Papers of Marjorie Braude, 1948-2006

The papers of Marjorie Braude reflect Braude's work as a professional psychiatrist and as an advocate for women's health and legal rights. Her papers highlight her involvement with numerous professional psychiatric and medical organizations; her focus on such issues as domestic violence, abortion and birth control, women's health and equal rights, and advancing women in the profession of medicine; and her work in private practice. Papers relating to her mother's (artist Vicci Sperry) paintings, personal collection of artwork and art books, and the Victoria H. Sperry Trust are also included. Original folder titles were maintained throughout the collection, folder contents were rearranged or combined, and the processor created the overall arrangement.

Series I, BIOGRAPHICAL, PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL, 1948-2005 (#1.1-22.10, PD.1 - PD.4, T-450.1 - T-450.10), contains account books; address books; appointment books; biographical material; certificates and membership papers; committee material; conference material; correspondence; material related to medical mission trips; letters of acknowledgment for professional engagements; notebooks and notepads; proposals; speaking engagement announcements; subject files; testimonies; writings for journals and conference papers; audiotapes; photographs; clippings; etc.

The biographical material includes biographical sketches, correspondence, resumes, Braude's medical license (#7.3), her community-police advisory board member identification card (#7.3), a deposition re: toys and sex roles (#7.3), photographs, clippings, etc. Committee material includes correspondence annotated by Braude; drafts and revisions of by-laws; letters, minutes, reports, etc., which reflect her involvement with several professional organizations; Braude's speech from her 1992-1993 campaign for president-elect of the American Medical Women's Association (#1.13); and her work on the Association's domestic violence online courses. Conference material includes Braude's abstracts and proposals for workshops and papers, evaluations of her workshops, planning material, audiotapes of her presentations, etc. Notebooks and notepads include drafts of letters and writings; poetry and short stories; personal thoughts and notes; personal reminders; appointments; names and addresses; meeting notes; etc. Braude's subject files include correspondence, testimonies, research notes, drafts of articles, photographs, clippings, etc., relating to issues such as abortion, the Equal Rights Amendment, promoting women's work in the field of medicine, etc. Braude's writings also include her work as editor of Women, Power, and Therapy, which includes abstracts, contracts, correspondence, edited drafts, permissions, royalties, etc. The series is arranged alphabetically by organization or format, followed by writings arranged chronologically.

Series II, PATIENT RECORDS, 1961-2006 (#25.1-49.11), contains Braude's case files on patients while in private practice as a psychiatrist in Los Angeles, California. The records include correspondence among Braude and her patients, medical doctors, lawyers, etc.; patient progress notes and history files; medical records and medical record release forms; treatment plans; prescription memos; reports; insurance records; accounts and billing records; depositions, testimonies, and related legal material; artwork, writings, photographs, and clippings by and/or about her patients; and related. The series is arranged alphabetically by last name of patients, followed by other patient records A-Z, and then by account records and related. The series is closed until January 1, 2070.

Series III, VICTORIA H. SPERRY PAPERS AND TRUST, 1956-2004 (#22.11-24.8), contains material relating to Victoria H. Sperry's work as an artist and art collector and the Victoria H. Sperry Trust. The papers include contracts and correspondence related to the publishing of Sperry's book, The Art Experience; inventories, invoices, and appraisals of Sperry's own paintings and her personal artwork collections (including ownership of two Matisse gouaches decoupees: Fleurs de Neige (1951) and Poisson Chinois (1951); correspondence among Sperry and her daughters, Marjorie Braude and Carol Moss, addressing Sperry's paintings; correspondence and agreements among the Sperry sisters and several law firms, art galleries, storage facilities, collectors of Sperry's art, other family members, etc., pertaining to the Victoria H. Sperry Trust; drafts, revisions, and amendments to the Victoria H. Sperry Trust; Sperry's last will and testament; documents on the disposition of the Trust property (i.e., Sperry's artwork, book collection, and other assets); tax records; photographs of Sperry's paintings; and related. The series is arranged alphabetically by format or event, and thereunder chronologically.

Most of the photographs in this collection are or will be cataloged in VIA, Harvard University's Visual Information Access database. Others, referred to as "uncataloged" photographs, are not of sufficient research interest to warrant cataloging and are simply treated as part of the documents they accompany; they are marked on the back with an asterisk in square brackets [*].