Stephen F. Lowell photographs and papers
ca. 1968-1970
Title: Stephen F. Lowell photographs and papers
Dates: ca. 1968-1970
Collection Number: 1996-05
Creator/Collector:
Lowell, Stephen F.
Extent: 2 linear feet (2 boxes, 1 oversize box)
Repository:
Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society
Abstract: The bulk of the collection consists of Stephen F. Lowell’s photographs of gay hippies and male nudes in the 1970s including
mounted prints, proofs, contact sheets and negatives. The collection also includes position papers, broadsides, essays, and
poetry from “progressive” organizations, including material on women’s issues from throughout the country.
Language of Material: English
The manuscript portion of the collection is open for research. Researchers should contact the GLBTHS Managing Archivist for
access to the photographs, which are not sorted.
Copyright was transferred to the GLBT Historical Society.
Stephen F. Lowell photographs and papers. Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society
The papers were donated by Donn Tatum in 1996.
Biography/Administrative History
A native Californian, Stephen Lowell was a pioneer in the Gay Liberation Front and a seminal figure in the flowering of gay
culture in post-Stonewall San Francisco. Along with Donn Tatum, he founded the Paperback Traffic Bookstores in San Francisco,
the Eureka Arcade/Patio Cafe complex on Castro Street (including Skin Zone and the Thousand Fingers crafts co-operative) and
was a pioneer organizer of the San Francisco Dharmadhata Buddhist Meditation Center.
Scope and Content of Collection
The bulk of the collection consists of Lowell’s photographs of gay hippies and male nudes in the 1970s. There are mounted
prints, proofs, contact sheets and negatives. Almost all the manuscript materials in the Stephen Lowell Collection are from
the year 1970. The collection includes position papers, broadsides, essays, and poetry from “progressive” organizations, including
material on women’s issues from throughout the country. The more clearly political publications are from the Red Butterfly
Collective, Gay Flames from the NYC Gay Liberation Front and an essay by Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon. There is also poetry,
letters and anthologies of creative works from Bob Rivera, Charles Shively and the Hoddypoll Press in San Francisco.
Gay liberation movement --United States.
Hippies--California--San Francisco.