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COLLECTION Identifier: MC 614: T-366

Papers of J. Ari Kane-DeMaios, 1970-2016

Overview

Correspondence, writings, notes, photographs, and other materials acquired or created by J. Ari Kane-DeMaios, transgender activist, counselor, and executive director of the Outreach Institute of Gender Studies.

Dates

  • Creation: 1970-2016

Creator

Language of Materials

Materials in English.

Access Restrictions:

Access. Researchers must sign a special permission form to use the collection. With the exception of client files, most of the papers are unrestricted; those folders access to which would constitute an unwarranted invasion of privacy have been removed and closed for the time periods noted. Client files (#9.1-18.18, 31.1-31.9) are closed until the death or likely deaths of the individuals involved. Original records that have been redacted to protect privacy and #2.20, 3.9, 3.19, 5.1, and 19.17-19.19 are closed until January 1, 2050. An appointment is necessary to use any audiovisual materials.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright. Copyright in the papers created by J. Ari Kane-DeMaios is held by 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

12.49 linear feet ((29 + 2 1/2 file boxes) plus 2 folio+ folders, 135 photo folders, 7 audiotapes, 1 archived web site)
1680.29 Megabytes (6 files)

The J. Ari Kane Demaois papers document Kane's professional and academic work. Much of the material retains its original groupings within folders. Where possible, the original folder titles have been maintained and appear in quotation marks. Additional materials received in 2019 (2019-M119, 2019-M182) were added to the collection in November 2019. These materials are housed in #30.1-31.9. All other files remain in the same order. Folders are listed in intellectual, not numerical, order. Material received as electronic files (#E.2-E.7) were added to the finding aid in November 2019. These electronic records were received on four Zip disks, one 5.25" disk, and two compact disks. Disks were imaged using FTK Imager. Data on two of the zip disks were unrecoverable. Selected data has been converted to PDF/A for preservation and delivery.

Series I, ORGANIZATIONS FOUNDED BY KANE, 1973-2016 (#1.1-19.5, 30.1-31.9, F+D.1-F+D.2, E.2-E.6), contains materials relating to Kane's professional positions in two organizations Kane founded: as executive director of the Outreach Institute of Gender Studies, and senior administrator and counselor of the Theseus Counseling and Consulting Service. Materials include administrative and event-related documentation, as well as extensive client files.

Subseries A, Outreach Institute of Gender Studies, 1973-2009 (#1.1-8.15, 30.1-30.2, F+D.1-F+D.2, E.2-E.4), contains correspondence, including with board members; minutes of board meetings; budgets and financial ledgers; and brochures and other printed materials documenting the programs and resources provided by the Institute. Of note are printed materials and event files for programs sponsored by the Institute, including Fantasia Fair. These may include participant and program books, registration and general program information, and evaluation forms. See also Series III for additional material related to Gender Attitude Reassessment Program (GARP) and Series IV for Fantasia Fair photographs. Following founding and organizational documents and minutes of board and executive committee meetings, files are arranged alphabetically, and chronologically thereunder.

Subseries B, Theseus Counseling and Consulting Service (TCCS), 1977-2016 (#9.1-19.5, 31.1-31.9, E.5-E.6), contains primarily Kane's client files. Clients included trans women and men, crossdressers, and the spouses of crossdressers, among others. Included are Kane's session notes; correspondence, including with doctors; change of name forms; photographs; newsletters and clippings; and exercise worksheets, including clippings of men and women from magazines that were used for a particular counseling exercise. Other materials in this subseries include brochures for Kane's Hopeful Couples Program, as well as general correspondence.

Most of the client files are labeled with the client name and were deposited in the Library in four separate groupings. These original groupings have been maintained. The archivist has designated each set with a number (one through four), sorted the files within each set by client birth years, and grouped them by decades. They were then filed chronologically by restriction date. Client files without birth years or folders with multiple clients are filed first within their set. Files are closed for 100 years from the last year of the decade of the client's birth year: e.g., for individuals born between 1950 and 1959, files are closed until January 1, 2060. If there is no birth date noted in the file, the material is restricted for 80 years from the date of the most recent document in the file. "Intake" files refer to clients who may have completed no more than an introductory session with Kane; "long-term" refers to clients who continued counseling, potentially for many years; and "short-term" refers to clients who were counseled by Kane for a brief period of time.

