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.