Harriet Alpert Papers,1976-1980.

Collection Number: 7715

Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections
Cornell University Library


DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY

Title:
Harriet Alpert papers, 1976-1980.
Collection Number:
7715
Creator:
Alpert, Harriet.
Quantity:
0.2 cubic ft.
Forms of Material:
Correspondence, notes, books, lists, and a plastic Smedley's bag.
Repository:
Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library
Abstract:
Five notebooks and files from the starting of Smedley's Bookshop in Ithaca, NY in 1976 and relating to the Bernadette Powell Defense Fund, 1979-80. Powell was tried and convicted in Ithaca for killing her abusive husband. Included are Alpert's files on organizing a fundraising auction for the Defense Fund in 1979.
Language:
Collection material in English


BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

In 1976, Harriet Alpert (Harriet Bronsnick at the time) quit a job at McBooks in Ithaca, NY, and with Kate Dunn and Camille Tischler, opened Smedley's Bookshop in Ithaca, NY. This was a collectively owned and operated feminist bookstore. By 1980, she had returned to her birth name, Alpert. Alpert edited "We Are Everywhere," an anthology of writings about lesbian motherhood published in 1988.

COLLECTION DESCRIPTION

Five notebooks and files from the starting of Smedley's Bookshop in Ithaca, NY in 1976 and relating to the Bernadette Powell Defense Fund, 1979-80. Powell was tried and convicted in Ithaca for killing her abusive husband. Included are Alpert's files on organizing a fundraising auction for the Defense Fund in 1979.
Includes correspondence with Alison Bishop, an investor in Smedley's, notes about books, lists of things to do for the store, notes from store meetings, and a plastic Smedley's bag. The fall 1977 notebook contains notes about forming a women's counseling collective and assertiveness training.
SUBJECTS

Names:
Alpert, Harriet.
Powell, Bernadette, 1952-
Smedley's Bookshop, (Ithaca, N.Y.)

Subjects:
Abused wives--New York (State).
Bookstores--New York (State)--Ithaca.
Feminists.
Feminist psychology.
Trials (Murder)--New York (State)--Ithaca.
Women owned business enterprises--New York (State)--Ithaca.


INFORMATION FOR USERS

Cite As:
Harriet Alpert Papers, #7715. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library.

RELATED MATERIALS

Collecting program: Human Sexuality Collection.

CONTAINER LIST

Container
Description
(Online container list not yet available.)