For Immediate Release: May 11, 2005
Media Contact: Marcia Schneider (415) 557-4252
mschneider@sfpl.org
James C. Hormel Gay & Lesbian Center
at the San Francisco Public Library
Celebrates 10-Year Anniversary
Out at the Library exhibition to feature Civil War boots,
pulp paperback books, personal correspondence
from Alice B.Toklas,
Harvey Milk’s datebook and more
June 18 – October 16, 2005
Boots worn by Dr. Mary Walker, c. 1863
Barbara Grier and Donna McBride/Naiad Press Collection,
James C. Hormel Gay & Lesbian Center, San Francisco Public Library
San Francisco: The James C. Hormel Gay & Lesbian Center at the San Francisco Public Library, considered to be the first archives of its kind in a public library,
will celebrate its 10-year anniversary this summer with an extraordinary exhibition from the Center’s collections of artifacts, documents and photographs spanning over 100 years. This exhibition
will be on display at three sites: the Jewett Gallery and the Hormel Center at the Main Library at Civic Center, and the Eureka Valley/Harvey Milk Memorial Branch Library in the Castro neighborhood of San Francisco.
Out at the Library: Celebrating the James C. Hormel Gay and Lesbian Center and the accompanying 144-page fully illustrated catalogue will celebrate the Hormel Center by telling the story of how it came into existence,
illustrating the Center’s rich exhibition and program history and highlighting its collection. Out at the Library offers a rare look into the unique archives and demonstrates how it ensures the legacy of the lesbian,
gay, bisexual and transgender communities. Objects and stories drawn from the archives offer compelling views of both remarkable and ordinary lives, attributes of character, heroic actions, explosions of genius, cautionary tales and private worlds.
Many personal and historically significant stories are told through the exhibition. Encountering unexpected connections between people and artifacts through the adjacencies of seemingly disparate objects, viewers will
realize that all of the artifacts in the exhibition are connected in the same way – through stories, structured relationships and shared contexts.
The centerpiece of the Main Library’s Jewett Gallery demonstrates how one object, Dr. Mary Walker’s leather boots (Walker was a Civil War doctor who dressed as a man so she could practice medicine), provides a window to many
intertwined relationships from the past and in the present. Items on display in the gallery include photographs, ephemera, artifacts and correspondence from lesbian literary icons Gertrude Stein, Alice B. Toklas, Barbara Grier and Barbara Gittings, among others.
Also highlighted in the exhibition is the Barbara Grier and Donna McBride/Naiad Press Collection. Grier, the founder of Naiad Press, the longest operating lesbian publishing house, donated Dr. Mary Walker’s boots as
well as the Pulp Paperback Collection to the Hormel Center. Included in this section are works by lesbian authors Pat Parker and Judy Grahn, correspondence between Barbara Grier, poet Elsa Gidlow, and Patricia Highsmith
(of The Talented Mr. Ripley fame) who wrote under the pseudonym Claire Morgan the 1952 novel, The Price of Salt, considered to be the first lesbian novel with a happy ending.
The exhibition also showcases the richness and diversity of the Center’s periodical holdings, including such titles as One, The Ladder, Transgender Tapestry, Anything that Moves, Black Lesbian Journal and many more.
The Harry Hay section showcases the ongoing impact of Hay’s founding of the early homophile Mattachine Society in the 1950s and the Radical Faeries in the 1970s. Poets and artists are honored through memorabilia,
including rare material from Native American artists, newly donated material from the transgressive theater group Cockettes, exhibition announcements from the groundbreaking Kiki Gallery, and photographs documenting
LGBT history and culture in San Francisco.
