The collection includes artifacts and ephemera relating to Harvey Milk’s campaign for and election to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, his assassination, and the Castro Camera store; and clothing and memorabilia that belonged to both Milk and Scott Smith.

Harvey Bernard Milk was born on May 22, 1930, in Woodmere, New York. He graduated from the New York State Teachers College at Albany in 1951 and served in the U.S. Navy until 1955. Milk worked briefly in New York on Wall Street. In 1972, Milk moved to San Francisco and soon after asked his boyfriend Scott Smith to follow him. They opened Castro Camera the following year. After two unsuccessful campaigns for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1973 and 1975, Milk was elected to the Board in November 1977. On January 9, 1978, Milk was sworn into office. In November 1978, ex-Supervisor Dan White assassinated Milk and Mayor George Moscone. Joseph Scott Smith (1948-1995) was a gay rights activist and Harvey Milk’s lover. Smith organized and managed Milk’s political campaigns. Although their relationship ended more than a year before the assassination, the two remained close friends and business partners in the camera store up until Milk's death.

15 cartons, 8 oversize boxes, miscellaneous large objects not in boxes (55 linear feet)

Collection is open for research. Funding for processing this collection was provided by the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR).