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Archives and Research
Finding Aid
Collection No.:
Collection Name
072
Older Lesbian Energy (OLE) Collection
COLLECTION SUMMARY
Creator:
Title:
Extent:
Date Span:
Older Lesbian Energy
Older Lesbian Energy (OLE) Collection
2 record cartons, 2 linear ft.
1979-2012
Administrative Information:
Provenance: This collection was donated by (Name, Date)
Processing Note: Finding aid prepared for The History Project, by Laura Kiritsy, April 2015.
Terms of Use: Materials described in the finding aid are available for research at The
History Project. Contact info@historyproject.org to make an appointment.
Digital Repository: Not Applicable.
Copyright: Unrestricted, though some items in the collection are copyrighted by individuals
and/or organizations outside The History Project.
Contact The History Project for further information.
29 Stanhope Street
Boston, MA 02116
617.266.7733
info@historyproject.org
www.historyproject.org
�SUBJECT TERMS
Subject Names:
Blueberry Cove Camp, Tenants Harbor, ME
Fast, Anita
Jones, Jane (d. 2009)
Krebs, Maggy
Lacasse, Ruth
Older Lesbian Energy (OLE)
Riso, Carol (d. 2009)
Rockport Lodge, Rockport, MA
Schiff, Toni
Subject Topics:
Feminism--Massachusetts
Lesbianism--Massachusetts
Lesbian culture--Massachusetts
Lesbian community--Massachusetts
Older lesbians
Document Types:
DVDs
Ephemera
Flyers
Handwritten materials
Illustrations
Newsletters
Newspaper clippings
Magazine
Photographs
Print materials
VHS tape
Surveys
RELATED COLLECTIONS
Coll. 73: the Joyce Crowder Collection
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
OLE (an acronym for Older Lesbian Energy) is a social organization for lesbian women over
age 40. Founded in 1980 by Toni Schiff and Anita Fast, OLE grew out of Schiff's 1979
master's thesis for Goddard-Cambridge School of Social Change, "The Development of a
Radical Lifestyle in Mid-Life." Schiff interviewed a number of middle-aged lesbians who told
her they felt isolated and alone. In October 1979, with her thesis completed, Schiff invited
these women and their over-40 friends to her home for a dinner party. Forty women
�showed up. In 1980, Schiff and Fast organized more social events, including a Labor Day
Weekend retreat at Blueberry Cove campground in Tenants Harbor, ME. It was during this
retreat that the group took the name OLE, which was conceived by member Ruth Lacasse in
a contest. This inaugural Blueberry Cove retreat is considered to be the birth of the
organization, which soon grew to include nearly 200 members.
OLE was founded to offer mutual support, social activities, networking, and resource
sharing, rather than advocacy or political activism. At early gatherings, women often sat in
small groups to discuss spirituality and share other personal issues.
OLE was strongly invested in preserving the privacy and anonymity of its membership in its
earliest years, most likely, in part, out of concern for the fact that there was little societal
acceptance, and no statewide legal protections, for LGBT people at that time; they often
risked losing their jobs, homes, and custody of their of children if they came out publicly.
The organization adopted a confidentially policy that required member lists to be kept
confidential; prohibited the sharing of other members' phone numbers; advised members to
phrase telephone voice messages to other members in "general or innocuous terms;"
required members to describe OLE only as "a women's group" to non-members; and
prohibited discussing OLE business in public or in the presence of strangers.
In the 1990s, the organization focused more strictly on social programming, as members at
that time had less need for personal sharing and exploration. This gave rise in the mid1990s to a split between long-time members who wanted to preserve OLE's "sharing group"
character and newer members who wanted to socialize and hold more gatherings out in
public. In 1994, this division resulted in newer members of OLE's Catalyst Coordinating
Committee (CCC), the organization's main administrative body, resigning from their
positions.
As the group's original members aged, OLE had difficulty attracting new, younger women in
their 40s and 50s. This may be attributable to the growing mainstream acceptance of LGBT
people in the 1990s and 2000s, as well as the ease with which the internet allowed LGBT
people to meet each other. By the mid-2000s, the organization was unable to find enough
members to fill all of the seats on the CCC, and, due to dwindling interest, the group held its
last annual June weekend in Provincetown in 2006. The annual OLE winter weekend in
Provincetown, which had begun in 1980, continued.
Despite waning interest, longtime member Carol Riso, along with Jane Jones, continued to
organize monthly OLE events until their respective deaths in 2009. In November 2009, 15
longtime OLE members met to determine the organization's fate. They decided there was no
longer enough desire or people willing to organize OLE events on a regular basis. Rather
than dissolve the organization, the group decided OLE would evolve into an informal email
group of remaining members who would come together should anyone decide to organize a
gathering.
