Kady papers

Kady Van Deurs was born in Pensacola, Florida, the daughter of Admiral George van Deurs and Ann van Deurs. In the 1940s, she attended Florida State College for Women, the University of California at Berkeley, and the New School for Social Research in New York. In 1970, she graduated cum laude with a degree in urban affairs from Hunter College. In the 1960s, prior to resuming her education, Kady spent two years with the Peace Corps in Panama, living with a group of squatter villagers and helping them organize to obtain basic services. Upon her return, she lived in New York City where she developed and ran a workshop for 500 children living in New York City project housing; worked with street children to create toys, furniture and large-scale artworks; and taught crafts to emotionally disturbed and brain damaged children. In the late 1960s, Kady helped organize the rent strikes that led to the establishment of rent control laws in the City of New York. As a peace activist, she worked with the New England Committee for Non-violent Action, engaging in non-violent civil disobedience in the U.S. and Canada. She was arrested and served prison time on numerous occasions for participating in peace and justice actions, including: a civil rights demonstration at the opening of the World's Fair (New York, 1964); the Women's Pentagon Action (Washington, DC, 1980 and 1981); Women's Encampment for a Future of Peace and Justice (Seneca Falls, NY, 1983); participation in the Women's Peace Camp (Greenham Common, England, 1984); protest against the Gulf War (Westover Air Force Base, Chicopee, MA,1990); and"sitting on a lawn, admiring those who refuse to pay for wars"(Greenfield, MA,1993).

After studying at the Craft Students League in New York, Kady worked for twenty years as a silversmith, selling her work from a handmade display booth at craft and art fairs, women's studies conferences, and music festivals; during this time she called herself Axe-Maker to the Queen. She was a co-founder of the Craftswimmins Mutual Aid Society, created in response to poor treatment of craftswomen and artists by craft and art fair organizers. She co-founded the Womyn's Braille Press, to bring "strong, informative writing by women" to the visually impaired. She also became a reader for sound recordings by women, and helped compile a catalog of "all available women's writings in recorded format." Kady published two books: The Notebooks That Emma Gave Me: The Autobiography of a Lesbian (1978); and Panhandling Papers (1989). She lived in Greenfield, MA in her later years, where she exhibited her artwork and was a member of the Arts Council of Franklin County. She died in 2003.