I, Claudia: The Life of Claudia Lauper Bushman in Her Own Words

I, Claudia: The Life of Claudia Lauper Bushman in Her Own Words

$29.95

by Claudia Lauper Bushman

“With admirable honesty and keen self-reflection, this triumphant memoir expounds on her life as an intelligent, talented woman driven to find her own place in patriarchal religious and secular worlds.” — Lori LeVar Pierce
“This lively and remarkably generous book holds nothing back.” — Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
“I, Claudia reveals the inner workings of a woman who fully inhabited yet transcended her own times.” — Maxine Hanks

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Book Description:

I, Claudia: The Life of Claudia Lauper Bushman in Her Own Words is a captivating autobiography of a remarkable woman, Latter-day Saint, and scholar. Through a series of vivid anecdotes and reflective essays, Claudia shares her journey from her childhood in California, through her family life, and to her academic pursuits and professional achievements. Her narrative, infused with humor, warmth, and a deep commitment to her community, provides a window into the daily life and challenges of a Mormon woman in the twentieth century outside the Mormon corridor of the Rocky Mountains.

Claudia’s autobiography is, however, more than a personal memoir; it is a testament to the power of storytelling and exemplifies her work with the Claremont Mormon Women’s Oral History Project, which she established to capture the diverse and rich lives of Latter-day Saint women. I, Claudia thus stands as both an inspiring personal journey and a powerful call to action for the preservation of women’s histories.

Comprehensive Table of Contents:

Foreword, by Richard Bushman
Introduction, by Caroline Kline

Part One: Growing Up

1. In the Beginning
2. Childhood
3. My World—The Neighborhood
4. Sunset Ward
5. Things My Mother Never Taught me
6. School Days
7. Off to College
8. Wellesley and Brattle Street
9. Courtship

Part Two: Marriage

10. At Home and Abroad
11. Eastward
12. Belmont, 1970–1977
13. Belmont Last Days
14. A Bishop in the House
15. Newark
16. A High Time in The First State

Part Three: New York

17. My Life as a Scholar
18. Four Projects
19. The Little Pink House
20. The Claremont Idyll
21. Wellesley Revisited
22. Family
23. The End of the Line

Part Four: Essays

24. How to Live a Life
25. The Bushman Plates: A Tale of Lust and Material Culture
26. Obituary

Index

Q&A with the Author:

Q. You grew up in a Latter-day Saint home in San Francisco. In what way(s) did this experience shape you, that growing up in Utah, or perhaps anywhere else, likely wouldn’t have?

A. Well, of course, San Francisco is a sophisticated, gay friendly, highly cultured place. My sisters and I felt very privileged to have access to so much significant art and activity. I think that we took good advantage of what was available to us and had many rich experiences. Our mother encouraged us in many directions and we all benefited a lot from it. I don’t know how it would have been to grow up in Utah or anywhere else.

Q. Your courtship with Richard L. Bushman while you were a student at Wellesley may surprise readers for a number of reasons, but could be summarized with the phrase “opposites attract.” In what way did this prove to be a positive?

A. I am surprised to hear you suggest that Richard and I are opposites. Actually we are very much alike. Very, very much.

Q. The women’s issue of Dialogue in 1971 and the founding of Exponent II are considered pivotal moments in modern Mormon feminism, and the response to both endeavors was favorable as well as critical. You even sacrificed your official involvement to keep the peace. Looking back, are you still happy with the timing of both publications, believing that any backlash would have been inevitable no matter when they came out? Or, would there have been a benefit to waiting?

A. I very much dislike waiting. When I am ready or getting ready to do something, I just do it. That’s dancing to the music of our times. I don’t do things when considering their timeliness. Backlash is not my concern.

Q. Your work as a historian has allowed you to write about women and men, you’ve conducted oral histories, and you have edited and annotated other women’s journals. Each of these genres have their own challenges and rewards. Do you find any one of them more satisfying to undertake than the other? If so, why?

A. All these can be very satisfying. Or not. I just do what seems possible when the occasion arises. I’m not always in a position to undertake anything. Everything I have done has challenges and rewards of its own, for which I am grateful.

Q. After having written about many others, you have now published your own candid memoir. Was your autobiography project more, or less challenging than writing about someone else? What did you learn about yourself in the process?

A. Actually, writing I, Claudia, was somewhat accidental. I don’t remember writing it. I don’t remember why I decided to write it. It just sort of happened. I’m glad it did. Someone asked if I had considered an autobiography and I saw it on my computer and sent it off. Suddenly, it was published. I actually do live in some sort of fog. I don’t think that it was more difficult than anything else. I don’t try to be anything I’m not.

**Praise for I, Claudia:**

“This lively and remarkably generous book holds nothing back. We see the houses the author lived in. We feel her frustrations. We know which of her newborns came feet first. Her stories are fully present not just because she is a gifted writer, but because she is also a remarkable historian who doesn’t make a fuss about the fact that an almost century-long collection of diaries, letters, snapshots, family histories, personal essays and interviews lies beneath her seemingly seamless recollections. Hats off to I, Claudia!” — Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, author, Well-behaved Women Seldom Make History

“‘If you don't write it down, it didn't happen,’ Claudia has often told the Exponent II community. With admirable honesty and keen self-reflection, this triumphant memoir expounds on her life as an intelligent, talented woman driven to find her own place in patriarchal religious and secular worlds. With poignant storytelling, she details the specific rewards and challenges of doing so while being married to a man who held positions of power in both realms.” — Lori LeVar Pierce, President, Exponent II

“The title evokes the role of a rare witness who sees, knows, lives, and writes history more than most of its participants. I, Claudia reveals the inner workings of a woman who fully inhabited yet transcended her own times—by birthing herself, then mothering, Mormon women’s studies, and mentoring hundreds of women who were trying to do the same in a field that wasn’t yet formed. Her story is our herstory.” — Maxine Hanks, editor, Women and Authority: Re-emerging Mormon Feminism

About the Author:

Claudia Lauper Bushman is a mature wife, the mother of six children, and the grandmother of twenty. She is a Californian, educated in Massachusetts, now living in New York City. Claudia has always managed projects, particularly those dealing with women, Mormonism, feminism, and birds and insects. She has written and published six books and believes that everyone should “tell her story.”