The exhibition continues on the third floor of the Main Library in the James C. Hormel Gay and Lesbian Center, featuring a range of rare objects, including samples of El Dorado Medallions (c. 1930), from a club in Berlin
(historians believe these metal dance tokens were meant to be exchanged for a dance with a transvestite, and are a reminder of a time when an underground gay culture briefly flourished in Berlin); William Billings’ scrapbook
documenting his arrest for indecent acts in 1966 and his eventual pardon from the Governor of Colorado; and Evander Smith’s papers documenting the pre-Stonewall landmark event - the New Year’s Eve Ball raid and arrests in 1965.
Political posters and rare artifacts, such as Harvey Milk’s 1978 appointment book and the SF Police Department’s White Night Riot police report, are also included, as well as photographs, transcripts and ephemeral material
from award winning documentaries such as The Times of Harvey Milk; Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt; and Word is Out.
The Hormel Center exhibition also includes historical materials related to the early days of the AIDS crisis, including the journals from San Francisco General Hospital from the period of 1983-2003 and materials from
Queer Nation, ACT UP, Randy Shilts and others. The section concludes with the recent political movement to legalize gay marriage.
Not to be missed in the Hormel Center is the trompe l’oeil ceiling mural entitled “Into the Light.” Created by artists Mark Evans and Charley Brown, the mural depicts an allegorical construction site in which men,
women and children work together to move from the darkness of ignorance into the light of knowledge. “Into the Light” also includes the names of prominent historical figures from various countries and time periods
who are known to have had same-sex relationships.
Additional materials will be on display at the Eureka Valley/Harvey Milk Memorial Branch Library.
Visitors to the Branch will be able to learn about the history of the Hormel Center and its programs exhibitions. The Hormel Center’s
compelling 2004 exhibition Reversing Vandalism will be featured at Eureka Valley, offering visitors the opportunity to see many of
the artworks made out of books that were vandalized because of their gay and lesbian content. The Branch will also showcase the archives’ rich Gay Games collection.
Out at the Library’s accompanying, full color catalogue includes a foreword by James Hormel, an essay by Judy Grahn and a roundtable table discussion narrative with Hormel Center founders, among many other stories
and photographs documenting the Library’s archives. A series of related public programs will be held in multiple sites.
This exhibition is generously sponsored by the following major donors: Linda Adreveno and Michelle Sheridan; Anonymous; Alvin H. Baum, Jr.; Matt Bissinger; Paula Chamberlin; William Clark and Jeff Stanfield;
Jay Cohen; Laurence A. Colton; Steve Coulter and Greg McIntyre; Robert N. Dadurka; Q. Todd Dickinson; Dorian Fund; Milton Estes; Charles Q. Forester and John E. Cadle; Friends of the San Francisco Public Library;
Margarita Gandia and Vivian Stephenson; Tracy Gary; Gary Gielow and Tom Shamp; Gill Foundation; Jewelle Gomez and Diane Sabin; Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund; Walter and Elise Haas Fund; James C. Hormel;
Bob Hill and Mark Battat; Alan Lessik; Jeff Lewy and Ed Eishen; Penney Magrane and Dr. Joan Howley; William M. McCarty; David H. Nathanson; National Center for Lesbian Rights; David Perry; George Rosenfeld
and Christopher Hoover; Joseph A. Rosenthal; San Francisco AIDS Foundation; Robert W. Sass; Lisa Schoonerman; Joseph B. Schubert and Markham D. Hirt; Kevin Shanahan and Michael Montoya; Jeff Soukup and
Jeff Anderson; Ivan Tse; Paul Underwood and Ronald Gorman; van Löben Sels/Rembe Rock Foundation; Wells Fargo Foundation; Wetherby Asset Management; James G. Williamson; Zephyr Real Estate; Jan Zivic.
Media sponsors: Bay Area Reporter; BriteVision Media; KRON-TV4; and SF Station.com.
For more information about Out at the Library, please call 415 557-4277.
NOTE TO EDITOR: A variety of photos are available upon request as well as interviews with the curator and organizers of the exhibition. Please contact Marcia Schneider, 415-557-4252.
Related Public Programs
*Additional programs to be announced.*
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