Series II, OTHER ORGANIZATIONS, 1973-2001 (#19.6-22.2), contains materials from various organizations mostly relating to sexuality, gender, and medical and spiritual well-being. Folders may consist only of an informational brochure, or may include correspondence, conference programs, and related materials reflecting Kane's involvement with the organization or Kane's participation in a meeting or conference. This series also includes a file of position announcements for state government jobs in Maine that Kane may have applied for; a selection of women's clothing, lingerie, and wig company catalogs; transcript and viewer response letters, which Kane originally compiled into a scrapbook, from the 1980 Phil Donahue Show which featured Kane as a guest; and personal materials given to Kane by transgender activist and former president of the Transgenderist's Independence Club Winnie Brant. Additional photographs, negatives, and slides from Winnie Brant's papers can be found in #PD.92-PD.135. The files are arranged alphabetically by organization or conference name.

Series III, WRITINGS AND RESEARCH, 1977-2001 (#22.3-28.9; T-366.1-T-366.7, E.1, E.7), contains drafts, notes, research materials, and correspondence, including with Kane's dissertation project committee (Judith A. Seifer, Howard J. Ruppel, and Marilyn K. Volker), relating to Kane's 1998 dissertation, Gender Attitude Reassessment (GARP): A Program for Changing Attitudes and Ideas about Gender and Sexuality. Also included are materials relating to the promotion and presentation of GARP at professional meetings, including at the annual meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality in 1995. Kane first developed and implemented GARP ten years prior to the printing of Kane's dissertation; it became an important program of the Outreach Institute. Other earlier manifestations of Kane's dissertation, Crossgenderism: A Key toward Understanding Gender Diversity, including draft chapters, are also in this series, as well as audiotapes of notes, which were transcribed or intended for transcription by Kane's assistant, Nancy Tarbox. In addition, the series includes correspondence with and promotional materials from the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality in San Francisco, California (where Kane received a doctorate), other writings and articles on gender, sexuality, medical and health issues; and professional papers written by Kane. The files are arranged alphabetically. Kane's web site was captured as part of as part of Schlesinger Library's web archiving program.

Series IV, PHOTOGRAPHS, 1970-1999 (#PD.1-PD.135), contains mostly prints, as well as some slides and negatives, providing extensive visual documentation of gatherings and events, primarily of the Outreach Institute's Fantasia Fair, as well as events of other organizations.

Subseries A, Fantasia Fair, 1974-1999 (#PD.1-PD.91), includes many snapshots taken at Fantasia Fair, from random images of participants at the beach in Provincetown, Massachusetts, to the welcome receptions, fashion and talent shows, dinners, workshops, and other events. Many of these photographs include handwritten sketches of photo layouts or templates possibly intended for commemorative books, as well as some additional, descriptive notes. See also #4.1, 6.11 for non-photographic materials originally found with this series. The files are arranged chronologically.

Subseries B, Winnie Brant, 1970-1998 (#PD.92-PD.135), contains photographs, negatives, and slides from Winnie Brant's papers, which Brant gave to Kane. Subjects include the Transvestite Independence Club events (renamed Transgenderist's Independence Club after 1983), including Dream meetings with founder Wilma T., and other events, including Fantasia Fair and the Tiffany Club award ceremony. See also #22.1-22.2 for additional Winnie Brant documents. The files are arranged chronologically.

Various videotapes, including of Fantasia Fair, have been removed and cataloged separately. See the J. Ari Kane-DeMaios Videotape collection, 1976-2000 (Vt-132).

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

BIOGRAPHY

Ariadne "Ari" Kane was born Joseph DeMaios on January 12, 1936. Kane graduated with a B.S. in biophysics from the City College of New York and received an Ed.D. in Human Sexual Science from the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality in San Francisco, California, in 1998. Early in Kane's professional life, Kane worked as the program director for the educational agency Educational Dynamics, Limited, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, (1975 to 1982) and as a real estate broker and appraiser for Century 21, Inc. in Boston, Massachusetts (1978 to 1984).

