Windy City Media Group Frontpage News

THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

home search facebook twitter join
Gay News Sponsor Windy City Times 2023-12-13
DOWNLOAD ISSUE
Donate

Sponsor
Sponsor
Sponsor

  WINDY CITY TIMES

LGBTQ+ HISTORY MONTH San Francisco Public Library digitizes LGBTQ+ archives, including Harvey Milk holdings
LGBTQ+ HISTORY MONTH
by Matthew S. Bajko
2022-10-09

This article shared 2822 times since Sun Oct 9, 2022
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email


Shot with black-and-white film, two small children stand outside in a San Francisco public plaza draped in protest signs. One reads, "We're Proud, Not Stigmatized." The other declares, "We Love Our Gay Parents."

In the right background of the photograph, taken June 3, 1977, can be seen Harvey Milk, the gay civil rights leader. He would go on to become the first LGBTQ+ person elected to public office in both the city of San Francisco and the state of California that November.

The image was taken by photographer Cathy Cade, a longtime lesbian activist, and is titled "Rally for Jeanne Jullion." According to a note about the photo, Jullion was a lesbian mother ensnared at the time in a custody battle for her kids.

She can be seen on the right side of the photo wearing glasses and a two-piece pantsuit talking to a woman whose back is facing Cade's camera lens. Jullion is also shown in a smaller picture with her two sons, superimposed on the bottom right of Cade's photo.

It is part of the online Hormel LGBTQIA Center Collection maintained by the San Francisco Public Library. It consists of digitized photographs, manuscripts, documents, and other primary source materials from the James C. Hormel LGBTQIA Center housed at the city's Main Library in the Civic Center district.

The site went live last December and allowed the library's Digi Center to aggregate LGBTQ historical photos that had previously been published in other sections of the library's main website so they were easier for researchers, students, and others seeking out LGBTQ material to find.

"I think it is a great way to share the archive with the world," said Dee Dee Kramer, a lesbian who is the manager of the library's Digi Center, in her first press interview about the LGBTQ archival digitization effort. "People think of libraries as having books you check out. But we also have archives like photos, government records, or people's personal stuff that is unpublished or unique and doesn't exist in other places. Being able to share that online I think is really special."

New LGBTQ archival items have since been uploaded to the library's online repository, including a micro-section titled "Preserving LGBTQ Historical Highlights" that went live in June during Pride Month. It was funded by a $7,020 grant the library received in 2019 from the California State Library and includes a wealth of material related to Milk.

One highlight is an audio recording of one of the three "Political Will" tapes Milk made in case he was assassinated, which tragically ended up occurring the morning of Nov. 27, 1978. Disgruntled former supervisor Dan White shot dead Milk and then-mayor George Moscone inside San Francisco City Hall.

There are also a number of Milk's writings, such as his "Milk Forum" column that ran in the B.A.R., and an edited copy of his famous "You've Got to Have Hope" speech he gave June 24, 1977.

Throughout the 11 pages are handwritten edits made to a typed copy of Milk's speech, including to the final, and most famous, line of it, "You got to give them hope." Crossed out is the word "I" and a verb that is unable to be discerned in front of the word "you," while the word "must" that initially had been typed with an underline is crossed out and replaced with "got to."

"Harvey's will and speeches are in such incredible demand," noted Kramer. "School students from across the country want to look at the speeches."

Now they can do so without having to physically travel to San Francisco, added Kramer. They also now have digital access to LGBTQ material at a time when public libraries and school districts across the country are banning LGBTQ books and curriculums at the urging of right-wing leaders and conservative parents.

"We live in a time where we can make them available to anyone with a browser and an internet connection. It is just huge," said Kramer, who formerly had served as program manager for the James C. Hormel LGBTQIA Center. "I think for queer people, too, it really has changed the game in being able to find context for yourself and other people."

Effort delayed by pandemic

The effort to digitize the library's various LGBTQ historical holdings was delayed by the COVID pandemic, as the city in March 2020 shuttered its public libraries and reassigned library staff members to assist in dealing with the health crisis. Kramer worked as a contact tracer, calling people who were potentially exposed to the coronavirus, for instance, and helped distribute food to those in need.

When she returned to her library duties in July 2021, Kramer took over as the Digi Center manager and found the LGBTQ digitization effort among her to-do list. The center oversees DigitalSF, which is the website for the San Francisco Public Library's Digital Collections, and has wanted to increase its digitized holdings accessible to the public for years.

Kramer and her colleagues first set about on a plan to make it easier for people to find the digital material the library had already posted online. They also worked on how to display the material and what navigation tools to include for them.

