Papers of Lucile Schuck Longview, 1927-2010 (inclusive), 1972-2004 (bulk)

This collection documents the personal and professional life of radical feminist, activist, and futurist Lucile Schuck Longview. The papers include writings, essays, speeches, correspondence, calendars, diaries, and posters from women's conferences. The collection reflects Longview's focus on the spiritual sphere of feminism, which to her meant inclusiveness, working to bring equality to "women in religion" as well as "women and religion." Longview worked tirelessly on the Unitarian Universalist Church's 1977 women and religion resolution, not only during its infancy in the 1970s, but also into the 1990s. Longview also dedicated her life to the eradication of age discrimination and, in particular, felt that it was the cultural conceptualization of aging that denied elders a positive view of themselves. Her correspondence is full of discussions with other feminists regarding women and religion, patriarchal assumptions and language, ageism, as well as family life and travel. Her diaries, which cover most of her life, reflect on all aspects of her life including her marriage, her children, activism, and later aging and end of life care. Longview used carbon paper when writing letters, so many of her outgoing letters are in the collection. Longview's original folder headings were maintained; titles in brackets were created by the archivist.

Series I, BIOGRAPHICAL AND PERSONAL, 1933-2010, undated (#1.1-7.10, 23.1-23.9, 23.1-23.5, F+D.1, DVD-169.1), includes calendars, letters, articles about Longview, student papers, annotated maps, and descriptions of trips taken by Longview with friends and family. Files related to Longview's home invasion show her concern about the gender of the first responders. Material from this incident also include notes of support from friends and family, and her notes regarding working with the police to catch the intruder (#5.5-5.6). See also Series II for diary entries from this time period. Also included is a family genealogy done by Longview's son (#7.7). Longview kept her wall calendars from 1946 to 2004 in dated folders and with them added clippings, student papers, essays, selected letters that may overlap with Series III and Series IV, and other material that act as a snapshot of that year in Longview's life. The calendars are annotated with birthday reminders, appointments, travel dates and locations, letters written, and gardening tasks. Longview took many trips during her lifetime, and wrote day by day descriptions of many of them; some include annotated maps (#1.4, 2.5, 2.6). Also included are articles written about Longview and her work with women and religion, as well as ageism. In 1993 Longview was interviewed by Elinor Artman and Phyllis Rickter about the Unitarian Universalist Association's women and religion resolutions (#6.5). This series is arranged chronologically.

Series II, DIARIES, 1929-1999 (#7.11-13.3), includes Longview's diaries and travel diaries. Early diary entries are about teaching classes, dates, rifle practice, varsity hockey, exams, canning berries, the weather, and the American Association of University Women from 1936 to 1941. Longview wrote about friends, skating, dates with Hugo Schuck, trips to Boston and New York, and going to church. After Longview and Hugo Schuck married in 1939, she wrote of housework, cooking, pregnancy, friends and family, Hugo's work schedule and hobbies, and their relationship. After Hugo Schuck's death in 1972, Longview's diary entries focused on the conferences she attended, the women and religion resolutions for the Unitarian Universalist Church, and the lives of women in the countries hosting the United Nations Women's conferences. One diary, dated 1976-1979, Longview labeled "telling about the beginning of the women and religion resolution" (#9.5). As Longview got older, her entries are about her hearing loss, where and how to live in the future, and low self-esteem and depression due to aging and her body changing and slowing down. Almost all diaries mention her children Stephen, Susan, and Linda (as well as their families), and her rocky relationship with her son. During her mother Macie Kitson's lifetime, Longview wrote frequently about her: the lack of affection felt when she was a child, and later the care that Longview had to provide for her mother. Longview, as an only child, was also left with the responsibly to manage the family farm when her mother was no longer capable of doing so. While in her 70s and 80s Longview began to wonder what her own circumstances will be at the end of her life. She created detailed lists of her options for care and living arrangements. She called it "taking control of the end of my life" in her diary. Occasionally she transcribed a letter she has written within a diary entry. Longview also often mentioned her gardens, and the weather. Longview had an extra bedroom in her house, which she called "The Women's Room," reserved for women in need of space for intellectual work. She mentioned the women who used this room throughout her diaries. Longview also wrote about the process of creating a new name in her diary. Travel diaries includes a 1963 trip to Basel, Switzerland, for a conference; a 1980 trip to China and Japan; and a 1985 trip to Nairobi. There is a 20-year gap, that spans from 1943 to 1963, between diaries. This series is arranged chronologically.

