L. A. Gay & Lesbian Center Records
Michael P. Palmer
ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives
909 West Adams Boulevard
Los Angeles, California 90007
Phone: (213) 741-0094
Fax: (213) 741-0220
Email: askone@onearchives.org
URL: http://www.onearchives.org
© 2007
ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives. All rights reserved.
L. A. Gay & Lesbian Center Records
Collection number: Coll2007-010
ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives
Los Angeles,
California
- Processed by:
- Michael P. Palmer
- Date Completed:
- May 26, 2007
- Encoded by:
- Michael P. Palmer
© 2007 ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives. All rights reserved.
Processing this collection has been funded by a generous grant
from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.
Descriptive Summary
Title: L. A. Gay & Lesbian Center records
Dates: 1946-2005
Bulk Dates: 1971-1977
Collection number: Coll2007-010
Creator:
L. A. Gay & Lesbian
Center
Collection Size: 16 record storage boxes + 2
archive boxes + 5 boxes (unprocessed) 16.2 linear feet + 3.3
linear feet (unprocessed)
Repository:
ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives.
Los Angeles, California 90007
Languages: Languages
represented in the collection: English
Access
The collection is open to researchers. There are no access
restrictions.
Publication Rights
Researchers wishing to publish materials must obtain permission in
writing from ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives as the physical owner.
Researchers must also obtain clearance from the holder(s) of any copyrights in
the materials. Note that ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives can grant
copyright clearance only for those materials for which we hold the copyright.
It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain copyright clearance for
all other materials directly from the copyright holder(s).
Preferred Citation
L. A. Gay & Lesbian Center records, Coll2007-010, ONE National Gay
and Lesbian Archives, Los Angeles, California.
Acquisition Information
Date and manner of acquisition not known.
Processing Information
Formerly housed in boxes 103-230, 103-233, 103-312, 104-101 through
104-114, 104-116, and 104-117. Collection processed by Michael Palmer,
May
2007.
Processing this collection has been funded
by a generous grant from the National Historical Publications and Records
Commission.
Administrative History
In Spring 1971, a group of activists from the Gay Liberation Front (GLF)
and the Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) held a series of meetings at the
home of GLF activist John Platania, to create an organization to provide social
services for members of the gay and lesbian community, many of whom were
marginalized and on the street, in the Hollywood/Silverlake area of the city of
Los Angeles and in the adjoining unincorporated area of West Hollywood, in Los
Angeles County. Platania, who had worked for the Los Angeles Community
Development Agency, drew up a detailed development plan for a nonprofit
corporation to offer services based on the gay hot line and services for street
people instituted by the MCC, and the Liberation House, a crisis housing
facility at 1168 North Edgemont, in Hollywood, opened by the GLF's Survival
Committee. The formal proposal, prepared by GLF activist Don Kilhefner, was
submitted on July 14, 1971, and the articles of incorporation were signed by
Morris Kight, June Herrle, James Kepner, and John Platania on July 22, 1971.
The articles were filed in the office of the California Secretary of State on
January 4, 1972.
The Gay Community Services Center opened its doors in October 1971, in a
run-down Victorian house designed by William Eastlake, at 1614 Wilshire
Boulevard. A second Liberation House, at 1322 North Van Ness Avenue (formerly a
residence of filmmaker Jack Warner) and a Gaywill Funky Thrift Shoppe, at
1519-1521 Griffith Park Boulevard, were already in operation. Kilhefner was
appointed the Center's first Executive Director.
The Center initially provided hotline, information, referral,
counseling, housing, education, and employment services; a venereal disease
clinic was opened in October 1972. Services were provided free of charge, with
the exception of housing for which a nominal per diem fee was charged. In
accordance with the founders' concept of "community", the Center was staffed
entirely by gays and lesbians. In addition, most of the staff, including
professionals and paraprofessionals, were volunteers, although a small number
of full-time core staff members received minimal "survival stipends". The
Internal Revenue Service refused to grant the Center non-profit status until
April 1974, and as the Center was unable to obtain government funding without
this certification, it was forced to depend entirely upon donations for the
first year of its existence. In 1972, the Center served approximately 75,000
persons with a staff of 85 full-time and part-time volunteers; its income was
reported at $41,678.
In November 1972, the Center received its first grant, of approximately
$20,000, for a drug education program, from the National Free Clinic Council
(NFCC). Kilhefner and Center Administrative Director Ken Bartley also served as
co-directors of a similar grant awarded the Los Angeles Consortium of Free
Clinics. The granting of non-profit status by the Internal Revenue Service in
April 1974 enabled the Center to apply for public funding, and between August
and November the Center received federal and local government grants totaling
$410,281, to fund its medical and alcohol and drug abuse programs. The
three-year grant from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
(NIAAA) to fund the Center's Women's Alcohol Program (WAP) was worth $1
million, a windfall unprecedented for any gay group in the world, and the
Center thereby became the first institution with the word "gay" in its name to
receive federal funding.
Early in 1975, the building at 1614 Wilshire Boulevard was condemned,
and the Center, which had been searching since late 1974 for new quarters,
obtained a lease, with option to purchase, on a building at 1213 North Highland
Avenue. In April 1975, on the eve of the Center's move to its new home, two
events nearly destroyed the Center. An attempt by Center management to divert
some of the NIAAA funds to other Center programs was vigorously protested by
the WAP program director, Brenda Weathers, and resulted in the transfer of the
grant from the Center to a newly incorporated, independent Alcoholism Center
for Women, which remains in existence today. At the same time, a conflict arose
between lesbian feminist members of the staff and what they perceived to be the
Center's patriarchal male-dominated hierarchy. The controversy resulted in the
firing of eleven staff members, who in return picketed the Center's new
facility on Highland Avenue. The issue, which resulted in the alienation of
many donors as well as a significant portion of the lesbian community, was not
resolved until 1978. Nevertheless, a number of lesbian activists, including
Lillene Fifield, who had been instrumental in obtaining the NIAAA grant,
remained with the Center on the grounds that the Center's work in helping the
marginalized members of the gay and lesbian community outweighed the sexism
evidenced in some quarters.
The Center's programs, in particular the Venereal Disease Control
Program, which by providing a safe space for testing was able to identify and
treat sexually transmitted diseases earlier than the Los Angeles County Health
Department, thus saving the county money, had earned the Center the support of
local politicians, in particular county supervisor Ed Edelman and city
councilwoman Peggy Stevenson. Thus, despite the controversies of early 1975 the
Center continued to expand: annual income for 1975 was $527,050, and for 1976
was $645,306. By this time the number of professional and nonprofessional
volunteers had grown to 250, and the salaried staff to 44.
The rapid growth of the Center in the mid 1970s was made possible by the
generosity of the Democratic administration of President Jimmy Carter: in
particular, by 1981, CETA (Comprehensive Employment and Training Act) funds
totaled nearly $500,000, (approximately one-third of the Center's $1.8 million
budget, and provided the salaries of 41 of the Center's 85 paid staff. The
Reagan administration, however, eliminated many social service funding
programs, and slashed the budgets of those that remained. Anticipating the end
of federal funding for the Center, the Center Board of Directors instituted a
robust private donor program to free the Center from the vicissitudes of
government funding. Steve Schulte, Executive Director of the Center from 1979
to 1983, who had earned a political science degree from Yale and had worked for
the Los Angeles City Council, recast the Center, which had retained the
"casualness about dress and rules" of its founders, as a serious, "respectable"
institution that would appeal to mainstream donors.
