Julia Willis papers

Collection

Identifier: MS0427

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The scope and content of this collection concerns the perspectives, opinions, and creativity of Julia Willis, a lesbian author in the late twentieth century. The collection consists of her writings: short stories, poems, articles, book drafts, and play scripts.

Dates

Creation: 1972 - 2002

Creator

Willis, Julia (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Some material may be copyrighted or restricted. It is the patron's obligation to determine and satisfy copyright or other case restrictions when publishing or otherwise distributing materials found in the collections.

Biographical / Historical

Julia Willis was born in Charlotte, North Carolina on August 21, 1949 to William C. and Carolyn (Carrick) Willis. She attended the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, graduating in 1973 with a BA in English. Throughout her life she enjoyed writing and made that her vocation. Sometime after college graduation she moved to the Metopolitan Boston area and remained there, writing short stories, plays, poetry, stand-up comedy lines (some of which she had sold to Joan Rivers) and books. Some of her literary works earned her awards. Most of her writing concerns lesbian and feminist issues.

Extent

2 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

The collection consists of the writings of Julia Willis, of Charlotte, North Carolina and Boston, Massachusetts from the late 1960s to the late 1990s. Willis writes short stories, articles, short plays, books, contributions to various anthologies and poetry. The subject matter of her writing is almost exclusively dedicated to lesbian issues and politics. Most of her plays have been produced and some of her writings have earned awards.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged into five series: Book Drafts, Book Proposals, Miscellaneous, Play Scripts and Short Stories. There are also several items that do not belong to any series.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

The collection was donated in 2010 by the author of the materials, Julia Willis.

General

Julia Willis spent a life-time writing articles, poems, books, plays, novels and short stories. Several of her works were published in anthologies, and a copy of many of them came with the manuscript collection. The anthologies are: "Beginnings: lesbians talk about the first time they met their long-term partner" (see pages 50-54) ; Cinergy: magazine of the visulite theatre" (see page 6) ; "Dykes with Baggage: the lighter side of lesbians in therapy" (see pages 132-143) ; "The Ghost of Carmen Miranda: and other spooky gay and lesbian tales" (see pages 212-225) ; "Glibquips: funny words by funny women" (see pages 64, 114, 116, 132, 143, 159) ; "Off the Rag: Lesbians Writing on Menopause" (see pages 98-100) ; "Places, Please!: the first anthology of lesbian plays" (see pages 9 and 46) ; "Sinister Wisdom" Fall 1976, Vol. I, No. 2 (see page 87) ; "Sanskrit" Vol. 3, No. 3 (see pages 5-10, and 34-36) ; "Smart: reading in science and art" (see page 3) ; "That takes ovaries!": bold females and their brazen acts" (see pages 130-134) ; "TriQuarterly '79" (see pages 62-84) ; "Women's Glib cartoon calendar 1994" (see April 29) ; "Women's Glib: a collection of women's humor" ; "Women's Lip: outrageous, irreverent and just plain hilarious quotes" (see pages 38, 39, 86, 105, 106, 120) ; "Word of Mouth, Volume 2" (see pages 137-139) ; Willis' books: "Meow-Mories: a place for kitten notes and cat fancies recorded by non-biological parents of fabulous felines" ; "Reel Time: a fabulous comic novel on love, art, old movies, and necco wafers" ; "We Ougtha be in Pictures" ; "Who Wears the Tux: the original great American dyke quiz (accept no substitutes)"