Poetry

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.

This collection is made up of LGBT-related poetry, prose, music, and photography chapboooks produced from the 1960s through the current day, most from the 1970s and 1980s. The majority of the materials are in the poetic genre, but literature including short stories and plays are included, as well as books of lyrics and musical notation, and books of photography, especially those which include creative texts alongside the graphics material.

William Ernest Meneely (1952-1996) was born in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, the son of Arthur William Meneely and Grace Elouise Cook. He worked for 16 years at Georgia State University Library, where he was Head of Collection Development, retiring in 1992. Among the materials included in the collection are personal writings, photographs, and a collection of his artwork in the form of collages with mostly gay male subject matter created using cut-out images from magazines.