mattbaume

Bonus Video! My surprising gay discoveries in the Yale archives

Added 2024-04-14 16:00:10 +0000 UTC

Hello there!

I have to admit I get a real thrill every time an archivist comes out of a back room carrying a banker's box full of file folders, yellowed newspaper clippings, crinkled photographs, and mimeographed memos that were tucked away ten years before I was even born -- who even KNOWS what treasures might be hiding in there?

This week, I'm visiting the archives at Yale in New Haven, combing through a treasure trove of documents that haven't been touched in years. And ohhhhh jeez did I find some good stuff! Some of it's a bit silly (a cute Oscar Wilde t-shirt, a picture of Bella Lugosi making Glen or Glenda), but I also unearthed an early draft of a training manual that gay activists of the 1970s used to bend the media to their will -- sixty typewritten pages that shine a new light on the explosion of great queer characters on television in the late 70s.

Plus, and this was very unexpected, I found some rather stunning gossip traded between leaders in the gay rights movement in 1976 ... and evidence of espionage! I can't even tell you how my jaw dropped as I read a memo between editors of The Advocate, wondering if they should publicize their belief that a lesbian working in the White House was secretly dating a woman who sold counterfeit subway tokens. (!!!!)

Anyway, that just scratches the surface of the stuff that I found. I'll be digging more in depth in the coming weeks, but this was an extremely fruitful trip! Can't wait to show you more. And of course, HUGE thanks for making research excursions like these possible with your support.

Oh, and also: Over on Discord, I shared some images of the documents that I found -- instructions for joining are here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/new-patreon-for-100466127