Florence Jaffy Explained

Florence Jaffy
Other Names:Florence Conrad
Birth Date:4 August 1917
Birth Place:New York
Death Place:San Francisco, California
Occupation:Economist
Known For:Research director, Daughters of Bilitis

Florence Irene Jaffy (August 4, 1917 – October 21, 1985), also known as Florence Conrad, was an American economist. She taught at the College of San Mateo, and was research director of the Daughters of Bilitis.

Early life and education

Florence Jaffy was born in New York, the daughter of Max Aaron Jaffy and Pauline Reich Jaffy.[1] Her family was Jewish; her father was a civil engineer born in Russia, and her maternal grandparents were from Central Europe. She graduated from Olney High School in Philadelphia in 1935, and graduated from Pennsylvania State College in 1943.[2] She was elected to Phi Beta Kappa while she was in college.[3] She pursued further studies in economics, earning a master's degree at the University of Chicago.[4]

Career

Jaffy worked at the Division of Research and Statistics of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in the late 1940s.[5] She worked in Paris as an economic analyst with the United States Department of State in the early 1950s.[6] Beginning in 1958,[7] she was a professor of economics at the College of San Mateo.[8] She was awarded tenure in 1961.[9] She was a longtime member of the American Civil Liberties Union.[10]

In 1960s, under the name "Florence Conrad", Jaffy was research director for the Daughters of Bilitis; this work involved working with researchers who wanted to survey the Daughters of Bilitis members, and collecting published research on homosexuality. She also corresponded with activists, and wrote letters of protest to authors and academics who misrepresented lesbian lives. She wrote book reviews for The Ladder.[11] She worked with Barbara Gittings and Barbara Grier on The Ladder, but they did not always agree on the publication's priorities.[12] "I strongly favor 'integration'," she wrote to Gittings, "but this means a sense of some things held in common with the rest of humanity; it does not mean acceptance of society's stigma."[13]

Publications

Jaffy's research appeared in the Quarterly Journal of Economics,[14] and she wrote articles for The Ladder under her pseudonym.[15] [16] She also wrote reports for the Federal Reserve Board's Review of Foreign Developments, often with fellow economist Frank M. Tamagna as co-author.[17] [18] [19]

Personal life and legacy

Jaffy died in 1985, at the age of 68, in San Francisco. Her obituary in the Bay Area Reporter remembered her work to destigmatize homosexuality in the psychiatric field.[20] The GLBT Historical Society holds a small collection of her papers. The College of San Mateo offers a Florence Jaffy Memorial Scholarship, for a student in the social sciences who "has had experience promoting civil liberties and political equality."[21] She was portrayed by Adrienne Barker in the historical audiodrama podcast Queer Serial, produced and written by Devlyn Camp.[22]

Notes and References

  1. News: 1973-11-13 . Jaffy . 18 . The Philadelphia Inquirer . 2022-06-02 . Newspapers.com.
  2. News: 1943-10-22 . 525 Get Degrees at State College . 2 . Shamokin News-Dispatch . 2022-06-03 . Newspapers.com.
  3. News: October 27, 1943 . In Honorary Fraternity . 2 . Altoona Mirror . June 2, 2022 . NewspaperArchive.com.
  4. News: 1945-04-22 . Name 16 South Students U. of C. Fellows . 2 . Chicago Tribune . 2022-06-03 . Newspapers.com.
  5. Book: Metzler . Lloyd Appleton . International Monetary Policies . Triffin . Robert . Haberler . Gottfried . 1947 . Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System . 978-0-405-11239-3 . 1 . en.
  6. Book: United States. Dept. of State . Foreign service list . 1953 . Washington : U.S. Govt. Print. Off. . Newspapers.com.
  7. News: 1958-09-03 . New Teachers . 9 . The Times . 2022-06-03 . Newspapers.com.
  8. News: 1961-01-25 . New History, Economics Classes Being Offered . 51 . The Times . 2022-06-03 . Newspapers.com.
  9. News: 1961-04-27 . 21 Teachers Win Tenure at SM College . 9 . The Times . 2022-06-03 . Newspapers.com.
  10. Web site: Gallo . Marcia M. . October 16, 2020 . For Love and For Life, LGBTQ People Are Not Going Back . 2022-06-03 . American Civil Liberties Union . en.
  11. Web site: Florence Jaffy papers . 2022-06-02 . Online Archive of California.
  12. Book: Passet, Joanne . Indomitable: The Life of Barbara Grier . 2016-11-01 . Bella Books . 978-1-59493-664-7 . en.
  13. Book: Self, Robert O. . All in the Family: The Realignment of American Democracy Since the 1960s . 2012-09-18 . Macmillan . 978-0-8090-9502-5 . 164–165, 170–171 . en.
  14. Jaffy . Florence . 1951-02-01 . Clandestine Capital Movements in Balance of Payments Estimates:1 A Comment . The Quarterly Journal of Economics . 65 . 1 . 142–145 . 10.2307/1879507 . 1879507 . 0033-5533.
  15. Vigiletti . Elyse . 2015 . Normalizing the "Variant" in The Ladder, America's Second Lesbian Magazine, 1956–1963 . Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies . 36 . 2 . 47–71 . 10.5250/fronjwomestud.36.2.0047 . 10.5250/fronjwomestud.36.2.0047 . 142625590 . 0160-9009.
  16. Conrad (Jaffy) . Florence . 2001-12-01 . The Ladder 1959 . Journal of Lesbian Studies . 5 . 4 . 1–24 . 10.1300/J155v05n04_01 . 216117641 . 1089-4160.
  17. Web site: Review of Foreign Developments 1948 . 2022-06-03 . Federal Reserve Board.
  18. Web site: Review of Foreign Developments 1947 . 2022-06-03 . The Federal Reserve Board.
  19. News: May 7, 1991 . Frank M. Tamagna Dies at 81 . The Washington Post .
  20. http://obit.glbthistory.org/olo/imagedb/1985/11/07/19851107_Conrad_Florence/m19851107_0.jpg "Florence Conrad"
  21. Web site: Florence Jaffy Memorial Scholarship . 2022-06-03 . San Mateo County Community Colleges Foundation.
  22. Web site: Supporting Voices . 2022-06-03 . Queer Serial. . en-US.

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