REDSTOCKINGS MANIFESTO AUTHORSHIP
Memories of participants in long ago events and developments often fade or are contradicted by primary-sources from the actual time. Below are the only records currently found in the Redstockings archival collection that offer some documentary evidence of which women were involved in the writing or editing of the Redstockings Manifesto. Both of these letters from 1972 relate to giving permission in the name of Redstockings for reprinting the Manifesto in a proposed anthology of writings from the radical feminist journal Notes.
In the first letter, handwritten from Ellen Willis to Kathie Sarachild, Ellen addresses Kathie's proposal that Ellen should be considered the author of the Manifesto, who has the right to give or deny permission.
In the second letter, in which permission to reprint the Manifesto is denied, five women sign to represent the Manifesto's authorship: Ellen Willis, Kathie Sarachild, Irene Peslikis, Patricia Mainardi, and Karen Rappaport.
A fuller account of the dispute over the Notes anthology is available on our website in the article "Covering Up History: An Example - Notes From the First, Second, and Third Years" in Woman's World #5, July-September 1972, p. 14-16.
