bars in the 1950's, 1981 February 24

Side A:

Discussion on the social issues in the Lesbian communinity bar and nightlife scene in Buffalo, NY during the 1950s.

Side B:

Continuation of side A. Only 2 minutes of side B used in original recording.

Tags Butch and Femme, Lesbians