Judy Custer Collection

Collection

Identifier: CUST

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

Judy’s personal papers include her journals, ID cards and name tags from her professional work, school work from when she was in grade school and secondary school, and materials from college. These materials were arranged chronologically when possible. Her journals include musings about hiking and working through certain feelings.

Her letters are divided by personal letters received from friends and family, professional letters from her workplace, letters received concerning her Girl Scout troop or position, and sympathy letters addressed to Honor Heart after Judy’s death. The personal letters are organized alphabetically by the last name of the sender, except for birthday cards, well wishes, and holiday cards which are organized by these respective topics. There is also a group of miscellaneous letters that have non-specific correspondents (first name only), unknown correspondents, or too few letters from a specific person to warrant their own folder. This decision to have miscellaneous letters was done to conserve supplies, and to maintain a highlevel description of materials that is demanded within the scope of the CA State Grant.

The Girl Scout materials include patches and pins, as well as some documents related to workshops and council meetings. The documents are organized chronologically.

Photographs consisted of loose photographs in no particular order, photographs that were still contained in the envelopes holding them after being developed, and photos arranged in albums. When possible, photos were arranged chronologically and marked if there was writing on the back. Photos in their development sleeves were kept together. There were three photo albums that were preserved, two of which are in their original albums, one which was moved into an archival album and archival photo sleeves due to degradation of the original housing.

The clippings and ephemera contain news articles that mention Judy, mostly in regard to Girl Scout achievements or her work at Sangre de Cristo Hospice. These were not organized in any order. The ephemera mostly are printed memorabilia from events during high school. These are organized by event or origin, and then chronologically.

Dates

Creation: 1946-2008

Conditions Governing Access

There are no restrictions on the collection. The collection is open for research.

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

Judith A. Custer was born October 9, 1947 in Bellflower, California. She often went by shortened versions of her name, Judy, Jud, and the nickname Weed– given to her by her Girl Scout troops. Her father, John K. Custer was a Lieutenant Colonel in the US Air Force, causing their family to move frequently, living across the United States and internationally. She started high school at Wheelus Air Base in Libya, then moved to Waco, Texas attending Richfield High School. Her mother was Virginia Custer, and she had four siblings, Ginny, Libby, Jay, and Jack. From a young age she was involved with the Girl Scouts even while in Libya, and for a short period in Taiwan.

Judy attended California State College, Long Beach and received a BA in physical therapy in 1971. In College she continued participating in the Girl Scouts, acting as Senior troop leader and spending summers as unit leader and assistant camp director. In the 1970s, Judy became a member of the Greater Long Beach Girl Scout Council.

Between 1983 and 1985 Judy built a house in Guffey, Colorado where Judy would live the rest of her life. She wanted to escape the traffic of Long Beach, return to nature, and own land. She bought 80 acres of land from Vernon and Maxine Zellers who she stayed in regular contact with through the late 1990s. To build her home, she hired an all lesbian crew of women, her friends– who did the majority of the building work– and one man, a licensed contractor, to oversee the project. The house was an earth-beamed, passive solar home true to her values as an environmentalist. The woman who helped Judy build her house was named Cher Nelson, who went on to become a contractor with an all-woman crew, and helped other lesbians who moved to the area. Judy worked as a physical therapist in the nearby Cañon City at Sangre de Cristo Hospice.

Guffey, Colorado was a growing lesbian community from the mid 1980s to 2012. Judy had a community of lesbian women getting together for potlucks, movie nights, dinners. This network of relationships is visible in the letters and notes Judy got from neighbors checking in, reporting on their travels with postcards, or just saying hello. Judy’s partner Honor detailed, “the population of our community got larger and larger as word of mouth spread and many lesbians moved there from, largely, California. It was all word of mouth and the publication, Lesbian Connection, probably had something to do with it.”

From 1993 to her death she lived in Guffey, in the mountains, with her life partner Honor Heart. In Honor’s own words:

“Jud was integral to the lesbian community and the larger community as well in Guffey. She was a very active volunteer with the volunteer emergency medical outfit that operated in the rural area around Guffey. She volunteered with them as an emergency medical staff EMS for over 20 years. They all loved and appreciated her immensely. She was a good advocate for the lesbian community just by being who she was.”

She maintained ownership of a house in Bellflower, CA which she rented out and had managed by her ex-girlfriend and friend Paula Fisher until approximately the late 1990s or early 2000s.

In 2007 Judy was diagnosed with cancer, and passed away on August 23, 2008.

Citations: Bellflower photo album, n.d., box 19, folder 2. Judy Custer Collection, June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives, Los Angeles, CA.

Honor Heart, email response to questions about Judy Custer’s life. Received in November 2023.

Extent

9.98 Linear Feet (21 boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Judy Custer (1947-2008) was a physical therapist in Cañon City, living in Guffey, Colorado where there was a growing lesbian community. The bulk of the collection is letters Judy received from friends and family. Other materials in the collection are personal photographs, buttons and patches from Judy’s time in the Girl Scouts, and clippings featuring Judy.

Arrangement

Series I: Personal Papers

Series II: Letters

Series III: Girl Scout Materials

Series IV: Photographs

Series V: Clippings and Ephemera

Immediate Source of Acquisition

This collection was donated by Honor Heart at an unknown date after Judy’s death in 2008. Honor requested that Judy’s photo be present on the front of boxes containing her material so she could forever be looking out at the world.

Processing Information

As the collection was close to being finished, new materials were found. When integrating these new materials, due to time constraints there was a loss of detail in descriptions. More letters were placed in the miscellaneous folders, or for existing correspondents added to the end of a sequence of folders ordered chronologically. For example, Custer, John K. folders 1 to 6 span from 1966 to 1995, and the new letters from Custer, John K. integrated created folders 7 to 13 spanning from 1967 to 1998, and overlapping with the dates represented in the first 6 folders.