Board materials, palm cards, press clippings and other materials of the Boston Gay Men’s Chorus spanning 191-2008 donated to the History Project by Michael Leclerc, board member of the BGMC.

Collection of t-shirts related to Boston's LGBTQ+ community.

Boston’s gay subculture developed in tandem with Prohibition, where speakeasies became natural gathering places for gay individuals who were already leading a clandestine life. The History Project’s Improper Bostonians notes, “Bars and other gathering places gave previously isolated individuals the opportunity to experience a modicum of freedom, which helped offset the constant threat of arrest, extortion, or loss of employment and the strain of leading double lives,” (p. 162). At this time, bar exteriors were usually discreet, with unmarked doors and anonymous facades. When Prohibition was repealed, gay patrons continued to frequent many former speakeasies, along with hotel lounges, neighborhood bars, and nightclubs, drawn to places where sexual preference was openly acknowledged. Patrons, however, visited such establishments under constant threat of police raid and arrest, which served to foster the solidarity and sense of community that characterized the bar scene of the late 1940s and 50s. By the 1960s, gay and lesbian bars grew in number and patronage, reflecting a larger cultural shift of oppressed groups rising up and demanding recognition. By the 1970s, the disco scene served to bring gay lifestyles into the mainstream, as disco-owners recognized the buying-power of the gay community and sought to encourage gay patronage.

The material from the Bar Collection has been gathered by patrons and employees of local bars and has been donated to The History Project with the intention of providing a more comprehensive history of the social life of gay men (and, to a smaller extent, women) via the bars they frequented.

The Bar Collection is a unique assortment of material documenting the gay bar culture from the late 1950s to the present, and includes such items as matchbooks, glasses, clothing, buttons, flyers, invitations, membership cards, and posters. The bulk dates for the Bar Collection are the mid 1970s to the mid 1990s. The earliest material dates from the late 1950s, and, as this is an open and ongoing collection, material from the present is continually being accessioned. Bill Conrad’s contributions make up the greater part of the collection. The Bar Collection contains material on a number of bars in the Boston and Cambridge area, but Sporters, Buddies, 1270, Playland Café, and Bobby’s are most extensively covered. Material from other bars such as Napoleon Club, Jacques, and Paradise is also contained in the collection, but to a smaller extent. Other topics documented in the Bar Collection include Boston Pride, AIDS action groups, drag performances and performers, and the 25th anniversary of Stonewall. The collection focuses mainly on gay gars, but a small amount of information of lesbian bars is available in Series IV.

Founded in 1983, AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts, Inc. (AAC) is an advocacy and support group for people with AIDS in Boston that also focuses on AIDS education and prevention throughout the New England area. An April 1983 newsletter explained that the organization “has many goals, including distributing printed educational materials, hospice training, possible emergency financial assistance to AIDS patients, and administrative expenses.” The organization offers free support to thousands of people living with AIDS and runs a pair of statewide phone hotlines, A benefit walk, AIDS Walk Boston, is held every year to support AAC; the first walk took place on Sunday, June 1, 1986. The organization also hosts a variety of other events throughout the year to raise both awareness and funds.

The collection consists of publications, promotional material for events, and other documents relating to AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts. The bulk of the collection consists of the publications, which include a pair of early newsletters from April and June of 1983, as well as the more official AAC Update newsletter from June of 1986 through the winter of 1992 (incomplete) and later editions from 2001 and 2003 through 2006 and 2009. There are also other miscellaneous publications from AAC, including issues of SST Express, Wellspring, Forward Living and the 2008 AAC annual report. There are also a variety of pamphlets and booklets published by AAC, some of which promote the organization itself. Many advocate safe sex and the use of condoms, oftentimes using graphic terminology. The collection also contains material relating to the annual AIDS Walk Boston, beginning with pamphlets from the very first walk held in 1986. The material consists of pamphlets, booklets, flyers and newspaper clippings. There are also donation appeals from AAC, public service advertisements (many are photocopies) and newspaper articles about the organization.

Boston's Other Voice was an LGBTQ-themed radio magazine that ran from February 1981-November 1989 and created by Don Latulippe, public affairs programming director at WROR-FM 98.5 (the FM sister station to WRKO-AM, both owned by RKO General) and psychotherapist Dennis Iadarolla.

The show was hosted from 1981-1985 by Dennis Iadarolla and from 1986-1989 by Peter Stickel. Don Latulippe hosted an interview with Stickel during this period, as well.

These digitized recordings were rescued as the station was sold and the show cut due in part to the public affairs program requirement ending during the Reagan administration.
 

Collection is one record carton containing newsletters (1988-2000), miscellaneous flyers, the organizational by-laws of group, and some correspondence.

