Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 21, 2005)
October 21.2005 i?in ; h : ivi Sinews * just out 15 O ctober I s G ay H istory M onth Independent historians form a lively community by Sarah Dougher lthough you might not know it by lotiking around, October was declared by Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber in 1995 to be “Gay and Lesbian History Month.” Originally developed to showcase the histor ical contributions of the sexual minorities com munity, the event has not had much momen tum since the Gay and Lesbian Archive of the Pacific Northwest transferred its collection to the Oregon Historical Society. That library col lection includes materials from the early gay and lesbian rights movement in Portland, and other materials have been added through the years. It’s a collection that is open to anyone for research purposes, according to communica tions director Ken DuBois. Just because the Oregon Historical Society is not up to speed does not mean there is not a lot of important queer history being written and documented around the state. Dave Kohl, who sometimes free-lances for Just Out, is working on a history of Metropolitan Community Church of Portland, which is due out Dec. 15; trans televangelist Sister Paula Nielsen is working on her autobiography; Kohl and historian Pat Young are committed to the joint authorship of a book on Portland gay his tory; and Andy Mangels has extensive material for a proposed book on the history of the Rose City’s leather community. Mangels founded the Oregon Leather Histo ry Project a little more than two years ago. Working largely solo, he gathered together A newspaper articles and newsletters to create a timeline of events, clubs and important people. “I approached everyone 1 could who had been in the community for a substantial period of time, asking questions, having them go over my timeline details to spark memories and to see if they had photos, ephemera or other materials that would be of interest,” he notes, echoing the importance of personal contact and oral history in the lives of the sexual minorities community. The first public exhibit of the Oregon Leather History Project display was during Ore gon Leather Pride Week in August 2004- The display has 10 panels, each focusing on a theme such as “Titleholders” and “Bears.” Another historian who seems to be working hard despite the fact that Gay and Lesbian His tory Month is going unobserved is Young, a fre quent Just Out contributor who is working on a biography of beloved drag queen Darcelle XV. “Darcelle has placed a lot of trust in me. I couldn’t begin to tell you what is the most inter esting part about this project. After all, this is Darcelle’s life, and everything I’ve learned has been interesting,” she notes. George Painter also has taken up Portland gay history. “I’m well into a Ixxik on the 1912-1913 Portland vice clique scandal," he reports, “and have a gotxj deal of a historically accurate gay romance/time travel novel set in Portland writ ten. I’m not sure when the latter will be finished; I’ve been working on it for quite some time.” Christa Orth took over leadership of the Gay and Lesbian Archive of the Pacific Northwest IT'S HALLOWEEN! SELL US YOUR SHIT! SW 1 T TH A STARK and remarks that the group is grow ing. “We’re taking on a couple big projects this year, processing stuff in our collection,” she reports. “There’s a lot of work to be done, and we need to get it to a place where researchers can actually use it.” The group is also co-sponsoring a storytelling event with Q Center in December to engage generational dif ferences in the queer community. For those in the southern reaches Andy Mangels poses with the Oregon Leather History of the state, there is also gcxxJ news Project display. from University of Oregon, which houses an extensive queer archive. The collection will be expanded in the coming be borrowed from the center whenever a search year to include microfilm resources on the his identifies material as being in its holdings. tory of gay liberation. • The consortium has acquired several films in The Center for Research Libraries, of which the series Gay Rights Movement, which includes the university is a member, is a consortium of 575 reels of microfilm: North American universities, colleges and inde • Series 5: Gay Activism in Britain from pendent research libraries that acquires and pre 1958: The Hall-Carpenter Archives from the serves traditional and digital resources for London School of Economics. • Series 6: Atlanta Lesbian Feminist Alliance research and teaching. The center makes its holdings available to individuals at member Archives, 1972-1994. institutions through interlibrary loan and elec • Series 7: Lesbian Herstory Archives. tronic delivery. • Series 8: Selected Periodicals from the One of the many benefits the university GLBT Historical Society of San Francisco. JF1 community receives by virtue of the library’s membership in the center is access to hard-to- To get involved with the G ay AND LESBIAN find resources that the consortium, rather than A rchive of the P acific N orthwest contact any individual library, owns. Many items in rhe Christa Orth at chnstamae@yaluM).com. For more collection are cataloged in Summit, the union information visit www.oreg(mleatherhistory.org, catalog of the Orbis Cascade Alliance, and can www.ohs.org or libweb.uoregon.edu.
