The Gay and Lesbian Miscellaneous Manuscripts Collection
documents some of the history of the gay and lesbian, bisexual and
transgender (GLBT) community of Bellingham and Whatcom County,
Washington. The collection spans the period circa 1972-2002.
Manuscript materials include fliers, posters, journals and a
small number of photographs documenting events and activities in
the Bellingham and the surrounding area, and information about local GLBT
resources.
Arranged alphabetically, these materials include incomplete runs of local women's publication the "Women's Network
Newsletter", and a local
lesbian publication called "The L Word".
Manuscripts also include a journal, posters and fliers
pertaining to a traveling women's coffeehouse in the early
1990s, and several programs from the Pacific Northwest Women's Music &
Cultural Jamboree (held at Western Washington University in the early 1990s).
Information about gay and lesbian community resources in
Bellingham include histories of the Womencare Shelter (founded
in 1979 as a safe house for victims of domestic violence) and
the Elizabeth Blackwell Women's Clinic. Manuscripts
also include a 1972 photograph of a local gay bar in downtown
Bellingham, ephemera documenting GLBT events held at Western
Washington University, and programs from the Imperial Sovereign
Court of the Evergreen Empire's drag ball show in Bellingham.
The collection contains one folder of records reflecting the
concerns and actions of women at the Puget Sound Women's Peace
Camp circa 1983-1984. Posters and fliers document anti-nuclear
protests at the Boeing Cruise Missile Plant in Kent, Washington,
and include the 1985 publication We Are Ordinary Women: A
Chronicle of the Puget Sound Women's Peace Camp.
Audio
recordings include copies of Chris Pastorino's lesbian radio
show, produced by Western Washington University's KUGS station
from the early 1980s through 1993. The collection also contains
several oral history interviews conducted in conjunction with the Gay and
Lesbian Archives project in
2001-2002.
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