ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I need to thank many people--professors, librarians, archivists, activists, friends, and inspirations--who have been involved in the creation of this document.  The faculty of the Information School has provided a great deal of guidance and support.  My thesis chair, Professor Terry Brooks, has provided provocative pedagogy as well as encouragement and guidance from the start.  Professor Jerry Nelson has always been available to critique my work and provide sage academic advice.  Sociology professor Howard Becker guided my study of fieldwork and interview methods, pointed out my own talents to see and tell, and remains an entertaining and enthusiastic correspondent.

Other members of the faculty have influenced my work and helped add maturity to my perspective in this difficult study.  Professors Raya Fidel and Karen Pettigrew provided assistance and direction in the early phases, and hope my indebtedness to their comments shows on these pages.  Professor Joe Janes also provided early comments and suggestions.  Fellow Masters Thesis option students Mark Pond and Lesley James aided with ongoing support and helpful comments.  I thank the director of the Information School, Mike Eisenberg, for encouraging us to be part of building the research culture.  Our research director, Harry Bruce, is also to be thanked for his sage advice about the vicissitudes of advanced scholarship.  I am very grateful to the faculty, administration, and students of the Information School who very tolerantly listened to me in various courses and hallways, providing interesting helpful comments and conversation while helping me learn how to talk about “pornography” in a professional and academic manner. 

The librarians and other professionals that I corresponded with and visited have each been extremely generous with their time and resources.  Alvin Fritz, Liana Zhou, Jennifer Corbin, Jack van der Wel, Peter de Wit, Evelien Evenhuis, Lynn Daniel, Amy Levine, Willie Walker, Jerry Zientara, and Jim Van Buskirk all took the time to talk to me, show me their collections, answer many questions, and feed this study with quotable words and sentences.  Correspondence with Sanford Berman, Martha Cornog, Harold Garfinkel, Gayle Rubin, Adam Schiff and Amanda Spink, have enriched this study in several important ways.  A special thank you to University Ombudsman Dr. Lois Price-Spratlen.  I enjoy all of these friendly alliances and look forward to future collegial work.

My spirit has been encouraged by the enthusiasms of longtime friends Ron Lopez III and Charlotte Spielmann.  Since my undergraduate days both have pushed me to continue my scholarly pursuits.  I also thank newer friends on the board and membership of the Seattle Sex Positive Community Center, and the volunteers at the Pacific Northwest Library for Sex-Positive Culture, who inspire me with their courageous work and actions.

Finally, this arduous process would not have been possible without the support of my husband Marshall Goldberg, who has been there with brilliant observations, clever conversation, delicious meals, international junkets, and all the other quotidian and prosaic things that go along with life. 

Of course, any errors, omissions, lacunae, unsupported declarations, awkward turns of phrase, typos, and uncontextualized dirty words are my responsibility alone.