Mildred J. Berryman Explained

Mildred "Berry" Berryman
Birth Name:Mildred Jessie Berryman
Other Names:Barrie or Berry
Birth Date:22 September 1901
Birth Place:Salt Lake City, Utah
Parents:
  • Mildred Stokes
  • Richard Berryman
Notable Works:The Psychological Phenomena of the Homosexual
Partner:Ruth Uckerman Dempsey
Death Place:Salt Lake City, Utah[1]
Resting Place:Bountiful City Cemetery, Bountiful, Utah
Resting Place Coordinates:40.8685°N -111.8883°W[2]
Alma Mater:Westminster College

Mildred Jessie Berryman (September 22, 1901 – November 7, 1972), who went by "Berry"[3] (also spelled "Barrie"), was an early 20th century American pioneering researcher of lesbian and gay community in post-WWI Utah.[4] She was also a photographer, a mineral merchant, and a manufacturing business co-owner with her girlfriend of over three decades.

Research

At the age of 15, Berryman came out as lesbian at Westminster college and announced that she wanted to do an academic study of lesbianism. The thesis request was refused and some parents pulled their daughters from the school, but she was not expelled. Traumatized by the scandal and wanting to escape the shame of her homosexuality, she ran away at 16 and entered a short-lived marriage with a man. In 1928 (or 1929), Berryman began writing her thesis The Psychological Phenomena of the Homosexual on 23 lesbian women and 9 gay men, whom she met through the Salt Lake City Bohemian Club. Her research of lesbian and gay people from the perspective of a lesbian lay researcher was groundbreaking and argued that homosexuality was inborn, benign, and evident among many animal species.[5]

It is possible that she had begun her research around the time of WWI as a student at Westminster College in Salt Lake from 1916 to 1922. Her study has been called the first lesbian community study in the US,[6] [7] [8] and she continued writing it until leaving it uncompleted by 1938 or 1939. By her request, parts of her research were posthumously published[9] by her daughter- and son-in-law in 1977.[10] It appears that Berryman did not complete or publish her work due to discouragement from her advisor as well as a desire to protect her privacy and that of her siblings. Additionally, at the time of research, the study's positive depiction of people engaging in same-sex sexual behavior may have been enough to have it banned under US federal Comstock laws since a book containing positively depicted minor lesbian themes was nearly banned in New York in 1929.[11]

In the study, most lesbian women and gay men (many of whom had Mormon background) reported experiencing erotic interest in others of the same sex since childhood, and exhibited self-identity and community identity[12] as sexual minorities. It was during the 1920s when gay and lesbian subcultures were beginning to become more established in several larger US cities.[13] While most of the subjects feared discovery, a few were "out" about their homosexuality with their heterosexual friends.[14] The social and legal risks of discovery were high since any consensual same-sex sexual behavior likely fell under the 1921 Utah sodomy law which banned "sodomy or any other detestable and abominable crime against nature" that was committed "with either the sexual organs or the mouth," or the 1907 Utah law which punished "every lewd or dissolute person" with up to 90 days in jail.[15]

Biography

Berryman was born in 1901 as the third and last child born to parents Richard Berryman and Mildred Stokes. Her siblings were George (born 1896) and Richard Jr. (born 1898). Her father worked as a bartender in Salt Lake City from 1894 to the Prohibition Era of the 1920s, with 1913 on spent working at a bar called The Opera Bar which acted as an early gay bar attracting many homosexual clientele.[16] After her first failed opposite-sex marriage she had her first lesbian relationship with her violin teacher Mae Anderson from 1920 to 1921. She joined the LDS church at the age of 19,[17] received a patriarchal blessing at the age of 21, and later entered a relationship with a Mormon woman for over three decades, though she left involvement with the Mormon community to join the Bountiful Community Church. She worked at the LDS School of Music with her former girlfriend Mae Anderson in the mid-1920s and had another failed opposite-sex marriage.

In 1924, she fell in love with Edith Mary Chapman and lived in her house (that later became a boarding house for lesbians) until 1928. Around that time, Berryman became a photographer, and, in 1936, had a relationship with "Z". In the 40s, she collected and sold minerals specimens from her house[18] and was involved in the Mineralogical Society of Utah[19] [20] and the Women's Benefit Association (W.B.A).[21]

In 1934, she met a Mormon mother Ruth Uckerman Dempsey at their manufacturing job at Hill Air Force Base, with whom she later had a 33-year romantic relationship. Together, they ran a manufacturing business[22] and participated in the Bonneview Garden Club[23] [24] until Berryman's death in 1972.[25] [26] Barry had also served as president of the Utah Business and ProfessionalWomen's Club. Her stepdaughter Bonnie Uckerman Bullough from Ruth's first marriage[27] married Vern Bullough and they both became renowned sexologists writing on homosexuality.[28] [29] [30]

