Harold L. Dittmer, Unknown (Strength and Health collage), c. 1940s. Collage. ONE Archives at the USC Libraries

West Hollywood, CA 90069

Opening reception:  

Saturday, November 9, 2013, 6-9pm  

Drawn from the collections of ONE Archives at the USC Libraries, the largest LGBTQ repository in the world, with additional materials on loan from the Tom of Finland Foundation, the exhibition includes numerous bodybuilding and beefcake magazines from the period, as well as original artworks, collages, primary documents, and a range of related ephemera.    

This opening reception is held in conjunction with the MOCA members opening for Bob Mizer & Tom of Finland at MOCA PDC (8687 Melrose Ave., West Hollywood, CA 90069). Following these openings receptions the City of West Hollywood is presenting a Tom of Finland themed Go-Go Dancer Appreciation Day event at Larrabee (8853 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069). Information the City's Go-Go event here.  

Gay Liberation Front protest on the streets regarding the first gay pride parade permits. June 1970. ONE Archives at the USC Libraries   

 

"The efforts of the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center's Project SPIN and ONE Archives to make LGBT-integrated and inclusive lesson plans available to all teachers are truly groundbreaking.  It's empowering for all students to see themselves, their families, and their community reflected in the curriculum," said Judy Chiasson, Program Coordinator, Los Angeles Unified School District.

"What better way to kick off LGBT History Month than to ensure that the contributions made by our LGBT pioneers are not erased from the history books," said Joseph Hawkins, Ph.D., Director, ONE Archives at the USC Libraries. "We hope that the LGBT inclusive curriculum we are developing for Los Angeles County schools will be seen as a model for the rest of the nation to use when teaching American History."

"Young people need to see people like them-racially, socio-economically, etc.-reflected in the lessons they learn in school," said Sara Train, Coordinator of the Project SPIN program. "In our work consulting with the ONE Archives, we really wanted to show how LGBT history and LGBT leaders were integral to the development of American history. With the recent Supreme Court rulings about the Defense of Marriage Act and California's Proposition 8, it's increasingly important to show LGBT young people that it's OK to be who they are and to provide role models they can identify with." 

The LGBT inclusive history curriculum will be fully implemented into Los Angeles high schools by the Spring of 2014. To see a recent L.A. Times piece about this historic project, click here.

EZTV Guide with a still from James Dillenger's Blonde Death, 1984. EZTV Video Collection. ONE Archives at the USC Libraries  

ONE Archives & Dirty Looks NYC present EZTV at Anthology Film Archives  

New York, NY 10003

$10 admission; $8 Anthology Members. Purchase tickets here.

Founded by pioneering video-maker John Dorr in 1979, EZTV was an artist-run space in the West Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles dedicated to the presentation and production of alternative video projects. Perhaps the country's first micro-cinema exclusively for video, EZTV's early, predominately queer members produced numerous video projects from campy shorts to feature-length docs to experimental video installations.  

EZTV functioned in many ways as an open platform for a wide-range of video-antics as well as a much-needed space for experimentation and camaraderie. While locally well-recognized throughout the 1980s, EZTV's role as a queer video center has gone largely unacknowledged and undocumented. This screening presents videos from the archives of EZTV, part of the collections at ONE Archives at the USC Libraries in Los Angeles. For more information about this event, click here.  

In the past year, archivists at ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives at the USC Libraries cataloged 95 collections that document the lives of many pioneering figures in the struggle for LGBTQ equality. Thanks to the NHPRC-supported project, researchers can now access a number of previously hidden archival collections, including A Different Light Bookstore Records, the Antonio Reyes Papers, the Esther Herbert Papers and Photographs, Personal Rights in Defense and Education (PRIDE), and the Molly McKay & Davina Kotulski Scrapbooks.

In addition to the 59 collections previously processed through this project, ONE Archivists recently processed 36 additional collections shedding light on early activist organizations like Personal Rights in Defense and Education (PRIDE), which dates back to 1966 and inspired later organizations like ACT UP and the Gay Liberation Front. PRIDE organized demonstrations following the 1967 LAPD raid on the Black Cat Tavern.

Antonio Reyes with Dale Jennings, Chuck Rowland, and W. Dorr Legg from the early days of ONE Incorporated in the 1950s. ONE Archives at the USC Libraries

The newly processed collections also shed light on the lives of important LGBTQ activists, artists, and scholars. The Esther Herbert Papers and Photographs include scrapbooks and weekly correspondence between four lesbian friends who all served in the Women's Army Corps during WWII. The Tony Reyes papers document the career and personal life of the Latino dancer and entertainer who was also a founding member of ONE, the oldest operating gay organization in the US. Also included in the collections are a number of photographs, scrapbooks, and mementos from early gay and lesbian weddings.

See the complete list of newly processed collections here, as well as selected photographs of early LGBTQ activists.

November 13, 2013 

760-322-READ (7323) www.palmspringslibrary.org 

In honor of Palm Springs Pride on November 2-3, the Palm Springs Public Library will be displaying ONE Archives' Christopher Street West Pride Panels for the month of November.

Along with the display, the Palm Springs Public Library will also be hosting an event on November 13, featuring ONE Board Member and USC Professor, Dr. Chris Freeman. Dr. Freeman will be presenting a lecture about the story behind the panels, detailing the history of Pride in Los Angeles. This event is free and open to the public. For more information, please click here.

November 18, 8:30pm