Michael Riegle, journalist, gay liberationist and prisoner rights activist, was born in 1943 in Gary, Indiana. The son of a steel mill worker, he attended Knox College where he received his Bachelors Degree; he later received his Doctorate in the psychology of language from the University of Minnesota. Upon receiving his Doctorate, Riegle taught at Franklin and Marshall College and ended his teaching career at Cornell. Throughout the 1970s, Riegle traveled extensively through Europe, primarily Italy and France where he worked as a translator, English and children’s tutor. Fluent in both French and Italian, Riegle maintained an avid interest in language and continued studying Russian, Spanish, Greek and American Sign Language until his death. In 1978, upon his return to the United States, Riegle became involved with the anarchist paper The Fag Rag and became part of the Gay Community News staff in 1979. Riegle expanded the newspaper’s policy of providing free penpal ads to prisoners and began a program providing gays and lesbians behind bars with legal and health information. Riegle was an active advocate for prisoners and published on the subject extensively in GCN. He became a part of the Redbook Prison Book Program and advised the American Friends Service Committee and the AIDS Action Committee on the concerns of prisoners. Mike Riegle died on January 10, 1992 after a long struggle with AIDS.

The Mike Riegle Papers contain a variety of printed media, including newspaper articles, magazine clippings, whole newspapers and magazine issues, published essays, bibliographies, advertisements, pamphlets, newsletters, comics, fiction and poetry all related to the research and collective interests of Gay Community News journalist Michael Riegle. Although the collection consists primarily of clippings and other collected materials from various gay and mainstream media from 1973 to 1990, Riegle’s handwritten research notes on a variety of subjects can be found throughout, including those used in preparation for a review of Michel Foucault’s History of Sexuality for Gay Community News.

David Scondras was elected to the Boston City Council in 1983 and became the first openly gay individual elected to that body. During his ten-year tenure, he advocated for the gay and lesbian community, opposing then-Governor Michael Dukakis' decision to deny gay couples the right to adopt. As a member of Boston City Council, Scondras worked on a variety of issues from; fair and affordable housing, minority rights, rat control, to developing a water table land trust to help endangered properties in the Boston area. He led a boycott of Coors Beer to end its funding of political extremist groups and introduced and won approval of a Human Rights Ordinance that, for the first time, protected the gay and lesbian citizens of Boston. He established a Human Rights Commission, and led an effort to bring about a coalition of community and political activists to pass the State's Gay Rights Bill. It was reported by the Boston Globe that Scondras, during his time in City Council, sponsored over 150 legislative initiatives.

Scondras was an early proponent of funding for HIV/AIDS research, and in 1987 founded The Boston Human Rights Institute, (BHRI) a not-for-profit organization. It was established and incorporated as a direct result of the Coors Beer Boycott Settlement. After Scondras lost re-election in 1994, the BHRI was unofficial renamed Search For A Cure, to refocus its mission dedicated to AIDS education, prevention and research not only locally, but around the world.

The Boston-based weekly Bay Windows was first printed and distributed in 1983.

The AIDS Ephemera Collection consists of materials gathered over time by various members of The History Project, including board member Elizabeth Bouvier. Designed to the eyecatching advertisements for AIDS awareness events, these items were given out at community activities or picked up from displays in public places. The collection consists of a range of media: cards and flyers, novelty items, stickers and buttons – formats that normally do not lend themselves to easy preservation, as they were primarily meant as disposable reminders to convey information and raise awareness, to announce a program or service, or to induce action. However, because of this they provide a unique sample of grassroots efforts to educate the community about HIV/AIDS.

In 1987, hundreds of thousands of people marched on Washington for lesbian and gay rights. This large demonstration, like the first March on Washington in 1979, was a direct response to highly negative governmental and societal attitudes towards lesbian and gay individuals. In 1986, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled (5-4) in Bowers v. Hardwick that state sodomy laws were constitutional.

This same year, the proposed (and ultimately defeated) LaRouche Initiative in California would have placed AIDS on the state’s list of communicable diseases and thus mandate reporting to public health officials of individuals known to have contracted AIDS or HIV. The events of this historic march included the unveiling of the AIDS Memorial Quilt by the NAMES Project and a civil disobedience demonstration at the Supreme Court protesting the recent sodomy decision. Meanwhile, in Massachusetts, Governor Michael Dukakis was ignoring funding for AIDS research and education in his proposed state budget; moreover, Dukakis and the LGBT community of Massachusetts were battling over foster care policies. In 1985, Governor Dukakis had ordered the removal of two children from the care of their gay foster parents, and later that year announced a new foster care policy that would effectively prevent the placement of children in the foster care of lesbians and gay men. In response to these statewide efforts, the Gay and Lesbian Defense Committee formed in Boston, Massachusetts and, over the course of their existence, managed to play a vital role in the eventual defeat of these proposed legislations. Members of the Gay and Lesbian Defense Committee also helped to organize around other issues in Boston and Massachusetts, including reproductive rights and the Presidential campaigns of both Michael Dukakis and Jesse Jackson.

The materials in this collection – compiled by Boston-based activist Sarah Holmes – document the work of several national and local (to Boston, Massachusetts) lesbian and gay rights groups from 1977 to 1993, with the bulk of the materials pertaining to organizing efforts and events from 1985 to 1988. The materials in the collection are divided into three main categories: March on Washington (1987), Gay and Lesbian Defense Committee of Boston, Massachusetts, and Miscellaneous.

The Boston Pride Collection consists of papers (some originals and some photocopies), photographs, and ephemera from 1970 to 2008 related to the Boston Pride March and Rally, as well as materials from various celebrations and events during Pride week. The bulk of the collection is news coverage surrounding Pride Week preparations, goals, controversies, and summaries.