They have also been creating a better catalog for the materials already digitized and adding them to the correct collections on the DigitalSF website. For instance, more of Cade's photos in the library's holdings should be added in time to the lone one of the Jullion rally currently found on the webpage for the "Cathy Cade Photographs Collection."

The same is true for the "Chloe Atkins Photographs Collection," which as of now also has just one photo posted online in it. But a finding aid for the Hormel center's holdings of Atkins' decades-long career photographing the Bay Area's lesbian scene indicates there are countless more of the photographer's works that could be added to the digital archive.

The library's digital records for the pioneering gay rights activist Harry Hay are far more extensive. The webpage for the "Harry Hay Papers" has 50 different items, including a 1935 black-and-white portrait of a dashing Hay with his right arm in salute.

There is also a trove of photos from negatives taken during San Francisco police investigations from 1945 through 1969 into bookstores, sex-oriented businesses, theaters, and art shows that featured gay and LGBTQ+ content. Another collection features a scrapbook from the 1950s detailing the arrest and trial of Grace Miller and Joyce van de Veer, the owners of several bars frequented by gays and lesbians.

One project Kramer said the Digi Center is working on is scanning books of mug shots taken by the police of suspects arrested decades ago on sodomy charges and other sex-related crimes. The historical material provides a unique look into that era of LGBTQ history, she noted.

"It makes for useful research and a whole different kind of lens to look through," said Kramer.

The Digi Center also wants to digitize the photos in the library's Tenderloin Times Photograph Archive, which also relates to LGBTQ history. The publication's coverage of the city's Tenderloin district and its many LGBTQ residents includes photos of early AIDS protests and other LGBTQ demonstrations and events.

"When you sort of queer the archives, it is not just going to be the Hormel center where these materials arise," noted Kramer.

There are currently two-dozen different LGBTQ digital collections on the library's website, with more to be added in the coming months. During LGBTQ History Month in October, Kramer hopes to add two collections featuring the works of photographers Robert Giard and Rick Gerharter, two gay men who helped to document the LGBTQ community on both coasts. Giard, who died in 2002, documented the theater scene in New York City, while Gerharter for decades has taken photos for the B.A.R. of the Bay Area LGBTQ community.

While the digital archives do not replace the need to protect the physical materials housed at the library's Hormel center and San Francisco History Center, Kramer said, they do play an important role in the preservation and distribution of the archival holdings.

"Digitizing is not preserving," she noted. "But if you have a tape that is 30 years old, the sound quality is going to degrade. So digitizing it is one way to migrate it to a format that people will continue to have access to it. This way it is still playable and listenable."

Growing up in North Carolina in the 1970s and 1980s, Kramer said she wishes she had access to such LGBTQ material. It can be empowering for people who otherwise feel invisible, she noted.

"When you are able to go on a site and see these things, it changes lives," said Kramer. "When people go online and find something they recognize or see themselves in, it is a really big deal."

Matthew S. Bajko is an assistant editor at the Bay Area Reporter.


This article shared 2822 times since Sun Oct 9, 2022
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email

Out and Aging
Presented By

  ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE

Gay News

Kara Swisher talks truth, power in tech at Chicago Humanities event
2024-03-25
Lesbian author, award-winning journalist and podcast host Kara Swisher spoke about truth and power in the tech industry through the lens of her most recent book, Burn Book: A Tech Love Story, March 21 at First ...


Gay News

THEATER Chicago's City Lit has anxiety on tap with 'Two Hours in a Bar'
2024-03-21
Two Hours in a Bar Waiting for Tina Meyer by Kristine Thatcher with material by Larry Shue Text Me by Kingsley Day (Book, Music and Lyrics). At: City Lit Theater, 1020 W. Bryn Mawr Ave.. Tickets: ...


Gay News

RuPaul finds 'Hidden Meanings' in new memoir
2024-03-18
RuPaul Andre Charles made a rare Chicago appearance for a book tour on March 12 at The Vic Theatre, 3145 N. Sheffield Ave. Presented by National Public Radio station WBEZ 91.5 FM, the talk coincided with ...


Gay News

Chicago History Museum announces "Designing for Change: Chicago Protest Art of the 1960s - 70s exhibition
2024-03-14
--From a press release - CHICAGO (March 14, 2024) ā€” The Chicago History Museum is thrilled to announce its upcoming exhibition, "Designing for Change: Chicago Protest Art of the 1960sā€”70s." Set to open on Saturday, May 18, 2024, this exhibition is ...


Gay News

Women's History Month doesn't do enough to lift up Black lesbians
2024-03-12
Fifty years ago, in 1974, the Combahee River Collective (CRC) was founded in Boston by several lesbian and feminist women of African descent. As a sisterhood, they understood that their acts of protest were shouldered by ...


