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HERSTORY, page 2

and their organizations. Contrary to these expectations, the tenant organizations were not interested in assuming leadership responsibilities but maintained their roles solely as rentors of the space. The running of the Building and subsequent ideological formulations thus fell to the administrators of the Building (Edie Gross, Michele Kort, Susan King, Cheryl Swannack, Linda Daniels and presently Dana Chalberg have all served as administrators of the Woman's Building) and to the FSW Collective.

In 1974, in an effort to encourage the level of participation in the Woman's building first envisioned, Feminist Studio Workshop, Inc., filed to change its corporate name to Woman's Community, Inc. Members of the Board of Lady Managers and other women in the feminist community were urged to participate in the Woman's Building on the officials corporate level by becoming corporation members. No one accepted this offer, and the original three corporate officers thus remained.

During the summer of 1974 we received notice that our Building had been sold and that we must vacate by June of 1975, (although we had known that this was a strong possibility, we were forced by lack of money to rent with a lease and not able to act on an option to buy a Builidng). The FSW staff and Women's Building administrators -- especially Sheila de Bretteville and Cheryl Swannack -- began to search for a new building. Three months of intensive investigation turned up only one affordable building which had the dignity, presence and public face that we felt women's culture deserved. Although we were not satisfied with the location at 1727 North Spring Street because many women could not or would not travel there for activities, we were compelled to move immediately and signed a five year lease. We plunged into the renovation with the enthusiastic assistance of the entire feminist community and with money from Building memberships and the Building Women Concert (this fundraiser, produce by Bobbie Berleffi, Kate MacDonald, and Cheryl Swannack, drew on the talents of many fine feminist performers, and raised $6000 for the renovation of the Woman's Building). The grand opening of this new space took place on December 15, 1976 -- a joyous celebration in which hundreds of women participated. 

The new Building was maintained by the FSW Collective, Susan King and Cheryl Swannack in administration, and assisted in all aspects of development by members of the Feminist Studio Workshop. Major decisions and financial and legal responsibility remained with the FSW Collective and the corporate officers. No formal structures yet existed to express these policies, mainly because it was our continued desire that other Women in the community join us and share in the development of the community and the Building. Our two administrators resigned during the summer of 1976, and concurrently it became increasingly apparent that our ad hoc anarchictic organization was causing a severe threat to the continued existence of the Woman's Building. We were in debt: the new building was much more expensive to maintain; several of our renters, unable to sustain their business in the new location, were forced to reduce