Rakouskas, Eileen McCarthy
Eileen McCarthy Rakouskas Collection
2003-2005
MS 1045
1 box
(0.5 linear foot)
Special Collections and University Archives, UMass Amherst Libraries
Eileen McCarthy Rakouskas is a personal historian and the
founder of Mosaic Memoirs, a service that assists people in recording, editing, and
producing oral histories, memoirs, and other family stories. A graduate of Mount Holyoke College and Holyoke Community College, she has been particularly interested in recording "ordinary lives" and lives connected with social justice struggles.
On May 17, 2004, the Supreme Judicial Court ruled in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health that it was unconstitutional to prohibit same-sex marriage in Massachusetts. On the first day of legalized same-sex marriage, Rakouskas conducted interviews with couples waiting in line to apply for marriage licenses, city clerks, and others.
Her collection also includes an assortment of other materials documenting the first day of full marriage equality.
English
Eileen McCarthy Rakouskas is a personal historian and the founder of Mosaic Memoirs, a service that assists people in recording, editing, and producing oral histories, memoirs, and other family stories. A graduate of Mount Holyoke College and Holyoke Community College, she has been particularly interested in recording "ordinary lives" and lives connected with social justice struggles.
On May 17, 2004, the Supreme Judicial Court in Massachusetts ruled in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health that it was unconstitutional to prohibit same-sex marriage. Active in promoting marriage equality, Rakouskas conducted interviews and collected other materials documenting the first day of legal same sex marriage in the Commonwealth. The cheering heard often in the background during the interviews occurred when couples exited city hall with their licenses.
The collection is open for research.
Cite as: Eileen McCarthy Rakouskas Collection (MS 1045). Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries.
Gift of Eileen McCarthy Rakouskas, June 2018 (2018-100).
Civil rights
LGBTQ
With one exception, the interviews have been digitized and may be heard online through SCUA's digital repository, Credo.
Processed by I. Eliot Wentworth, April 2019.
Same-sex marriage--Massachusetts
Audiocassettes
Compact discs
Sound recordings
Interviews
2004 May 17
Cahillane, Deborah and Katherine Hayford2004 May 1700:05:39
Chicopee City Clerk (Nancy A. Mulvey)2004 May 1700:04:32
Conley, William (lobbyist for Massachusetts Gay and Lesbian Caucus)2004 May 1700:04:39
Denny, Elizabeth and Julie Pokela2004 May 1700:05:19
Durand, Dorothy and Dee Lock2004 May 1700:11:43
Feldman, Nina and Sylvia K. Vasquez2004 May 1700:03:47
Galligan, John and Rick Koonce2004 May 1700:15:12
Garrow, Suzanne (attorney, Women's Bar Association)2004 May 1700:02:42
Gray, Susan and Deborah Hudson2004 May 1700:10:20
Knapp, Liza B. and Laura Wondolowski2004 May 1700:06:43
Koonce, Rick PFLAG2004 May 1700:00:28
Libby, Doreen and Joanne Rome2004 May 1700:11:04
McCoy, Joe and Stan McCoy2004 May 1700:07:50
Merrell, Rachel and Douglas Koll2004 May 1700:05:03
Nortonsmith, Heidi and Gina Northonsmith [applause for and public comment]2004 May 1700:03:06
The Nortonsmiths were one of six couples who sued the state of Massachusetts for
the right to marry.
Osherow, Marjorie and Gretchen Brockmeyer2004 May 1700:08:47
Raging
Grannies2004 May
1700:01:52
Rankin, Jeffrey and David Stevens2004 May 1700:09:08
Roth, Stacy [consultant for non-profits in LGBTQ community]2004 May 1700:06:03
Sorell, J. Mary (JM JP), Justice of the Peace2004 May 1700:02:45
Sorrentino, Deborah and Rosemary Polimine (Springfield, Mass.)2004 May 1700:14:28
Springfield City Clerk (William Metzger)2004 May 1700:02:26
Wilkins-Carmody, Donna and Kathy Wilkins-Carmody2004 May 1700:11:14
Series 2. Documents
2003-2005
Correspondence
2003-2004
Re: support for marriage equality; distribution of project.
Marriage equality: background
2003-2005
Materials on the struggle for marriage in Massachusetts. Includes some ephemera relating to marriage equality, including Northamton Pride vistor and resource guide, equal marriage stickers.
News clippings
2004 Feb.-Sept.
Project management
2004