Laura Rand Orthwein, Jr. aka Laura X: A native of St Louis, MO, Laura was educated at Vassar, Washington University, Bank Street College of Education, the Universities of Vera Cruz and Puerto Rico (to become a pilot Headstart teacher). She took the name “Laura X “ in 1969, to symbolize her rejection of men’s legal ownership of women and the anonymity of women’s history, which was stolen from women and girls. She is a veteran of the anti-nuke, peace, civil rights, Free Speech, educational reform, anti-war, women’s, anti-antiSemitism and anti-homophobia movements. She advocates for farm workers, Native Americans, ecology, disability rights, environmental health, and healthy home movements. She began collecting materials in 1964 and has been committed to this effort since then. Women and women’s health and legal issues are the primary focus of her work. She founded the Women’s History Research Center in 1968 in Berkeley, California and the National Clearinghouse on Marital and Date Rape in 1978 in which she served as director. (lauraxinstitute.org)