Collection context
Summary
- Creators:
- Alta, 1942-
- Abstract:
- This archive documents the over fifty titles published by the Press; the business and distribution activities of the Press; and the cultural environment in which the Press existed (represented by feminist, literary, political, and business publications received by the Press). It also includes material related to the Press's Peppermint Press and Better Duck Productions imprints.
- Extent:
- 100 Linear Feet 100 boxes
- Language:
- English .
- Preferred citation:
-
Shameless Hussy Press records, MS 92, Special Collections, University Library, University of California, Santa Cruz.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
The Shameless Hussy Press was a small press founded in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1969 by Alta (Gerrey) and specializing in poetry, books related to women, and children's books. The archive documents the over fifty titles published by the Press; the business and distribution activities of the Press; and the cultural environment in which the Press existed (represented by feminist, literary, political, and business publications received by the Press). It also includes material related to the Press's Peppermint Press and Better Duck Productions imprints.
- Biographical / historical:
-
Shameless Hussy
i am one of the true hussies;
i have no shame;
i was a housewife, and
stretched from the housiness of it (hus)
and the wifiness of (wif/hus-wif) to
a woman who cant bear wifedom (hussy) / i
grew beyond the house, like alice after eating
too many cookies. exactly what i did; i ate
too many cookies; lovers, poetry, moving my
body in a new way, an old way, the way women
like me have always moved, largely; with great
motions beyond our allotted sphere, with more
need than fear, and more grace than shame.
AltaShameless Hussy Press was started in Oakland, California in 1969 by Alta (Gerrey) a poet and prose writer. She published three of her own books as well as the first poems of influential writers, Susan Griffin and Pat Parker and the first edition of the ground-breaking play, "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide, When the Rainbow Is Enuf" by Ntozake Shange and new editions of "Lavinia" and "Haunted Pool" by George Sand. Alta also published many other feminist writers, mostly women, and children's books by her own children and others. Shameless Hussy Press was the first feminist/women-owned press in America and influenced other presses and publishers such as Women's Press which published in the seventies in Oakland, California. Alta continued Shameless Hussy Press until 1989. The Shameless Hussy Press Archive is part of the California Feminist Presses Collection which is a project of the University of California Women's Studies Consortium.
- Acquisition information:
- Gift of Alta Gerrey. Subsiquent addtion in 2025 gift of Kia Simon, daughter of Alta Gerrey.
- Physical location:
- Stored offsite at NRLF: Advance notice is required for access to the papers. 2025 addtion stored on site.
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Indexed terms
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
Collection is open for research. Exception: 2025 addition MAY CONTAIN RESTRICTED MATERIALS. This addition has not been processed but is open for research. Special Collections staff must review this material prior to access. Please contact Special Collections and Archives in advance to request access.
- Terms of access:
-
Copyright for the items in this collection is owned by the creators and their heirs. Reproduction or distribution of any work protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires permission from the copyright owner. It is the responsibility of the user to determine whether a use is fair use, and to obtain any necessary permissions. For more information see UCSC Special Collections and Archives policy on Reproduction and Use.
- Preferred citation:
-
Shameless Hussy Press records, MS 92, Special Collections, University Library, University of California, Santa Cruz.
- Location of this collection:
-
Special Collections and Archives, University Library1156 High StreetSanta Cruz, CA 95064, US
- Contact:
- (831) 459-2547