Jack, Jill, 1957-
Dates
- Existence: 1957-
Biography
Political activist Jill Jack was born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1957 to Mary T. (Hayes) Jack and James A. Jack, a detective in the Chicago police department. Jill Jack's parents divorced when she was young, and Jack and her two older brothers were raised by their mother, who was an office manager. Jack graduated from Taft High School in Chicago and moved to Iowa City, Iowa, in 1975 to attend the University of Iowa; she received a BA in 1981 and an MA in 1985. In 1995, Jack earned an MLS from Indiana University. Jack and her partner, Diane Finnerty, have one daughter, Jennifer. Jack and Finnerty were the second couple to register with the city of Iowa City as domestic partners.
Jill Jack's political activism began in the civil rights, anti-war, and environmental movements of the 1960s and 1970s, which led her to work on George McGovern's presidential campaign in 1972. After she moved to Iowa City, Jack became involved with the feminist and lesbian movements. She worked with organizations such as the Women's Resource and Action Center (WRAC) and the Iowa City-based publication Common Lives/Lesbian Lives, and on issues and projects including Women Take Back the Night, the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), Safe Ride, and the domestic violence shelter. Jack headed the Lesbian Alliance from 1978 to 1992, and co-founded the local Gay/Lesbian Pride month celebration. In addition, Jack worked at the Plains Woman Bookstore and played on softball teams sponsored by the Emma Goldman Clinic, Plains Woman Bookstore, and WRAC. Jack's political work illuminates the connections among peace, women's, gay, environmental, racial, and economic issues.
Jack's professional work has included diverse jobs such as factory worker, waitress, bookseller, and office worker. After receiving her degree in library science, Jack worked as a librarian at Cornell College, the State Historical Society of Iowa, and Kirkwood Community College. Jack became the "unofficial" historian of the women's and lesbian community in Iowa City, collecting and saving papers and posters documenting that community's activities, struggles, and triumphs. In 1995, she began her own business, Paper Trails, as a freelance archivist and consultant.
Found in 3 Collections and/or Records:
Catherine Lewis papers
Interviews and field reports prepared by Lewis for the Smithsonian Institution's Festival of American Folklore.
Jill Jack papers
Oral history with Dale McCormick, Aaron Silander, and Jill Jack, 2017
This oral history consists of seven digital videos created by Dale McCormick, Aaron Silander, and Jill Jack. The videos are each a few minutes long. The participants variously interview one another or tell stories individually. The videos were recorded just prior to the 2017 Iowa City Feminist Reunion.
Two videos feature the participants promoting the reunion and its oral history programming. Two videos feature McCormick and Silander discussing a cartoon Silander created for the Ain't I a Woman feminist newspaper published in Iowa City in the early 1970s; the two videos are very similar, with one conducted in front of a blue screen. One video features Jack discussing a bomb threat against the Emma Goldman Clinic in the late 1970s and the feminist community's response. One video features McCormick and Jack discussing the DIY culture of the Iowa City feminist community. One video features McCormick describing how her business Bidet Plumbing got its name.
Additional filters:
- Type
- Collection 2
- Archival Object 1
- Subject
- Archives (groupings) 2
- Personal papers 2
- Photographs 2
- 1961-1970 1
- 1971-1980 1
- 1991-2000 1
- 2001-2010 1
- 20th century 1
- 4-H clubs 1
- Artists 1
- Artists and community 1
- Bisexuals 1
- Cultural artifacts 1
- Gays 1
- Iowa 1
- Iowa City (Iowa) 1
- Lesbians 1
- Musicians 1
- Oral histories 1
- Political activists 1
- Posters 1
- Quilting 1
- Quiltmakers 1
- Rural women 1
- Sexual minorities 1
- Softball for women 1
- Softball players 1
- Sound recordings 1
- Sports for girls 1
- Sports for women 1
- Transgender people 1
- Twentieth century 1
- Volunteers 1
- Women -- Political activity 1
- Women -- Societies and clubs 1
- Women and the arts 1
- Women in nonprofit organizations 1
- Women's rights 1 + ∧ less