The collection is arranged by year, and then by series. Most years contain folders for the following four series: Pride Week Guides, News Articles, Flyers/Pamphlets, and Images. Other series, which occur in certain years, are Pride Week Committee Papers (with folder titles stating the name of whichever committee was overseeing the Pride planning for that year), Speeches, Miscellaneous, Maps and Ephemera. The series entitled Pride Week Guides may contain itineraries, programs, or calendars describing Pride week events. Many of these folders also contain notes on Pride week events for that particular year. The News Articles series may contain newspaper articles (originals and/or photocopies), journal and magazine articles, and/or press releases. The Images series may contain original photographs, photocopies, or enlarged photocopied images from newspapers.

The History Project has original slides and photographs for the following years: 1973-1975, 1977-1980, 1986-1987, 1990-1991, and 1997. The Flyers/Pamphlets series contains flyers, pamphlets, bar or party cards, and religious service/interfaith service leaflets. The only Speeches series included at present is from 1970 and contains the original manuscript to a speech given at the Massachusetts State House by Laura McMurry.

Some years contain series folders for the committee that was overseeing the Parade for any given year. These folders may contain correspondence, notes, forms and photocopies of incorporation documents from the Secretary of State’s office. Also included are several 990 Federal Tax statements from some years.

There is a separate series for the Boston Dyke March, a separate march which has taken place 1994, and on the Friday before the Pride march.

The collection is arranged by year, with further arrangement by series. Every year contains a folder for Pride Week Guides and a folder for News Articles.

The variety of materials in this collection speak to the long tradition of activism around the rights and well-being of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (LGBTQ+) youth in Massachusetts, and attest to changing societal attitudes both across the state and around the United States concerning LGBTQ youth. Importantly, this collection shows the central role that LGBTQ youth have played in activist efforts in both the Boston area and throughout Massachusetts.

Materials in this collection reach as far back as 1969, when Time magazine published a cover story called “The Homosexual in America” which discussed, as part of its scope, lesbian and gay youth. A few years later, in 1972, High School Gays United (HSGU) formed in Boston to provide an outlet for gay and lesbian youth. HSGU is the first documented group of its kind in Massachusetts. From that point, and moving toward the present, the groups, organizations, and movements included in this collection reveal the varying issues that have shaped both the LGBTQ youth community and the LGBTQ community in general.

Boston Lesbians and Gay Men Against the Right (BLAGMAR) and its parent organization, Lavender Resistance, were groups formed in the last half of the 1970s to negotiate between issues relating to the LGBT community and the concerns of leftist politics. Lavender Resistance, active from 1976-1979, was primarily a discussion and study group that focused on defining this relationship, and because some members wanted a more action-oriented environment, BLAGMAR was formed to meet this need in 1978. BLAGMAR specifically was a reaction against the emergence of the New Right, a political movement of evangelical Christians, headed by people like Anita Bryant, that actively targeted the gay and lesbian community.

The records of the organizations reflect the political and activist LGBT community during one of the Gay Rights Movement’s most active periods. Perhaps most importantly, these records, particularly the meeting minutes and discussion notes, are very relevant for any study of how gay and lesbian issues related to socialist and progressive politics, and how certain members of the community chose to approach this relationship. The group’s records represent an intellectual and economically progressive approach to LGBT issues. Lavender Resistance, a socialist-feminist voice in the gay community, was particularly invested in the study of the historic interactions between race, class, gender, and homosexuality in a capitalist environment, while BLAGMAR focused on current political trends and activism.

The collection consists of one box full of loose papers, newspaper and journal publications, eight sheets of manila paper, and a decorate fitted sheet used as a banner. The large sheets of manila paper, used like posters, feature the agenda for the 1979 BLAGMAR theatre piece written in colored marker. The cloth banner is also decorated with colored marker.

The Homophile Union of Boston grew out of the Boston chapter of the Mattachine Society and was founded in late 1969 or early 1970. The organization’s leadership was male, but there were also women members. The purpose of HUB was to provide a space for gay men and lesbians to talk about political and social issues affecting them and to offer a support network for members. The papers consist of organizational records, publications, and correspondence, and were compiled from material donated by officers of HUB, including Frank Morgan and Dick York.

The Student Homophile League was a self-described “service group organizing social and political action for the college age community” and was active between 1969 and 1980. First organized by MIT student Stan Tillotson in 1969, the organization became official in April of 1970 with Harry Phillips as the president. SHL was disbanded by the Vice President and the Secretary in December of 1970, and then started with a new executive board and constitution in January of 1971, as described in the letter of the new president William J. Canfield II. The reason given for the rearrangement of the organization was a need for improved structure and communication. Along with its political function, the SHL also served a social function, as reflected by the numerous dance flyers and lists of other activities. There was at times a great deal of dissent within the SHL, which can be seen in the disbanding and restarting of the organization in 1970, and the at times scathing editorials and articles in Liberation, a SHL publication. The majority of the documents in the collection are either undated or are from 1970. The latest document is a letter from 1980 written to David Lynch and other members of the board requesting that all the membership lists for the organization be destroyed and it appears that organization was defunct after that point. Also notable in the collection is the great deal of overlap there was between various Boston homophile groups with the SHL being directly affiliated with Graduate Students Homophile Association of Harvard, B.U. Homophile Club, MIT Homophile Club, Gay Liberation Front, and also working with Eastern Regional Homophile Conference and the North American Conference of Homophile Organizations. 

The collection consists of one ½ box of loose papers, flyers, leaflets, Liberation newspaper (a SHL publication), and newspaper clippings. A little more than half the material is related directly to the SHL (with the bulk being the Liberation newspaper). The other half of the materials is documents belonging to other homophile or gay liberation organizations.