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Records of Gilda’s Club Worldwide, the cancer support community founded in 1995 as Gilda’s Club.
History and Biography
Gilda’s Club, the pioneering cancer support group, opened in New York City in 1995 after extensive planning and fundraising. Named for the Saturday Night Live actress Gilda Radner, the organization was founded by her husband, actor Gene Wilder; Joanna Bull, Radner’s psychotherapist; film critic Joel Siegel; and other friends and family. Before her death from ovarian cancer in 1989, Radner had found comfort and friendship in a support group for cancer patients and their families in Southern California and had expressed the hope that a similar organization could be established on the East Coast. The name derives from Radner’s oft-quoted remark that cancer gave her "membership to an elite club I'd rather not belong to." Joanna Bull became its Director.
In 2000, Gilda’s Club Worldwide (GCWW) was formed to develop a national network of clubhouses. Subsequently over 20 Gilda’s Clubs were established across the country to provide social, mental health and other services to cancer patients and their families. In 2009, GCWW merged with a similar organization, The Wellness Community, to form the Cancer Support Community (CSC), though many of the affiliated clubhouses have retained the Gilda’s Club name.
Organization
Records relating to the planning, establishment, and operations of Gilda's Club Worldwide (GCWW), the cancer support organization founded in 1995 as Gilda’s Club. Includes correspondence, board and committee minutes, publications, training materials, publicity materials, photographs, videotapes, audiotapes, DVDs, financial records and realia dating from circa 1990 to 2010.
Subject Headings and Related Records
Administrative Information
Gift of Joanna Bull, 2020 (accession #2020.011); gift of the Cancer Support Community, 2020 (accession #2020.012); gift of Joan Licursi (accession #2020.013).
Custodial History: The Cancer Support Community, the organization formed from the merger of Gilda’s Club Worldwide with The Wellness Community in 2009, was not interested in retaining most of the records of the predecessor organizations. Those GCWW records not retained by the CSC were divided between Joanna Bull, the former Director of GCWW, and her close associate in the organization, Joan Licursi. In 2020, Bull and Licursi donated the records in their possession to Columbia University, and in the same year a small group of GCWW records held by the Cancer Support Community were also donated to the university.