Description
Reynolds Samuel Martinez, Jr. (1948 November 10-1999 September 15), better known as Ray Martinez, was a gay Mexican-American
activist and writer. Born in Watsonville, California, Martinez grew up in Northern New Mexico, graduating from Grants High
School in 1967. In 1973, Martinez moved to Santa Cruz, California and became active in the gay scene. In 1988, Martinez graduated
with a B.A. in American Studies from the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC). He was a founding member of the Santa
Cruz AIDS Project and, during the 1990s, wrote a column profiling lesbian and gay community members in the Lavender Reader,
a Santa Cruz lesbian and gay periodical. (George) Carter Wilson, a professor of community studies at UCSC, was his partner
from 1977 until Martinez’s death in 1999. The collection includes essays and stories written by Martinez while he was a student
at UCSC; a biographical sketch and birth certificate copy; notebooks featuring several journal entries from the 1980s; materials
related to Carter Wilson; ephemera from parties planned by Martinez, and a small number of clippings and other papers documenting
Martinez’s community activism.