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Kittredge Cherry and Audrey Lockwood

 Collection
Identifier: IWA0759

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Scope and Contents

The Kittredge Cherry and Audrey Lockwood papers are arranged in four series: Biographical (1977-2009), Publications (1972-2010), Metropolitan Community Church (1983-2005), and Donor Notes (2010-2012).

The Biographical series (1977-2009) includes a timeline Cherry and Lockwood's life together and Christmas newsletters over the years. There is also information on Mabel Hyde Kittredge, Cherry's aunt and a partner to Lillian Wald, a nurse and social worker in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the Kittredge family, Lockwood's father, and her pet armadillo. A scrapbook encompassing the couple's life from their time as students at the University of Iowa to their careers in Japan and later in California completes the series.

The Publications series (1972-2010) makes up the bulk of the collection. Clippings taken from both Cherry and Lockwood's work provide insight into life in the Midwest and Japan in the 1970s and 1980s. Included are articles covering the recession of the early 1980s in the Business clippings and a series written by Cherry on two paycheck households filed under Miscellaneous. The Feminist Forum and Japan clippings provide insight into the international women's movement. Cherry's books: Womansword: What Japanese Words Say About Women; Hide and Speak: How to Free Ourselves from Our Secrets; Equal Rites: Lesbian and Gay Worship, Ceremonies and Celebrations; Jesus in Love: A Novel; Art That Dares: Gay Jesus, Woman Christ, and More; and Jesus in Love: At the Cross are shelved in IWA's printed works collection along with a handful of translations (see Arrangement for a complete listing).

The Metropolitan Community Church series (1983-2005) contains programs, correspondence and clippings from Cherry and Lockwood's involvement with the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches (UFMCC), particularly in San Francisco. It includes information on the AIDS crisis in California.

The Donor Notes series (2010-2012) contains documents from Cherry regarding various items in the collection, sent to the archives along with accessions.

The Artifacts series (undated) is a single folder with event nametags for both Cherry and Lockwood and an example of a pen handed out by the Metropolitan Community Church of Los Angeles following the 1994 Northridge earthquake.

The Audiovisual series (1975-2007) contains both audio- and videocassettes regarding a number of topics, including a focus on lesbian and gay spirituality. A number of recorded services from the Metropolitan Community Church, both in Los Angeles and San Francisco are present; of particular note are services where a false report of gay-bashing by a member of the MCC clergy are addressed. Also included are numerous research interviews conducted by Cherry during the process of writing her book Hide and Speak, and a few Japanese-language items.

The following books by, and translations of Kittredge Cherry are housed in the Iowa Women's Archives printed works collection:

Books:

Womansword: What Japanese Words Say About Women (Tokyo, Japan: Kodansha International, original edition, 1987).

Hide and Speak: How to Free Ourselves from Our Secrets (Harper San Francisco, original edition, 1991).

Equal Rites: Lesbian and Gay Worship, Ceremonies and Celebrations co-edited with Zalmon Sherwood; Louisville, KY: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1995).

Jesus in Love: A Novel (Berkeley, CA: AndroGyne Press, 2006).

Art That Dares: Gay Jesus, Woman Christ, and More (Berkeley, CA: AndroGyne Press, 2007).

Jesus in Love: At the Cross (Berkeley, CA: AndroGyne Press, 2008).

Translations:

Jesus in Love: Roman, German translation by Wolf Ostheeren (Toenisvorst, Germany: Edition EuQor, 2007).

Coming Out: Co ukrywac, a o czym mowic, Polish translation of Hide and Speak by translators Katarzyna Rybak and Paulina Dzwonnik (Gliwice, Poland: Helion Press, 2008).

Chinese translation of Hide and Speak (Taipei, Taiwan: Business Weekly Press, 1992).

Womansword: Nihongo wa onna o dou hyougen shite kita ka, Japanese translation by Yoko Kurihara and Kyomi Nakanishi (Tokyo, Japan: Fukutake Press, 1990).

Dates

  • Creation: 1970-2009

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

The papers are open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

The donors retain copyright of published books and articles.

Biographical / Historical

Rev. Kittredge "Kitt" Lynne Cherry, daughter of Margaret and Arthur Cherry, was born in Iowa City in 1957, before moving with her family to Clinton, Iowa, in 1972. Audrey Ellen Lockwood was also born in 1957, and grew up in Wisconsin, before moving to attend the University of Iowa in 1975. The two met during their freshman year at the university, and graduated in 1979, with Cherry receiving B.A.s in journalism and art history, and Lockwood also receiving a B.A.

Upon graduation, Cherry went to work as reporter covering business and the arts for the Quincy, Illinois, Herald-Whig until 1982.

Cherry received a Rotary International Journalism Scholarship to study abroad in 1982, and she joined Lockwood in Japan, where she (Lockwood) had been working since graduating from college. The partners spent the next three years abroad while Cherry studied at International Christian University in Tokyo, and Kobe College in Kobe. During this time, Cherry also worked as a freelance journalist and her work appeared in publications such as the Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, and the San Franciscio Chronicle.

Cherry's spiritual journey began at age 25, when she sought baptism at the Kobe Union Church following her father's death. This change also inspired her to come out, and she and Lockwood made their relationship public to family and friends before returning stateside, to San Francisco, California, in 1985.

In San Francisco, Cherry and Lockwood joined the Metropolitan Community Church (MCC), an international denomination with a focus on ministry in the LGBT community. They affirmed their dedication and commitment to each other in a church wedding ceremony at MCC San Francisco (MCC-SF) in 1987. Cherry continued to write professionally but began attending seminary and working as a member of the MCC-SF staff. She was licensed as MCC clergy in 1989, and earned a Master of Divinity from the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California in 1990. During this period, Lockwood owned and operated Naginata Associates, a business training firm specializing in courses on Japanese and international business practices.

In 1991, the pair moved to Los Angeles, where Cherry worked at MCC's international headquarters and became fully ordained as a member of the MCC clergy. She served as the church's National Ecumenical Officer until 1995, which included working with the National Council of Churches and World Council of Churches on LGBT issues. Ecumenical work led Cherry to be involved in the movement for social justice in the church, including demonstrations at the National Council of Churches after it refused membership to MCC and involvement in the 1993 March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay and Bi rights.

Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction Syndrome (CFIDS) forced Cherry to retire from her active ministry role in 1995, but she has continued to write and minister, particularly online, where she blogs and promotes LGBT spirituality at her website, JesusInLove.org, founded in 2005.

Lockwood has worked as a certified stock broker and financial planner in the Los Angeles area since 1992. She has taught topics such as money management and lesbian biographies, writes poetry, and has been involved with several businesswomen's organizations.

Extent

3.30 Linear Feet

62 audio cassettes [AC1380-1442]; one CD [d0081]; eight VHS tapes [V471-479] boxes

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

Life partners Kittredge Cherry (1957-), an author, journalist, and minister to the LGBT community, and Audrey Lockwood (1957- ), a financial planner, met as students at the University of Iowa in 1975 and lived and worked in Japan before settling in California.

Method of Acquisition

The papers (donor no. 1178) were donated by Kittredge Cherry in 2009 and subsequent years.

Author
Christine Mastalio, 2010; Margaret Halterman, 2012; Abbie Steuhm, 2021.
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the Iowa Women's Archives Repository

Contact:
100 Main Library
University of Iowa Libraries
Iowa City IA 52242 IaU
319-335-5068
319-335-5900 (Fax)