Grammy-winning singer, songwriter, author and civil rights icon Janis Ian became famous before she was old enough for college, so she never got to go. Along the rise to fame, though, she became friends with Billy Edd Wheeler ’55, whose music has been performed by Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley, and a slew of others. Though Ian didn’t have an alma mater of her own, Wheeler’s was so impressive to her, she decided to give Berea College nearly 200 boxes of her personal memorabilia to create the Janis Ian Archives.
“We’re really honored that she wants her materials to be here rather than in a larger university setting or at the Smithsonian,” said Tim Binkley, Berea’s head of Special Collections and Archives. “I’m sure the Smithsonian would have been glad to have them.”
The archive contains thousands of photographs, hundreds of thousands of pages of documentation, clothing, tour memorabilia, autographed books and personal items. It’s an enormous collection that small liberal arts colleges typically don’t have.
“I trusted Berea to make the archives available to the general public and not only to academicians,” Ian said. “I felt they would be useful not just to Berea but to other colleges.”
Though the archives exhibit only launched in October, the collection had already caught the attention of law students at the University of Kentucky, who have taken an interest in Ian’s contracts and legal documents.
Binkley tasked archivist Peter Morphew to organize and catalog the collection, an endeavor he has been committed to for the past three years. And in the summer of 2023, Morphew brought in Mandy Martinez ’24.
Like Ian, Martinez grew up on a farm. She’s also a musician, a classically trained pianist, and a fan of science fiction, especially the 1960s television show, “Star Trek.”
It was the literary side of Ian that pulled the African and African American Studies and Peace and Social Justice double major into the archives project. The previous year, one of Martinez’s professors sent her to the archives to do some research, which she describes as “the coolest experience ever.”
“I was touching all these old things and looking through newspaper clippings,” she said. “It was so fun.”
The winter break that followed, Martinez returned to the archives to assist Morphew in his work.
“Peter said he didn’t have time to teach me how to do cataloging or preservation,” Martinez recounted. “Instead, he wanted me to read ‘Stars,’ the science fiction anthology by Ian and Mike Resnick.”
And just like that, Martinez was hooked. The following summer, she dedicated herself to the Janis Ian Archives full time. The next assignment was to read ‘Society’s Child,’ Ian’s autobiography.
“I’m not a fast reader, but I read it in two days,” Martinez said. “[It was] so good. There are parts where you’re crying because the things this woman went through were intense. The way she narrates her story is just amazing.”
Martinez gushed about the time Ian played a concert in Apartheid South Africa, how she refused to perform if the audience or band were segregated and refused to stay in a segregated hotel.
“Janis is fearless,” Martinez said.
Then came the music. Janis Ian became the second-most listened to artist on her Spotify playlist.
“I feel so basic because my favorite song is everybody’s favorite song, and that’s ‘At Seventeen.’ She’s talking about feeling like an ugly girl in high school, and I was definitely a weird girl. I always felt—maybe everybody feels like that at some point—like, ‘Oh, I’m just ugly and awkward.’ But you realize one day you’re a beautiful person.”
The connection to Janis Ian that Martinez has made through the archives is one of the major goals of the collection, relays Binkley.
A lot of the newer generation are less familiar with Ian, but her music was all around me growing up. It’s part of the soundtrack of my life. I know that Ian loves to connect with young people. That is one of the great joys of her life, to make a deep connection with them.
Tim Binkley, Head of Berea College Special Collections and Archives
“A lot of the newer generation are less familiar with Ian, but her music was all around me growing up,” Binkley said. “It’s part of the soundtrack of my life. I know that Ian loves to connect with young people. That is one of the great joys of her life, to make a deep connection with them.”
It’s that kind of thing that makes the Janis Ian Archives a perfect fit for a place like Berea College, Binkley continued.
“What we have here is incredibly inspiring,” he said. “We want students to be inspired and to be serious about injustices they see around them, to be bold about implementing changes in their lives and in society, to make a positive difference in the world. If they can grasp Janis’s story, they can get the message that they can succeed despite all the barriers.”
In fall 2024, the Janis Ian Archives exhibition went live before a student audience right as one walks into Hutchins Library. The 600 square-foot space became the largest exhibit the library has ever curated. The exhibit is interactive with audio clips and artifacts that tell stories. The stories follow Ian’s life and career, the awards she’s won and how she grew as an artist. It concludes with Ian’s lifetime of service and championing social justice causes.
“It shows how Ian came from humble beginnings on a chicken farm and grew into a world celebrity despite the barriers of sexism, racism and homophobia,” Binkley said. “Ian’s life speaks in harmony with the College’s focus of seeing all people as worthy of respect in their own right. Her voice, through her recordings, writings and social action, fulfills that vision almost as if she were a Berea College graduate.”
For Ian, that’s a real compliment.
“I’ve played probably 3,000 campuses in my life,” she said. “I’ve met an awful lot of students, but I have never met students like the ones at Berea. I’ve never met students that engaged, that are that much on top of their game. It’s very impressive.”
The Inside Stories from the Archives
1937 Martin D-18
This guitar was a gift from Janis Ian’s father, a music teacher and a farmer. It was the first guitar she ever owned and the one she learned to play on.
Tap here to read full story.
Joan Baez Drawing
Young Janis Ian learned to play guitar and sing by slowing down Joan Baez records and imitating her style. Along with Odetta and several other folk artists, Baez was her hero. They would later become friends.
Tap here to read full story.
Boots
After spending 35 years singing for 90 minutes at a time while a guitar hung from her shoulders, footwear became really important.
Tap here to read full story.
Science fiction and Fantasy books
Janis is an avid reader, collector and author of science fiction and fantasy. Learn about her friendships with George R.R. Martin, Anne McCaffrey and others.
Tap here to read full story.
