Arts & Humanities

Texas Libraries To Host ‘Our Stories, Our Voices: The Old Lesbian Oral Herstory Project’

October 9, 2017

old lesbian oral herstory

By Texas A&M University Libraries

 The Texas A&M Cushing Memorial Library & Archives will host “Our Stories, Our Voices: The Old Lesbian Oral Herstory Project.” The presentation by Arden Eversmeyer and Dr. Kathleen Schmidt Prezbindowski will occur in the Mayo-Thomas Room on Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017, from 5:30 to 7 p.m.

During 1998, Eversmeyer, a Houston resident, began collecting oral history interviews done with lesbians 70 or more years old. The project became the Old Lesbian Oral Herstory Project (OLOHP).  More than 600 oral histories are archived in the Sophia Smith Collection at Smith College in Northampton, Mass. Eversmeyer continues to serve as the project’s director, conducts interviews, and more.

Following a career in education, Eversmeyer spent decades improving the lives of her fellow citizens, including acting as the Houston mayor’s appointee to the Area Agency on Aging. Eversmeyer spearheaded the formation of Lesbians Over Age Fifty (LOAF), a social network designed to ensure a safe environment for mid-life and older lesbians, now in its 30th year. Her personal papers and books are housed in the Texas A&M University Cushing Memorial Library.

In 1976, Prezbindowski became the first lesbian mother to win custody of her children in eastern Washington State. The day following the judge’s ruling, she drove to Cincinnati, Ohio, to teach at a Catholic college for 33 years. After 18 years there, Prezbindowski became the first faculty member to come out publicly. She supported many LGBT students on campus, and for 15 years facilitated Cincinnati’s weekly coming out group for women.

Since 2011, Prezbindowski has facilitated Coming Out Women in Puyallup, Wash. She edits three lesbian newsletters, and is an interviewer and presenter in the OLOHP.

“We are very honored to host this talk and to showcase the amazing work done by Arden Eversmeyer and Kathy Prezbindowski,” said Associate Dean Francesca Mariani, director of Cushing Memorial Library. “The Old Lesbian Oral Herstory Project (OLOHP) is documenting lives and legacies, and establishing a crucial historical record.”

For more information about the Old Lesbian Oral Herstory Project (OLOHP), visit: http://olohp.org/index.html

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For more information, contact Professor Rebecca Hankins, rhankins@library.tamu.edu or 979-845-1951.

 

 

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