Scope and Content of Collection
This collection contains correspondence, memoranda, minutes, reports,
proposals, contracts, accounting and finance records, flyers, brochures,
calendars, notes, press releases, photographs, resumes, and other materials
relating to the founding and activities of the Gay Community Services Center
(now the L. A. Gay & Lesbian Center) in Los Angeles. The core of the
collection consists of records for the period 1971-1977. These materials were
probably transferred to Jim Kepner's archives sometime in the late 1970s or
early 1980s. An inventory of the collection made at or about the time of its
transfer, indicates that the records were originally filed in four file drawers
and three boxes; although by the time the collection was processed the
materials listed had been randomly dispersed between 19 boxes, it was possible
to identify most of the materials from the original deposit, and the collection
has been arranged to follow as much as possible the original order. The
remainder of the collection, covering the period from the late 1970s to the
early 2000s, consists of materials collected by Kepner and others; these
materials were found stuffed in boxes with no apparent arrangement or order.
Those materials considered important to an understanding of the history and
activities of the Center have been integrated into the collection; the
remaining documents, consisting largely of direct fundraising, promotional, and
what appear to be duplicate materials, have been placed in boxes at the end of
the collection, and will be processed and integrated into the collection as
time permits.
Of the corporate records of the Center, the minutes of the Board of
Directors are incomplete except for the years 1987-1988. However, minutes or
drafts do survive for the critical months of April and May 1975, which,
together with other materials in the collection, provide a fairly full account
of the developments surrounding the dismissal of the Feminist 11, and the
subsequent strike that threatened to destroy the Center. The records include
extensive notes by Morris Kight: while some of these may have been part of the
original deposit, the majority appear to have been sent by Kight (who was
obsessed with his legacy) to Kepner at a later date. Note that much of Kight's
material from 1973 and 1974 was typed on chemically treated paper, which has
now darkened to the extent that the original writing is difficult, if not
impossible, to read. An important file of correspondence with the Internal
Revenue Service, which refused to grant the Center tax exempt status, thereby
effectively denying it access to federal funding, until 1974, reveals the
homophobia pervasive within government agencies in the 1970s.
Of the administrative records, the General Correspondence, Staff Memos,
Management Collective, and Program Directors files are the most useful for
tracing the daily operations of the Center. The 1971 organizational study,
which constituted the blueprint for the Center, documents the extensive
planning that preceded the creation of the institution. The Center in its early
years had difficulty keeping accurate financial records, which may explain the
relatively few financial statements in the collection; to offset the absence of
these records, certain accounting materials, which would normally have been
de-accessioned, have been retained. Publicity materials include correspondence
with local newspapers concerning homophobic content and documents relating to
the Center's response to the portrayal of gays and lesbians in television
programs. Photographs include a series taken in 1971 by Lee Mason of the
Center's original offices at 1614 Wilshire Boulevard and of the Funky Gaywill
Shoppe on Griffith Park Boulevard; photographs from the 1980s and 1990s derive
largely from the office of Los Angeles County Supervisor Ed Edelman, and
document his work on behalf of the Center.
Records of its various fundraising programs indicate how aggressive and
inventive the Center was at raising funds. The records of the Wilshire
Volunteer Services Fund, set up in 1972 to obtain general donations in cash and
kind, and of the Building Fund, set up in 1976 to purchase the Highland Avenue
facility, are particularly full, and include correspondence and receipt books.
Correspondence files document the Center's unsuccessful attempts in the 1970s
to obtain funding from private foundations. The extensive correspondence and
funding proposal files of the Public Funding Task Force, led by Morris Kight,
document the Center's aggressive pursuit of funding from all levels of city,
county, state, and federal government. The Calendars and Events series includes
records of fundraising events, including yard sales, celebrity roasts, gala
dinners and receptions, and special theatrical events
The largest series in the collection comprises correspondence,
memoranda, reports, proposals, contracts, accounting and finance records,
flyers, brochures, notes, and other materials relating to the programs offered
by the Center. The materials are fullest for government-funded programs, and
document in particular the Center's drug education program funded by the
National Free Clinic Council, 1972-1974; the Alcoholism Program for Women
(APW), 1974-1975; the activities of the Van Ness House in the Center's
Alcohol/Drug Abuse Program; and the Venereal Disease Control Program (VDCP;
from 1977: Sexually Transmitted Disease Control Program, STDCP) and other
medical programs. The records of the National Free Clinic Council program
contain information on populations outside the gay and lesbian community, as
Don Kilhefner and Ken Bartley also served as co-directors of the Los Angeles
County Council of Free Clinics' drug education program. The Alcoholism Program
for Women, funded by a three-year, almost $1 million grant from the National
Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, was removed from Center jurisdiction
and transferred to the newly incorporated Alcoholism Center for Women in June
1975.
Other programs for which materials survive include CETA (Comprehensive
Employment and Training Act), a job training and placement program under which
the Center also paid the salaries of almost half its paid staff. The records of
the Educational Outreach program include correspondence of the Speakers'
Bureau, which provided trained speakers for school and college classes and
civic groups. The records of the Housing program include lists of residents of
several of the Center's "Liberation Houses", for short-term emergency housing.
The records of the Resource and Referral program include a resource binder with
additional fact sheets on gay and lesbian (and gay and lesbian supportive)
institutions, organizations, and businesses. The Center also promoted the
self-development of members of the gay and lesbian community and the records of
the Self-Development program include materials by Betty Berzon and Newt Deiter
on group and peer counseling, as well as materials on raps, growth groups, and
workshops.
Many of the program files contain correspondence with Los Angeles
politicians, in particular City Councilwoman Peggy Stevenson and County
Supervisor Ed Edelman, who vigorously supported the Center and its activities.
In addition, the records of the Center's political activity include
correspondence from 1975 with California assembly leaders on the
decriminalization of consensual private acts, and with the offices of Los
Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley and District Attorney John Van De Kamp. A major goal
of the Center was to improve relations between the Los Angeles police and the
gay community, and additional documents on this issue can be found in the
Subject Files series. The records of the Prison, Probation and Parole program,
which assisted the reintegration into society of gay prisoners (including those
incarcerated for consensual sexual activities decriminalized in California in
1976), include correspondence with prisoners, probation officers, and prison
officials.
The extent and nature of the services offered by the Center to women and
youth was the subject of considerable discussion in the 1970s, more radical
lesbians, in particular, feeling that their concerns were overlooked and
marginalized. The records of the Youth Services program, known in its earliest
years as Gay Youth of Los Angeles, are fragmentary, but include a manual for
Center youth workers, circa 1972. The records of the Women's Services program
are only slightly more complete, but include the proposal and contract for the
Lesbian Resource Program for Self-Development (the forerunner to Lesbian
Central of the 1980s), funded by the Los Angeles County General Revenue Sharing
(GRS) program.
The collection contains an incomplete set of newsletters published by
the Center, including some printed for the general public, and others for
"internal" circulation. The People series contains materials relating to
individuals connected in one way or another to the Center: the files for
activist Morris Kight and County Supervisor Ed Edelman, in particular, document
their roles in the Center's history and development. The Subject Files series
contains a small number of original subject files found among the Center
records. These include a police file, with correspondence, memoranda, and other
materials relating to the Center's work to improve relations between the Los
Angeles Police Department and the gay and lesbian community, and Linda
Poverny's 1984 PhD thesis on the management of the Center during its first ten
years.
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this
collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Alcoholism Center for Women (Los Angeles,
Calif.)
Alcoholism counseling
Community health services--California
Edelman, Ed (Edmund),
1930-
Fifield, Lillene
Gay & Lesbian Community Services
Center (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Gay and Lesbian Community Services
Center (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Gay Community Services Center (Los
Angeles, Calif.)
Gay men--Diseases
Gays--Alcohol use
Gays--Health and hygiene
Gays--Medical care
Gays--Services for
Human services--California--Los Angeles
Kepner, Jim (James),
1923-1997
Kight, Morris, 1919-2003
Kilhefner, Don, 1939-
L. A. Gay & Lesbian
Center
Lesbians--Alcohol use
Lesbians--Diseases
Lesbians--Services for
Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian
Center
Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian
Center
Sexually transmitted diseases--Prevention
Social work with gays
Social work with lesbians
Southern California Council of Free
Clinics
Stevenson, Peggy
Related Material
Jim Long Papers, Coll2007-011, ONE National Gay & Lesbian
Archives.
Lillene H. Fifield Papers, Coll2007-014, ONE National Gay & Lesbian
Archives.
Box 1 : 1-26
Series 1:
Corporate
1971-1988
Physical Description: 0.7 linear foot
Series Scope and Content
This series contains the corporate records of the Center. It is
divided into two subseries: (1) Corporate, and (2) Board of Directors.
Box 1 : 1-8
Subseries 1.1:
Corporate
1971-1979
Physical Description: 0.2 linear foot
Subseries Scope and Content
This subseries comprises original and amended Articles of
Incorporation and By-Laws, a lengthy correspondence with the Internal Revenue
Service relating to the Center's application for tax exempt status, which was
not granted until April 1974, and correspondence with various departments of
the California state government relating to the Center's status as a California
corporation. The correspondence with the Internal Revenue Service reveals the
pervasive, institutionalized homophobia within the Service in the early
1970s.
Box 1 : 1
Articles of Incorporation
1971-1977
Box 1 : 3-4
Internal Revenue Service, Tax Exempt Status
1972-1974
Physical Description: 2 folders.
Box 1 : 6
Franchise Tax Board
1971-1974
Box 1 : 7
Registry of Charitable Trusts
1975
Box 1 : 8
State Board of Equalization
1972
Box 1 : 9-26
Subseries 1.2:
Board of Directors
1971-1988
Physical Description: 0.5 linear foot
Subseries Scope and Content
This subseries comprises minutes, memoranda, reports,
correspondence, notes, and other materials relating to the functions and
activities of the Center's Board of Directors. The records are incomplete
except for 1987-1988, which include a photograph of the Board members. The
records for 1971-1977 contain extensive notes by Morris Kight; those for April
and May 1975 illuminate the strains within the Center that led to the dismissal
of the Feminist 11, and the development of the Board response to the resulting
strike. The files on the dismissal and strike of the Feminist 11/16 contain
flyers, handbills, broadsides, correspondence, newsletters, and affidavits from
both sides, as well as a number of legal papers from the lawsuit (Cordova v.
Gay Community Services Center) filed by the dismissed workers against the
Center; the lawsuit was not settled until 1978.
Arrangement
Chronological.
Box 1 : 23
Morris Kight v. Gay Community Services
Center
1975
Box 1 : 24-26
Feminist 11/16 dismissal and strike
1975-1978
Box 1 : 24-25
Feminist 11/16 Strike/Dismissal
1975
Physical Description: 2 folders
Box 1 : 26
Cordova et al. v. Gay Community Services
Center
1975-1978
Box 1 : 27 - 4 : 29
Series 2:
Administration
1971-2001
Physical Description: 3.4 linear feet
Series Scope and Content
This series comprises the administrative records of the Center. It
is divided into five subseries: (1) Administration, (2) Financial Records, (3)
Personnel, (4) Publicity/Public Relations, and (5) Real Estate.
Box 1 : 27 - 2 : 43
Subseries 2.1:
Administration
1971-1984
Physical Description: 1.1 linear feet
Subseries Scope and Content
This series comprises memoranda, correspondence, minutes, reports,
logs, rosters, and other materials relating to the organization and day-to-day
administration of the Center. The 1971 organizational study, by John Platania
and Don Kilhefner, was the blueprint for the Center. The materials include few
Executive Director files; of these, the file for Dickson Hingson contains
substantial correspondence of a personal nature, while the file for Susan
Kuhner (which was later used by Steve Schulte) consists largely of materials
relating to Kuhner's duties as Director of Programs (she was named Co-Executive
Director for Programs in 1978). A more substantial record of the activities of
the Executive Director can be found in the general correspondence and staff
memos These records, together with those of the management collective (an
experiment in collective management that was abandoned in the wake of the
dismissal and strike of the Feminist 11) and the Program Directors meetings and
staff meetings, also provide the clearest account of the daily operation of the
Center. The records of the Ombudspersons, created in the aftermath of the
dismissal of the Feminist 11, relate primarily to personnel matters. The long
distance telephone call requests include details of calls to individuals
arrested or incarcerated for consensual sexual acts that violated contemporary
California state law.
Arrangement
Alphabetical.
Box 1 : 27
Administrative and accounting forms
1971-1980
Box 1 : 28
Building security
1975,
1978
Box 1 : 30
Executive Director: Dickson Hingson
1977/07-1978/02
Box 1 : 31
Executive Director (Susan Kuhner/Steve
Schulte)
1976-1979
Box 2 : 2
Executive Director search
1979
Box 2 : 3-10
General correspondence
1971-1977
Box 2 : 11
General policies and procedures
1978
Box 2 : 12-13
Information requests
1973-1978
Box 2 :
14
Long distance telephone call requests
circa
1973-1974
Box 2 :
15
Management collective/team
June
19746-April 1975
Box 2 : 16
Minority Concerns Task Force
1977
Box 2 : 20
Organizational charts
no date
Box 2 : 21-22
Organizational studies
1971,
1978
Box 2 : 23
Program Directors meetings
1975-1979
Box 2 : 24-29
Staff meetings
1973-1976,
1978-1979
Box 2 : 40
Staff rosters and directories
1972-1975
Box 3 : 1-11 ; 17 : 1 - 18 :
9
Subseries 2.2:
Financial Records
1972-1977
Physical Description: 1.25 linear feet
Subseries Scope and Content
This subseries contains the financial records of the Center. The
Center compiled annual and periodic financial statements. In addition, as the
financial statements as received by the Archives are incomplete, certain
accounting records, which would normally have been de-accessioned, have been
retained as a substitute. These records have been arranged by year, but no
further attempt has been made to sort or classify them. Additional accounting
records can be found in the records of individual Center programs and projects
(Series 5).
Arrangement
Chronological.
Box 3 : 1-5
Financial statements
1972-1976
Box 3
: 6
Disbursement requisition books
December
29, 1972-October 1, 1973
Box 3 : 7
Material and supply requisitions
1973-1974
Box 3 : 8-10
Purchase orders
1974-1976
Box 3 : 11
Accounting practices, policies and
procedures
no date
Box 17 : 1 - 18 : 9
Accounting papers
1971-1977
Box 17 : 4-5
Papers
1973
Physical Description: 2 folders
Box 17 : 8-9
Papers
1974
Physical Description: 2 folders
Box 18 : 8
Administrative Accounts Receivable loose-leaf
notebook
1976
Box 3 : 12-28
Subseries 2.3:
Personnel
1974-1997
Physical Description: 0.25 linear foot
Subseries Scope and Content
This subseries comprises the personnel records of the Center. The
bulk of the subseries consists of job announcements and descriptions; other
materials include correspondence, personnel policies and procedures, and
resumes of individuals seeking employment with the Center. Additional job
announcements/descriptions and resumes can be found in the records of
individual Center programs and projects (Series 5); other materials on
personnel policies and procedures can be found in the records of the
Ombudspersons (Subseries 2.1).
