Nancy Spero papers, 1940s-2009

Series includes biographical notes, Spero's curricula vitae spanning circa four decades, her passports for 1980, 1986 and photocopy of her 1996 passport, scattered high school-related records, a 1950 membership card for Société des Artistes Indépendants, photocopies from Henry Spero's high school yearbook with a copy of a photo of Henry and Nancy Spero, and phone numbers and messages.

The series also includes video and motion picture film recordings of documentaries about Spero by Patsy Scala and Irene Sosa, and born-digital recordings representing compilations of those recordings.

Series houses personal and professional correspondence and is with museums, art dealers, art organizations, groups representing political and social issues of interest to Spero, artists, and others. The files provide scattered documentation of topics including exhibitions, projects, publications, travel, and fundraising, which are explored further, particularly in Series 5-7.

Of note in this series is correspondence with writers and art scholars who wrote about Spero and reviewed her work in various contexts, including monographs, exhibition reviews, and catalog essays. These include art curators, critics, and historians Susanne Altmann, Deborah Frizzell, Lucy Lippard, and Sylvère Lotringer, and cultural theorist and curator of the first British retrospective of Spero's work, Jon Bird. Also found are files for poet Clayton Eshelman for whose publications Spero provided illustrations, and correspondence with artists including Dottie Attie, Judy Chicago, and Ana Mendieta. There are several substantive letters written from Mendieta in Iowa where she was teaching and from Rome discussing her work, her family, and personal relationships.

Personal correspondence with family and friends includes general news, invitations to a variety of social events, greeting cards, drawings by grandchildren, and letters and printed material about family life and the professional achievements of Spero's sons Paul, Philip, and Stephen Golub.

Chronological correspondence includes letters from people whose names are illegible or for whom only a first name is given, personal greetings, well wishes, and postcards of a more personal than professional nature.

Correspondence was originally arranged chronologically. The bulk of the series was rearranged alphabetically by name of correspondent to facilitate access. Correspondents for whom 5 or more items exist are identified by named files. Other correspondence is housed in general files according to the first letter of the last name of the individual or name of organization. Cards, such as greeting cards and postcards, remain in loose chronological order.

Additional professional correspondence can be found throughout other series, particularly Series 5-7.

Interviews of Spero were conducted by curators, art historians, students, and writers for exhibition research, articles, student papers, and other purposes. Included in the series are transcripts and published and video recorded versions of interviews. Most of the transcripts are edited versions and, in some cases, there are multiple versions; many were published sometimes years after the interviews were conducted. In addition to interviews with Spero there are several joint interviews with Nancy Spero and Leon Golub.

Published versions of interviews are followed by transcripts, then recordings of interviews, and are arranged chronologically within each category. Additional interviews may be found in Series 5-7.

Series is arranged as two subseries. Writings by Spero are arranged by type. Writings by others about Spero are arranged alphabetically by author, followed by writings on other subjects.

Exhibition files span Spero's career from the 1976 exhibition of her work Torture of Women at A.I.R. Gallery to the final exhibitions of her work during her lifetime in 2009, documenting over 75 solo and group exhibitions and illustrating the extent of Spero's international reputation. Files may include correspondence and details of exhibition planning logistics, loan documentation, photographs of installations, and printed material including digital and video recordings.

The series includes documentation of the 51st and 52nd Venice Biennales, extensive records of the major 2008 retrospective at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía and Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA), Nancy Spero: Dissidances, other exhibitions throughout Europe, Canada, and the United States, and the joint exhibition with Leon Golub, War and Memory (1994-1995).

Exhibition files were originally housed in the Subject Files series but files relating solely to single exhibitions have been rearranged separately here to facilitate access. Files are arranged chronologically by date of exhibition. Additional records relating to exhibitions can be found in Series 2, Series 6, and Series 7.

Series includes a substantial portion of Spero's professional correspondence relating to her dealings with numerous galleries, art institutions, and museums in the United States and abroad. Files may include correspondence, sales and consignment records, exhibition records, digital, video, and sound recordings, and printed and photographic material.

Of note are the A.I.R. Gallery records. which include a set of sound recordings of an event series held there in the 1980s. A.I.R gallery correspondence from 1976-1977 relates to arrangements for a planned exhibition of Italian women artists curated by Anne-Marie Boetti-Sauzea and includes correspondence documenting difficulties with Valerie Solanas over the translation of her SCUM Manifesto into Italian without her permission. The exhibition was ultimately canceled due to Solanas's hostility and threats. A.I.R. partnership records include minutes of meetings from 1981-1982 and document the gallery's move to Crosby Street, purchased collectively by members, after rent increases forced the collective to leave the original Wooster Street location in 1981. Also documented are Spero's efforts to donate her share in the partnership in the early 1990s and the partnership's efforts to sell the space on Crosby Street in 1994-1995.

Spero's dealings with Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Barbara Gross Galerie, Christine König Galerie, Rhona Hoffman Gallery, and Josh Baer Gallery are well represented here. Files document the exhibitions and sales handled by those galleries. Also well documented are Spero's dealings with the Museum of Fine Arts Boston and the installation there of her banner in the Koptos Gateway, and Spero's relationship with the Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art which hosted a joint exhibition of Spero's and Leon Golub's work in 1996. The records include a series of video recordings of the installation of the works, culminating in the opening of the exhibition.

Files were originally arranged as part of the Subject Files series, but have been rearranged as a separate series to facilitate access. Files are arranged alphabetically by name of gallery or museum.

This series includes records documenting Spero's other professional activities such as awards Spero received, benefits she supported, files Spero kept relating to specific artworks such as Codex Artaud and Notes in Time, art and literary presses that printed or commissioned her work, and organizations she was a member of or was invited to attend and/or address.

Also documented here are specific commissions, including a substantial set of files documenting Artemis, Acrobats, Divas & Dancers, the glass mosaic tiles Spero executed for the walls of the 66th Street/Lincoln Center subway station for the New York City Metropolitan Transit Authority. Also of note is a file and video recordings relating to Spero's contribution to the Messages to the Public Spectacolor billboard in 1986. Spero conceived a pro-choice message for the Time's Square billboard project, but the owner censored her submission and allowed it to play only once in order for the Public Art Trust to document the piece.

The series also includes Spero's correspondence with Hans-Ulrich Obrist, transcripts and a recording of an interview Obrist conducted and published as part of the Museum in Progress's Conversation series, and publications from Obrist's Migrateurs series.

Files were previously arranged as part of subject files series but were rearranged separately as they pertained more specifically to professional activities and projects rather than to subjects that interested Spero and informed her work. Records are arranged alphabetically by folder title.