Bokara Legendre papers

Materials reflecting the biographical, professional, and spiritual interests of Bokara Legendre. Extensive diaries from the 1950s through the early 2010s are accompanied by other writings including drafts of memoirs/autobiographies, poetry, plays, dramatic monologues, and children's stories. Scrapbooks, photographs, negatives, and slides reflect her extensive travels, particularly in Asia and South America; retreats at her homes in Mill Valley California and Medway Plantation; and the presidential campaign of Robert F. Kennedy. Smaller quantities of correspondence, family papers, audiovisual materials, original artwork, and artwork transparencies are also present.

The first series contains biographical documents and objects about Bokara Legendre, including health and financial records, day planners and address books, resumes, ephemera, educational records, clippings, and information about performances. It is followed by two small series, the first containing papers concerning the Legendre family and Medway Plantation, including correspondence about the Plantation, guest books for Medway, historical information, family pictures, and some legal documents; the second consists of correspondence, mostly from her childhood and early adulthood, with some additional correspondence related to professional and philanthropic work.

The largest series in the collection consists largely of diaries, journals, and notebooks from the 1950s through the 2010s. In addition, there are sub-series containing creative writing--scripts, poetry, and children's books--and her non-fiction writing, mostly in the form of memoir drafts in both physical and digital forms. A small sub-series contains writings by others that Legendre collected, often on topics related to spirituality.

The photograph series contains photographs, film negatives, slides, and CDs containing images from throughout Legendre's life. While a few are from her childhood, most are from the 1960s through the early 2010s. The majority focus on her worldwide travels or life at Medway or her home in Mill Valley, California. Additionally, some are headshots and professional photographs, candids with friends, and pictures/slides of Legendre's artwork. Of particular note are the contents of an album taken while on the campaign trail with Robert F. Kennedy in 1968 and another of professional shots taken while she filmed a television show in Palm Beach, Florida in the 1960s. Some of the photographs were removed from the original housing in photo albums for preservation reasons.

A small series consists of some of Legendre's artwork, mostly illustrations for her children's book The Dragon's Gift. The final series is made up of audiovisual materials consisting of VHS tapes, audiocassette tapes, CDs, DVDs, and floppy disks containing performances, psychic readings, and episodes of the television show Lunch with Bokara.

The diaries and notebooks sub-series, the photograph series, and the audiovisual series have been arranged in chronological order; the rest of the collection retains its original order in the files created by Legendre herself.