Arrangement
Alphabetical.
Box 3 : 13-26
Job announcements/descriptions
1975-1997
Box 3 : 27
Personnel policies and procedures
1974-1979
Box 3 : 29 - 4 : 23
Subseries 2.4:
Publicity/Public Relations
1971-2001
Physical Description: 0.7 linear foot
Subseries Scope and Content
This subseries contains brochures, newspaper clippings, packets,
photographs, press kits, press releases, radio scripts, and other materials
relating to Center publicity and public relations. The bulk of the subseries
consists of press releases relating to the Center and its activities. The
history files contain published and manuscript articles, drafts, and notes,
many by Jim Kepner; much of the information on the earliest years of the Center
is contradictory, and should be used with caution. Other historical accounts of
the Center, and of particular programs and projects, can be found in the
introductory sections of funding proposals (Subseries 3.8 and Series 5). The
photographs include a series taken by Lee Mason in 1971 of the original offices
at 1614 Wilshire Boulevard and of the Funky Gaywill Shoppe on Griffith Park
Boulevard, Lillene Fifield in 1973, and the Gay Community Services Center
offices at 1213 North Highland and the Feminist 11/16 strike in 1975.
Additional photographs can be found in Subseries 1.2 and 5.9, Subsubseries
5.10.3, and in the Ed Edelman file in Series 7. The press coverage file
contains clippings of accounts of the Center in the Los Angeles and Southern
California press, while the press relations file includes correspondence with
the Los Angeles Times and other newspapers concerning homophobic content. The
television/radio file contains materials relating to the Center's radio
program, as well as its response to the portrayal of gays and lesbians in
television programs such as "The Prisoner" (1979) and "Gay Power/Gay Politics"
(1980).
Arrangement
Alphabetical.
Box 3 : 29-33
General information
1971-1977
Box 3 : 34
General information brochures
1972-2001
Box 3 : 35
General Information packet
1978
Box 3 : 38
History booklet
1971-1973
Box 4 : 4
Press relations
1975-1981
Box 4 : 23
Televsion/radio
1972-1980
Box 4: 24-29
Subseries 2.5:
Real Estate
1973-1983
Physical Description: 6 folders
Subseries Scope and Content
This subseries comprises rental and lease agreements, inspection
reports, prospectuses, and other materials relating to the properties occupied
by the Center. The files on the Wilshire Boulevard properties document the
dilapidated condition of the properties and the Center's contentious
relationship with the landlord; the file on the Highland Avenue property, which
includes plans, gives an extensive account of the Center's negotiations to
acquire the property.
Arrangement
Chronological.
Box 4 : 24
1614 Wilshire Boulevard
1973
Box 4 : 25
1620-1622 Wilshire Boulevard
1973-1975
Box 4 : 26
Potential properties
1974-1983
Box 4 : 28
1213 North Highland Avenue
1975-1976
Box 4 : 29
6141 Fountain Avenue
1976
Box 4 : 30 - 6 : 30
Series 3:
Funding
1971-2001
Physical Description: 2.5 linear feet
Series Scope and Content
This series comprises correspondence, proposals, publicity
materials, and receipts documenting the Center's fundraising activities to
support its operations and programs. The series is divided into four subseries:
(1) Development, Donations, Appeals, and Campaigns; (2) Special Programs; (3)
Foundations; and (4) Public (Government) Funding.
Box 4 : 30 - 5 : 2
Subseries 3.1:
Development, Donations, Appeals, and Campaigns
1971-2001
Physical Description: 0.6 linear foot
Subseries Scope and Content
This subseries contains correspondence, receipts, and publicity
materials relating to the Center's fundraising activities directed primarily at
individuals. The materials include correspondence with donors and potential
donors, 1973-1978; donation receipt books, February 1972-June 1975; general
appeals for 1971-2001; and publicity materials for funding campaigns for
1975-1992. Additional materials relating to general appeals and funding
campaigns for the 1980s and 1990s can be found in the unprocessed records in
boxes 20-23; records of individual fundraising events can be found in Series
4.
Box 4 : 32
Donations and thank you letters
1975-1977
Box 4 : 33-34
General donation receipts
1975-1976
Box 4 : 33
General donation receipts
1975
Box 4 : 34
General donation receipts
1976
Box 4 : 35
Receipt book #6401-6800
February 28-July 5, 1972
Box 4
: 36
Receipt book #3201-3600
July
6, 1972 - June 15, 1973
Box 4 : 37
Receipt book #8001-8400
June
15, 1973 - August 6, 1974
Box 4 : 38
Receipt book #8001-8400 (loose receipts)
June
15, 1973 - August 6, 1974
Box 4 : 39
Receipt book #100-347
June
6, 1974 - January 10, 1975
Box 4 : 40
Receipt book #848-1099
January 10-April 25, 1975
Box 4 :
41
Receipt book #600-847
April
29-June 24, 1975
Box 5 : 12
Receipt book #409-564 (building fund #348-408,
565-599)
1976
Box 4 : 42-57
General Appeals (mailings)
1971-2001
Box 4 : 60
Center Yourself/Declare Our Independence
campaign
1981
Box 4 : 61
Change for a Change campaign
1987
Box 4 : 62
Circle of Life campaign
no date
Box 5 : 1
Center 2000 Capital Campaign
1991
Box 5 : 2
Cornerstone Wall campaign
1992
Box 5 : 3-15
Subseries 3.2:
Special Projects
1971-1988
Physical Description: 0.4 linear foot
Subseries Scope and Content
This subseries contains materials documenting several programs
instituted by the Center to raise funds. The materials include correspondence
and receipt books for the Wilshire Volunteer Services Fund, a chapter of the
Volunteer Services Fund-a charitable fundraising organization incorporated in
California in 1971-set up in November 1972 by Morris Kight, Don Kilhefner, and
Ken Bartley, to enable individuals to make tax-exempt donations to the Center
(1) before the Center had obtained tax-exempt status from the Internal Revenue
Service, and (2) without making reference to the word "gay" in tax and donation
forms. The Fund, which provided the Center in its first two years of existence
with a substantial portion of its operating funds, ceased operations at the end
of 1974, after the Center had obtained tax-exempt status. The subseries also
includes a file of correspondence and receipts relating to the Gaywill Funky
Shoppe, which was set up in 1971 at 1519-1521 Griffith Park Boulevard. The
Shoppe was never a success financially, and was closed after its manager was
murdered on the premises in 1973. Additional materials include a file of
miscellaneous papers and membership forms relating to the Friends of the
Center, a membership organization set up in 1974 to support the goals of the
Center; records of funding appeals and events sponsored by the Friends can be
found in Subseries 3.1 and Series 4, respectively. The records of the Building
Fund, set up in 1976 to fund the purchase the Highland Avenue facility, include
correspondence, receipts books, and pledge forms and invoices; additional
information on fundraising events for the Fund can be found in Series 4. The
subseries also includes correspondence and notes concerning an unrealized plan
to institute bingo at the Center.
