- unitid
-
{"value"=>"23932", "type"=>"local_mss"}
{"value"=>"b21151446", "type"=>"local_b"}
{"value"=>"MssCol 23932", "type"=>"local_call"}
- unitdate
-
{"value"=>"1935-2006", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1935/2006"}
{"value"=>"1965-2002", "type"=>"bulk", "normal"=>"1965/2002"}
- unittitle
-
{"value"=>"Rosemary Woodruff Leary papers"}
- physdesc
-
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"11.15 linear feet", "unit"=>"linear feet"}, {"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"24 boxes, 1 volume", "unit"=>"containers"}, {"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"11.75 mb (48 computer files)"}], "supress_display"=>true}
- repository
-
{"id"=>"MSS", "value"=>"Manuscripts and Archives Division"}
- abstract
-
{"value"=>"Rosemary Woodruff Leary (1935-2002), (also known as \"Ro\" and Sarah Woodruff), sought to educate people about the psychedelic experience. Woodruff lived for over twenty years as a fugitive for her role in assisting her husband, Dr. Timothy Leary, escape from prison in 1970. This collection documents her relationship with Leary and her twenty years as a fugitive through correspondence, photographs, ephemera, clippings, and drafts of her unpublished memoir, <span class=\"title\">A Magician's Daughter</span>."}
- prefercite
-
{"value"=>"<p>Rosemary Woodruff Leary papers, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library.</p>"}
- origination
-
{"value"=>"Leary, Rosemary Woodruff", "type"=>"persname", "role"=>"creator"}
- bioghist
-
{"value"=>"<p>Rosemary Woodruff Leary (1935-2002), (also known as \"Ro\" and Sarah Woodruff), sought to educate people about the psychedelic experience. Woodruff lived for over twenty years as a fugitive for her role in assisting her husband, Dr. Timothy Leary, escape from prison in 1970.</p> <p>Woodruff, born in St. Louis in 1935 to a carnival magician, was raised as a Baptist and dropped out of high school. After a brief marriage, she moved to New York City in the 1950s, where she began to experiment with hallucinogenic drugs and married a jazz musician. She held a variety of jobs, working as a model, in television, and as a passenger agent for El Al Airlines.</p> <p>Woodruff became involved with Timothy Leary after meeting him in 1965 and visiting the Millbrook estate in upstate New York where Leary lived and conducted his experimental research. They married in 1967 and during their marriage they were arrested and charged with several drug offenses. In December 1968 Woodruff was arrested in California; she was released on bail pending appeal but sentenced to six months in the Orange County jail, while Leary was imprisoned and faced significant jail time for a related offense.</p> <p>The Weather Underground and Woodruff orchestrated Leary's 1970 escape from confinement. The couple fled to Algeria where for a time they lived with Black Panther Eldridge Cleaver at the Black Panther Embassy. The couple soon moved to Switzerland; however, Woodruff and Leary ended their relationship and separated. They ultimately divorced in 1976.</p> <p>Despite the end of her relationship with Leary, Woodruff remained underground in Sicily, Afghanistan, Canada, and South America. The FBI offered Woodruff amnesty in exchange for the names of others involved with hallucinogenic drugs; however, Woodruff chose not to accept the deal. In 1976, she secretly returned to the United States, settling in Cape Cod before eventually moving back to California. After 24 years underground, living as \"Sarah Woodruff,\" Woodruff turned herself in to California authorities and all charges against her were dropped.</p> <p>After returning to the United States, Woodruff worked as an innkeeper. She also served as the executrix of Leary's estate. Woodruff died in Aptos, California on February 7, 2002, leaving behind an unpublished memoir, <span class=\"title\">The Magician's Daughter</span>.</p>"}
- scopecontent
-
{"value"=>"<p>The majority of the Rosemary Woodruff Leary papers are arranged in a loose chronological order. Files containing correspondence, photographs, writings, clippings, ephemera, notes, and other items from the 1960s and early 1970s document Woodruff's relationship with Timothy Leary, their extralegal affairs, and her life as a fugitive. Woodruff's time with Leary at the Millbrook Estate and in California; Woodruff's time in the Dutchess County Jail (New York); Leary's imprisonment, and Woodruff's life as a fugitive are well represented in these files. Some items are photocopies or reproductions of originals.</p> <p>Letters exchanged with Leary, Woodruff's family, and John Schewel (who lived with Woodruff abroad), trace her personal relationships and involvement in the counterculture. Other incoming correspondence was written by friends including Judy Givens; associates, such as Ram Dass and Allen Ginsberg; and lawyers Michael Kennedy and Michael E. Tigar.</p> <p>The collection provides scant insight into Woodruff's life in the United States in the 1980s; however, the 1990s and early 2000s are documented more extensively. These later files primarily contain personal letters and cards. Woodruff steadily corresponded with her good friend and roommate, Eleanor Dalton of Provincetown, Massachusetts, until Woodruff's death in 2002; multi-page letters from Dalton can be found in boxes 3 through 8.</p> <p>Woodruff worked on her memoir, <span class=\"title\">The Magician's Daughter</span>, from the 1970s until the end of her life. The memoir is represented by typed drafts, notes, and other writings. Some files contain letters (originals and typed transcriptions) and other primary source material Woodruff used to chronicle her life story.</p> <p>Photographs consist of many color and black and white printouts, though there are some original snapshots taken throughout Woodruff's life. Several of the reproductions are of images taken in Afghanistan. A professional portrait of Woodruff in her El Al uniform is available. Both are in box 18.</p> <p>Memorabilia and items pertaining to other aspects of Woodruff's life include a childhood scrapbook, Woodruff's World Service Authority passport, Dam Rass's United States passport, address books, astrological charts, Leary and Woodruff's marriage license, and a rare copy of the couple's psychedelic adaptation of the <span class=\"title\">Tao te Ching</span>, <span class=\"title\">In Tao We Trust</span>. Woodruff's calendars from 1973 to 2002 are available. Sometimes she wrote very brief diary-like accounts of her day-to-day activities in these calendars.</p> <p>Sound and video recordings contain interviews, lectures, and raw footage for the <span class=\"title\">Ram Dass, Fierce Grace</span> documentary. Sound and video materials are unavailable pending digitization.</p>"}
- acqinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Donated by Kate Woodruff, 2016.</p>"}
- processinfo
-
{"type"=>"processing", "value"=>"<p>Compiled by <span class=\"name\">Susan M. Kline</span>, <span class=\"date\">2016</span>.</p>"}
- accessrestrict
-
{"value"=>"<p>Sound and video materials are unavailable pending digitization.</p>"}
- dsc_type
-
combined
- date_start
-
1935
- keydate
-
1935
- date_end
-
2006
- date_inclusive_start
-
1935
- date_inclusive_end
-
2006
- date_bulk_start
-
1965
- date_bulk_end
-
2002
- extent_statement
-
11.15 linear feet (24 boxes, 1 volume); 11.75 mb (48 computer files)