oclotMf 3. 2003
T ime W ill T ell
A s Gay and Lesbian History Month begins, an antique photo album
provides a window into O regon's past
eather Pittenger has been collect
ing photographs for the past 13
years. S h e ’s looked in stores and
garage sales and has even made a
few dives into Dumpsters. This
album from the 1940s or ’50s was
o f Portland’s many antique stores collecting dust
until Pittenger picked it up and discovered the
life inside.
“T he first thing I saw were pictures of all
these dogs and l thought, ‘Dogs, O K , whatever.’
And then 1 saw these women kissing and my
gaydar exploded," Pittenger says.
From that moment on, the album became o f
one her best finds. S h e ’s carefully examined each
picture over and over again— sometimes with
the aid o f a magnifying glass. She cares deeply for
the photographs and the women in them.
O ne o f the first pictures she saw was of two
women dancing. “T h e minute I saw it, I literal
ly started to have tears streaming down my
face," Pittenger comments. “1 couldn’t have
imagined that this photograph would he here.”
T he album has a variety of pictures— women
alone, women together, men and women hanging
out at the beach, family gatherings, new care and,
of course, pictures of their pet dogs. "A ll of my
dyke friends who see this are just totally blown
away and they can’t believe it," Pittenger says.
H
by Pat Young
She talks about how some of the pictures
show women “living in their clothes." By that
she means the women are wearing jeans,
T-shirts and heavy boots in their everyday life
and not just for special occasions.
“I in wouldn’t
think it would be sate for a
sitting
one
woman in the late 1940s or early ’50s to be so
male-identified in her dress and her hairstyle
and everything," Pittenger explains. "T his was
one of the biggest things for me with this
album— there are a few women who are obvi
ously just living in their clothes.”
A lot of the photographs were taken at North
Bend on the Oregon coast near Coos Bay. Some
are marked on the back as having been processed
in North Bend. Also tucked into the album was a
ticket stub from a movie theater in North fiend.
Pittenger is not sure if any o f the people in
the photographs is still alive. She hopes that by
sharing these photos via Just O ut that more peo
ple will search for and save pictures of our past.
“There is obviously a story here. I am used to
looking at photographs and deciding what is going
on in them, but this photo album has baffled me
many times. It is definitely a puzzle," Pittenger
says. But it is a puzzle she enjoys working on. |TJ
P a t YOUNG is a Portland free-lan ce writer and
gay and lesbian historian.
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