Description
The collection consists of correspondence and other personal papers, clippings, ephemera, reports, publications, audiorecordings,
posters, and photographs of and about Huckleberry's for Runaways, later known as Huckleberry House, the nation's first runaway
shelter for adolescents ages 12-18, founded and co-directed by Reverend Larry Beggs in 1967. The collection documents Beggs'
role as counselor, administrator, author, public speaker and youth advocate from an era before the term "youth advocate"
was coined; and the response from teens, parents, service providers, and the press to Beggs, his work, and to Huckleberry's.
To a lesser extent, it documents the evolution of Huckleberry's as an organization, from a first-of-its-kind runaway project
to the multiservice youth agency of today. It also gives a good snapshot of the social mileu of the late 1960s as it relates
to middle-class youth and to hippie culture.
Background
Huckleberry's for Runaways was founded and co-directed by Reverend Larry Beggs in 1967 as the nation's first community-based
runaway shelter for adolescents aged 12-18. Begun as a three-month project sponsored by the Regional Young Adult Project,
a church-based coordinating group that included the Glide Foundation, and funded by the San Francisco Foundation, the shelter
was opened in anticipation of the large number of young people from across the nation expected to arrive in San Francisco
for the Summer of Love. Located in a Victorian house at 1 Broderick Street in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood, the shelter
was named after Mark Twain's fictional runaway character, Huckleberry Finn.
Extent
5 Cubic Feet
3 boxes, 2 flat boxes, 1 box of audiorecordings, 4 folders of photographs, 1 flat file
Restrictions
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the City Archivist. Permission
for publication is given on behalf of the San Francisco Public Library as the owner of the physical items.
Availability
The collection is open for research, with photographs available during Photo Desk hours. Please call the San Francisco History
Center for hours and information at 415-557-4567.