See also

Notes and References

  1. News: Mildred Berryman. University of Utah. The Salt Lake Tribune. B13. 9 November 1972. Mildred J. "Berry" Berryman, 71, of 3513 S. Main St. Bountiful died Nov. 7, 1972 in a Salt Lake hospital of natural causes. Born Sept. 22, 1901 Salt Lake City to Richard Gordon and Millie Stokes Berryman. Member of Bountiful Community Church, past president of Business and Professional Women, past president American Legion Auxiliary, employed at Stokes-Berryman photography 25 years. Survivors brother G. Stokes Salt Lake City, several nieces and nephews. ... Burial Bountiful Memorial Park..
  2. Web site: Bountiful City Cemetery. Names In Stone. Gateway Mapping.
  3. Book: Bullough. Vern L.. Vern Bullough. Before Stonewall: Activists for Gay and Lesbian Rights in Historical Context. Berry Berryman (1901–1972). 20 November 2002. Harrington Park Press. New York City. 1560231939. https://books.google.com/books?id=V7nKAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA66. registration. Internet Archive.
  4. Book: Gallo. Marci M.. Different Daughters: A History of the Daughters of Bilitis and the Rise of the Lesbian Rights Movement. 28 September 2007. Seal Press by Basic Books. 978-1580052528. Unknown to them at the time was the work decades earlier of a pioneering lesbian researcher, Mildred (Berry) Berryman. Berryman and her life partner, Ruth .... Google Books.
  5. Mussey. Ann Louise. Lesbian Subjectivity and the Sciences of Sexuality, 1920–1970. PhD dissertation . . May 2001. .
  6. Book: Wilcox. Melissa M.. Introduction to New and Alternative Religions in America; Vol. 1: History and Controversies. Same-Sex Eroticism and Gender Fluidity in New and Alternative Religions. 2006. Greenwood Press. Westport, Connecticut, USA. 0275987124. 249. 1. https://web.archive.org/web/20171107170231/http://vedicilluminations.com/downloads/Academic%20General/Gallagher_Eugene_V.,_Ashcraft_William_M._(editors)_-_Introduction_to_New_and_Alternative_Religions_in_America.pdf#v=onepage&q&f=false. 7 November 2017. http://vedicilluminations.com/downloads/Academic%20General/Gallagher_Eugene_V.,_Ashcraft_William_M._(editors)_-_Introduction_to_New_and_Alternative_Religions_in_America.pdf. 7 November 2017. dead.
  7. Web site: Jordan. Sara. Lesbian Mormon History. https://web.archive.org/web/20140202113858/http://www.affirmation.org/history/lesbian_mormon_history.shtml. 2 February 2014. Affirmation. March 1997.
  8. Web site: Jennings. Duane E.. 'Same-Sex Dynamics Among Nineteenth Century Americans: A Mormon Example' Book Review. Affirmation. 7 November 2017.
  9. Quinn. D. Michael. D. Michael Quinn. Male-Male Intimacy among Nineteenth-century Mormons: A Case Study. Dialogue. University of Illinois Press. Winter 1995. 28. 4. 128. 10.2307/45226148 . 45226148 . 254394319 .
  10. Bullough. Bonnie. Bonnie Bullough. Bullough. Vern. Vern Bullough. Lesbianism in the 1920s and 1930s: A Newfound Study. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society. University of Chicago. Summer 1977. 2. 4. 895–904. 10.1086/493419. 21213641. 3173219. 145652567.
  11. Web site: Machlin. Sherri. Banned Books Week: The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall. New York Public Library. September 26, 2013. March 16, 2017.
  12. Boag. Peter. Departing from Deviance: A History of Homosexual Rights and Emancipatory Science in America (review). Journal of the History of Sexuality. University of Texas Press. Austin, Texas. October 2002. 11. 4. 693. 10.1353/sex.2003.0030. 142740704.
  13. Book: Berkin. Carol. Miller. Christopher. Cherny. Robert. Gormly. James. Making America: A History of the United States, Volume II: Since 1865. 2010. Wadsworth Publishing Company. Boston, MA. 978-0618471416. 545. Brief Fifth.
  14. Book: Quinn. D. Michael. D. Michael Quinn. Same-Sex Dynamics among Nineteenth-Century Americans. 1996. University of Illinois Press. 978-0252022050. Google Books.
  15. Book: Painter. George. The Sensibilities of Our Forefathers: The History of Sodomy Laws in the United States. 1991. Gay and Lesbian Archives of the Pacific Northwest.
  16. O'Donovan. Connell. Connell O'Donovan. Wilson. Wendell E.. Mildred J. 'Barrie' Berryman. The Mineralogical Record. Internet Archive. May–June 2012. 43. 3.
  17. Web site: Wood. Stacy. Cubé. Caroline. Mildred Berryman papers 1918-1990. oac.cdlib.org. University of California, Los Angeles.
  18. Web site: Wilson. Wendell E.. Mildred J. Barrie Berryman. 2017. The Mineralogical Record.
