Scope and arrangement
The Janet McDonald papers, 1960-2007, document her personal experiences as an African American lesbian throughout her education, legal career, and professional accomplishments as a writer and novelist. The collection contains personal correspondence, identification cards, school records and course work, medical records, employment records, published manuscripts and articles, interviews and publicity appearances, reviews, awards, unpublished manuscripts, and notebooks. The bulk of the collection is dated 1985-2007 and includes both English and French material.
The Janet McDonald papers are arranged in two series:
-
1960-2007
The Personal series contains biographical material about McDonald's personal life, education, and legal career. The Biographical subseries includes correspondence with various colleges, therapists, and employers; letters to family and friends; passports and identification cards; business cards; resumes detailing McDonald's legal and writing careers in English and French; employment records; and obituaries and funeral materials from McDonald's death in April 2007. The Education subseries consists of school records and course work from Sands Junior High, the Harlem Preparatory School, Vassar College, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, Cornell Law School, and New York University School of Law.
-
ca. 1972-2007
The Writing series features four manuscripts of McDonald's published books and various clippings of her articles in English and French, as well as other material related to her published works. Also included are seven unpublished manuscripts, various notebooks, loose sheets of diary entries, and writing notes. There is scant information about McDonald's life as a lesbian except for in an unpublished manuscript from 2000, "Undoings in Amsterdam".