Item Data

Margaret Whalen

written by on December 28, 2018

Painter, teacher, and home movie maker Margaret Whalen was born on Staten Island in 1937 to an Irish Catholic father and an Italian Catholic mother.   She spent her early years on City Island, NY, and lived with or very close to her immediate and extended family for most of her life.    She began to film her family and a few friends in the 1950s with a camera her brother who was in the military obtained from the px.  She continued filming & then taping into the 1990s.  Her early films are almost entirely of her mother, sisters, uncles, brothers-in-law, nieces, and nephews  and depict the years during which her sisters married while she did not.   They record a lesbian point of view that is little documented — that of the unmarried sister.  Her collection also includes wonderful footage of life on City Island in the early 20th century and Maine in the later.  It also documents times Whalen and her partner Barbara Martin spent with friends, lovers and neighbors after Whalen’s mother died in 1978.  When Whalen switched from film to tape she often hung her camera on a wall or placed it out of sight on a shelf and just let the tape run.  In 1973 May Sarton became a neighbor.  She dropped in frequently & one sequence in the collection records a visit in full.

Categories:
  • Title: Margaret Whalen
  • Date Range: 1950s-1991
  • Collection Summary: On the surface, most of Margaret Whalen's footage looks like traditional home movies, chock full of birthdays, weddings, holidays, and adorable children. If you didn't know, you'd never guess from the images that for a time Margaret shared her bedroom in her family home with that woman racing around in the snow with the nieces & nephews or that at another time with the one putting dinner on the table. Whalen's collection also documents groups of fellow elementary school teachers getting together for summers at Goose Rocks beach: ex-lovers with their new lovers; fellow teachers; and the piece de resistance for many, neighbor May Sarton who became a neighbor in 1973. The earliest part of the collection was originally shot in 8mm; the later was shot with a video camera, which Whalen often just hung on a wall and let run & run & run.
    Whalen shot her earliest work with an 8mm camera her brother bought for her at the PX, but most of her collection was shot on VHS tapes, and she had her 8mm work transferred to VHS and then to a single DVD as well. LHMP received the dvd and 8 vhs tapes in 2011.

    Because many occasions began on one tape and ended on another, LHMP worked with Whalen, her partner Barbara Martin, and NHF's Joe Gardner to collate each event. The results were transferred to dvd. As a result, we hold two sets of digital files: one from the original VHS tapes, the second from the collated DVDs
  • Description: Home movies and tapes shot by lesbian teacher, aunt, and painter Margaret Whalen. Rare footage of May Sarton.
  • Biographical/Historical Note: Painter, teacher, and home movie maker, Margaret Whalen was born in City Island in 1931 to an Irish Catholic father and an Italian Catholic mother. Her father was a chef at Coney Island Hospital. She spent her early years on City Island, NY, and she lived with or very close to her immediate and extended family for most of her life. She began to film her family and a few friends in the 1950s with an 8mm camera her brother who was in the military obtained from the px. She continued filming & then taping into the 1990s. Her early films are almost entirely of her mother, sisters & uncles, brothers-in-law, nieces and nephews and depict the years during which her sisters married while she did not. They record a rarely if ever documented lesbian point of view: that of the unmarried sister & daughter. They offer a picture of life on City Island as well. In the late 1960s, she and teacher and photographer Barbara Martin became a couple. They shared a bedroom in the family home, but the family didn't discuss their relationship until many years later. Barbara thought Margaret's mother "knew," because she once asked Barbara to take care of Margaret.

    Close friends and an ex- lover or two also appear in the family footage. Margaret attended State Teachers College in Cortland, NY, and received a certificate in Elementary Education, Health & Physical Education, and Recreation.

    A few years after her father died in 1959, Margaret, her mother, along with several of Margaret's siblings, moved from City Island to a great rambling house on the shore in York, ME. She received a Master's in Early Childhood Education and Administration in Early Education from the University of New Hampshire. In the late 1960s, teacher and photographer Barbara Martin, also an elementary school teacher, began teaching in Kingston, NH. In 1971 she moved into the Whalen family home, and Margaret's bedroom, as Margaret's partner. Explaining this, Whalen and her sister Mary explained, "She might not condone what you did but she would accept it." When Margaret's mother died in 1978, Margaret and Barbara continued to live in the York, ME home. Later they moved downeast to Blue Hill, Maine. The two are still together today (2018). Over succeeding decades, Margaret continued to film celebrations including family and friends. She also filmed their York neighbor, the poet May Sarton, whom she and Barbara hosted, fed & befriended on many occasions. Amazing cinema verité footage. (often Margaret & Barbara simply hung a camera on the wall & let it run.)

    The Whalens moved to York in 1962, May Sarton in 1973. Margaret Whalen and her partner Barbara Martin moved to Blue Hill, Maine, some years after the death of Margaret's mother in 2000. Sarton died in 1995.
  • Genres: Amateur Films
  • Subjects: Lesbians, Children, Teachers
  • Places: City Island, New York; York, Maine; Goose Rock Beach, Maine
  • Creators: Margaret Whalen
  • Collaborators & Participants: Barbara Martin
    May Sarton
    Whalen Family
    For further information or to share related memories, email us at info@lesbianhomemovieproject.org.We'll share your input if that's okay, or just preserve it.
  • Primary Format: Originally filmed with 8mm camera her brother bought for her at a PX. She had the film transferred to VHS tape & her family's old home movies transferred to dvd. LHMP worked from those.
  • Physical Length:
  • Arrangement: All the original footage came to LHMP after it had been transferred to 1 dvd and 8 vhs tapes. Initially we transferred it all to dvds. Working with the filmmaker, we slightly re-organized it in order to compile each recorded event into separate digital files, which went onto dvds in complete segments. These are the files catalogued here.
  • Access & Use: Contact Lesbian Home Movie Project (LHMP) info@lesbianhomemovieproject.org. No re-use without permission.
  • Rights: Lesbian Home Movie Project (LHMP) holds all rights. Filmmaker and participants are entitled to approve uses uses of footage they appear in.
  • Related Links: May Sarton, "The House by the Sea."
  • Preferred Citation: Margaret Whalen Collection, Lesbian Home Movie Project (LHMP).
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