LAGAR Newsletter, No. 20 (June 2000)

New Accessions of Interest to LAGAR Members

James Fugate

(aka James Barr)

Manuscripts 

Wichita State University has recently acquired an extensive archive of James Fugate (pen name James Barr) manuscript material. Fugate author of several gay novels, plays, and articles was born in Oklahoma, but came to live in Holyrood, Kansas after WWII. It was while in Holyrood that the bulk of his literary output was produced including his groundbreaking novel Quatrefoil published in l950. In the l960's Fugate began a journalism career as the area feature writer for the Great Bend, Kansas, Tribune. Fugate's writings are based extensively on his experience on the Kansas prairie, living the life of a gay man in rural Kansas. James Fugate died in 1995 in Oklahoma. The collection includes the original manuscripts for Quatrefoil and Derricks, correspondence, and photographs. 

Other manuscript material is actively being sought from friends and acquaintances. If anyone knew Fugate or his friends or knows of additional manuscript material, please contact the Special Collections Department at Wichita State University, through Michael Kelly, Curator of Special Collections, Wichita State University, Wichita, Kansas; telephone: (316) 978-3590; fax: (316) 978-3048; email: kelly@twsuvm.uc.twsu.edu . 

Schlesinger Library Announces

New Collection 

The Schlesinger Library announces the acquisition of a collection in addition to the two collections announced in our previous newsletter. 

The papers of Hannah Doress, community organizer and founder and executive director of Hanarchy Now Productions have been added to the Schlesinger Library. Begun in the late 1990s, Hanarchy Now sought to promote and produce progressive and socially-conscious entertainment, and to sustain a community that was "inclusive, sex-positive, bi-positive, trans-positive, progressive and supportive of artists." As part of its initiative to collect the papers of lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered people, the Schlesinger Library is collaborating with Northeastern University as part of their NHPRC-funded project to document the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community in Boston. See the web site at http://www.lib.neu.edu/archives/collect/news . 

University of Hawai'i at Mnoa

Announces Receipt of

Fred Methered Papers 

The papers of the late Fred Methered came to the University of Hawai'i from his widow, Mrs. Aiko Methered, and their adult children. Fred Methered was one of the founders of P-FLAG and had been active with local organizations of parents of gays and lesbians preceding the organizing of the federation. He attempted to start a chapter of P-FLAG in Hawai'i during the 1970s but too few parents were willing to come out of the closet. Methered was a tireless worker for gay and lesbian causes with the state legislature, planning lobbying sessions beginning shortly after each election and carrying out the plans throughout the annual sessions of the Hawai'i state legislature. Methered was also extremely active in the reconciling efforts within the United Methodist Church and as a member of Affirmation. He was well versed in Biblical criticism. 

His papers include files on P-FLAG and other organizations to which he committed volunteer time, subject files on issues of prostitution, battered women, child abuse and Christianity, and extensive correspondence with friends in Boston, New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco and other cities. His extensive library of published books was donated to the Gay and Lesbian Community Center and to the Our Family Christian Church, a gay, lesbian, transgendered church, both in Honolulu. 

National News 

New Additions to

American Memory Web Site

Mark Bicentennial of

Library of Congress 

The American Memory Web Site contains over seventy manuscript collections in digital format freely available for research. In honor of the bicentennial of the Library of Congress, the Manuscript Division of LC has added three new collections to American Memory: "The Abraham Lincoln Papers;" "the Leonard Bernstein Collection;" and "From Slavery to Freedom: The African-American Pamphlet Collection, 1824-1909." 

The Lincoln materials consist of some 20,000 documents, including drafts of the Emancipation Proclamation, the second Inaugural Address and a document expressing his belief he would be defeated in his campaign to be reelected president. The documents range from the 1850s into 1865. 

The Leonard Bernstein Collection from the Library's Music Division include musical and literary manuscripts, audio and video recordings, fan mail, and over 1,100 items of correspondence, potentially of most interest to researchers of lesbian/gay/bi and transgendered life. 

"From Slavery to Freedom" contains 397 pamphlets written by African Americans on slavery, emancipation, colonization in Africa, and Reconstruction. Authors include Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, Mary Church Terrell, and others. This collection particularly complements another collection of African American pamphlets on American Memory site, "African American Perspectives: Pamphlets from the Daniel A.P. Murray Collection." 

The American Memory web address is http://memory.loc.gov/ .

Late Twentieth-Century Photographs

Survival? Retention? 

Peter Kurilecz, whom those of you on Archives ListServ know through his posts summarizing news, wrote suggesting an interest URL on the maintenance of photographs. The site is the ejournal, The Digital Journalist. I checked out the site and found not only the specific editorial Kurilecz recommended (from August 1998), but later items as well. To Kurilecz' original post, John Kelly, LAGAR member, responded that he felt the major problem was not that numerous photographs of the late twentieth century disappear, but that archivists are not involved in the process of "photograph management." The Digital Journalist is found at http://digitaljournalist.org/contents.html . 

NHPRC Recommends 54 Grants

Totalling Up To $5,159,313 

At its meeting on May 9 and 10, the National Historical Publications and Records Commission recommended that the Archivist of the United States make grants totaling $5,159,313 for fifty-four projects. Thirty-four of these, amounting to $2,248,285.00, were for documentary editing projects, some of which may carry particular interest to LAGAR members. 

