La Salle De Femmes
Herland recently celebrated a twenty-year anniversary. That is a momentous accomplishment for an independent, women’s bookstore. A number of women worked very hard to put on an extensive celebration for this occasion. I want to commend them in the work that they did.
Prior to the celebration, a lot of information and history was gathered. This information was used to prepare a pamphlet telling about the history of Herland. It was also used to acknowledge a number of women on the night of the concert. Inadvertently, part of the history of Herland was altered, and part of it was left out. There was nothing deliberate about this. However, history is all too often rewritten, and many times in the rewriting women are excluded or delegated to a place of unimportance. For that reason, I believe that whenever possible we should hold on to our history and re-tell it. I wrote a similar article to this for The Voice ten years ago, and I have decided that it is time to write it again.
Near the end of 1981, a loosely knit group of women formed a collective and decided to write a newspaper called The Brazen Hussy Rag. I apologize in advance for the fact that I am certain to omit some of the names of these women. However, I will list the ones of which I am certain, using only first names and last initials, because I have not obtained permission from them to use their full names.
The group initially included: Jana B., Tanya J., Pat C., Mary B., Jonna R., Myra F., Jo S., Susan S., Vicki R., and a few others. We began to meet in the home of Jana B. and Tanya J. to make article selections, cut, and paste. The first issue of the paper appeared late that year. In all, I believe that we published five issues of the newspaper. I still own copies of two of the issues. One after noon, as we were putting the newspaper together, Jana and Tanya took a break and went out for a walk. While they were walking, they came across an old store in front of a house that was located at 19th. and Blackwelder. They began to talk about the possibility of a bookstore, and they knocked on the door of the house to talk with the owner. A woman in her late seventies or early eighties answered. Her name was Murray. She said that she would be willing to rent the space, but she would have to have $125 a month for it. In that moment, the concept of La Salle de Femmes was born. When Jana and Tanya returned to the newspaper gathering, they told us of their find, and plans were underway. Pat C. and Tanya J. were to organize the bookstore aspect of the collective. We immediately began making arrangements for our first benefit to raise money for the future bookstore. That benefit took place at D.J.’s on Thursday, March 11, from 7-11 p.m. Live entertainment included Bonnie H., Cate C., and Brette B. We provided food to accompany the entertainment, and the cover charge was $2.00. We held two similar benefits at The Rose. Additionally, Barbara C. produced a concert by Sharon Ridell, and part of the proceeds from that concert were donated to La Salle de Femmes.
In addition to benefits, there were work days and book drives. There was a LOT of work to do. The workdays took place every Saturday from 12:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. and every Sunday from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Many women rkdays. Some women, such as Cathie C., never missed one. Others, such as Barbara C., were present for most. They did yard work, removed debris from the store, and began building walls and doing drywall work. Many hours of hard labor were put into that building. Volume I No. 4 of The Brazen Hussy Rag has a picture of Tanya J. on a ladder painting.
Unfortunately in July or August of 1982, it all began to fall apart. Pat C. who was a major organizer and took a great deal of responsibility for the bookstore project moved to California. Jana and Tanya broke up, and Tanya moved to Texas. One of our group, (since very remorseful, but too late!) stole the money that had been raised and donated for the bookstore. The account was temporarily empty. Women were very discouraged and the workdays stopped. The owner, Murray, began to lose patience, and she padlocked the door. It looked as though the dream of La Salle de Femmes had died.
What was needed was a strong, dedicated, organizer to take over the project and make the dream a reality. It had to be somebody who could follow through and get things done. That’s when Barbara C. stepped up to the plate. She was all of those things, a leader, an organizer, and a motivator. After Barbara took over the project, a decision was made to change the name of the store from La Salle de Femmes to Herland. Pat C. returned from California and helped Barbara C. retrieve the stolen money. The bank had let it go with only one authentic signature, and thus they had to restore it. Workdays resumed. Barbara lifted a dying project from the ashes and made it into a reality. She had not been the one who conceptualized the dream, but she was the one who made it into a reality. Without her, there would have been no twenty- year celebration, because there would have been nothing to celebrate.
There was a lot of division in the lesbian community with respect to the bookstore for many years. I feel certain that much of the division was rooted in territorialism, a very human but not very feminist response to a change in leadership. That is why I feel that it so important that this story be told and retold. Without the women of the Brazen Hussy Collective and without Barbara C., Herland would not exist today. It was not one or the other that made the bookstore a reality, it was both, and I personally am grateful for both.
Jo L. Soske