In the aftermath of that decision, a group of OLE members regularly gathered for poker
games, while another gathered on a monthly basis to sing folk songs and share a potluck
�dinner. Additionally, from 2010 until at least 2013, OLE organized a March retreat in
Provincetown.
SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE
OLE Records document the creation, operation, and business and social activities of OLE
from roughly 1979 through 2012. Contained in two Paige boxes, the bulk of the collection
consists of print and handwritten materials, newsletters, photographs, and audio-visual
recordings, along with some OLE memorabilia. Most of the material dates to the 1980s and
1990s, offering a unique glimpse at the joys and stresses of creating and maintaining a
space where older lesbians could meet and socialize during a time when coming out was still
considered risky to one's safety and livelihood, particularly among older LGBT people. The
collection also includes general feminist and/or lesbian-themed print and audio-visual
material, and LGBT memorabilia and ephemera.
The original order of the collection is substantially unchanged. It is arranged in eight series:
Organizational Records, 1980-2012; OLE Activities; Correspondence; OLE Membership; OLE
Publications, 1980-2004; OLE Photographs; Miscellaneous Feminist Material; Memorabilia
and Ephemera.
DESCRIPTION OF SERIES
Series I: Organizational Records, 1980-2012
Organizational Records, the most substantive of which date to the 1980s, include
operational documents like bylaws, confidentiality statements, two historical overviews,
annual meeting minutes and financial reports; and meeting minutes and notes from OLE
committees, the bulk of which derive from the Catalyst Coordinating Committee (CCC),
OLE's main administrative body. Logo designs, organizational graphics, and OLE print
advertisements are also included.
Additionally there are DVD and VHS copies of OLE's 10th anniversary video and materials
related to the production and editing of the video. The video features OLE co-founders Anita
Fast and Toni Schiff discussing the organization's founding and early years, and interviews
with OLE members discussing the organization's importance in their lives absent other
confidential social spaces for older lesbians in the 1970s and 1980s. Also included is a DVD
copy of a short video called "OLE," recorded during a 2009 gathering in Provincetown, MA.
The DVD is unplayable, but an operable "rough cut" version, also on DVD, is included. The
rough cut features longtime OLE leader Carol Riso and five other OLE members reflecting on
their coming out experiences and lives as older lesbians.
There are also records of OLE's response to an installment of "The Pink Mafia," a fictional
series about a group of lesbians that ran for several months in Bay Windows newspaper in
2007. OLE members wrote letters to the newspaper responding to what they perceived as
negative portrayals of OLE and its members in an installment about the annual Boston Pride
parade.
�Also included are records pertaining to OLE's donations to other organizations, its final
organizational meeting, and its involvement with the Senior Pride Coalition, a collective of
local LGBT elder organizations.
Series II: OLE Activities
Materials related to OLE social activities chiefly in the 1980s, including the Rockport Lodge
Weekend, an annual retreat held at a women's vacation lodge in Rockport, MA. Also
included are materials related to the OLE Book Club and the annual OLE Seder dinners.
Series III: Correspondence
This series contains correspondence to and from OLE, spanning the years 1981-2010, with
some undated material, although the bulk of it dates to the 1980s. Correspondence chiefly
relates to OLE events, committee work, newsletter content, women seeking information
about OLE, requests to join the mailing list, and other organizational issues, including
disagreements and commentary about OLE's prohibition on members bringing lovers under
age 40 to OLE events and the organization's strict confidentiality policy. Several letters
written by prospective members in the late 1980s are of historical interest as they reflect
the isolation and loneliness that many older lesbians felt during a time when there were few
social/support outlets for older lesbians and the LGBT community as a whole still struggled
for societal acceptance and protection under the law.
Series IV: OLE Membership
This series consists of materials created by OLE members, and those related to being a
participating member of the organization. Materials span the years 1979-2010, with some
undated documents. Included are poems and essays written by members, some of which
reflect on their experiences at OLE events or on lesbian life and relationships. Also included
is the master's thesis, "The Development of a Radical Lifestyle in Mid-Life" by OLE cofounder Toni Schiff, the 1979 research project that became the catalyst for organization's
formation. Additionally, there is material written by or about founding member Carol Riso,
including news of her death in 2009. Also included is material related to the OLE Friends in
Need Program, a pool of members who were available on an alternating basis to do errands
and other tasks for fellow members who were in need of assistance.