The Boston Alliance of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Youth (BAGLY) is a youth led, adult supported social support organization, committed to social justice, and creating, programs, policies and services in support of the LGBTQ youth community. BAGLY was founded in July of 1980 by LGBTQ youth who believed that an organization led by and for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer/questioning youth was essential for the Greater Boston’s LGBTQ youth community. BAGLY is recognized nationally for its role in creating, sustaining, and advocating for social support, leadership development, and health promotion programs for LGBTQ youth. BAGLY was initially called the Boston Alliance of Gay and Lesbian Youth.

The collection consists of eleven record cartons arranged into seven series. Materials and items in the collection range from newspaper clippings, printed matter, banners, flyers, postcards and flyers and other materials related to an assortment of subjects. 

The Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition (MTPC) was formed in 2001. The organization focused initial efforts on adding a gender identity clause into the City of Boston’s non-discrimination ordinance in 2002. The group expanded to include a satellite chapter in Western Massachusetts that pushed for a similar clause in the City of Northampton. While the major focus of MTPC is political, the group and group members participated in conferences, advocacy and community projects, and co-founder Gunner Scott was elected the Boston Pride Parade Marshall in 2003. The group still exists at present.

The collection consists of two record containers of materials. The bulk of materials relate to MTPC’s advocacy efforts, specifically the Boston non-discrimination ordinance and the ongoing efforts to pass “An Act Relative to Transgender Rights” in the Massachusetts legislature, which would protect transgender people throughout the state. Other materials include MTPC organizational files, member communication, miscellaneous group activities, newspaper clippings and article print-outs, miscellaneous transgender rights documents and ephemera.

Above + Beyond: Our Community Responds to HIV/AIDS is both a standing and online exhibit, as well as a database project, undertaken by The History Project to mark the 25th anniversary of the first HIV/AIDS diagnosis and document the Boston LGBT community’s response to the AIDS crisis. Information for Above + Beyond was gathered from the records of Boston-based HIV/AIDS organizations, including the AIDS Action Committee, Positive Directions, the Boston Living Center, Fenway Community Health Center, Massachusetts Asian and Pacific Islanders for Health, Lesbians AIDS Project of Massachusetts and others; news sources such as Gay Community News, Bay Windows, Sojourner: A Feminist Forum, and The Boston Globe; and from the collections of professional photographers in the Boston area. Videotaped oral histories were taken from key players in the local response to HIV/AIDS.

Key grant funding was provided by The Scott Opler Foundation and the HIV/AIDS Bureau of the Massachusetts Department of Health. Work on the base timeline began in November 2003 and was completed in July 2004; it was reviewed by academics and community activists. Volunteers then continued to expand the base timeline with documentation illustrating the major events and occurrences in the community’s response. The exhibit opened on Monday, June 5, 2006 and an online version was launched in late 2007. A traveling exhibit is available for rental by interested organizations and groups. (Bulk of above excerpted the Winter 2006 edition of The History Project’s Timelines publication.)

The collection consists of newspaper clippings and publications gathered during research for the Above + Beyond exhibit. Included are subject files relating to specific topics such as activism and minorities, which contain primarily newspaper clippings and photocopies of newspaper articles. There are two folders of miscellaneous research not focusing on a specific subject; one folder contains material donated by Rev. Joyce Crowder.

Fenway Community Health Center started in 1971 when a group of students and community activists started a weekly drop-in health clinic serving the diverse population of the Fenway neighborhood: gay men, the elderly, students, and low-income tenants. In 1973, the Center moved to the basement of 16 Haviland Street and incorporated as a free-standing health center. The Center became fully licensed by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health in 1978. A forum created in 1982 to discuss the medical and psycho-social issues surrounding AIDS would later become the AIDS Action Committee, which split from the Center in 1986. In 1991, the Center moved to a new state-of-the-art facility at 7 Haviland Street.

In 2009, the Center shortened its operating name to Fenway Health and moved into a new facility at 1340 Boylston Street. It provides medical, dental and eye care along with STD testing and a variety of services addressing violence recovery, substance abuse and LGBT family/parenting. It has become internationally known for its work on HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and research.

The collection consists of newspaper clippings and publications donated by Stewart Landers relating to Fenway Community Health Center. Included are copies of newsletters dating back to 1985, such as Fenway Health, Frontlines, Healthy Outlook and Fenway Connections, as well as newspaper and magazine articles from The Boston Globe and Bay Windows. There are also pamphlets for events held by the Fenway Community Health Center, including the 1989 groundbreaking ceremony and the official 1991 opening ceremonies/ribbon cuttings for its new facility at 7 Haviland Street. Additional materials include annual reports from 1987 and 1988, a promotional brochure, a blank copy of a lesbian health study questionnaire, a marketing plan from 1984.