• Series 8: Gay and Lesbian Politics and Social Activism: Selected Periodicals and Newsletters from the holdings of the GLBT Historical Society

• Published by Primary Source Microfilm

The periodical and newsletter holdings of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society (GLBT Historical Society) are the largest in the United States and an excellent resource for the study of the history of the gay rights movement in post-World War II America. This collection of periodicals focuses on newsletters issued by gay and lesbian political and social activist organizations throughout the country and on periodicals devoted to gay and lesbian political and social activist agendas. Carefully selected for rarity from the thousands of titles in the GLBT Historical Society archives, the collection features more than 200 newsletter and periodical titles totaling nearly 8,000 issues. These titles document a broad cross section of GLBT political and social activist causes. The collection is strong in newsletters from organizations that began their work during the formative years of the gay and lesbian movement. Most of these organizations are now defunct and their newsletters are the only record of their history and contribution to the movement. Among the broad scope of rare materials are, for example, long runs of Gay Power, subtitled New York's First Homosexual Newspaper (first issued in 1969), and the San Francisco newsletter, Gold Sheet, later entitled The Insider, published by the Society for Individual Rights, which began publication in 1967.

In its comprehensiveness, the collection reflects the GLBT Historical Society's mission to collect widely in order to preserve the history of the gay and lesbian movement. The collection features archival newsletters from the many local chapters of national gay and lesbian organizations, such as Daughters of Bilitis and Black and White Men Together. Daughters of Bilitis, the first lesbian organization formed in the 1950s and long defunct, is well represented with newsletter runs from the Boston, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, and New Orleans chapters.

Although national and international publications are included, the collection's strength lies in publications from the San Francisco Bay Area and greater Northern California, the cradle of the gay rights movement. The newsletter and periodical collection from Northern California, which boasts the largest concentration of gay and lesbian organizations in the nation, provides crucial primary source material for the study of gay and lesbian social and political activism from the movement's earliest days to the present. There are, for example, large numbers of newsletters from local organizations representing almost all positions on the political spectrum. These include rival GLBT Democratic clubs, GLBT Republicans, and as well as publications of the "Lavender Left"-socialists, anarchists, Marxists. Holdings range from historical newsletters of the 1960s to current newsletters and periodicals. No library that collects primary source material to support historical research in gay and lesbian studies should be without this comprehensive collection.

Part 1, AAHRP Letter-Defrank News
27 reels

Part 2, Denver Area Mattachine Newsletter-L word
27 reels

Part 3, Lambda Letters Project-New York Mattachine Times
26 reels

Part 4, News Page-YABWMT Newsletter
26 reels

Complete Collection: 106 reels in four parts

• Product number: 220482
• Shipping Weight: 0.00 lbs (0.00 kgs)