Several of the documentary editing grants applied to Black historical figures; at least two grants went to Native American tribes to document more fully their tribal history. Several grants pertain to women in American history. Selected from the above are the following. Indiana University--Purdue University at Indianapolis, received a grant of up to $18,141 for the Papers of Frederick Douglass. 

The University of California, Berkeley, received $100,000 for The Emma Goldman Papers. Pomona College, Claremont, received a grant of $37,030 for the Letters of Lucretia Coffin Mott and a further $3,145 contingent upon the availability of additional FY 2000 funds. 

A documentary edition of the papers of Eleanor Roosevelt brought a grant of up to $150,000 to George Washington University in Washington, D.C. A project on the Selected Papers of Margaret Sanger received a grant of up to $66,817 to New York University. Rutgers University received a grant of $41,250 for the Papers of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. Union Theological Seminary, in New York City received $79,325 to further its Archives of Women in Theological Scholarship.

Information on NHPRC objectives and activities is available at the web site http://www.nara.gov/nara/nhprc/ . Application materials for all Commission grants, including fellowships, may be requested by e-mail: nhprc@arch1.nara.gov 

Cyber Pirates

from New York Times,

4 June 2000 

Sean Hastings, a 32-year-old U.S. citizen, is co-founder and chief executive of Havenco which has built what it calls a "data haven" on an abandoned military platform six miles off Britain's coast. Havenco offers communications services to clients who want to avoid monitoring by governmental authorities. "Technology has made it easier to move information and hide information. Soon it will be impossible to trace where money is and who has money, and that will eventually force governments to move away from income taxes and toward consumption taxes," according to Hastings. 

[The web site for this article was http://partners.nytimes,com/library/tech/00/06/biztech/articles/04have.html . The New York Times web site, which requires registering, is http://www.nytimes.com/ .] 

LAGAR News 

Announcement! 

Brenda Marston and Sarah Simpkins are the proud and very happy mothers of their son Grady Simpkins Marston. Grady has wasted no time,

arriving 5 May 2000, five weeks before due date and weighing six pounds; he immediately overwhelmed his moms with joy and wild excitement. He is thriving, growing, and continuing to delight his moms! Thanks to two very thoughtful Lagarites, Grady owns his first piece of leather apparel (a pair of leather booties). The accompanying photograph shows Grady on day one. 

Buddy Program

Begins with Survey 

Paula Jabloner has prepared a survey of people taking care of archives of Lesbian, Gay, Bi- and Trans people to ascertain willingness to provide assistance/advice and to ascertain needs for help. Deborah Richard of the Schlesinger Library has agreed to receive the survey forms and prepare for the next stage of the project. You will find a survey in this issue of the newsletter with a return address on the reverse. Please take the time to fill it out. Please provide a copy for other archives in your area if you are aware that the staff did not receive a survey. Thanks, Paula and Deborah. 

LAGAR Sessions at SAA 

Our Roundtable meeting is scheduled for Friday 1 September 2000 between 3:30 and 5:00 p.m. Please keep that slot open. We will conduct business, discuss the Buddy Program, work on session proposals, and discuss the manual for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender archives project. 

Denver Night Life

Clubs, Dancing, Bars 

A quick search of some web sites has produced the following information on Gay and Lesbian night life in Denver. The following hits come fromhttp://www.voygrquest.com/denverclubs.html ; I haven't been to Denver to check these out. 

B.J.'s Carousel; (303)777-9880; 1380 So Broadway Denver; outdoor patio, pool table, volleyball court, darts, tabletop bowling; something fun is always happening; very popular; also, a full restaurant. 

C's; 7900 E. Colfax Ave. Denver; (303)322-4436; dancing, live entertainment, men and women's bar. 

The Colorado Triangle; 2036 Broadway Denver; (303)293-9009; men's leather bar. 

Charlie's; (303)839-8890; 900 E. Colfax Denver; very popular country western dancing; also, a full restaurant. 

Club Synergy; (303)575-5680; 3240 Larimer Denver; very popular women's bar with dancing. 

Denver Detour: (303)861-1497; 551 E. Colfax Denver; very popular bar with dancing and entertainment; food served. 

The Grand Bar; (303)839-5390; 538 E. 17th St Denver; popular men's and women's piano bar. 

Mike's; (303)777-0193; 60 So Broadway Denver; popular with men and women; dancing. 

Snake Pit; (303)831-1234; 608 E. 13th Ave Denver; very popular men's bar with dancing. 

Tequila Rosa's; 314 E. 13th Ave. Denver; (303)839-5426; very popular men and women's night club, dancing. 

Tracks 2000; 2975 Fox St. Denver; (303)292-6600; popular men's club with dancing; closed various weekdays, call for hours. 

Ye O' Matchmaker Pub; 1480 Humboldt St. Denver; (303)839-9388; dancing, men and women; full restaurant. 

As I love line dancing and two-stepping, it looks like Charlie's is a place for me to try. Anyone else wish to join me? 

Volunteer Experiences 

Last issue we had the first of a series of accounts by members of LAGAR or SAA who volunteer in the archives of lesbian, gay, transgendered organizations. The following blank space is for the second account which did not make it to me. Would you care to write about your experiences? 

Electronic Experiment 

Thanks to a few brave souls who indicated to me that we could save some trees and money by having me send the newsletter to them via email. I have sent it in WordPerfect 8 which I prefer, but can do so in Word as well, though the latter does not retain the headings and format.