Scope and Contents
The Jessica Salmonson papers are comprised primarily of draft and published versions of her manuscripts and other works, and correspondence.
Drafts of the Tomoe Gozen Saga, and the fanzines and chapbooks contained in the collection, may be of special interest to researchers.
Dates
- 1973-1993
Creator
- Salmonson, Jessica Amanda (Author, Person)
Language of Materials
Collection materials are in English.
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open to the public. Collection must be used in Special Collections and University Archives Reading Room. Collection or parts of collection may be stored offsite. Please contact Special Collections and University Archives in advance of your visit to allow for transportation time.
Conditions Governing Use
Property rights reside with Special Collections and University Archives, University of Oregon Libraries. Copyright resides with the creators of the documents or their heirs. All requests for permission to publish collection materials must be submitted to Special Collections and University Archives. The reader must also obtain permission of the copyright holder.
Biographical / Historical
Jessica Salmonson was born January 6, 1950 in Seattle, Washington. She spent her early childhood with her parents, who worked in a traveling carnival - her mother as a sword eater, and step-father as a fire breather. Sadly, she was orphaned at the age of seven, and spent several years in a foster home with her older sister. She ran away when she was twelve, and was subsequently placed in group homes, before regaining contact with her father and his new wife, Lek, a Thai Buddhist nun.
Salmonson's writing career began in the early 1970’s, with her work as an editor and writer for a small press magazine, The Literary Magazine of Fantasy and Terror. Salmonson used her role at the magazine, which served as a forum for feminist issues, to openly document and discuss her gender transition. In 1985, Salmonson left the Literary Magazine of Fantasy and Terror to work as the editor for the literary zine Fantasy Macabre (1985- 1997).
Salmonson's first significant publication - Amazons! - won the 1980 World Fantasy Award. Just a year later, her work Tomoe Gozen - the first of a trilogy - was published to acclaim (a revised version of the novel, re-titled The Disfavored Hero, was published in 1999). In 1989, she won a Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Science Fiction/Fantasy, for her editorial work on the anthrology What Did Miss Darrington See?: An Anthology of Feminist Supernatural Fiction.Salmonson's story collections include A Silver Thread of Madness (1989); The Mysterious Doom and Other Ghostly Tales of the Pacific Northwest (1992); Phantom Waters: Northwest Legends of Rivers, Lakes, and Shores (1995); and The Eleventh Jaguarandi and Other Mysterious Persons (coll 1995).
Her works of poetry include: The Black Crusader and Other Poems of Horror (1979, chap); Cheap Present (1980, chap); On the Shores of Eternity (1981, chap); Feigned Death and Other Sorceries (1983, chap); Innocent of Evil: Poems in Prose (1984, chap); The Patient Child (1985, chap); Fantasies in Black and White (1987, chap); A Celestial Occurrence (1991, chap); The Goddess Under Siege (1992, chap); Songs of the Maenads (1993, chap); The Horn of Tara (1995, chap); and Lake of the Devil: Poems of Morosity and Jest (1995, chap).
Salmonson lives in the Pacific Northwest.
[source: Clute, John and John Grant. Encyclopedia of Fantasy. Palgrave Macmillan: 1997.]
Extent
7.5 linear feet (15 containers)
Abstract
The papers of Jessica Salmonson, American author and editor of fantasy and horror fiction and poetry, are comprised of manuscripts and other published material, correspondence, subject/research files, clippings and ephemera, media, and photographs.
Arrangement
Collection is organized into the following series:
Series I: Manuscripts
Subseries A: Drafts
Subseries B: Published versions
Series II: Correspondence
Subseries A: Incoming
Subseries B: Outgoing
Series III: Subject Files
Series IV: Other Published Works
Subseries A: Fanzines and Chapbooks
Subseries B: Works by Other Authors
Series V: Clippings and Ephemera
Series VI: Media and Photographs
- Authors, American -- 20th century Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Authors, American -- Oregon Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Fantasy fiction -- Women authors Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Feminist fiction, American -- Authorship Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Science fiction -- Periodicals Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Science fiction -- Women authors Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Science fiction, American -- Authorship Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Transgender people Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Women authors, American -- Oregon Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Title
- Guide to the Jessica Salmonson papers
- Status
- Revise Description
- Author
- Anna Fleming and Rachel Lilley.
- Date
- 2016
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Finding aid is written in English
Repository Details
Part of the University of Oregon Libraries, Special Collections and University Archives Repository
