UCLA Center for the Study of Women

As I processed the papers and other materials in the Margaret A. Porter Collection, I learned about much about Margaret’s life and work but I also came to realize the importance of bringing such collections like this into the light. The Porter papers provide an excellent example of how significant archival material can document the life of someone from an underrepresented community and also demonstrate the struggles and achievements of a lesbian whose life spanned almost the entire twentieth century.Margaret Porter was most known for her poetry and for her translations from the French of poetry by Renee Vivien and Natalie Clifford Barney. In addition to Porter’s original and translated poetry, the collection contains her personal diaries, which span over six decades of her life, photographs, and correspondence. In addition, there are materials from her activity in San Diego–based lesbian organizations and documents from her research on Vivien, Barney, and other women in expatriate France.