Original 1969–1971 Black Feminist Manuscript Archive — “Gay Black Divorcee” by P For Sale

Offered here is a substantial, original, and unpublished manuscript archive tentatively titled Gay Black Divorcee, authored by Pat Adams, dating from circa 1969–early 1970s. The archive documents a pre-publication editorial process involving IBM Newsmagazine, and contains extensive typed drafts, chapter outlines, revisions, and handwritten editorial annotations.This is primary-source material, not a later copy or transcript.What This Archive ContainsThe collection includes (but may not be limited to):Complete and partial chapter drafts (Chapters I–IX)A full outline & chapter synopsis page bearing the handwritten titleMultiple IBM Newsmagazine production sheets with:Slug lines (“Great Expectations,” “Divorcee”)“OK FOR RELEASE” fieldsLine counts, editor initials, and layout markingsNumerous authorial and editorial handwritten correctionsForward drafts and alternate versionsInternal narrative continuity across chaptersEvidence of corporate editorial vetting and gatekeepingSeveral pages display handwritten marginalia, strike-throughs, word substitutions, and structural revisions, clearly identifying this as a working manuscript, not a finished galley.Historical & Scholarly SignificanceThis archive represents an early Black feminist narrative voice addressing:Divorce and remarriageGender, sexuality, and powerRespectability politicsBlack women navigating white corporate and academic institutionsMedia, publishing, and editorial control in the late Civil Rights / early post-Civil Rights eraThe manuscript’s tone and subject matter place it in conversation with early Black women’s nonfiction and feminist discourse emerging just prior to broader commercial acceptance in the 1970s.Materials of this depth—unpublished, editorially annotated, institutionally contextualized—are rarely available on the open market.ConditionOverall condition: Good to Very Good (archival working condition)Expected age-appropriate toning and handling wearMinor edge wear, light creasingNo known missing pages from the represented chaptersInk and pencil annotations remain clear and legibleCondition is consistent with professional editorial use and long-term storage.ProvenanceOrigin: United StatesDate range: c. 1969–early 1970sInstitutional context: IBM corporate editorial environmentAcquired as part of a larger historical paper collectionNo restoration, facsimiles, or modern reproductions are included.Ideal BuyersThis archive will appeal to:University special collectionsBlack studies, gender studies, and media studies departmentsMuseums and cultural institutionsAdvanced private collectors of Black intellectual historyResearchers of 20th-century publishing and feminist nonfiction