Oral History Interview with Lina Van Brunt: Video, Eugene Lesbian Oral History Project

Title: Oral History Interview with Lina Van Brunt: Video, Eugene Lesbian Oral History Project
LC Subject: Lesbianism Lesbian community
Local Collection ID: Coll 520
Repository: University of Oregon. Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Interviewee: Van Brunt, Lina
Interviewer: Long, Linda, 1956- Raiskin, Judith L.
Description: The Eugene Lesbian Oral History Project collection consists of interviews of 83 people for the Eugene Lesbian Oral History Project, conducted by Professor Judith Raiskin and Curator Linda Long at the University of Oregon starting in the summer of 2018.
Abstract: Lina was born in 1943 in St. Louis, Missouri, and grew up in Tallahassee, Florida. She graduated from high school in 1961 and went to college, majoring in English. After college, she moved to New York City, where she worked for Time magazine as a “copy girl,” making $75 a week. She discusses life in New York. She had a boyfriend, who was a hippie. She was attracted to a counterculture life. She moved to San Francisco and northern California, where she met a group of lesbians. She took a carpentry class, and fell in love with it. She moved to Albion, California, and met the women who published Country Women magazine. There, she heard of the WomanShare Collective, near Grants Pass, Oregon and visited the Collective, which she found to be a welcoming place. Lina describes becoming a lesbian separatist, and living at Cabbage Lane, lesbian separatist land. She discusses Ruth and Jean Mountaingrove, Madrone, and Bethroot, all members of the southern Oregon lesbian land community. Lina moved to Eugene, which she refers to as a “lesbian wonderland.” She initially lived in a lesbian communal household as well as in cabins on Lorane Highway. Lina describes the culture in Eugene at that time. There were many cooperatives and collectives, including Starflower Natural Foods & Botanicals, and Gertrude’s Café, and Amazon Kung Fu. She joined Crescent Construction, an all-lesbian construction company, founded by Rena Klein and Susan Baker, who had studied architecture at the University of Oregon. Lina became romantic partners with Rakar West, and they moved to the Oregon Coast where they started a graphic design company. Lina also worked painting billboards. They moved back to Eugene, continuing their graphic design work. They printed campaign materials to help fight against the anti-gay ballot measures in Oregon. Lina concludes her interview by discussing the nature of the lesbian community in Eugene, and the challenges of aging.
Subject: Ballot Measure 8; Ballot Measure 9; Communism; Counterculture; Drescher, Marlene; Gay liberation movement; Oregon; Graphic Design; Homosexuality — Law and legislation – Oregon; Lesbian land; Lesbian separatism – Oregon; Lesbianism; Mountaingrove, Jean; Mountaingrove, Ruth; No on 9; Oregon Coast; Time Magazine.
Location: University of Oregon >> Lane County >> Oregon >> United States
Date: 2018-08-24
Identifier: Coll520_do060
Rights: In Copyright
Dc Rights Holder: University of Oregon Libraries
Local Collection Name: Eugene Lesbian Oral History Project
Type: Moving Image
Format: video/mp4
Set: Eugene Lesbian Oral History Project
Institution: University of Oregon