Overview
Interview recordings and transcripts, correspondence with waitresses, drafts, etc., produced in the creation of the book, Hey Waitress! The USA from the Other Side of the Tray.
Dates
- Creation: 1994-2011
Language of Materials
Materials in English.
Access Restrictions:
Access. Researchers must sign a special permission form to use the collection agreeing to withhold the identities of interviewees requesting anonymity. An appointment is necessary to use any audiovisual material.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright. Copyright in the papers created by Alison Owings is held by Alison Owings. Upon her death, copyright transfers to Jonathan Perdue, Michele Owings, and Tallulah Owings Guadagnino. Following their deaths, copyright is transferred to the President and Fellows of Harvard College for the Schlesinger Library. 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
4.42 linear feet ((4 cartons, 1 file box) plus 1 folio+ folder, 104 audiotapes, electronic records)The collection includes interview recordings and transcripts, correspondence with waitresses, drafts, etc., produced in the creation of the book, Hey Waitress! The USA from the Other Side of the Tray. Additional material received as electronic files will be reformatted at some future date. Owings' web site is being captured periodically as part of Harvard University Library's Web Archive Collection service (WAX); searchable archived versions of the web site will be available through this finding aid in 2012. Folder titles were created by Owings; additional information in square brackets was provided by the archivist, who created the arrangement. Names of interviewees who requested anonymity which appeared in folder titles have not been included in the container list; full original folder titles have been retained on the folder tabs.
BIOGRAPHY
Alison June Owings, daughter of Kenneth Brown Owings and Alice Case Roberts Owings, was raised in East Orange and Chatham, New Jersey, and Strafford, Pennsylvania. She received a BA in journalism from the American University in Washington, DC, and worked for several television news stations, including ABC in Washington, DC, WRC in Washington, WNBC in New York, and CBS TV. She is the author of four books, The Wander Woman's Phrasebook: How to Meet or Avoid People in Three Romance Languages (1987), Frauen: German Women Recall the Third Reich (1993), Hey, Waitress! The USA from the Other Side of the Tray (2002), and Indian Voices: Listening to Native Americans (2011).
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Accession number: 2012-M105
The records relating to the creation of Hey Waitress! The USA from the Other Side of the Tray were acquired from Alison Owings in July 2012.
SEPARATION RECORD
Donors: Alison Owings
Accession number: 2012-M105
The following items have been transferred to the Schlesinger Library books and printed materials collection:
- Henderson, Bruce Griffen. Waiting: Waiters' True Tales of Crazed Customers, Muderous Chefs, and Tableside Disasters, 1995.
- Rice, Kym S. Early American Taverns: For the Entertainment of Friends and Strangers, 1983.
- Rolens, Leon Elder and Lin. Waitress: America's Unsung Heroine, 1985. Inscribed, "For Alison Owings, wishing you well on your waitress book, Noel (Leon) Young (Elder)."
Processing Information
Container list: July 2012
By: Johanna Carll
- Title
- Owings, Alison. Records of Hey Waitress!, 1994-2011: A Container List
- Author
- Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America
- Language of description
- eng
- EAD ID
- sch01395
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.