Marsha Epstein Collection
Scope and Contents
The collection contains papers, audiovisual material, textiles, objects, ephemera, and publications related to Marsha Epstein’s personal and professional life.
The bulk of the collection includes: Marsha’s personal and professional correspondence, including correspondence with family, friends, and organizations of which Marsha was a donor or member; Personal papers, which include materials related to Marsha’s wedding to Mary Aviyah Farkas; Medical papers, which contain Marsha’s medical research and documents related to her medical career; and Community Papers, which include materials related to Beth Chayim Chadasim (BCC) and Marsha’s role as a BCC Board Member as well as periodicals, audiovisual materials, textiles and ephemera Marsha created or collected related to organizations and communities of which she was a part such as environmentalist groups, LGBT activist groups, and Jewish communities in the Los Angeles Area.
Dates
- Creation: 1965-2022
Conditions Governing Access
The collection is open to researchers. Some items are restricted indefinitely to protect the subject's privacy. Restricted materials are identified on the box level content list of the Finding Aid.
Conditions Governing Use
Property rights to the physical objects belong to the June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives. All other rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or heir for permission to publish where the June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives do not hold the copyright.
Biographical / Historical
Marsha Epstein (b. 1945) is a lifelong LGBT activist, a pioneering medical professional, and a community organizer. Marsha was born in Chicago, Illinois. She received her Bachelor's Degree from Reed College in Portland, Oregon in 1965. She attended medical school at University of California, San Francisco where she received a Master of Public Medicine in 1969. Marsha interned at French Hospital in San Francisco from 1969-1970. She studied Health in Epidemiology at University of California, Berkeley and completed a residency in General Preventive Medicine from 1971-1973. She also completed a Fellowship in Family Planning in the department of obstetrics-gynecology at the University of California at Los Angeles from 1973-1974. During that period Marsha worked in family planning, performing abortions for Los Angeles County.
From 1974-1975, Marsha worked for the women's clinic at the Gay and Lesbian Services Center in Los Angeles. She was the Medical Director of Herself Health Clinic, a women's clinic run by a cooperative of radical lesbians for the women in the community from 1975-1979. From 1978-1982 she ran a private medical practice. She went on to work for the Los Angeles County Public Health System for twenty-eight years, serving as a District Health Officer for Los Angeles County Public Health (1982—2001), Area Medical Director (2001-2007), and then worked with Chronic Disease and Injury Prevention (2007—2010). She was also the co-medical director of Clínica Monseñor Oscar A. Romero Free Clinic, in Los Angeles (1992—1993). Marsha has been a member of California Academy of Preventive Medicine, Southern California Public Health Association, Los Angeles-American Medical Women's Association, American Medical Women's Association, American College Physician Executives and more.
Marsha was introduced to substance abuse recovery through her work as a medical professional and after losing a friend to alcoholism, Marsha became passionately involved in communities and organizations supporting people managing alcohol and substance abuse. Since 2010 Marsha has developed a continuing education program online to educate primary care doctors throughout Los Angeles County about tobacco cessation.
In addition to her prolific career as a medical professional, Marsha Epstein has been an activist for LGBT rights and an advocate for the inclusion of bisexual experiences as part of the history of the gay rights movement. She is a subject in the documentary, “On These Shoulders We Stand,” an historical account of early gay life and activism in Los Angeles told by the people who lived it. She is also an active volunteer and participant in the Los Angeles Jewish community through her work with Beth Chayim Chadasim (BCC), the world’s first synagogue by and for gay and lesbian Jews. Marsha was part of the Adult B’nei Mitzvah Class of 2014 at BCC and was a member of their Board of Directors.
Marsha married Tariq Mahmood in 1975. Their son, Lee Rashad Mahmood Epstein, was born in 1980. Marsha and Tariq divorced in the late 1990s. In 2013 Marsha met Mary Aviyah Farkas and the two were married at Beth Chayim Chadashim in 2014.
Sources include: Kelly Besser, “Finding aid for the Marsha Epstein Papers LSC.2220,” last updated January 6,2021, UCLA Library Special Collections,
“Home,” BCC-LA, accessed September 13, 2023,
Marsha Epstein, “Adult B’nei Mitzvah Class of 2014,” BCC-LA, July 26, 2014,
“Marsha Ann Epstein,” Prabook, accessed September 13, 2023,
Mary Aviyah Farkas, “About,” eldermuse.net, accessed September 13, 2023,
Extent
5.42 Linear Feet (9 boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
Marsha Epstein (b. 1945) is a lifelong LGBT activist, a pioneering medical professional, and a community organizer. The collection contains both personal and professional materials representing Marsha Epstein's life. Included in the collection are personal and professional correspondence, research from throughout her professional medical practice, and materials she created or collected from Los Angeles-based communities of which she was a part including Jewish communities and LGBT activist communities.
Arrangement
- Series I: Correspondence
- Series II: Personal papers
- Series III: Medical papers
- Series IV: Community papers
Other Finding Aids
Marsha Epstein’s materials have been processed in two parts.
The first collection of materials was processed in 2015 and is located in UCLA's Special Collections as part of their relationship with the Mazer.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Materials were donated to the June L. Mazer Lesbian Archive by Marsha Epstein in 2002. This is the second collection of Marsha Epstein’s materials donated to the Mazer.
Processing Information
The processing archivist has maintained the original order in which Marsha donated the materials. Correspondence has been organized chronologically by year.
Several medical publications donated with the collection that were published by government agencies have been deaccessioned from the collection.
Several of the CDs and DVDs in the collection have been digitized. Digital copies are available for research at the Mazer.
- Title
- Marsha Epstein Collection
- Author
- Vera Tykulsker
- Date
- August 2023
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives Repository