Gay News

SAVOR Eldridge Williams talks new concepts, Beyonce, making history
2024-03-08
One restaurant would be enough for most people to handle. However, this year Eldridge Williams is opening two new concepts—including one that will be the first Black-owned country-and-western bar in the Midwest. Williams, an ally of ...


Gay News

NATIONAL Altercation, mpox research, Univ. of Fla., George Santos, tech battle
2024-03-08
Video footage uploaded to Facebook showed an altercation between a state trooper and two prominent Philadelphia LGBTQ+ leaders, the Washington Blade reported, republishing an article from Philadelphia Gay News. Celena ...


Gay News

SAVOR Let's Talk Womxn's 'More Than March'; Adobo Grill's tequila dinner
2024-03-06
I was fortunate enough to be invited to a culinary event that celebrates the achievement of women—and, fittingly, it happened during Women's History Month. On March 1, Let's Talk Womxn Chicago held its annual "More Than ...


Gay News

Without compromise: Holly Baggett explores lives of iconoclasts Margaret Anderson and Jane Heap
2024-03-04
Jane Heap (1883-1964) and Margaret Anderson (1886-1973), each of them a native Midwesterner, woman of letters and iconoclast, had a profound influence on literary culture in both America and Europe in the early 20th Century. Heap ...


Gay News

Anti-LGBTQ+ Republican McConnell to step down from leading U.S. Senate
2024-02-29
U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) will step down from Senate leadership in November, having served in that capacity longer than any senator in history, The Advocate noted. McConnell has been a senator since 1985 and has ...


Gay News

There she goes again: Author Alison Cochrun discusses writing journey
2024-02-27
By Carrie Maxwell When Alison Cochrun began writing her first queer romance novel in 2019, she had no idea it would change the course of her entire life. Cochrun, who spent 11 years as a high ...


Gay News

ELECTIONS 2024 Raymond Lopez talks congressional run, Chuy Garcia, migrant crisis
2024-02-26
Chicago Ald. Raymond Lopez has been a member of City Council since 2015, representing the 15th Ward and making history as one of the city's first LGBTQ+ Latine alderman. Now, he is setting his sights on ...


Gay News

Samuel Savoir-Faire Williams's violin stylings help COH mark Black History Month
2024-02-23
As part of its celebration of Black History Month, Center on Halsted, 3656 N. Halsted St., presented a solo jazz performance by violinist Samuel Savoir-Faire Williams on Feb. 21. The two-hour long performance presented a showcase ...


Gay News

Theater Review: Billy Elliot, The Musical
2024-02-19
Book and Lyrics: Lee Hall; Music: Elton John. At: Paramount Theatre, 23 E. Galena Blvd., Aurora Tickets: 630-896-6666 or Paramountaurora.com; $28-$79. Runs through March 24 Billy Elliot: The Musical may nearly be two decades old, but ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Raven-Symone, women's sports, Wayne Brady, Jinkx Monsoon, British Vogue
2024-02-09
In celebration of Black History Month, the LA LGBT Center announced that lesbian entertainer Raven-Symone will be presented with the Center's Bayard Rustin Award at its new event, Highly Favored, per a press release. She joins ...


 


Copyright © 2024 Windy City Media Group. All rights reserved.
Reprint by permission only. PDFs for back issues are downloadable from
our online archives.

Return postage must accompany all manuscripts, drawings, and
photographs submitted if they are to be returned, and no
responsibility may be assumed for unsolicited materials.

All rights to letters, art and photos sent to Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago
Gay and Lesbian News and Feature Publication) will be treated
as unconditionally assigned for publication purposes and as such,
subject to editing and comment. The opinions expressed by the
columnists, cartoonists, letter writers, and commentators are
their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature Publication).

The appearance of a name, image or photo of a person or group in
Nightspots (Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times
(a Chicago Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature
Publication) does not indicate the sexual orientation of such
individuals or groups. While we encourage readers to support the
advertisers who make this newspaper possible, Nightspots (Chicago
GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay, Lesbian
News and Feature Publication) cannot accept responsibility for
any advertising claims or promotions.

 
 

TRENDINGBREAKINGPHOTOS







Sponsor


 



Donate


About WCMG      Contact Us      Online Front  Page      Windy City  Times      Nightspots
Identity      BLACKlines      En La Vida      Archives      Advanced Search     
Windy City Queercast      Queercast Archives     
Press  Releases      Join WCMG  Email List      Email Blast      Blogs     
Upcoming Events      Todays Events      Ongoing Events      Bar Guide      Community Groups      In Memoriam     
Privacy Policy     

Windy City Media Group publishes Windy City Times,
The Bi-Weekly Voice of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans Community.
5315 N. Clark St. #192, Chicago, IL 60640-2113 • PH (773) 871-7610 • FAX (773) 871-7609.