Overview
Joanne Ramey Cage papers including journals; poems, ideas for poems, and award certificates for poems she wrote; short stories; unpublished novels, including romance novels; and notes on reading, William Shakespeare, and other topics of interest to Cage.
Dates
- Creation: 1964-2019
Creator
- Cage, Joanne Ramey, 1934-2019 (Person)
Language of Materials
Materials in English.
Access Restrictions:
Access. Collection is open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright. The papers created by Joanne Ramey Cage are in the public domain under the terms of the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication. Copyright in other papers in the collection may be held by their authors, or the authors' heirs or assigns.
Copying. Papers may be copied in accordance with the library's usual procedures.
Extent
3.13 linear feet ((7+1/2 file boxes) plus electronic records)The papers of Joanne Ramey Cage include journals; poems, ideas for poems, and award certificates for poems she wrote; short stories; unpublished novels, including romance novels; and notes on reading, William Shakespeare, and other topics of interest to Cage. Journals document her work environments at General Electric in the 1960s and 1970s and at the University of Alabama Birmingham Hospital in the 1990s, including commentary on coworkers and descriptions of technological changes; her social life, including dating; her feelings of depression; her financial struggles; her opinions of books she read; and her hobbies, including poetry and prose writing, doll collecting, and dollhouse building. Also included are video recordings of Cage reading her poems.
BIOGRAPHY
Joanne Ramey Cage, daughter of Gordon Monroe Ramey (1911-1977) and Mary Elizabeth Satterfield Ramey (1914-2005), was born December 27, 1934, in Birmingham, Alabama. The family moved to Leeds, Alabama, where Joanne graduated from high school in 1953. She attended the University of Alabama but dropped out after a year due to financial difficulties. In 1957, she married Julius T. Cage, an attorney; they had three children: Virginia "Jenny" Cage (1958-2000), Julius "Jack" Cage (born 1962), and James "Jed" Cage (born 1965). After divorcing in 1967, Cage struggled to support her children by working in clerical positions for General Electric, the Social Security Administration, and the University of Alabama Birmingham Hospital. A prolific poet, she won several prizes from the Alabama State Poetry Association and self-published a volume of poetry, The Lightness of the Dark, in 2014. Cage died November 4, 1919.
Physical Location
Collection stored off site: researchers must request access 36 hours before use.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Accession number: 2022-M139
The papers of Joanne Ramey Cage were given to the Schlesinger Library by her son, James Cage in July 2022.
Processing Information
Processed: September 2023
By: Johanna Carll
The Schlesinger Library attempts to provide a basic level of preservation and access for all collections, and does more extensive processing of higher priority collections as time and resources permit. Finding aids may be updated periodically to account for new acquisitions to the collection and/or revisions in arrangement and description.
Creator
- Cage, Joanne Ramey, 1934-2019 (Person)
- Title
- Cage, Joanne Ramey, 1934-2019. Papers of Joanne Ramey Cage, 1964-2019: A Finding Aid
- Author
- Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America
- Language of description
- eng
- Sponsor
- Processing of this collection was made possible by the Alice Jeannette Ward Fund.
- EAD ID
- sch02242
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.