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COLLECTION Identifier: Vt-132

Videotape collection of J. Ari Kane-DeMaios, 1976-2000

Overview

Videotape recordings of Fantasia Fair activities, and interviews with, workshops, or lectures by J. Ari Kane-DeMaios, transgender activist, counselor, and executive director of the Outreach Institute of Gender Studies.

Dates

  • Creation: 1976-2000

Creator

Language of Materials

Materials in English.

Access Restrictions:

Access. An appointment is necessary to use any audiovisual material.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright. Copyright in visual material created by J. Ari Kane-DeMaios is held by the President and Fellows of Harvard College for the Schlesinger Library. Copyright in other material in the collection may be held by their authors, or the authors' heirs or assigns.

Copying. Audiovisual materials may be copied in accordance with the library's usual procedures.

Extent

47 videocassettes

This collection consists of videotapes of J. Ari Kane-DeMaios' television appearances and lectures as an expert sexologist and crossdresser, as well as recordings of annual Fantasia Fair activities including fashion shows and follies performed by attendees; award banquets to honor both attendees and local Provincetown, Massachusetts business owners and others who are active with the crossdressing community; and workshops on fashion and poise. Titles in quotation marks are those of the donor. Videotapes are in VHS format, except where noted.

Three additional videotapes (#Vt-132.45-Vt-132.47) received in 2019 (accession number 2019-M182) were added to the collection in October 2020.

Series I, INTERVIEWS, LECTURES, AND WORKSHOPS, 1976-1997 (#1-15, 45-47), contains television interviews with Kane, workshops, and lectures by Kane.

Series II, FANTASIA FAIR, 1980-2000 (#16-44), contains recordings of fair activities such as awards banquets, fashion shows, follies, as well as footage of surrounding Provincetown, Massachusetts.

Subseries A, Fantasia Fair activities including Kane, 1980-1996 (#16-25).

Subseries B, General Fantasia Fair activities, 1980-2000 (#26-44).

BIOGRAPHY

Sexologist and gerontologist, Ari Kane has worked in the transgender community since the early 1970s. Kane identifies with both binary genders and uses "he" and "she" pronouns. As an administrator and counselor (B.S. City College of New York; M.Ed.; Ed.D. Institute for Advanced Study of Sexuality), Kane's primary focus was outreach: educating mental health professionals, the public, and individual members of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender communities. In 1975 Kane founded the Outreach Institute of Gender Studies, an organization devoted to advancing the understanding of gender identity and role development, and to fostering education and research in all aspects related to the phenomenon of gender and human sexuality. The OIGS sponsored Fantasia Fair, an annual event in Provincetown, Massachusetts, offering practical, social, and educational programming for transgender individuals; contributing to the development of a "standards of care" document for professionals treating gender dysphoria; and offering newsletters and other publications about gender issues. OIGS also developed GARP (Gender Attitude Reassessment Program), a workshop exploring gender diversity and gender identity issues.

Ari Kane lectured widely and has appeared on many radio and television programs. Kane organized conferences in 1978, 1979, and 1980, focusing on the social, medical, and legal aspects of transgender identity, has given numerous presentations in classrooms and at professional conferences, and offered counseling to gender-conflicted people through Theseus Counseling Service. Kane is a member of the American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors, and Therapists, the Association for Humanist Psychology, and the Society for the Scientific Study of Sex.

ARRANGEMENT

The collection is arranged in two series:

  1. Series I. Interviews, lectures, and workshops, 1976-1997 (#1-15, 45-47)
  2. Series II. Fantasia Fair, 1980-2000 (#16-44)

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Accession numbers: 2004-M34, 2005-M156. Accession number: 2019-M182 was added in October 2020.

The Schlesinger Library acquired the videotapes of J. Ari Kane-DeMaios from the Educational Institute for Sex and Gender Diversity (via J. Ari Kane-DeMaios) between 2004 and 2019.

Related Material:

There is related material at the Schlesinger Library; see Papers of J. Ari Kane-DeMaios, 1970-2005 (MC 614).

Processing Information

Processed: February 2010

By: Melissa Dollman

Updated and additional materials added: October 2020

By: Laura Peimer

In May 2023, Laura Peimer revised this finding aid to bring it into alignment with Schlesinger Library's inclusive and reparative language guidelines.

When referring to Ari Kane in the narrative sections of the finding aid, she replaced the "he" pronoun with "Kane." While Kane uses both "he" and "she" pronouns, we made this change so as not to preference one identity over another. She also updated additional text, including replacing the term transgendered with transgender, replacing the term transsexual with trans or transgender, and adding new subject headings.

A previous version of this finding aid has been maintained for transparency around the descriptive process. Please contact the Schlesinger Library for details.

Title
Kane-DeMaios, J. Ari. Videotape collection of J. Ari Kane-DeMaios, 1976-2000: A Finding Aid
Author
Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America
Language of description
eng
EAD ID
sch01279

Repository Details

Part of the Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute Repository

The preeminent research library on the history of women in the United States, the Schlesinger Library documents women's lives from the past and present for the future. In addition to its traditional strengths in the history of feminisms, women’s health, and women’s activism, the Schlesinger collections document the intersectional workings of race and ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and class in American history.

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