Kathy Freeperson (Kathryn Cleaves) Papers

Collection

Identifier: MSS 0644

Staff Only

Scope and Content

The Kathy Freeperson Papers (1975-1991) contain her correspondence, assorted writings, miscellaneous materials, and a 600-page manuscript. There is correspondence from several individuals relating to Freeperson’s personal and professional life. The papers include a number of poems, some of which are numbered in what appears to be an order for a hypothetical published collection. Of special interest is the large manuscript in the collection, which is made up of journal entries from 1974 to 1976 and was at one point to be published. Also included in the papers are activism relating to the University of Florida, with a few papers relating to the proposed closure of the Women’s Clinic and the 1990 killings of five college students.

Dates

Creation: 1975 - 1991

Creator

Freeperson, Kathy (Kathy Cleaves), 1947-2001. (Person)

Access

The collection is open for research.

Biographical/Historical Note

Kathy Freeperson was born Kathy Telesco in Rome, NY, in 1947 to an Italian American family. She earned a bachelor’s degree from New York State University, and a master’s from Catholic University in Washington D.C. Her chosen last name was adopted after a long court battle which ended with her successfully divorcing her then husband. Freeperson lived for a number of years in Tampa, helping to found Tampa NOW, STOP RAPE, and the Tampa Feminist Guerrilla Theatre. She spent 10 years at the theater, where she wrote, directed, and produced plays. She also helped set up the State of Florida’s first anti-rape, anti-battering services in the Tampa Women’s Center. In 1979, she moved to Gainesville, where she continued her activism, serving on the Human Relations Advisory Board and the Gainesville Commission on the Status of Women. Freeperson was published in many periodicals and collections, including If I Had a Hammer, Sinister Wisdom, and Chrysalis. She died on March 26th, 2001, in Gainesville, Florida due to complications from diabetes.