  19. News: Mineral Society Schedules Trip. 15. The Salt Lake Tribune. 2 October 1940. Plans for a field trip to Grand County for geological study and collection of mineral specimens were outlined Tuesday evening at a meeting of The Mineralogical Society of Utah in the geology building of the University of Utah. Miss Mildred J. Berryman, society historian, exhibited colored photographs of the area to be visited.. University of Utah.
  20. News: Visiting Expert On Minerals Lectures Today. The Salt Lake Tribune. University of Utah. 7 January 1941. 9. Miss Mildred J. Berryman, historian and photographer for the Mineralogical Society of Utah, said Monday that Dr. Donnay is en route to Quebec from Austin, Texas, where he has been attending a convention of the Mineralogical Society of America..
  21. News: Coming Events. The Salt Lake Tribune. 18 January 1931. 2F. W.B.A., No- 11, Westlake club, will give a card party for members and their husbands and friends Thursday at 8 p.m. in the K.P. hall. Prizes will be given and the following are on the committee: Miss Mildred Berryman, chairman .... University of Utah.
  22. News: Rampton. Robert E.. Women Parlay War Craft Into Thriving Occupation. The Salt Lake Tribune. 8 February 1959. 2B. Inspecting prism characteristics of plastic cubes are Mrs. Ruth Uckerman, left, and her partner Miss Barrie Berryman, who fabricate varied plastic objects in their backyard shop. A wealth of technical knowledge and precision machine shop know-how during the emergency mobilization and training program of World War II has been parlayed into a profitable and interesting business by two Woods Cross businesswomen. Working with an estimated $25,000 worth of machine tools, carpentry equipment and injection mold plastic fabricating equipment, Mrs. Ruth Uckerman and Miss Barrie Berryman, 6702 S. 600 West, Woods Cross, have manufactured both unusual and commonplace items during the years they have been in business. The company has even had a contract to manufacture items for Westinghouse Corp. for use in the atomic energy developments at Arco, Idaho. ... Both Miss Berryman and Mrs. Uckerman took their machine shop training at West High School in Salt Lake City during World War II when war industries in Utah needed trained technicians. They were employed at Hill Field during the war years in both the machine and instrument shops. After the war, they decided they would put their talents to further use so they formed a partnership and set up shop behind their residence.. University of Utah.
  23. News: Garden Calendar: Tours, Show on Fall Schedule. The Salt Lake Tribune. 25 September 1960. 24. Bonneview Garden Club—Show winners: ... Bountiful; theme arrangement: Miss Barrie Berryman, North Salt Lake, all green arrangement; Mrs. Ruth Uckerman, zinnias and marigolds ..... University of Utah.
  24. News: Folsom. Genevieve H.. Gab from the Garden: Harvest Yule Ideas from Flower Shows. The Salt Lake Tribune. 24 November 1963. 28. Bonneview Garden Club on December 7 in the Community Church, ... She will be assisted by ... Barrie Berryman, Ruth Uckerman ..... University of Utah.
  25. Book: McHugh. Kathleen A.. Johnson-Grau. Brenda. Sher. Ben Raphael. Making Invisible Histories Visible. 2014. University of California, Los Angeles Center for the Study of Women. Los Angeles. 9780615990842. 68. https://web.archive.org/web/20171107060544/http://csw.pre.ss.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/10/MakingInvisibleHistoriesVisiblePartII.pdf. 7 November 2017. Also hosted online at escholarship.org
  26. Book: Anderson. J. Seth. LGBT Salt Lake: Images of Modern America. 29 May 2017. Arcadia Publishing. 9781467125857. 20. Google Books.
  27. Book: Bullough. Vern L.. Vern Bullough. American Nursing: A Biographical Dictionary (Vol. 3). 1 January 2004. Springer Publishing. 0826111475. 36. Google Books.
  28. News: Woo. Elaine. Vern Bullough, 77; Prolific Author Was Scholar of Sex History. Los Angeles Times. 2 July 2006.
  29. Book: De Cecco. John P.. Before Stonewall: Activists for Gay and Lesbian Rights in Historical Context. Vern L. Bullough (1920–): Making the Pen Mightier than the Sword. 20 November 2002. Harrington Park Press. 361. New York City. 1560231939. https://books.google.com/books?id=V7nKAgAAQBAJ&pg=PR8. Internet Archive.
  30. Web site: Collins. Brett Anthony. Obituaries: Bonnie Bullough; Initiated Nurse Practitioner Movement. Los Angeles Times. 20 April 1996 . 22 February 2016.

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