SPECIAL COLLECTIONS STILL IN PROCESSING

Parts of collections-in-processing may be made available to researchers at the Archivist's discretion, depending on the status of the collection, the sensitivity of the materials and their importance to the research project.

For reasons of privacy, portions of these collections may be embargoed for 50 years from their creation date.

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American Civil Liberties Union - Lesbian and Gay Legal Issues
Research and development materials for the booklet "Lesbians and Gay Men: The Law in Pennsylvania."

The Au Courant / Pride Weekly Papers
This huge collection preserves the office files of Philadelphia's second-longest-running GLBT newspaper, including an impressive and important photo collection documenting "queer" Philadelphia and America from the early 1980s to the late 1990s.

The Council on Lesbian and Gay Bar Policies Papers
This organization was formed in the 1980s to look into allegations of gender and ethnic discrimination at certain bars in Philadelphia.

The East Coast Homophile Organizations (ECHO) Papers
ECHO was a regional umbrella organization of lesbian and gay groups in the 1960s.  (At the time of the logo at left, the member organizations were the Mattachine Society of New York, the Mattachine Society of Washington, the Philadelphia-based Janus Society, and the Daughters of Bilitis.)  These papers preserve the minutes of ECHO's executive board meetings.

The Fight the Right Project Papers
Fight the Right (FTR) was a local activist organization of the 1990s that focused on opposing the political goals of the Religious Right.  This collection consists of newsletters, books, and other items -- published by Religious Right groups and by their opponents -- that FTR maintained as a resource center in the Library/Archives in the mid 1990s.

The Gay Activists Alliance Philadelphia Papers
These papers document the activities and internal communications one of Philly's leading gay liberation organizations of the early 1970s: the local branch of Gay Activists Alliance (GAA).

The Gay Community News Papers
Photocopies of office files from the early years of this Boston newspaper.  The originals were destroyed in a fire at the GCN office.

The Giovanni's Room Papers
Business records of a lesbian, gay and feminist bookstore, covering the 1970s and 1980s.  A local Philadelphia shop, Giovanni's Room has been a leading distributor of lesbian and gay publications worldwide.  These papers document trends in lesbian, gay and feminist book buying over a period of more than ten years.

The Barbara Gittings / Kay Tobin Lahusen Collection
The photos in this collection and some of the audio recordings are processed and available.  Most of what remains to be processed are audio recordings of interviews / oral histories that Kay Lahusen collected while writing her 1972 book The Gay Crusaders.

The Labyrinth Papers
Office files of Philadelphia's feminist newspaper, covering the 1980s to 1995, when the Labyrinth Collective divided into two separate organizations.  Includes organizational records, business records, and other materials.

The Rutgers-Camden GLBT Resource Center Collection
In the mid and late 1990s, an employee at Rutgers University's Camden campus maintained an extensive resource center for GLBT and questioning students.  She donated these books, videos, pamphlets, clipping files and wall hangings to the Library/Archives after a new manager at Rutgers ordered the resource center removed.

The William Way Community Center Papers
The Library/Archives' parent organization was founded in 1975 as the Gay Community Center of Philadelphia, and opened its first location in 1976.  It has been known by several names over the years, including Penguin Place and the William Way Community Center.  We have begun reconstructing the Center's office files of years past from materials donated by former Board members and former volunteers.

The William J. Way Papers
This collection consists mostly of scrapbooks and photo albums kept by Bill Way, the Community Center's namesake, cofounder and longtime supporter.  It also includes the large, framed photo boards that were displayed at his memorial service, each representing a different period of his life.

Photo:  Gay Activists Alliance of Philadelphia, circa 1973.  Photographer unknown.  Detail of an image in Tommi Avicolli Mecca's slide show "Rocking the Cradle," in Special Collection #0011.

Photo:  Giovanni's Room bookstore in its second location, on Spruce Street, in the mid to late 1970s.  Photo © Harry R. Eberlin, used by permission.  From Tommi Avicolli Mecca's slide show "Rocking the Cradle," in Special Collection #0011.