Archives West Finding Aid

The collection is organized into eight series that follow Alice Sheldon's life in approximate chronological order: Family and Personal, Art, Military Service, CIA, Psychology, Science Fiction, Women, and Writing other than science fiction. These series are drawn from Alice's grouping of materials, and many of the folder titles are hers.

Alice Sheldon's diaries and self-analysis are contained in the Family and Personal series of the collection, along with her correspondence with her parents, Mary and Herbert Bradley, and with family friend Harry Bigelow. Alice's drawings done as a child, unpublished poetry and short stories written through the 1950s are in this series. Also included in this series are a wide range of additional materials such as family photographs, newspaper society columns and photos, and some of Mary Bradley's publications and correspondence about their trips through Africa. Most of Alice's correspondence on feminist issues is scattered through letters to colleagues and friends in the science fiction series, but there is also material in the Family and Personal series and in the Women series.

The Art series contains drawings, illustrations, essays, correspondence about art, and reviews from her work for the Chicago Sun. It also contains her manuscript titled "The Psychology of Value in the Graphic Arts". This is a study of how one physically sees art, and what affects one's perception of a picture or other piece of art.

The Military Service series contains Alice Davey's assignment documents, military handbooks, pamphlets, and related correspondence for her service in the WAACs from August 1942 to July 1943, and for her service in the WACs until 1946. There are also drafts of military reports she wrote. As a WAC, Alice Davey worked on interpretation of aerial reconnaissance photos. She also co-authored training publications on map and aerial photo interpretation. This series of the collection contains her manuscript drafts, publications, aerial photos, and maps. Her last military assignment was intelligence gathering activities in East Germany before the Russian occupation. Her Report on German Air Force Photo Intelligence is in the collection.

The CIA Years series includes additional materials on photo intelligence and photo reconnaissance interpretation. Also included is her draft of an intelligence gathering operations manual, and reports analyzing and forecasting communist activities in Africa and Indonesia.

The Psychology series contains her notes as a student, notes for classes she taught, and her research notes, manuscript drafts for her thesis, and journal articles. Correspondence with Richard Walk, Rudolf Arnheim, and other researchers in the field with whom Alice Sheldon continued professional contact is in this series. There are also extensive notes and drawings related to visual perception.

The Science Fiction series contains Tiptree's science fiction manuscripts and the related correspondence; fan letters, both to her and from her to other writers; correspondence with friends in the field and often, copies of their publications. This group of correspondence with other writers is a rich resource for the researcher on the topics of writing and personal relationships Sheldon developed over the course of her life as a writer. There is also a collection of science fiction magazines, newsletters, fanzines, and journals.

The series title "Women" comes from Sheldon's labeled files. Some of her science fiction correspondence was also sorted by gender. This series contains correspondence, a lecture, manuscripts, and topic notes. The files are sorted alphabetically by type, then by correspondent's name, the title, or the subject.

The "Writing Miscellaneous" series contains correspondence, notes, essays, and documents related to writing and publication but not covered in other categories.

Large documents, newspapers, and maps are stored in the Oversize Miscellaneous series.

The Audio and Video Recordings series contains 14 audio tapes including Alice Sheldon's notes on science fiction stories, audio letters to her mother, and a tape from Ursula Le Guin. A Wiscon 21 convention dramatization of The Man Who Walked Home, an adaptation of The Girl Who Was Plugged, and a copy of The Screwfly Solution are the three video recordings.

The Photograph series contains book jacket and promotional photos of Alice Sheldon, photos of herself and her husband at home, family photos of herself as a child and of her parents, and a few photos of friends.