Gay men

Abstract

Arnold H. Rosenberg (July 12, 1935-September 12, 2007) was an openly gay baker, entrepreneur, attorney, and administrator. In these letters addressed to his daughter Amy Rosenberg, Arnold Rosenberg describes his attempts to grow his small pastry business, his relationship with Joel Prybutok and Joel's daughter Sonya, and his everyday life as a wealthy resident of Center City, Philadelphia, and later San Francisco, going to dinners and enjoying films and museum trips.

Abstract William (Bill) Goldberg (1937-2019?) performed in drag, going under the stage name “Mame,” and performed as a supernumerary (non-singing or speaking role) in productions of the Opera Company of Philadelphia. He often attended and hosted parties with friends for anniversaries, birthdays, and other holidays; and attended plays, ballets, operas, and concerts. The collection contains a variety of material types that document Bill Goldberg’s interests, hobbies, profession, and social life. The...

Abstract William Way (1942-1988) worked as the Executive Director of the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority and as an advocate for the Philadelphia LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) community. The Bill Way collection, 1942-2004, is comprised of scrapbooks compiled by Way documenting his life, the LGBT community in Philadelphia, and City of Philadelphia redevelopment in the 1970s and 1980s. There are also materials relating to Way donated by various individuals, notably an oral history...

Abstract

This collection began as a box of LGBT magazines, chapbooks, and other material that was left on the side of the road for trash collection in Burlington, Vermont in November of 2018 and subsequently went on to be the subject of a successful gallery exhibit and Instagram account. This collection is made up of three series: Series I includes the contents of the found box, Series II includes the preserved Instagram account, and Series III includes materials related to the exhibit.

Abstract

While abroad for work in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, in the early 1960s, American Charles Allyn Weeks began a romantic relationship with a Dutch university student several years his junior. The Weeks collection is comprised of 11 letters sent from the Dutchman in Amsterdam to Weeks in Philadelphia, plus 15 black and white photographs of the pair with their poodle Parké taken in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Abstract

The Gay and Lesbian Switchboard of Philadelphia operated at a series of locations in the city from 1973 to 1998. It aimed to provide information, counseling, and referrals to the gay and lesbian community via a call-in phone line. The Switchboard records are comprised of a range of business-related organizational materials dating from the mid 1970s through the late 1990s.

Abstract Jack Van Alstyne, born ca. 1938, known to his gay friends as "Cheezit," was the son of Howard C. Van Alstyne and Marion G. Fox Van Alstyne. He lived in Camden, NJ for much of his life. His collection includes a scrapbook of Philadelphia and New Jersey gay life of the 1960s through 1980s; grouping of ca. 75 photographs of Philadelphia and New Jersey drag queens and gay men, owned by John Brown, known as Marilyn; photographs taken by Alstyne of gay men in Rittenhouse Square, summer of 1953;...

Abstract

This collection consists of a single item: an 8-page handwritten memoir by John Brown, who also went by Sammy as well as by the drag name Marilyn. It tells the story of how Brown was introduced to gay life in Philadelphia, how he and friend Jack Van Alstyne met queens in Rittenhouse Square in 1953, and how he took on the drag name Marilyn. It also has details about Brown serving time in juvenile detention in 1954.

Abstract Kiyoshi Kuromiya (1943-2000) was a Philadelphia-based activist who worked to better the lives of people living with HIV/AIDS. He created the Critical Path AIDS Project to provide free internet access and information on HIV/AIDS treatment. The bulk of the Kiyoshi Kuromiya papers on HIV/AIDS research and organizations, 1990-2002, is comprised of newspaper clippings, scientific articles, conference materials, and flyers collected by Kuromiya on HIV/AIDS treatments, topics, and organizations....

Abstract

Decorative calendars have a long and varied history. Those marketed to the LGBT community began to flourish in the 1970s with the advent of the gay liberation movement. The LGBT calendar collection contains various sorts of historic calendars with an LGBT theme including those aimed at gay men which feature nude or nearly nude male models, and those that celebrate or commemorate other aspects the LGBT community.