Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
The Waitresses records
2017.M.45
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Contributing Institution: Special Collections
Title: The Waitresses records
Creator: Waitresses (Group of artists)
Creator: Gauldin, Anne
Creator: Allyn, Jerri, 1952-
Identifier/Call Number: 2017.M.45
Physical Description: 61 Linear Feet(56 boxes, 2 flatfile folders, 22 videocassettes, 19 audiocassettes, 10 audiotape reels, 15 videodiscs, and 3 audio discs.
Computer media: 6.3 GB [41 files], and 6 unprocessed compact discs)
Date (inclusive): 1971-2015, undated
Abstract: The Waitresses was one of the first performance art groups to emerge from the Los Angeles Woman's Building. Founded in 1977
by Jerri Allyn and Anne Gauldin, the group used their collective experiences working as waitresses to explore feminist issues
such as sex discrimination and wage inequality in the food service industry. Materials in the collection document the performances
produced by the group from 1976 to 1985, as well as
American Dining: A Working Woman's Movement, a performance produced by Jerri Allyn from 1986 to 1989. Materials also relate to a 25th anniversary re-staging of five
performances in 2007, as well as other exhibitions and publications about The Waitresses after 1985. The collection consists
of performance notes, scripts, costumes, photographs, press clippings, props and ephemera, research files related to social
issues in the food service industry, and audiovisual recordings related to various performances and exhibitions.
Physical Location: Request access to the physical materials described in this inventory through the
catalog record for this collection. Click here for the
access policy .
Language of Material: Collection material is in English.
The records are arranged in two series: Series I. Performance and exhibition files, 1971-2015, undated; Series II. Publications
and Waitresses history, 1976-2013, undated.
The Waitresses was a performance art group founded by Jerri Allyn and Anne Gauldin in 1977 while they were students at the
Feminist Studio Workshop (FSW), a program of the Los Angeles Woman's Building. Drawing from their experiences working as waitresses,
they created performance art related to the issues of sex discrimination, stereotyping, and wage inequality. The group staged
their first performance, the seven-day
Ready to Order? (1978) which took place at various restaurants in the Venice neighborhood of Los Angeles and intended to educate customers
who may not have been aware of labor issues in the food service industry. The group eventually grew to include fourteen members,
including Elizabeth Canelake, Anne Mavor, Anita Green, Chutney Gunderson, and Denise Yarfitz, who wore waitress uniforms and
adapted personas such as "Wonder Waitress" and the multi-breasted "Great Goddess Diana," in various performances produced
in restaurants, conferences, and other unconventional settings. The Waitresses stopped performing in 1985, but Jerri Allyn
continued creating performance art related to the issues surrounding waitressing in the performance series
American Dining: A Working Woman's Movement, from 1986 to 1989.
Sources Consulted:
Allyn, Jerri, and Gauldin, Anne.
The Waitresses Unpeeled: Performance Art and Life. Los Angeles: Ben Maltz Gallery, Otis College of Art and Design, 2011.
Tain, John. Acquisition Approval Form for "The Waitresses records, 1976-2015, accession no. 2017.M.45," May 16, 2016.
Contact
Library Reproductions and Permissions .
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Jerri Allyn and Anne Gauldin, The Waitresses. Acquired in 2017.
L.A. Artists for Survival records relating to Target L.A., 1981-1984, Getty Research Institute, Accession no. 2017.M.46
Sisters of Survival records, 1981-1985, Getty Research Institute, Accession no. 2017.M.47
Woman's Building records, 1971-2016, Getty Research Institute, Accession no. 2017.M.43
Several publications have been transferred to the Getty Research Library's general collections. These can be searched in the
online catalog under the search phrase "Waitresses Collection."
Open for use by qualified researchers. Some items are unavailable pending conservation. Born-digital content will be made
available on-site only, through the digital preservation repository. Born-digital content and audiovisual materials are unavailable
until reformatted. Contact reference for reformatting.
Scope and Content of Collection
The records document the activities of The Waitresses performance group during the years it was active from 1976 to 1985.
Also present in the collection are records related to the performance
American Dining: A Working Woman's Movement, which was enacted in various restaurants throughout the United States by Jerri Allyn from 1986 to 1989. Subsequent performances,
exhibitions, and publications created about The Waitresses, and the social issues the group explored, are also present in
the collection. The materials were compiled by Jerri Allyn and Anne Gauldin and reflect the role The Waitresses played in
the broader context of performance art in Los Angeles during the 1970s and 1980s.
The records comprise files, scripts, videos, costumes, photographs, press clippings, and original artwork related to various
performances enacted by The Waitresses, as well as later exhibitions and publications related to the group. Also included
are administrative files, correspondence, and files related to books published about The Waitresses, feminist art, and performance
art.
The Waitresses records, 1971-2015, undated, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession no. 2017.M.45.
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa2017m45
Allison Ransom processed the collection and wrote the finding aid in 2019 under the supervision of Jasmine Larkin and Kit
Messick.
Digital materials were processed by Laura Schroffel in 2019. Files require further processing before access copies can be
made available.
This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, ST-03-17-0007-17.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Art, American -- California -- 20th century
Feminism and art -- United States -- 20th century
Women artists -- Archives
Women artists -- California -- Los Angeles
Performance art -- United States -- 20th century
Sex discrimination against women
Audiocassettes
Videocassettes
Black-and-white prints (photographs) -- United States -- Los Angeles -- 20th century
Color transparencies
Color slides
DVDs
Printed ephemera
Born digital
Black-and-white negatives
Color negatives
Gelatin silver prints -- United States -- Los Angeles -- 20th century
Chromogenic color prints -- United States -- Los Angeles -- 20th century
Videodiscs (video recording disks)
Open reel audiotapes
Women artists -- United States -- 20th century
Sound recordings
Video recordings
Woman's Building (Los Angeles, Calif.)