Arrangement
Chronological.
Box 5 : 3-8
Wilshire Volunteer Services Fund
1971-1975
Box 5 : 3
Correspondence
[1971]
1972-1975
Box 5 : 4
Receipt book #1001-1200
January 11-November 15, 1973
Box 5
: 5
Receipt book #8401-8600
July
25, 1973 - July 1, 1974
Box 5
: 6
Receipt book #8401-8600 (loose receipts)
July
23, 1973 - July 1, 1974
Box 5 : 7
Receipt book #6001-6200
July
5, 1974 - February 5, 1975
Box 5 : 8
Volunteer Services Fund
1974
Box 5 : 9
Gaywill Funky Shoppe
1972-1973
Box 5 : 10
Friends of the Center
1974-1988
Box 5 : 12
Receipt book #348-408, 565-599 (general donations
#409-564)
1976
Box 5 : 14
Pledge forms and invoices
1976
Box 5 : 15
Bingo proposals
1977-1978
Box 5 : 16-31
Subseries 3.3:
Foundations
1971-1979
Physical Description: 0.4 linear foot
Subseries Scope and Content
This subseries consists of correspondence, grant proposals, and
other materials documenting the Center's efforts to raise funds from private
foundations. With the exception of unsuccessful funding proposals to the
Erickson Educational Fund in 1973 and to the Los Angeles Bicentennial in 1979,
the materials derive from an intensive drive from late 1975 through early 1977,
directed by Major Kenneth MacLeod, to obtain foundation support. While the
drive resulted in invitations from several foundations to submit proposals,
none of these proposals was ultimately successful.
Box 5 : 16
Manual for obtaining foundation grants
1971
Box 5 : 17-23
Funding Proposals
1973-1979
Box 5 : 17
List of funding proposals submitted
1976
Box 5 : 18
Erickson Educational Foundation funding
proposal
1973
Box 5 : 19
Hearst Foundation funding proposal
1976
Box 5 : 20
James Irvine Foundation funding proposal
1976
Box 5 : 21
Los Angeles Bicentennial funding proposals
1979
Box 5 : 22
W. M. Keck Foundation funding proposal
1976
Box 5 : 23
William G. Irwin Charity Foundation funding
proposal
1976
Box 5 : 24
Southern California Council of Free Clinics
grantsmanship seminar
1974
Box 5 :
25-29
Correspondence
December
1975-November 1976
Box 5 : 30
Letters of support, Los Angeles City and County
officials
1975-1976
Box 5 :
31
Internal correspondence
circa
1976-1977
Box 5 : 32 - 6 : 30
Subseries 3.4:
Public (Government) Funding
1972-1983
Physical Description: 1.1 linear feet
Subseries Scope and Content
This subseries contains correspondence, funding proposals, and
other materials relating to the Center's efforts to obtain government funding
support for its programs. Funding proposals form the bulk of the materials;
they are arranged alphabetically by funding agency. With one exception, these
funding proposals are known, or appear, to have been unsuccessful: successful
proposals can be found with other records of the programs and projects to which
they relate in Series 5. The records of the Los Angeles County General Revenue
Sharing (GRS) Program constitute the exception. From 1974 to 1977, the Center
submitted funding proposals to the GRS Program for virtually every Center
program; several of these proposals covered more than one Center program.
Whenever possible, successful program proposals are filed with the other
records of the programs to which they relate in Series 5; however, when a
single successful funding proposal affects two or more Center programs, the
proposal is filed here, together with unsuccessful proposals, and general
correspondence relating to the GRS Program. The GRS Program general
correspondence also includes correspondence, minutes, and other records of the
Community Coalition for Equitable Revenue Sharing, a group founded in 1974 by
Don Kilhefner, Morris Kight, and others to monitor the distribution of GRS
funds by Los Angeles County. Note that Center planners often cannibalized
materials from older funding proposals, and several proposals are therefore
incomplete, or even fragmentary. In addition, the 1977 proposal for a
Comprehensive Program of Community Service to Alcoholic Women and Men (box
6:22) appears to be derived from the 1974 funding proposal for the Alcoholism
Program for Women (Series 5, box 9:8-9).
Box 5 : 32
General correspondence
1975-1977,
1980
Box 5 : 33
Public funding for drug abuse programs
1976
Box 5 : 34
California. Department of Health. Mental Health 314(d)
funds
1973
Box 5 : 35
California. Department of Mental Health. Lesbian and Gay
Male: Mental Health Promotion Project funding proposal
1981
Box 5 : 36-37
California. Department of the Youth
Authority
1978,
1983
Box 5 : 36
Juvenile Delinquency Prevention Program funding
proposal
1978
Box 5 : 37
Youth Advocate Workers (YAW) funding
proposal
1983
Box 5 : 38
California. Office of Alcoholism. Gay
Alcoholism/Substance Abuse Task Force funding proposal
1976
Box 6 : 1
Echo Park/Silverlake Regional Drug Coalition.
Detoxification and Residential Treatment Project funding proposal
1974
Box 6 : 2-5
Greater Los Angeles Community Action Agency
(GLACAA)
1976-1979
Box 6 : 2-4
Funding proposal
1976-1977
Physical Description: 3 folders
Box 6 : 6-7
Los Angeles (City). Housing and Community Development
Block Grant funding proposals
1976,
1979
Box 6 : 6
Purchase and renovation of 1213 North Highland Avenue
facility
1976
Box 6 : 7
Hollywood Interim House Project/Project
RISE
1979
Box 6 : 8
Los Angeles (City). Interim Program of High-Risk
Populations funding proposal
1977
Box 6 : 9
Los Angeles (City). Population, Employment and Housing
Survey. Call for proposals
no date
Box 6 : 10
Los Angeles (County). Central Health Services Region.
Primary Prevention in Drug Abuse: A Pioneering Program for Gay People funding
proposal
1976
Box 6 : 11
Los Angeles (County). Department of Health Services.
Drug Abuse Prevention/Education and Resume Center for Women, county-wide
(PERCW) funding proposal
1980
Box 6 : 12-21
Los Angeles (County). General Revenue Sharing
(GRS)
1972-1977
Box 6 : 12
Handbooks and guide
1972-1977
Box 6 : 13
Funding proposal
1973/05-06
Box 6 : 14
Gay Community Drug Abuse Services funding
proposal
1973/07-09
Box 6 : 18
Community Coalition for Equitable Revenue
Sharing
1974
Box 6 : 19
Growth Group Program funding proposal
1975
Box 6 : 20
Men's Rap Groups funding proposal
1975
Box 6 : 21
Parents of gays funding proposal
1975
Box 6 : 22
Los Angeles (County). Office of Alcohol Abuse and
Alcoholism. Comprehensive Program of Community Service to Alcoholic Women and
Men funding proposal
1977
Box 6 : 23
National Network of Runaway and Youth Services. How to
Work with Gay Youth manual funding proposal
1980
Box 6 : 24-26
United States. Administration on Aging. Community-based
social services for older lesbian women and gay men
1976-1977
Box 6 : 24-25
Funding proposal
1976
Physical Description: 2 folders
Box 6 : 27
United States. Department of Health, Education and
Welfare. Indirect costs negotiations
1975-1976
Box 6 : 28
United States. Department of Housing and Urban
Development. Hollywood Emergency Housing and Resocialization Project block
grant funding proposal
1978
Box 6 : 29
United States. Law Enforcement Assistance
Administration. Youth Development Project funding proposal
1976
Box 6 : 30
United States. National Institute of Mental Health. Gay
Community Services Center staffing grant proposal
1974
Box 7 : 1-51
Series 4:
Calendars and Events
1971-2003
Physical Description: 0.8 linear foot
Series Scope and Content
This series comprises calendars of classes, raps, workshops,
meetings, and other events held by the Center, and of similar events of
interest to the gay and lesbian community held by others, as well as flyers,
brochures, invitations, correspondence, commemorative booklets, and other
materials relating to events sponsored by, or held for the benefit of, the
Center. The Center often published several calendars simultaneously, each with
a different focus: Center events, community (non-Center) events, women's
events, men's events, etc. There is considerable overlap between many of these
calendars, and they have therefore been combined and ordered chronologically.
