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LGBT Northwest serials, posters, and related ephemera collection, 1966-2025

Overview of the Collection

Title
LGBT Northwest serials, posters, and related ephemera collection
Dates
1966-2025 (inclusive)
Quantity
4.16 cubic feet, (5 boxes)
2 oversize folders
1 vertical file
Collection Number
5792, 4468
Summary
Collection of Northwest lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender serials, posters, and related ephemera, including posters from the Freedom Day Committee
Repository
University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections
Special Collections
University of Washington Libraries
Box 352900
Seattle, WA
98195-2900
Telephone: 2065431929
Fax: 2065431931
speccoll@uw.edu
Access Restrictions

Open to all users.

Request at UW

Languages
Collection materials are in English.
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Historical Note

Apart from the pioneering Dorian Society (founded in Seattle in 1967), the first Seattleites to organize politically as gays and lesbians were connected to the University of Washington. In 1969, Dorian House began to provide counseling services to gay and lesbian students and non-students on Capitol Hill, and was operated by a University of Washington counselor and staffed by UW students. The 1970s saw an explosion of organizations, such as the Gay Women's Resource Center (now the Lesbian Resource Center), Seattle Gay Alliance, and Parents, Families, Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG).

In 1973, the Fair Employment Practice Ordinance passed by the Seattle City Council, protected gays and lesbians from discrimination at work. In 1976, Washington's sodomy law was repealed, and the City of Seattle added sexual orientation to housing discrimination regulations. Though some pride parades had been organized in earlier years to commemorate the Stonewall Rebellion of 1969, Mayor Charles Royer declared an official "Gay Pride Week" in 1977.

During the late 1970s, anti-gay forces organized against the growing visibility and acceptance. In 1978, Initiative 13 proposed to repeal City of Seattle ordinances that protected gays from certain forms of discrimination. The same year, Gay Pride was renamed Lesbian Gay Pride, and more than 3,000 participants marched downtown in protest of the Initiative. Pride Week was organized regularly on Capitol Hill in the early 1980s. In the early 2000s the parade moved from the Hill to Downtown and Seattle Center.

Source: "Queer History in Seattle, Part 2: After Stonewall" (https://www.historylink.org/file/4266)

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Content Description

LGBT-related serials produced in the Pacific Northwest, primarily Washington State. Also includes posters for LGBT-related events, especially marches, as well as related ephemera.

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Use of the Collection

Restrictions on Use

Creators' literary rights not transferred to the University of Washington Libraries.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

Arranged in four accessions:

  • Accession no. 5792-001, LGBT Northwest Serials and Related Ephemera Collection, 1966-2013
  • Accession no. 5792-002, LGBT Northwest Posters, 1990-2006
  • Accession no. 4468-001, Lesbian/Gay Freedom Day Committee ephemera, approximately 1983
  • Accession no. 4468-002, Freedom Day Committee Pride posters and related records, 1979-2007, 2024

Processing Note

This collection was initially compiled by Alvin Fritz, former selector/coordinator for UW Libraries' Gay and Lesbian Studies. Fritz solicited and collected a large amount of Northwest lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender materials from organizations, groups, and other collectors. A selection of serials with longer runs from that collection was cataloged for Special Collections in 2002-2003 and can be found in the library online catalog. Duplicates were donated to the ONE Institute in Los Angeles, California, home to an extensive LGBT library. The remaining serials and ephemera were given to the Pacific Northwest Collection of Special Collections.

Related Materials

The Seattle Lesbian website has been regularly captured by the Internet Archive Wayback Machine since 2013. The snapshots can be viewed here: https://wayback.archive-it.org/4224/*/http://theseattlelesbian.com/

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Detailed Description of the Collection

Names and Subjects

Subject Terms

  • Personal Papers/Corporate Records (University of Washington)
  • Sexual minorities--Northwest, Pacific--Newspapers
  • Sexual minorities--Northwest, Pacific--Periodicals

Geographical Names

  • Seattle
  • Washington (State)
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