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COLLECTION Identifier: Vt-136

Videotape collection of Andrea Dworkin, 1981-1998

Overview

Videotape recordings of Andrea Dworkin's speaking engagements, television appearances, examples of pornography, and source tapes for the production of the program Omnibus that featured Dworkin.

Dates

  • Creation: 1981-1998

Creator

Language of Materials

Materials in English.

Access Restrictions:

Access. Access to videotapes (#1-5) and (#7-18) is unrestricted. Access to videotapes (#6 and #19-132) requires the written permission of John Stoltenberg until his death. An appointment is necessary to use any audiovisual material.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright. Copyright in speeches or other content, written by Andrea Dworkin and recorded onto videotapes, including the Omnibus material, is held by John Stoltenberg. Upon his death, copyright will be transferred to the President and Fellows of Harvard College for the Schlesinger Library. Other copyrighted materials found in the collection may be held by their authors, or the authors' heirs or assigns.

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

Extent

132 videotapes

The videotape collection is arranged in two series. Series I, Speaking engagements, television appearances, etc., contains three subseries: Subseries A. contains speaking engagements organized in chronological order; Subseries B. contains television appearances organized in chronological order; Subseries C. contains commercially distributed and other recordings of or about pornographic material. Dates, if supplied, reflect the distribution dates on the tapes, not the original release date of the material. All videotapes in Series I are in VHS format and region NTSC, except where noted. Series II, Omnibus, includes all of the source tapes for "Against Pornography: The Feminism of Andrea Dworkin," an episode of the BBC series Omnibus, as well as copies of the final version that aired October 25, 1991 in the United Kingdom. The videotapes are split into five subseries, organized by format, and by the production company's numbering system when applicable. The bulk of videotapes include Andrea Dworkin; there are a few videotapes featuring people in Dworkin's life who are made reference to in the paper collection.

Series I, SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS, TELEVISION APPEARANCES, ETC.1981-1997 (#1-17), is arranged in three subseries:

Subseries A, Speaking engagements and home movie footage, 1991-1998 (#1-6), includes speeches and interviews recorded live at conferences in the United States and Canada. There is also a home movie of Dworkin and her family shot during her childhood.

Subseries B, Television appearances, 1981-1997 (#7-13), contains recordings of Dworkin on talkshows, featured in vignettes about her career, and readings.

Subseries C, Research Materials, 1981-1982 (#14-17), contains commercially distributed and other recordings of or about pornographic material.

Series II, OMNIBUS,1990-1991 (#18-132), is arranged into five subseries:

Subseries A, VHS, NTSC, 1990-1991 (#18-27), includes all source tapes in VHS format and in NTSC standard.

Subseries B, VHS, PAL, 1990-1991 (#28-69), includes all source tapes in VHS format and in PAL standard. Note there is no Roll tape #1 or #12.

Subseries C, 3/4-inch U-matic, PAL, 1990-1991 (#70-72), includes all source tapes in 3/4-inch U-matic format and in PAL standard.

Subseries D, Hi8, NTSC, 1990-1991 (#73-77), includes all source tapes in Hi8 format and in NTSC standard.

Subseries E, BetacamSP, PAL,1990-1991 (#78-132), includes all source tapes in BetacamSP format and in PAL standard. Note there is no source tape #32 and source tapes #100 and above are numbered non-sequentially.

BIOGRAPHY

Author, critic, and radical feminist Andrea Dworkin was born on September 26, 1946, in Camden, New Jersey. She was the daughter of Sylvia (Spiegel), a secretary, and Harry Dworkin, a guidance counselor. In 1965, while attending Bennington College, Dworkin was arrested in New York City for protesting against the Vietnam War, and spent four days in the Women's House of Detention. She later made headlines, publicizing her brutal treatment at the hands of staff, which led to a grand jury investigation of the prison. In 1965, she traveled to Crete, then returned to the United States to complete her coursework at Bennington College, before moving to Amsterdam, where she completed work for her B.A., which she received in 1968. On March 11, 1969, Dworkin married Cornelius (Iwan) Dirk de Bruin, a Dutch political activist. De Bruin abused Dworkin throughout the marriage, which ended in divorce in 1972. Dworkin moved to New York City in 1972 and in 1974, she met John Stoltenberg, a writer and editor. Dworkin, who identified herself as a lesbian, and Stoltenberg, who identified himself as homosexual, became close friends and lived together for many years before marrying in 1998.

Dworkin was the author of several books including Woman Hating (1974), Our Blood: Prophecies and Discourses on Sexual Politics (1976), Pornography: Men Possessing Women (1981), Right-Wing Women (1983), Intercourse (1987), Letters from a War Zone: Writings, 1976-1989 (1989), Scapegoat: The Jews, Israel, and Women's Liberation (2000), and Heartbreak: The Political Memoir of a Feminist Militant (2002). She was also the author of short stories and novels including Ice and Fire (1987) and Mercy (1991). In addition, Dworkin lectured widely and contributed to numerous periodicals and anthologies.

In 1983, with lawyer Catharine MacKinnon, Dworkin drafted a controversial civil rights ordinance defining pornography as sex discrimination. An activist working on behalf of many causes including abortion rights, she advised women and groups on issues of rape, battery, pornography, and incest in the United States and abroad.

Andrea Dworkin died April 9, 2005, in Washington, D.C.

ARRANGEMENT

The collection is arranged in two series:

  1. Series I. SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS, TELEVISION APPEARANCES, ETC. 1981-1998 (#1-17)
  2. Series II. OMNIBUS , 1990-1991 (#18-132)

Acquisition Information:

Accession numbers: 2001-M196 and 2002-M54

These videotapes were included with the papers of Andrea Dworkin (MC 540) that were acquired from Andrea Dworkin by the Schlesinger Library in November 2001. Additional materials were received in April 2002.

Related Material:

There is related material at the Schlesinger Library; see Andrea Dworkin Andrea Dworkin Papers, 1914-2007 (MC 540) and Audiotape collection of Andrea Dworkin, 1975-1997 (T-323).

Processing Information:

Processed: February 2009

By: Melissa Dollman

Creator

Subject

Title
Dworkin, Andrea. Videotape collection of Andrea Dworkin, 1981-1998: A Finding Aid
Author
Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America
Language of description
eng
EAD ID
sch01210

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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