Demonstration at MoMA, Correspondence and Publicity, 1984-1985

This collection consists of the artwork, photographs, posters, clippings, correspondence, flyers, newspapers, newsletters, publications, t-shirts, ribbons, and cards that document the work and life of artist and activist Sabra Moore in New York City from 1969-1996. Letters about decisions regarding exhibitions, demonstrations, and magazine/newsletter content related to art and feminist organizations compose the bulk of Moore's correspondence.


Photographs of Moore and the artists with whom she most often collaborated, as well as the artist activist groups that she participated in make up the majority of the photograph collection. Many of the people and places in the photographs have been identified and labeled by Moore. This inventory can be made accessible to researchers. Moore was very actively involved in the Heresies Collective, thus the collection has an extensive number of Heresies Magazines and other documents related to the organization. The collection also includes newspaper clippings announcing exhibition openings and mentioning various demonstrations that Moore helped organize and lead.


The collection contains pieces of original art created by Moore in collaboration with other artists and artifacts from Moore's demonstration at MoMA in 1984. For example, the following artists contributed to the Reconstructed Codex: Emma Amos, Frances Buschke, Camille Billops, Josely Carvalho, Catherine, Correa, Christine Costan, Colleen Cutschall, Sharon Gilbert, Kathy Grove, Marina Gutierrez, Virginia Jaramillo, Kazuko, Sabra Moore, Helen Oji, Catalina Parra, Linda Peer, Liliana Porter, Jaune Quick-To-See Smith, Nancy Spero, Holly Zox. Moore made color Xerox copies of the Codex, which are now in the Brooklyn Museum and MoMA collections. The Archives also has a xeroxed copy of the Codex.


The ephemera that document the 1984 demonstration against MoMA consists of ribbons, badges, cards, photographs and a wooden Model MoMA. The ribbons were worn as sashes and cards--on which artists names and gender representation statistics were written--were stapled to the sashes. This part of the collection also contains over 600 cards with women artist names written or printed on them that were put into the Model MoMA as part of the demonstration against MoMA in 1984.