Thank-you! To the Women’s Community [A Woman’s Place]

Athol, New York: Retreat for Women, Inc., ca. 1980. Offset. 8 ½ x 11 in. Very good. Item #10388

Flyer promoting upcoming events at A Woman’s Place, the feminist commune in Upstate New York, and thanking supporters and funders.

Though undated, this flyer was likely produced later in the commune’s eight-year existence, given the reference to Retreat for Women, Inc., which they incorporated in later years to formalize the community’s legal status.

Operating from 1974 to 1982 in Athol, New York, the commune was founded by eight women and their children. The commune was a popular spot for women visitors and weekenders from New York and Boston, who came for workshops and retreats. Topics of programs promoted here include alternative healthcare, assertiveness training, massage workshop, and a workshop for single mothers.

Of particular note is “Salsa Soul Weekend,” a weekend with Salsa Soul Sisters, the first women of color and Black lesbian organization in America - tracing the intersection of Black lesbian and lesbian communitarian movements.

Despite raising money from visitors and funders such as the Family and Women’s Advocacy Service of Schenectady, the commune was unable to remain financially viable and closed in 1982.

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