Women, 1957-1975

Now in a second printing in 2000, this book originally published in 1981 continues to give a look at some of the roles women traditionally filled in the decades after World War II. The photographer points out, "In the years these images were taken, very few middle-class women worked outside of their homes. The roles then assigned to women separated them from business, from politics and from each other." Weston Naef, then assistant curator of photography at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, selected two of these images, Nan Wood Graham, Model for American Gothic, 1975, and Junior League Christmas Party, 1962 for the museum's photography collection. Many of the images have gentle satire such as the Coe College Faculty Wives' Club with a painting of a semi-nude by Kunyioshi and disapproving members. The photographer says, "During the years that I took these photographs, I did not realize how they documented the limited roles of women in that era. I wanted to explore their lives to see why my own life seemed so alienated and different from theirs in so many instances. With the birth of the women's movement in the 1960s, these photographs ultimately defined some of the social conditions of this era. The photographs have been exhibited at the New York City Camera Club and in many galleries. Paper bound, 8-1/2x11", 72 pages.