Kane identifies with both binary genders and uses "he" and "she" pronouns. Kane has worked on behalf of the transgender community since the early 1970s, mainly through the Outreach Institute of Gender Studies, which Kane founded in 1975. Named the Human Outreach and Achievement Institute until 1996, the Institute's mission was to advance the understanding of gender identity and role development and to educate and foster education in all aspects related to the phenomenon of gender and human sexuality. Activities and programs of the Institute included Fantasia Fair (which the Institute organized through 1999); workshops and programs, including the Gender Awareness Information Network (GAIN) and the Gender Attitude Reassessment Program (GARP); and publications. Fantasia Fair has been an annual event for transgender individuals in Provincetown, Massachusetts, since the mid-1970s. Fantasia Fair includes social gatherings, seminars, workshops, and other activities, and originally attracted participants who were mostly crossdressers but became more trans diverse by the 1990s. The GAIN program was a professional membership of health care workers and other human services groups and was designed to keep professionals informed of the latest information on gender issues, as well as being a resource for transgender individuals. GARP was a workshop designed for individuals to explore gender diversity through the use of media, role playing, lectures, and other means. Among their Institute-produced publications were the Journal of Gender Studies, Our Sorority/Directory, and information packets of reprinted articles and monographs for specific gender groups, including trans women and wives/partners of transgender people. Kane also designed other conferences and events through the Outreach Institute, including the New Woman Conference for wives and partners. In addition, Kane founded the social services agency Theseus Counseling and Consulting Service in 1985. Through Theseus, Kane provided clients with guided counseling, coaching and therapeutic services, as well as offering information and consultation on gender/sexuality programs to health care agencies.

In addition to Kane's outreach and counseling work, Kane has written articles, conducted workshops and presentations, and has been a guest on radio and television programs. In 1980, Kane appeared on the Phil Donahue Show and was a guest on the David Suskind Show in 1982. Kane has been a participant, speaker, and workshop facilitator at the annual meetings of various professional organizations, including the American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors, and Therapists; the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality; the International Foundation for Gender Education; and the Association for Humanistic Psychology. Kane has also lectured on sexuality and gender diversity at universities throughout the country.

ARRANGEMENT

The collection is arranged in four series:

  1. Series I. Organizations founded by Kane, 1973-2016 (#1.1-19.5, 30.1-31.9, F+D.1-F+D.2, E.2-E.6)
  2. Series II. Other organizations, 1973-2001 (#19.6-22.2)
  3. Series III. Writings and research, 1977-2001 (#22.3-28.9; T-366.1-T-366.7, E.1, E.7)
  4. Series IV. Photographs, 1970-1999 (#PD.1-PD.135)

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Accession numbers: 2004-M34, 2004-M106, 2005-M156, 2008-M214. Accession numbers: 2019-M119, 2019-M182 were added November 2019.

The Schlesinger Library acquired the papers of J. Ari Kane-DeMaios from the Educational Institute for Sex and Gender Diversity (J. Ari Kane-DeMaios) between 2004 and 2019.

Related Material:

There is related material at the Schlesinger Library; see the J. Ari Kane-DeMaios Videotape collection, 1976-2000 (Vt-132).

Addenda Note

There is additional J. Ari Kane-Demaois material at the Schlesinger Library. It is currently unprocessed and unavailable for research.

SEPARATION RECORD

Donor: J. Ari Kane-DeMaios

Accession numbers: 2004-M34, 2004-M106, 2005-M156, 2008-M214

Processed by: Laura Peimer

The following items have been removed from the collection and transferred to the Schlesinger Library printed materials collection:

  1. Three linear feet of general transgender and gay/lesbian newsletters and periodicals.
  2. Outreach Institute of Gender Studies serials:
  3. Journal of Gender Studies, 1991-1995 (6 issues)
  4. Our Sorority, 1988-1991 (3 issues)
  5. Outreach Beacon, 1988-1989 (2 issues)
  6. Outreach Newsletter, 1987, n.d. (2 issues)

Processing Information

Processed: January 2010

Updated and additional materials added: November 2019

By: Laura Peimer

In February 2023, Laura Peimer revised this finding aid to bring it into alignment with Schlesinger Library’s inclusive and reparative language guidelines. In the narrative sections of the finding aid she replaced the terms transgendered and transgenderist with transgender and she replaced male-to-female and female-to-male transsexuals with trans women and trans men. She retained any original terms that are part of the names of organizations, publications, or within original folder titles for historical context. She also added additional subject headings.

When referring to Ari Kane in the narrative sections of the finding aid, she replaced the "he" pronoun with "Kane." While Kane uses both "he" and "she" pronouns, we made this change so as not to preference one identity over another.

She updated additional text as well, including changing present to past tense for programs no longer available, removing the dash in crossdressing, and revising the description of Fantasia Fair. A previous version of this finding aid has been maintained for transparency around the descriptive process. Please contact the Schlesinger Library for details.

Title
Kane-DeMaios, J. Ari. Papers of J. Ari Kane-DeMaios, 1970-2016: 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 Radcliffe Class of 1956 and the Mary Mitchell Wood Manuscript Processing Fund.
EAD ID
sch01269

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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