Most of the events documented are fundraisers, and range from yard sales to
roasts of prominent members of the gay and lesbian community (Sheldon Andelson
in 1979 and Gayle Wilson in 1980), annual gala dinners, and to special
theatrical performances (Julie Harris in "The Belle of Amherst" in 1976). Other
events include Center open houses and art exhibition opening receptions. The
events are arranged chronologically. The series does not include records of
on-going classes, raps, and workshops, or single presentations held as part of
an ongoing series: these records can be found in Subseries 5.15.
Arrangement
Divided into (1) Calendars and (2) Events, each ordered
chronologically.
Box 7 : 1
Weekly schedule of events
no date
Box 7 : 2
Weekly calendar / Community calendar
1973
Box 7 : 3
Community calendar, 1
1979
Box 7 : 4
Community calendar, 2
1980
Box 7 : 22
Afternoon of appreciation
November-December 1976
Box 7 : 52 - 15 : 54
Series 5:
Programs
1972-2005
Physical Description: 7.7 linear feet
Series Scope and Content
This series contains correspondence, memoranda, reports, proposals,
contracts, accounting and finance records, flyers, brochures, notes, and other
materials relating to the programs offered by the Center. The materials
document in particular the Center's drug education program funded by the
National Free Clinic Council, 1972-1974; the Alcoholism Program for Women
(APW), 1974-1975; the activities of the Van Ness House in the Center's
Alcohol/Drug Abuse Program; and the Venereal Disease Control Program (VDCP;
from 1977: Sexually Transmitted Disease Control Program, STDCP), the forerunner
to the Center's AIDS program. The series is divided into 18 subseries: (1)
Program Proposals, (2) Alcohol and Drug Control, (3) CETA, (4) Educational
Outreach, (5) Employment, (6) Food, (7) Hotline/Switchboard, (8) Housing, (9)
Legal Services, (10) Medical Services, (11) Mental Health Services, (12)
Political Activity, (13) Prison, Probation and Parole, (14) Resource and
Referral, (15) Self-Development, (16) Volunteer Program, (17) Women's Services,
and (18) Youth Services.
Box 7 : 52-59
Subseries 5.1:
Program Proposals
1972-1975
Physical Description: 0.2 linear foot
Subseries Scope and Content
This subseries contains program and project proposals (some
cannibalized and therefore incomplete or fragmentary) not directed to a
particular funding agency, as well as original letters of support from members
of the Los Angeles gay, non-gay, and employment services communities; copies of
these letters are appended to many funding proposals found in Subseries 3.4 and
elsewhere in Series 5.
Arrangement
Chronological.
Box 7 : 52
General operations funding proposals
1972,
1975
Box 7 : 53
Liberation House funding proposal
1972
Box 7 :
54
Miscellaneous program/project proposals
circa
1972-1975
Box 7 : 55
Comprehensive Gay Offenders Program, preliminary
proposal
1974
Box 7 : 56
Unidentified program/project funding
proposal
circa April
1975
Box 7 : 57-59
Letters of support
1973-1974
Box 7 : 57
Greater Los Angeles community (non-gay)
1973-1974
Box 7 : 58
Los Angeles gay community
1973-1974
Box 8 : 1 - 10 : 24
Subseries 5.2:
Alcohol and Drug Control
1972-1979
Physical Description: 2.8 linear feet
Subseries Scope and Content
This subseries consists of materials documenting various Center
programs relating to alcohol and drug control. It is divided into four
subsubseries: (1) National Free Clinic Council (NFCC), (2) Alcohol Program for
Women (APW), (3) Alcoholism Needs Assessment (ANA), and (4) Alcohol/Drug Abuse
Program.
Box 8 : 1 - 9 : 7
Subsubseries 5.2.1:
National Free Clinic Council (NFCC)
1972-1976
Physical Description: 1.3 linear feet
Subsubseries Scope and Content
In November 1972, the Center received its first grant, of
approximately $20,000, for a drug education program, from the National Free
Clinic Council (NFCC). Center Executive Director Don Kilhefner and
Administrative Director Ken Bartley also served as co-directors of a similar
grant awarded the Los Angeles Council of Free Clinics. This subsubseries
comprises records documenting both programs. The files are arranged into three
groups: (1) General, comprising records of the Southern California Council of
Free Clinics, (2) Center, comprising records of the Center program, and (3) Los
Angeles County Council/Consortium of Free Clinics, comprising records of the
program administered by Kilhefner and Bartley. The Center and Council records
include contracts, correspondence, periodic activity and statistical reports,
and accounting papers; the Council records include monthly activity and
statistical reports and correspondence relating to financial matters for each
clinic in the Council.
Arrangement
Chronological.
Box 8 : 1
Southern California Council of Free
Clinics
1972-1975
Box 8 : 2
National Free Clinic Council (NFCC). Coordinating
committee
1972-1974
Box 8 : 3
Articles of incorporation and bylaws
1973
Box 8 : 4
Lists of free clinics
1973-1974
Box 8 : 5
Survival manual for NFCC funded drug education
projects
1973
Box 8 : 6
Western regional conference
1973
Box 8 : 7
National training conference
1974
Box 8 : 9
Drug Education Project funding proposal
1972
Box 8 : 10
Contract and correspondence
1972-1973
Box 8 :
12
Monthly reports
October
1973-September 1974
Box 8 : 13
General correspondence
1973-1974
Box 8 : 14-15
Accounting records
1973-1974
Box 8 :
16
Bank statements
September
1973-September 1975
Box 8 : 17 - 9 : 1:
Los Angeles County Council/Consortium of Free
Clinics
1972-1975
Box 8 : 17
Contract and correspondence
1972-1974
Box 8 :
22
Requisition books
April
23-July 27, 1973
Box 8 :
23
Bank statements
September
1974-August 1975
Box 8 : 24
Accounting materials
1974
Box 8 : 25
Foothill Free Clinic
1969,
1973-1974
Box 8 : 26
Harbor Free Clinic
1973-1974
Box 9 : 1
Hollywood Sunset Free Clinic
1973-1974
Box 9 : 2
Long Beach Free Clinic
February-May 1973
Box 9 : 3
North Hollywood Free Clinic
1973-1974
Box 9 : 4
Open Door Drug Clinic
1973-1974
Box 9 : 5
Pomona Open Door
1973-1974
Box 9 : 6
South Bay Free Clinic
1973-1974
Box 9 : 8 - 10 : 5
Subsubseries 5.2.2:
Alcoholism Program for Women (APW)
1974-1977
Physical Description: 0.9 linear foot
Subsubseries Scope and Content
This subsubseries comprises funding proposals, grant
applications, correspondence, and financial and accounting records relating to
the three-year, almost $1 million grant obtained by Lillene Fifield and Brenda
Weathers from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism from its
inception in 1974 until it was removed from Center jurisdiction and transferred
to the newly incorporated Alcoholism Center for Women in June 1975. The
materials include copies of articles of incorporation and by-laws for the
Alcoholism Center for Women, as well as correspondence relating to the
Alcoholism Center's assumption of authority for incurring debts on behalf of
the program. One copy of the original 1974 funding proposal has been updated
with additions through June 1977, and may have served as a model for the
unsuccessful funding proposal for the Comprehensive Program of Community
Service to Alcoholic Women and Men submitted to the Los Angeles county Office
of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism in 1977 (Subseries 3.4).
