- unitid
-
{"value"=>"188096", "type"=>"local_mss"}
{"value"=>"b22778710", "type"=>"local_b"}
{"value"=>"Sc MIRS Jeffries 2013-30", "type"=>"local_call"}
- unitdate
-
{"value"=>"1982-1997", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1982/1997"}
- unittitle
-
{"value"=>"Ira Jeffries audio and moving image collection"}
- physdesc
-
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"4 audio_recordings", "unit"=>"audio_recordings"}]}
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"1 video_recording", "unit"=>"video_recordings"}]}
- repository
-
{"value"=>"<span class=\"corpname\">Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division</span>"}
- abstract
-
{"value"=>"Ira L. Jeffries (March 20, 1932- July 16, 2010) was an author, playwright, and journalist. The collection consists of one video recording of a short clip from the film <span class=\"title\">The Watermelon Woman</span>, and four audio recordings including readings of Jeffries's astrological birth chart, a script reading, and radio programs collected by Jeffries."}
- langmaterial
-
{"value"=>"English"}
- origination
-
{"value"=>"Jeffries, Ira, 1932-2010", "type"=>"persname"}
- bioghist
-
{"value"=>"<p>Author, playwright, and journalist Ira L. Jeffries (March 20, 1932- July 16, 2010) had a productive career in New York City's off-off-Broadway theaters and independent media. Jeffries received a BA in communications from City College of New York in 1987. She authored twenty-two one-act and full-length plays as well as short stories, poems, essays, and articles. As a journalist, she wrote for several African American and lesbian publications including <span class=\"title\">B & G Magazine</span>, <span class=\"title\">The New Harlem Magazine</span>, <span class=\"title\">New York Amsterdam News</span>, <span class=\"title\">Sappho's Isle</span>, and <span class=\"title\">Womanews</span>. Jeffries played the role of Shirley Hamilton in Cheryl Dunye's <span class=\"title\">The Watermelon Woman</span> (1996), the first feature-length film to be directed by a Black lesbian.</p>"}
- scopecontent
-
{"value"=>"<p>The collection consists of one video recording of a short clip from the film <span class=\"title\">The Watermelon Woman</span>, and four audio recordings including readings of Jeffries's astrological birth chart, a script reading, and radio programs collected by Jeffries. They are arranged chronologically. Two of the items' original formats are audio cassettes, and contain two parts, one for each side of the cassette.</p>"}
- acqinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Estate of Ira Jeffries, 2013.</p>"}
- separatedmaterial
-
{"value"=>"<p>See the Manuscripts, Archives, and Rare Books Division for the Ira Jeffries papers, Sc MG 794.</p>"}
{"value"=>"<p>See the Photographs and Prints Division for the Ira Jeffries photograph collection, Sc Photo Ira Jeffries Collection.</p>"}
{"value"=>"<p>The following commercial media was transferred to the MIRS audio collection: <span class=\"title\">Thriller</span> (1982) by Michael Jackson, <span class=\"title\">Oasis</span> (1988) by Roberta Flack, and <span class=\"title\">Another Place And Time</span> (1989) by Donna Summer.</p>"}
- processinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Collection inventoried by <span class=\"name\">Nathan Evans</span>. Collection processed and described by <span class=\"name\">Ornella U. Baganizi</span>, archivist. Finding aid published in <span class=\"date\">2025</span>.</p>"}
- relatedmaterial
-
{"value"=>"<p>In the Life Archive (ITLA) miscellaneous collections, Sc MG 736.</p>"}
{"value"=>"<p><span class=\"title\">The Watermelon Woman</span> directed by Cheryl Dunye, Sc Visual DVD-2086.</p>"}
{"value"=>"<p>See the Manuscripts, Archives, and Rare Books Division for <span class=\"title\">In them We All Exist</span> (2025), a zine partly focused on Ira Jeffries.</p>"}
- sponsor
-
{"value"=>"An anonymous donor funded preliminary processing for this collection. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation supported a research library-wide grant for the digitization, and funded the Schomburg for the description and production of the finding aid as part of The Next Century of Black Studies Project."}
- revisiondesc
-
{"value"=>"Item extent notes updated to facilitate public access by Ornella U. Baganizi.", "date"=>"2026-04-22"}
- date_start
-
1982
- keydate
-
1982
- date_end
-
1997
- date_inclusive_start
-
1982
- date_inclusive_end
-
1997
- prefercite
-
{"value"=>"Ira Jeffries audio and moving image collection, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division, The New York Public Library"}