Judith Schwarz Interview, 1992
Item
Title
Judith Schwarz Interview, 1992
Description
Judith Schwarz discusses how grateful she is the DOB exists, the way that societal attitudes towards lesbianism has changed since the founding of DOB, how many women were afraid to have mail mailed to them or used pseudonyms or “bar names” to hide their identity.
She discusses her first lesbian relationship, which happened shortly after she moved to San Franciso, and how this introduced her to lesbian culture, specifically survival literature. She talks about how she was at first intimidated by certain aspects of lesbian culture, like powerful butch lesbians, frequent drinking in the community, and lesbian literature.
She talks about the impact of DOB, and how there was harassment from police as well as other lesbians or women. She also talks about sharing The Ladder around her workplace in secret, and shares the story about how The Ladder was “stolen” from the DOB San Franciso offices. She says that diversity was always lacking in the DOB, and talks about some reasons why.
DOB meetings sometimes consisted of potluck dinners and Gab and Javas, sometimes taking place at Schwarz’s house. She talks about how lesbians dressed at the time.
Finally she discusses the differences between the DOB and the Lesbian Herstory Archives and how they met different needs for lesbians, and finally some of the special collections in the archive. Joan Nestle jumps in at the end to discuss radical politics and the FBI surveillance of the DOB.
She discusses her first lesbian relationship, which happened shortly after she moved to San Franciso, and how this introduced her to lesbian culture, specifically survival literature. She talks about how she was at first intimidated by certain aspects of lesbian culture, like powerful butch lesbians, frequent drinking in the community, and lesbian literature.
She talks about the impact of DOB, and how there was harassment from police as well as other lesbians or women. She also talks about sharing The Ladder around her workplace in secret, and shares the story about how The Ladder was “stolen” from the DOB San Franciso offices. She says that diversity was always lacking in the DOB, and talks about some reasons why.
DOB meetings sometimes consisted of potluck dinners and Gab and Javas, sometimes taking place at Schwarz’s house. She talks about how lesbians dressed at the time.
Finally she discusses the differences between the DOB and the Lesbian Herstory Archives and how they met different needs for lesbians, and finally some of the special collections in the archive. Joan Nestle jumps in at the end to discuss radical politics and the FBI surveillance of the DOB.
Publisher
Lesbian Herstory Archive
Date
1992
Rights
See the LHA Copyright Statement
Licensed under CC BY-NC-ND
Language
English
Type
Video Recording, Oral History
Rights Holder
Lesbian Herstory Archives, Contact Designation: Maxine Wolfe, Contact Address: 484 14th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11215, Phone Number: 718-768-3953
Physical Format
VHS
Citation
“Judith Schwarz Interview, 1992,” Lesbian Herstory Archives AudioVisual Collections, accessed February 22, 2025, https://herstories.prattinfoschool.nyc/omeka/items/show/417.