Arrangement
Chronological.
Box 9 : 9
Funding proposal
1974 (with
additions through June 1977)
Box 9 : 10-11
Grant application
February
1974
Box 9 : 10
Grant application
February
1974
Box 9 : 11
Original letters of support
February
1974
Box 9 : 12
Budget and accounting papers
1974-1975
Box 9 : 14
Funding proposal and contract
1974
Box 9 : 15
Report and work papers
1975
Box 9 : 17
Local mileage sheets
1974-1975
Box 10 : 5
Alcoholism Center for Women
1974-1975
Box 10 : 6-13
Subsubseries 5.2.3:
Alcoholism Needs Assesment (ANA)
1975
Physical Description: 0.2 linear foot
Subsubseries Scope and Content
This subsubseries contains the funding proposal, contract,
correspondence, reports, accounting papers, and other materials relating to a
three-month, $30,000 study carried out in 1975 by the Center on behalf of Los
Angeles County to evaluate the incidence and nature of alcoholism in the gay
and lesbian community in the County and how these individuals could best be
served. This study provided the information on which the Center's later Alcohol
Abuse Program was based.
Arrangement
Alphabetical.
Box 10 : 10
Interviewer invoices
1975
Box 10 : 14-24
Subsubseries 5.2.4:
Alcohol/Drug Abuse Program
1970-1979
Physical Description: 0.4 linear foot
Subsubseries Scope and Content
This subsubseries comprises contracts, studies, correspondence,
and administrative papers relating to the Center's Alcohol/Drug Abuse Program,
in particular to the activities of the Van Ness House, a separately
incorporated institution administered by the Center as an adult residential
care facility for the rehabilitation of alcoholics, with funding from the Los
Angeles County General Revenue Sharing (GRS) Program. The materials include
studies on alcohol and drug abuse in the gay and general communities in Los
Angeles; floor plans, schedules, and rules for the residents of Van Ness House;
and a large file on the Center's successful efforts to obtain a zoning variance
for the House. Additional materials on the Los Angeles County GRS Program can
be found in Subseries 3.4.
Arrangement
Chronological.
Box 10 : 14-15
Alcohol/Drug abuse in the gay and general
communities
1972-1978
Box 10 : 16-17
Alcohol/Drug Abuse Program. Los Angeles County General
Revenue Sharing (GRS)
1974-1976
Box 10 : 16
Contracts (I-44e)
1974-1976
Box 10 : 17
Contract correspondence
1974-1976
Box 10 : 20
California and Los Angeles County adult residential
care facility regulations
1970-1972
Box 10 : 23
California Department of Rehabilitation
contract
1974-1976
Box 10 : 24
Zoning variance application
1975-1976
Box 10 : 25 - 11 : 19
Subseries 5.3:
C.E.T.A.
1974-1981
Physical Description: 0.6 linear foot
Subseries Scope and Content
This subseries contains records of the Center activities supported
by the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA), first enacted in 1973,
which provided block grants to state and local governments to assist
economically disadvantaged, unemployed, or underemployed persons by offering
training and full-time jobs for a period of 12 to 24 months in public agencies
or private not for profit organizations. The Center received funding under CETA
titles I, IIb, and VI, from both the City and the County, from 1975 (for the
calendar year 1976) through March 1981. While some of the funds were used for
job training and placing workers elsewhere, most of the monies were used to
hire Center staff. The documents include funding proposals, correspondence,
reports, job announcements and descriptions, and publicity materials.
Arrangement
Divided into City and County CETA, City CETA, County CETA, and
general files; thereunder ordered chronologically.
Box 10 : 25
CETA (City & County). Title I. Comprehensive Program
of Employment Services funding proposal
1974
Box 11 : 2
Funding proposal
January
1977
Box 11 : 3
Funding proposal recommendations
1977
Box 11 : 4
Funding proposal appeal
June
1977
Box 11 : 5
Funding proposal appeal work papers
June
1977
Box 11 : 6
Funding proposal re-evaluation
August
1977
Box 11 : 7
Funding proposal
December
1977
Box 11 : 13
Pomona funding proposal
1974
Box 11 : 14
Title I. Correspondence
1975-1977
Box 11 : 18
Project accomplishment reports
February-September 1978
Box 11 : 20-26
Subseries 5.4:
Educational Outreach
1973-1978
Physical Description: 0.2 linear foot
Subseries Scope and Content
This subseries comprises materials relating to the Center's
outreach to the non-gay community. The bulk of the documents consists of
Speakers' Bureau correspondence, scheduling speaking engagements for Center
representatives in school and college classes, and before civic groups. The
materials also include general administrative and publicity materials for both
the program and the Speakers' Bureau.
Arrangement
Alphabetical.
Box 11 : 20
Educational Outreach Program
1974-1978
Box 11 : 22-26
Speakers' Bureau. Correspondence
1973-1977
Box 11 : 27-29
Subseries 5.5:
Employment
1974-1981,
1987
Physical Description: 3 folders
Subseries Scope and Content
This subseries contains fragmentary materials relating to the
Center's employment services program. The materials include several monthly
employment program reports from 1978, two letters from prospective employers,
and several program brochures.
Arrangement
Chronological.
Box 11 : 30-31
Subseries 5.6:
Food
1971-1972,
1983
Physical Description: 2 folders
Subseries Scope and Content
This subseries comprises two folders, the first containing a
Center guide on securing welfare rights and California State Department of
Public Social Services directives from 1971-1972 on the state's Food Stamp
Program, the second a Center brochure from 1983, advertising a proposed End
Hunger in Hollywood project, to be administered by the Center in conjunction
with the End Hunger Network.
Arrangement
Chronological.
Box 11 : 30
Welfare/Food Stamps Information
1971-1972
Box 11 : 32
Subseries 5.7:
Hotline/Switchboard
1973-1979
Physical Description: 1 folder
Subseries Scope and Content
This subseries consists of a single file, containing
correspondence and resumes submitted in 1975 for the positions of
hotline/crisis intervention worker and reception worker.
Box 11 : 32
Hotline/Switchboard
1973-1979
Box 11 : 33-43
Subseries 5.8:
Housing
1971-1977
Physical Description: 0.25 linear foot
Subseries Scope and Content
This subseries comprises materials relating to the Center's
short-term emergency housing program. The materials include the proposal,
contract, and correspondence, 1975-1976, for the Center's Interim Housing
Program, funded by the Los Angeles County General Revenue Sharing (GRS)
Program. The bulk of the subseries comprises intake forms and index cards of
residents, 1971-1973, for the Center's "Liberation Houses" at 1322 North Van
Ness (later converted to an adult residential care facility for the
rehabilitation of alcoholics), 1323 North Las Palmas, and 750 South Oxford (the
first two houses were for males, the last for females). The cards, originally
arranged separately for each house, were found in disarray, and have been
rearranged in a single alphabetic series. The records also include rosters and
rent status sheets, 1973, for Union House, located at 1819 South Union.
