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No special access restriction applies.

Preferred Citation

[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], Womynkind Foundation Newsletters and Other Records, A&M 4515, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Transfer from West Virginia University Libraries, Periodicals, Thobois, Mike, 2021 September 15

Biographical / Historical

The Womynkind Foundation was formed out of the desires of three Charleston, West Virginia women - Debby McHenry, Elaine Moore, and Barbara Steinke - to bring more women's music to the Charleston area in the spring of 1988. Their first concert featured Holly Near, an American singer-songwriter known for her use of music in activism, and was attended by over 700 people.

This same group of women, spearheaded by Barbara Steinke, continued to meet throughout the rest of 1988 and 1989 and hosted monthly women's potlucks. In response to the growing attendance of these potlucks and the desire to create a women's center in the Kanawha Valley, the Womynkind Foundation started a newsletter, the Womynkind's Community Newsletter to spread events of interest for women and feature women's thoughts, poetry, and experiences. Steinke was the first editor and publisher of the newsletter, with the first issue releasing in February 1990 as the Women's Community Newsletter . The newsletter was named as the Women's Community Newsletter under its first issue and was renamed as the Womynkind's Community Newsletter for all subsequent issues.

Between 1990 and 1994, the newsletter remained a popular staple for feminist women in the Charleston area, with a peak of about 500 mailed recipients. Besides promoting the creation of the Women's Center of West Virginia (which was officially incorporated in July 1991), the newsletter featured women's events from across West Virginia, interviews with women in the community, women's commentary, poetry, and politics relevant to women. The Womynkind's Community Newsletter remained a separate entity from the Women's Center of West Virginia until November 1992, when the newsletter was brought under the latter's fold.

The newsletter was particularly focused on lesbian issues, and the group hosted a discussion and support group called Sisters in Bloom for lesbians.

Women featured in the newsletter include Faith Losaert, an activist from the civil rights movement; Charlotte Jean Pritt, a representative from West Virginia who served in the West Virginia House of Delegates from 1984 to 1988 and the West Virginia State Senate from 1988 to 1992; Kate Clinton, a comedian focusing on lesbian/gay humor; Suzanne Pharr, who co-founded Southerners on New Ground in 1993; Pam Nixon, an advocate for environmental safety and board member of People Concerned About Chemical Safety; and Robin Chandler Duke, best known for founding the United National Fund for Population Activities and serving as the United States Ambassador to Norway in 2000-2001.

In February 1994, Barbara Steinke stepped down as the newsletter's publisher and editor in order to attend school at the University of Alabama. That same year, the group hosted their last concert. Interest in the Womynkind Foundation waned following Steinke's departure, and previous efforts to find a physical location for the Women's Center of West Virginia stalled. Although the newsletter continued to be published under various editors and publishers until at least 1997, the prevalence of the Womynkind Foundation continued to falter. The Women's Center of West Virginia, Inc. was formally terminated in 2009.

Scope and Contents

This collection contains a full run of the Women's Community Newsletter and Womynkind's Community Newsletter published by the Womynkind Foundation and the Women's Center of West Virginia, Inc. between 1990 and 1997. The Women's Community Newsletter was renamed to the Womynkind's Community Newsletter following the first issue. It also contains budgets for monthly potluck dinners hosted by the Womynkind Foundation between 1990 and 1991.

The newsletters feature short stories, poetry, art, local events, commentary, advertisements, and flyers created by local female and LGBTQ+ authors, as well as occassional features from nationally relevant writings and events.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• LGBT activism
• Lesbians--United States
• West Virginia Feminist Activist Collection
• Women in community organization
• Women's rights