Special Collection #0009:
The Gay Alternative /
Jeffrey Escoffier Papers
1972-1976, 11 linear inches

The Gay Alternative / Jeffrey Escoffier Papers include original documents (many hand-written) that pertain to the activities of The Gay Alternative, a magazine published in Philadelphia from December 1972 through April 1976.  These papers include administrative forms, financial statements, and internal as well as external correspondence.  Additionally, this collection contains many of the manuscripts, some with editors' corrections, which were subsequently published in the magazine.  Finally, it includes personal papers of Jeffrey Escoffier, including a paper he delivered to the Homosexual Community Counseling Center Conference on Vocational Guidance and Gay Lifestyles in 1974 in New York.

The Gay Alternative was a literary forum for gay expression created by a collective of individuals during the early years of gay liberation.  This magazine began as a newsletter of the Gay Activists Alliance of Philadelphia.  They hoped to provide information, opinion, and discussion regarding the many aspects of gay life in Philadelphia.

Jeffrey Escoffier was a founder of The Gay Alternative.  He has been involved in political and intellectual journalism for almost twenty-five years, has taught at the college level in New Jersey and California, and has been extensively involved in the formation and publication of many gay-specific endeavors including OUT/LOOK: National Gay & Lesbian Quarterly and OutWrite: National Gay & Lesbians Writers' Conferences.

The collection may interest researchers who desire an understanding of one of Philadelphia's first gay literary magazines.  It provides a thorough look at the operation of The Gay Alternative as well as provide a personal look at some of the work of Jeffrey Escoffier from 1972 to 1976.  The papers reveal attitudes and beliefs of one segment of the gay community through essay, commentary, poetry, letters, etc.

The Gay Alternative / Jeffrey Escoffier Papers were donated to Tommi Avicolli Mecca's Gay/Lesbian Archives in the early 1980s.  Tommi donated this and other collections to the community center's Library/Archives in 1991.  A copy of Jeffrey Escoffier's 1997 vitae has been added to this collection with Escoffier's consent.