This collection contains a sampling of comics, illustrations, manuscripts, scripts, columns, commentaries, essays, writing exercises, interviews, portfolios, and clippings representative of Barry's work as a cartoonist, essayist, playwright, novelist, and professor from the 1980s to the 2010s. The collection also includes over a dozen of Barry's handwritten and illustrated composition books that document her personal life and relationships from 1988 to 2019, which are restricted by Barry's request until 2065 or her death.
The collection includes numerous drafts and manuscripts including: the manuscript of the novella Cruddy, hand written using sumi ink and a brush; drafts of strips from Ernie Pook's Comeek mainly from the 1980s; a hand annotated draft of the 1984 script adaptation of NAKED LADIES NAKED LADIES, which reflected on Barry's encounters with sexuality as a child and teenager; and handwritten essays and story ideas including "Dreams," (1978) "What it's like to be popular," (1986) "Not the one he wanted to see," (1986).
Other unpublished materials include: "Notes for writing the screenplay" (1992), an imagined conversation between Barry and "E," who may represent the character Edna from The Good Times Are Killing Me; writing exercises such as phrases heard on public transit, X pages, and short stories often focused on childhood memories; illustrated homework assignments for Barry's classes; and answers for a 1995 interview with Susan Herman that covers many themes including Barry's influences, artistic process, and interest in children's lives and inner worlds; and miscellaneous illustrations.
Much of the unrestricted collection consists of Barry's published essays, radio commentaries, comics, album cover art, book covers, and event posters. Much of this is found in two portfolios, one from the mid 1980s, and one which spans the bulk of Barry's career. The portfolios include: clippings of comics, illustrations, and interviews from Seattle Rocket, Seattle Times, Arizona New Times, Ms. Magazine, Village Voice, Washington Post, Artery, Los Angeles Reader, New York Review of Books; cover art for John Delafose and the Eunice Playboys; book covers for Girls and Boys and The Greatest of Marlys; and posters for lectures by and hosted by Barry at Lawrence University and the University of Wisconsin - Madison. Some of the posters, such as one illustrated for the band The Iguanas, are not part of the portfolio and in separate folders.
The published writings include commentaries for National Public Radio (NPR), a Los Angeles Times column reflecting on bittersweet food centered memories of her family, the fiction column 1619 East Crowley, and miscellaneous essays such as "The Magic Bus" and "A House Divided." The NPR commentaries include "War" (1991), in which Barry reflects on her mother's traumatic memories of the Japanese assault on the Philippines and protests the human cost of the Gulf War, "Soul Mama 14", about racial tensions on ten year old Barry's block at the height of the Black power movement, and "Arbor" (1992) about Barry's abortion at age 18, which includes a first and final draft. The Los Angeles Times column includes "When Grandma Discovered Hot Dogs, and Other Tales" (1991) and "Cookies" (1993).
