As Ever, Miriam

Charlotte Partridge (1882–1975) and Miriam Frink (1892–1978) had combined roles as founders and co-directors of the Layton School of Art, involvement with the Wisconsin WPA, numerous community organizations, and a domestic relationship of over 50 years. Inspired by their primarily untold story with Wisconsin milestones and many contradictions, Levine has spent hundreds of hours with their papers housed at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Libraries’ Archives Department to establish their undervalued roles. The result is As Ever, Miriam, published by OK Stamp Press. The book explores saying goodbye over 50 years via Charlotte and Miriam's personal and professional correspondence. It also includes a non-exhaustive history of their combined lives, extensive footnotes about the research process, and reflection on the importance of lifting up untold queer histories from archives. In 2025, a related exhibition focusing on their domestic space and civic work curated by Levine will open at Lynden Sculpture Garden.

Researched, transcribed, collected, and introduced by Faythe Levine, this book centres the relationship and lives of Charlotte Russell Partridge (1882–1975) and Miriam Frink (1892–1978). Based on extensive archival and secondary research involving books, magazines, newspapers, and interviews, Levine brings readers into the work of connecting archival traces to tell stories about past lives. The book presents a collection of epistolary sign-offs from Frink’s letters to Partridge across the decades of their working and personal relationship. Levine takes time to provide extensive footnotes that bring context to these brief but rich archival excerpts. She includes reflections on quotidian details, vernacular translations, historical references, photographs, and information about the pair’s contributions to the arts and art education in early to mid-20th century Milwaukee and beyond.

Levine’s text suits a methodical reader as well as a casual browser. Notable, however, is her introduction that positions her personal and kindred relationship to the lives she encounters through her letter-based research. Levine is currently based in upstate New York but has spent twenty years of her adult life living and working in Wisconsin. She has a career engaging with archives and collections through a queer feminist lense that spans decades.

• Publication Date: October 2024
• Author: Faythe Levine
• Designer: M. Wright
• Editor: maya rae oppenheimer
• Printer: BookArt
• Distributed by OK Stamp Press
• Format: Perfect-bound softcover with gatefold pull-out, 122 pages