Roberta Perkins papers

MLMSS 11845

fonds

1960s-2010

Textual Records, Clippings, Graphic Materials, Photographs, Drawings

9646336

3.95 metres of textual material (22 boxes and 1 outsize folder)

Roberta Perkins (1940-2018) was an Australian sociologist, author and activist for transgender and sex worker rights. Her Macquarie University honours dissertation was published in 1983 as 'The drag queen scene: transsexuals in Kings Cross'. Other publications followed including 'Female prostitutes in visible prostitution in inner-city Sydney' (1985) and 'Working girls: prostitutes, their life and social control' (1991). She established Tiresias House, the first refuge for transgender people in Australia, which was later renamed the Gender Centre. Perkins was a founding member of the Australian Prostitutes Collective NSW, which advocated for the decriminalisation of sex work and the improvement of sex workers' lives. The collective ceased operation about 1990 and its work was continued by the Sex Workers Outreach Project.

References:
A Gender Variance Who's Who. https://zagria.blogspot.com (accessed 9 June 2020)
Library acquisition file

The papers were bequeathed by Roberta Perkins to the Sex Workers Outreach Project, where some preliminary arrangement was undertaken.

BOX 1
Personal papers: diary, 1979; business cards and membership cards; photocopy of autobiographical notes regarding surgery, 1980; notebook used as diary, 1997; photographs
Papers relating to study and employment at the University of New South Wales and Macquarie University, other job applications, 1991-1996; curriculum vitae, 1991; list of publications by Perkins, 1992
Memoranda of agreement relating to published works, 1983, 1989
Personal and professional correspondence, and notes, 1979-2004

BOX 2
Personal and professional correspondence, 1982-2006
Correspondence relating to publishing ‘Call girls’, 2005-2008
Printouts of email correspondence, 1995-1996

BOX 3
‘Working girls: normality and diversity among female prostitution in Sydney’, 1988. Bound thesis in 2 volumes, submitted for Master of Arts (Honours), Macquarie University

BOXES 4-5
‘Working girls’, 1986-1988. Draft and final manuscripts for thesis, with supporting material

BOX 6
‘Working girls’ survey, 1987. Includes completed questionnaires, notes on methodology, analysis of results, thesis summary and proposal

BOX 7
‘Red light profession: female prostitution in Sydney’, 1983. Various drafts, publisher agreement

BOX 8
Further Roberta Perkins writings:
‘Female prostitution in Sydney: an overview’, 1985. Typescript draft with editorial comments
‘Prospeak’ draft manuscripts, correspondence, research material, 1988-1991
Untitled draft manuscript for book (part only), no date
Various book and script proposals, drafts of articles for magazines, 1988-1991
‘Submission of rights for Sioux Nation’, no date. Student essay

BOX 9
Further Roberta Perkins writings:
‘Trafficking: Chinese and other migrant sex workers in Australia’, 2009-2010. Includes drafts, notes
‘Sex working in the Middle Ages’ and ‘Sex working in early modern times’, ca. 2002
‘Policing prostitution’, no date. Public lecture
Various other drafts, articles, presentations, 1985-1998

BOX 10
Land and Environment Court cases, 1997-1998
Papers relating to conferences, seminars and exhibitions, 1988-2002. Includes correspondence, registration documents, copies of conference papers, promotional material

BOX 11
Papers relating to the Australian Prostitutes Collective (NSW), 1985-1988. Includes correspondence, reports, submissions, publications
Papers relating to the Australian Prostitutes Collective (Victoria), 1988-1989
Papers relating to the Sex Workers Outreach Project, including ‘Workers handbook’, 1992-1997

BOX 12
Papers relating to Australian organisations: an advisory group for multipurpose youth centre at Kings Cross, 1985-1986; Australian Society of Sex Educators, Researchers and Therapists, 1883-1990; AIDS Drug Information Collective, 1985-1986; Southern (and South-Eastern) Sydney Area Health Service Sex Industry Project, 1995-2000; Australian Transsexual Association, 1985; Prostitutes Rights Organisation for Sex Workers, 1988-1996; Scarlet Alliance, 1995-2009; Sex Industry Advisory Council, 2000; Sex Workers Rights Action Coalition, 2007

BOX 13
Papers relating to overseas sex worker organisations: English Collective of Prostitutes correspondence, newsletters, legislation, press releases, journal articles, press clippings, 1979-1989; European sex worker organisations, 1985-1989; North American sex worker organisations, 1984-1997

BOXES 14-15
Papers relating to legislation on sex work, including the Summary Offences Act, Prostitution Regulation Act, Disorderly Houses Act, 1983-1999. Includes correspondence, lobby group records, submissions, court judgements, copies of articles and copies of relevant Acts and Bills

BOX 16
Research material, mainly photocopies of articles and book chapters, on sex workers and the history of prostitution, 1960s-2008

BOXES 17-18
Various printed reports relating mainly to prostitution laws and sex worker health, 1983-2005

BOX 19
Printed books and serials mainly relating to sex work, 1974-1997

BOX 20
News clippings relating to sex work, 1981-2008

BOX 21 - RESTRICTED
Parliament of New South Wales Select Committee of the Legislative Assembly upon Prostitution questionnaires, police statement, records of evidence, submissions, 1977-1983

BOX 22 – RESTRICTED
‘Ugly mug’ lists, 1985-1996
Australian Prostitutes Collective membership records (photocopy), 1986-1987
Signed petitions withdrawing support from the Australian Prostitutes Collective management, 1988
Raw data from questionnaires, no date
‘Profile of a call-girl’, academic essay, no date

FOLDER 23X
5 sketches, pencil on card or paper, no date

Partly restricted: Applies to MLMSS 11845/Boxes 21-22. Access requires written permission from Sex Workers Outreach Project (SWOP)
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Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales and Courtesy copyright holder