Series III, CORRESPONDENCE, 1927-2010, undated (#13.4-17.8, 23.10-23.12, SD.1), includes Longview's correspondence with family and friends, colleagues, and others. Letters between Longview and Hugo Schuck discussed dealing with the Kitson farm in Indiana, travel plans, the weather, and what their children are doing, and include letters from Hugo Schuck while he was in Europe on business. Often Longview and Hugo Schuck were separated by circumstance; for example, Longview spent time in Indiana on the family farm after she moved Macie Kitson to California. During these times they wrote long, complicated letters back and forth regarding Macie's failing health, financial transactions for retirement, and house repairs. Also included are letters from Hugo Schuck's brother and sister-in-law Carl and Mary Schuck, and his parents Marie and Oscar Hugo Schuck. Topics in those letters include visits, thank yous for gifts, family financial papers, and Marie's death. Longview often wrote group letters to her three children (#16.5). Also included are Christmas letters, which feature hand-drawn and computer-generated pictures with news of what each member of the family had done during the year, sent by Longview to family and friends between 1943 and 2002 (#13.7). In 1980, Longview was asked to write an essay about her life for the US Association for the Club of Rome, an international futurist organization that promotes policy change and globalization. In 1993, Longview had a tree that bordered her neighbor's property cut down. The neighbor became very upset, and Longview hired a lawyer to rectify the situation (#15.7). See also Series I and Series IV for additional correspondence that was filed separately. Additional material received as electronic files will be reformatted at some future date for inclusion in this series. This series is arranged alphabetically.

Series IV, ORGANIZATIONS, 1973-2004, undated (#17.9-22.2, 23.13-23.16, 24.6-24.7), includes essays, memoranda, reports, correspondence, programs, speeches, annotated printed material, and other material related to the various organizations to which Longview belonged. Longview was very involved with the Unitarian Universalist First Parish Church of Lexington, chairing the local Denominational Affairs Committee, as well as serving on the board of the national Unitarian Universalist Women's Federation. After the 1975 International Women's Year Conference, Longview brought back to her congregation at First Parish Church a resolution for equal rights and opportunities for women. Through the Unitarian Universalist United Nations Office Longview attended several other International Women's Year conferences, and she also attended the 1980 United Nations Conference For Women with the International Association of Religion Freedom (#21.1, 18.9). Longview worked tirelessly on the Unitarian Universalist Church Women and Religion Resolution, not only during its infancy in the 1970s, but also into the 1990s when she felt that its meaning had been forgotten by the newer generation of women within the congregation (#19.19). Gray Panthers and the Older Women's League material is also included (#18.6, 18.7). See also Series I and Series III for additional correspondence regarding the women and religion resolution. This series is arranged alphabetically.

Series V, PHOTOGRAPHS, MEMORABILIA, AND OVERSIZED, 1975-1992, undated (#PD.1-PD.4, 22.3m, F+D.2, OD.1, SD.1), includes photographs, buttons, and posters removed from throughout the collection. Included are images of Longview with friends and colleagues, as well as images from the 1975 International Women's Year Conference. Buttons show support for the Equal Rights Amendment, Gray Panthers, and the Women and Religion resolution. Longview brought home several posters from the 1975 and 1980 women's conferences that are also included below. This series is arranged by format, then alphabetically.

Most of the photographs in this collection are or will be digitized and available online.