The series also includes a variety of member surveys that were conducted periodically from
1983-2004 in order to create policies such as OLE's membership fee; assess member
satisfaction after OLE retreats and other events; gauge interest in potential social activities,
and determine the organization's future direction. The completed surveys give insight into
the concerns, priorities, and interests of the respondents both as OLE members and more
broadly as older lesbians trying to live fulfilling lives in a society still not fully accepting of
the LGBT community or older people in general. There are undated comments written by
OLE members, two of which express strong dissatisfaction with what the writers believed to
be negative changes in OLE, particularly the loss of the "sisterly spirit" and enthusiasm that
characterized the group's early years.
Series V: OLE Publications, 1980-2004
�This series consists of copies of OLE's newsletters, which varied in title, format, content, and
publication schedule over the course of its existence. Although some editions of the
newsletter are missing from the collection, the organization created an inventory denoting
which issues are included in this series. Early iterations were alternately titled "OLE network
news," "OLE," "OLE Octopus," and the "OLE Newsletter." A handful of early newsletters were
published in pamphlet form but the publication most often took the form of one or more
photocopied 8"x10" pages stapled together. Also included are pre-publication layouts of the
Spring/Summer 1982 and Summer 1983 issues of OLE Network News.
Early newsletter content documents organizational history and policy; OLE social activities
and events; member grievances and feedback; other organizational news, and notices of
community events of interest to OLE members. Newsletters also include members'
commentary, poetry, and reviews. Issues raised in early newsletters include alternating
concerns that publicizing the group would cause it to grow too large to accommodate
member gatherings, but that not publicizing it meant that women in need of the support
OLE offered would not learn about the organization. The February 1985 issue of the OLE
Octopus included a confidentiality policy created by the Catalyst Coordinating Committee
requiring member lists to be kept confidential; prohibiting the sharing of other members'
phone numbers; advising members to phrase telephone voice messages to other members
in "general or innocuous terms;" requiring members to describe OLE only as "a women's
group" to non-members; and prohibiting the discussion of OLE business in public or in the
presence of strangers. The May 1986 OLE Newsletter detailed concerns about dwindling
attendance at recent events and called for an emergency meeting to discuss the
organization's future.
In later years, the newsletter became a more perfunctory publication primarily concerned
with notifying members of upcoming OLE events and business items such as payment of
dues and open committee seats. Newsletters from 1991 reference OLE's "Celebrity Series,"
featuring talks by Evelyn Murphy, Massachusetts' first female lieutenant governor; Shelby
Scott, WBZ-TV's first female news anchor; Jeanne Rowlands, Northeastern University's first
women's athletics director and the first woman to manage a USA Olympic basketball team;
and renowned women's health advocate and out lesbian Dr. Susan Love.
Series VI: OLE Photographs
Materials include photographs, photocopies of photographs, and one archival quality DVD of
photos, all taken at OLE events. Materials date from the late 1970s-2012, with some
undated items. Photos spanning the years 1996-1997 to 2012 are contained in a blue photo
album included with the collection.
Preservation note: None of the photos are currently contained in archival-quality sleeves.
They will eventually need to be rehoused in such sleeves for long-term preservation.
Photocopied photographs span circa 1980-2000, with some undated copies. They appear to
depict a 1980 OLE retreat in Maine, as well as OLE's participation in Boston Pride and
related Pride events in the 2000s. There are also photocopies of photos taken at Golden
Threads 2006, an annual celebration in Provincetown for older lesbians.
�The photographs, some in black and white and some in color, span the years circa the late
1970s-2012. They are mostly candid shots documenting a host of OLE events, gatherings,
and celebrations. Most of the women in the photos are not identified, although the backs of
some photos include names and dates.
Series VII: Miscellaneous Feminist Material
Materials span 1979-2009, with some undated material, and include news clippings, fliers,
newsletters, and other publications related to feminist issues and events and/or the lesbian
community. Among the materials are a lengthy 1981 Boston Globe profile of OLE member
Buffy Dunker, who came out at age 73; a 1987 Gay Community News obituary for OLE
member and feminist artist Maggy Krebs; and a 1993 issue of Newsweek featuring a cover
story on lesbians.
Series VIII: Memorabilia and Ephemera
The series contains undated OLE and general LGBT-related memorabilia and ephemera.
Materials include LGBT- and rainbow-themed stickers, buttons, lanyards, and pins and
jewelry; a Pride flag, a ceramic plate depicting a Pride flag, a rainbow patterned winter scarf
and glove set, OLE business cards, an OLE-branded t-shirt, an OLE banner, and a canvas
tote bag bearing a silk-screened group photo of OLE members.
