'The Gay Revolution: The Story of the Struggle' Book Talk, "Question and Answer: Part 2 of 16", Lillian Faderman, 2015/10/18
[caption: Lillian Faderman, Historian & Author of, The Gay Revolution Q & A 2]
Audience member: You mention that you and Mazer Archives–besides them, what other archives have been significant resources for your research, and also, how much has been the role of oral histories in your research?
Faderman: That’s a good question, thank you. I did about–over 150–oral histories. Did everyone hear the question, or do I have to repeat it? Yup. I did over 150 interviews, oral histories, but I got material finally from 20 archives. I worked at the June Mazer Archive, of course, the ONE National Archive at USC. I worked at the Botts Collection in Houston. There’s really a fascinating LGBT history in Houston that I trace in my book, in several places in the book. I worked at the Washington State Historical Society. I worked at the Stonewall Library in Fort Lauderdale. A number of other places as well that I can’t think of offhand. But these archives are so important, and it’s true that some of those archives, you can get material on-line, there’s OutHistory.org, which has great materials on-line, but, please believe me when I say that there’s nothing like touching the paper, and Phyllis and I had so many wonderful experiences with touching the paper. One was, there was a gay male leader who really was a revolutionary long before Stonewall. His name was Frank Kameny. And we worked on his papers at the Library of Congress. And I found one letter, in particular, that was so wonderful. Kameny helped other people, both men and women, challenge the Civil Service Commission’s prohibition against homosexuality in federal employment, and he won many of those cases. And one particular case he won, and there was going to be a huge settlement–I think the man’s name was Norton– and it was going to be in the Washington Post, and Norton wrote to Kameny saying, “Well my brother works in DC and he’s going to see it, and I’m not out to my family, and I’m really upset.” And there’s this great letter from Kameny saying, “You took on the federal government and you won, and you’re still afraid of your family?” And it had like six exclamation marks and seven periods afterward. “You bearded the lion in its den, and you were victorious. How can you still be afraid of your family?” And again, all of these exclamation marks and points and question marks. And just to–and it was on yellow carbon paper. But the reason I’m telling this story is just to see how angry he was, the paper was dented where the typewriter keys went through because he was just typing away furiously, and you can’t find that on-line. You can’t see that on-line–that this yellow carbon paper would have marks on it because he was typing away so furiously, so mad at this guy. So yes, I think that archives are absolutely indispensable, and I hope the June Mazer collection goes on forever, despite the fact that so much material is now on-line.
[applause]
[END OF VIDEO]
Interviewee: Lillian Faderman
Interviewer: Audience member
Transcriber: Viki B.
Formatter: Serena R.
Recording Date: October 18, 2015
Release Date: October 25, 2015
Location: City Council Chambers in West Hollywood, California
Interview Length: 00:03:59