Sexual Fantasies and Fanmail, 1967 - 2009
Scope and Contents
Series 1, Sexual Fantasies and Fanmail, 1967-2009, contains sexual fantasy letters and fan mail sent to Nancy Friday from across the world. In the early 70s, Friday created personal ads in magazines and newspapers soliciting sexual fantasies via mail. We have attempted to identify for which Friday work letters were solicited; this is unclear in some cases. Some letters in this series do not include sexual fantasies at all, instead recounting personal life stories from the senders’ lives as well gratitude to Friday for her work’s impact on their lives. Nancy Friday used letters she received over many decades, publishing letters she received early in her career in her later works. Some letters in this series contain Friday’s annotations; she also published partial or entire letters in her works. Additionally, Friday used the real first names of respondents in her early works. Other letters included in this series were unpublished or left unopened. General fantasy topics that appear throughout the letters include masturbation, roleplay, orgasms, oral sex, group sex, and BDSM.
Please also be advised that the Nancy Friday collection contains a large amount of written material that includes references to sexual assault, incest, pedophilia, transphobia, homophobia, and racist depictions of Black people and people of color, among other challenging topics, which are especially present within this series.
Dates
- Creation: 1967 - 2009
Access
The users of this collection may not publish, photocopy, transcribe, disseminate, or photograph any personally identifiable information (PII) associated with the individuals writing to Friday about sexual fantasies, personal experiences, or other topics for inclusion in her work, including but not limited to: addresses, phone numbers, legal first and last names or initials, photographs or likenesses, birthdays, and employment/educational information. Materials written by minors (those who were under 18 years of age at the time of writing these materials) are restricted until January 1st, 2072. This includes a small portion of the materials in Series 1, Sexual Fantasies and Fanmail. All users of the Nancy Friday collection will need to sign an NDA (latest version: https://archives.barnard.edu/sites/default/files/inline-files/NancyFridayNDA2023.pdf) that ensures they have read and agreed to the restrictions in place with these materials before accessing the collection.
Extent
From the Collection: 35.31 Linear Feet (76 Hollinger boxes, 2 paige boxes, 2 oversized boxes, 2 cassette boxes, 2 VHS boxes)
Language
From the Collection: English
Repository Details
Part of the Barnard Archives and Special Collections Repository