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Title: Jack Van Alstyne papers
Dates: 1985-2012
Collection Number: 2023-59
Creator/Collector:
Van Alstyne, Jack
Extent: 2.5 linear feet (3 manuscript boxes and 1 oversized box)
Repository:
GLBT Historical Society
San Francisco, California 94103
Abstract: Jack Van Alstyne (born 1938) is a San Francisco-based street photographer. The collection includes photographs by various
photographers printed in the San Francisco Sentinel in the 1980s; and posters and ephemera, primarily promoting gay and leather
events in 1980s and 1990s San Francisco. Also included are an artist’s scrapbook, artwork, and photographs belonging to Van
Alstyne’s roommate Keith O’Bea. The collection additionally includes Van Alstyne's detailed diaries with entries and attached
photographs, spanning 1985 and 2012, that document Van Alstyne’s sexual encounters with people he identifies as “homeless
straight men” in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco. The diaries are closed to researchers until 2037. Please
contact the Archivist for additional information. The remainder of the collection is open for research.
Language of Material: English
Van Alstyne’s diaries (boxes 1 and 2) are closed to researchers until 2037. Please contact the Archivist for additional information.
The remainder of the collection is open for research.
Copyright to material has been transferred to the GLBT Historical Society. All requests for reproductions and/or permission
to publish or quote from material must be submitted in writing to the GLBT Historical Society Archivist.
[Identification of item]. Jack Van Alstyne papers. Collection Number: 2023-59. GLBT Historical Society
Gift of Jack Van Alstyne, July 2012.
Scope and Content of Collection
Jack Van Alstyne (born 1938) is a San Francisco-based street photographer. The collection includes photographs by various
photographers printed in the San Francisco Sentinel in the 1980s; and posters and ephemera, primarily promoting gay and leather
events in 1980s and 1990s San Francisco. Also included is an artist’s scrapbook, artwork, and photographs belonging to Van
Alstyne’s roommate Keith O’Bea. The collection additionally includes Van Alstyne's detailed diaries with entries and attached
photographs, spanning 1985 and 2012, that document Van Alstyne’s sexual encounters with people he identifies as “homeless
straight men” in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco. The diaries are closed to researchers until 2037. Please
contact the Archivist for additional information. The remainder of the collection is open for research.
LGBTQ
Gay men
Haight-Ashbury (San Francisco, Calif.)
Diaries