Oral history interview with Moira Roth
name: label: Interviewee
content: Roth, Moira
label: Interviewer
content: Heinemann, Sue
label: Creator
content: Elizabeth Murray Oral History of Women in the Visual Arts Project
label: Names
content: Elizabeth Murray Oral History of Women in the Visual Arts Project
label: Names
content: London School of Economics and Political Science -- Students
label: Names
content: University of California, Berkeley -- Students
label: Names
content: University of Vienna -- Students
label: Names
content: Women's Caucus for Art
label: Names
content: Antin, Eleanor
label: Names
content: Baca, Judith Francisca
label: Names
content: Bernardi, Claudia
label: Names
content: Chadwick, Whitney
label: Names
content: Chicago, Judy, 1939-
label: Names
content: Duchamp, Marcel, 1887-1968
label: Names
content: Jacob, Mary Jane
label: Names
content: Kaprow, Allan
label: Names
content: Kozloff, Joyce
label: Names
content: Lacy, Suzanne
label: Names
content: Lippard, Lucy R.
label: Names
content: Machida, Margo
label: Names
content: Nochlin, Linda
label: Names
content: Ringgold, Faith
label: Names
content: Schapiro, Miriam, 1923-2015
label: Names
content: Selz, Peter Howard, 1919-2019
label: Names
content: Stevens, May, 1924-2019
place: label: Place
content: Cornwall (England : County) -- Description and Travel
label: Place
content: Europe -- description and travel
topic: label: Occupation
content: Art historians -- California -- Interviews
label: Occupation
content: Authors -- California -- Berkeley
label: Topic
content: Art -- History -- Study and teaching
label: Topic
content: Asian American women
label: Topic
content: Britain, Battle of, Great Britain, 1940
label: Topic
content: Experimental theater
label: Topic
content: Feminism and art
label: Topic
content: Nō
label: Topic
content: Sociology -- Study and teaching
label: Topic
content: World War, 1939-1945
label: Topic
content: Women art historians
label: Topic
content: Women authors
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
creator: label: Interviewee
content: Roth, Moira
label: Interviewer
content: Heinemann, Sue
label: Creator
content: Elizabeth Murray Oral History of Women in the Visual Arts Project
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Moira Roth (1933- ) is an art historian and writer in Berkeley, California.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 5 Items (Sound recording, master: 5 memory cards (6 hr., 9 min.), secure digital, 1.25 in)
label: Extent
content: 81 Pages (Transcript)
phystech: label: System Details
content: Recorded on Edirol R-09HR.
unitdate: label: Date
content: 2011 April 22-24
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.roth11
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Pages
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
label: Type
content: Interviews
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: Transcript available online.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: An interview of Moira Roth conducted 2011 April 22- 24, by Sue Heinemann, for the Archives of American Art's Elizabeth Murray Oral History Project, at Roth's home, in Berkeley, California.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Roth discusses her childhood and family background; her "unconventional" mother attending the London School of Economics; her "romantic childhood" growing up in Cornwall, England; her family's move to Letchworth for her to attend St. Christopher, a Montessori school; taking in evacuees from London during the Battle of Britain in 1940; childhood colored with European culture, Jewish culture, and music; at 17 moving from England to Washington, D.C., to live with her Irish father who was working for the International Monetary Fund; her early "passion for travelling"; moving to New York City in 1952; meeting John Cage; her autobiographical writings; travels in Europe; studies at the University of Vienna and the London School of Economics; deciding to be a psychiatric social worker; majoring in sociology with a minor in art history; attending graduate school in art history; her interest in Duchamp; doctoral studies at the University of California, Berkeley; interviewing artists; her marriage to Bill Roth; teaching; early publications; performances at the Woman's Building in the late 1970s; editing the book "The Amazing Decade: Women & Performance Art in America, 1970-1980" (1983); traveling with Faith Ringgold; friendships with Linda Nochlin, May Stevens, Lucy Lippard and others; experimental theater; her interest in Noh theater; the Women's Caucus for Art at CAA; The Poor Farm contemporary art space; living in the Bay Area; "rethinking feminism in terms of Asian-American Women"; globalism; the fictional character she created, Rachel Marker; and other topics. She recalls Joyce Kozloff, Miriam Schapiro, Judy Chicago, Judy Baca, Claudia Bernardi, Eleanor Antin, Margo Machida, Mary Jane Jacob, Annika Marie, Whitney Chadwick, Suzanne Lacy, Allan Kaprow, Peter Selz, and others.