Also included is a DVD featuring the short films "Peach" and "A Bitter Song," both starring
Australian actress Lucy Lawless. In the latter film, released in 1991, Lawless portrays a kind
nurse who helps a troubled young girl; in the former, released in 1995, she portrays a tow
truck driver attracted to a young Maori woman. Also included on the DVD is the 1998
documentary "Lavender Limelight: Lesbians in Film," featuring interviews with lesbian
directors Cheryl Dunye, Su Friedrich, Jennie Livingston, Heather MacDonald Maria Maggenti,
Monika Treut, and Rose Troche.
BOX AND FOLDER LIST
Box 1
Series I:
Organizational Records
Folder 1: OLE Operating Documents
Folder 2: OLE Committees - Meeting Minutes and Notes, 1981-1988
Folder 3: OLE Committees - Meeting Minutes and Notes, 1994-2004
Folder 4: Annual Meeting Minutes and Financial Reports, 1980-2008
Folder 5: OLE History
Folder 6: OLE Graphics and Logos, circa 1981, circa 1994, circa 2008
Folder 7: Advertisements, 1997-2008
Folder 8: OLE Donations to Other Organizations
Folder 9: OLE Final Meeting and Archives Donation
Folder 10: Response to "Pink Mafia" Column
Folder 11: OLE 10th Anniversary Video, 1988-1990
Folder 12: OLE 10th Anniversary Video-Oversized Materials, 1988-1990
�Folder
Folder
Folder
Folder
13:
14:
15:
16:
OLE Videos, 1991, 2009
Event Flyers and Related Material
Deed of Gift & Event Fliers
Senior Pride Coalition
Series II:
OLE Activities
Folder 17: Rockport Lodge Weekend, 1985-1988
Folder 18: OLE Book Group, 1990
Folder 19: OLE Seders, 1981-1988, undated
Series III: Correspondence
Folder 20: Correspondence, 1981-1989
Folder 21: Correspondence, 1990-2010
Folder 22: Undated Correspondence
Series IV:
OLE Membership
Folder 23: Carol Riso, 2007-2010
Folder 24: OLE Member Surveys, 1983-2004
Folder 25: Member Comments, circa 1989
Folder 26: OLE Friends in Need Program
Folder 27: Writing By OLE Members, 1979-1984
Series V:
Folder 28:
Folder 29:
Folder 30:
Folder 31:
Folder 32:
Folder 33:
OLE Publications
OLE Publications, 1980-1985
OLE Publications, 1986-1989, undated
OLE Publications, 1990-1992
OLE Publications, 1993-1999
OLE Publications, 2000-2004
OLE Publications, 2005-2009
Series VI:
OLE Photographs
Folder 34: Photocopies of OLE Photographs, circa 1980-2000, undated
Folder 35: OLE Photographs, circa 1970s-1980s, 1988, 2000-2012
Folder 36: OLE Photo Album, 1996-2012
Series VII: Miscellaneous Feminist Material, 1979-2009
Folder 37: Miscellaneous Feminist Material
Box 2
Series VIII: Memorabilia and Ephemera
Folder 38: Miscellaneous LGBT Stickers
Folder 39: Peach / A Bitter Song / Lavender Limelight DVD
Folder 40: OLE Business Cards
Folder 41: Miscellaneous LGBT Pride Gear
Purple OLE T-shirt
�LGBT Pride flag
Rainbow winter scarf and glove Set
OLE canvas tote bag with silkscreen photo
Ceramic LGBT Pride flag plate
Purple vinyl OLE banner
�
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History Project Finding Aids and Collection Descriptions
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The History Project
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Email info@historyproject.org for information.
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Coll. 072 - Older Lesbian Energy (OLE) Collection
Description
An account of the resource
OLE (an acronym for Older Lesbian Energy) is a social organization for lesbian women over age 40. Founded in 1980 by Toni Schiff and Anita Fast, OLE grew out of Schiff's 1979 master's thesis for Goddard-Cambridge School of Social Change, "The Development of a Radical Lifestyle in Mid-Life." Schiff interviewed a number of middle-aged lesbians who told her they felt isolated and alone. In October 1979, with her thesis completed, Schiff invited these women and their over-40 friends to her home for a dinner party. Forty women showed up. In 1980, Schiff and Fast organized more social events, including a Labor Day Weekend retreat at Blueberry Cove campground in Tenants Harbor, ME. It was during this retreat that the group took the name OLE, which was conceived by member Ruth Lacasse in a contest. This inaugural Blueberry Cove retreat is considered to be the birth of the organization, which soon grew to include nearly 200 members.
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Email: info@hisotryproject.org for more information
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
THP-072-FA