Arrangement
General program, then individual houses, the latter arranged
chronologically.
Box 11 : 34-36
Interim Housing Program. Los Angeles County Department
of Urban Affairs. General Revenue Sharing (GRS)
1975-1976
Box 11 : 35
Contract 26400 (I-44h) and correspondence
1975-1976
Box 11 : 37-41
Liberation Houses
1971-1973
Box 12 : 1-2
Subseries 5.9:
Legal Services
1975-1983
Physical Description: 2 folders
Subseries Scope and Content
This subseries contains two files of materials relating to legal
services offered by the Center. One file contains flyers and brochures
detailing the Center's legal services, and a press release with photograph,
1983, from the office of Los Angeles County Supervisor Ed Edelman relating to
the establishment of a Lawyer Referral Service at the Center with funds made
available through Edelman. The other file contains correspondence, meeting
minutes, and reports, relating to the formation of a Legal Advisory Board (also
called Gay Legal Clinic) at the Center in 1978.
Arrangement
Chronological.
Box 12 :
1
Legal Services
circa
1973-1983
Box 12 : 2
Legal Advisory Board/Gay Legal Clinic
1978
Box 12 : 3 - 13 : 29
Subseries 5.10:
Medical
1973-1983
Physical Description: 1.6 linear feet
Subseries Scope and Content
This subseries comprises materials relating to the Center's
medical program, including the men's Venereal Disease Control Program (VDCP)
and the men's and women's general medical clinics. Although the VDCP was
instituted in 1972, the bulk of the records do not begin until the medical
program received public funding in 1974. The subseries is divided into four
subsubseries: (1) General, (2) California Regional Medical Program (CRMP), (3)
Venereal Disease Control Program (VDCP; from 1977: Sexually Transmitted Disease
Control Program, STDCP), and (4) Women's Clinic.
Box 12 : 3-7
Subsubseries 5.10.1:
General
1973-1975
Physical Description: 5 folders
Subsubseries Scope and Content
This subsubseries contains records relating to the Center's
medical program in general. The materials include correspondence, health
facility licenses and permits, accounting papers, and staff lists.
Arrangement
Chronological.
Box 12 : 5
Health facility licenses and permits
1973-1975
Box 12 : 8-18
Subsubseries 5.10.2:
California Regional Medical Program (CRMP)
1974-1976
Physical Description: 0.3 linear foot
Subsubseries Scope and Content
The California Regional Medical Program provided funding for the
administration of the Center's medical program, including the VDCP and both
men's and women's clinics, from late 1974 through January 1976. The materials
include the funding proposal and contract, correspondence, reports, staff
lists, monthly invoices, and financial and accounting materials.
Arrangement
Chronological.
Box 12 : 8
California Regional Medical Program
Profile
1974
Box 12 :
16
Monthly invoices
February
1975-January 1976
Box 12 : 17
Accounting materials
1975
Box 12 : 19 - 13 : 21
Subsubseries 5.10.3:
Venereal Disease Control Program (VDCP; from 1977:
Sexually Transmitted Disease Control Program, STDCP)
1974-1983
Physical Description: 1 linear foot
Subsubseries Scope and Content
The VDCP was initiated in October 1972, and received its first
public funding, a grant of $130,460, from the Los Angeles County Department of
Health Services in November 1974. The materials include funding proposals and
contracts, reports, program evaluations, correspondence with Los Angeles County
health officials, memoranda and internal correspondence relating to the
day-to-day operations of the program, staff recruiting and training, budgets
and accounting papers, and information flyers, brochures, and studies on
various venereal diseases. The reports to the Los Angeles County Health
Department give a detailed picture of the VDCP's activities, which included a
mobile unit that visited gay bath houses. The staffing files from September
1974, the Center's first mass hiring of paid staff, include the resumes of many
people who were already volunteering at the Center, and several of those
applying or hired would have long careers there.
Arrangement
Alphabetical.
Box 12 : 20
Budget and accounting papers
1974-1975
Box 12 : 21
Clinic fee schedules
1975
Box 12 : 30-35
Funding proposals
1974-1978
Box 12 : 32
Letters to Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors
supporting continued funding of program
circa 1975
Box 12 : 36
Furniture and equipment inventory
1975
Box 12 : 37
Invoices to Los Angeles County
1974-1976
Box 12 : 38
Job announcements and resumes
1975-1983
Box 13 : 1-6
Memos and internal correspondence
1974-1979
Box 13 : 9
Personnel rosters and schedules
no date
Box 13 : 10
Program outline and budget, FY 1977/78
1977
Box 13 : 12-16
Reports (Los Angeles County Health
Department)
1974-1978
Box 13 :
18-19
Staffing
September
1974
Physical Description: 2 folders
Box 13 :
20
Venereal disease information
circa
1975-1977
Box 13 : 21
Work plan and budget, FY 1978/79
1978
Box 13 : 22-29
Subsubseries 5.10.4:
Women's Clinic
1975-1977
Physical Description: 0.3 linear foot
Subsubseries Scope and Content
This subsubseries contains records of the women's medical clinic
operated by the Center. The bulk of the materials consists of records relating
to the clinic's family planning operations, funded by the Los Angeles Regional
Family Planning Council (LARFPC). These records consist of contracts,
correspondence, and financial and accounting papers. Other materials, which
relate to the clinic's general medical services, include memoranda and
correspondence. Additional materials relating to the women's clinic may be
found in Subsubseries 5.10.1 and 5.10.2.
Arrangement
Chronological.
Box 13 : 22
Memos and correspondence
1975-1977
Box 13 : 23
Management and financial planning
1976
Box 13 : 24-29
Los Angeles Regional Family Planning Council
(LARFPC).
1975-1977
Box 13 : 28
Financial and accounting papers
1975-1977
Box 13 : 30 - 14 : 3
Subseries 5.11:
Mental Health Services
1971-1991
Physical Description: 0.4 linear foot
Subseries Scope and Content
This subseries comprises materials relating to the mental health
services provided by the Center. The bulk of the records relate to a proposed
(but never realized) affiliation between the Center and Resthaven Community
Mental Health Center in 1974, and to Los Angeles County's funding of the
Center's AIDS-Affected Mental Health Outreach Program between 1987 and
1991.
Arrangement
Chronological.
Box 13 : 30
Mental Health Services
1971-1979
Box 13 : 31-33
Resthaven Community Mental Health Center
1972-1974
Box 13 : 32
United States Department of Health, Education &
Welfare. National Institute of Mental Health. Outreach to Resthaven Community
mental Health Center Funding Proposal
1974
Box 13 : 33
Affiliation Agreement between Resthaven Community
Mental Health Center and Gay Community Services Center
1974
Box 13 : 34 - 14 : 3
AIDS-Affected Mental Health Outreach Program. Los
Angeles County Department of Mental Health
1987-1991
Box 14 : 2
Pre-Negotiation Contract Package
1991
Box 14 : 4-7
Subseries 5.12:
Political Activity
1971-1982
Physical Description: 4 folders
Subseries Scope and Content
This subseries contains records documenting the Center's
activities in promoting equal rights for homosexuals. The materials include
correspondence from 1975 with California assembly leaders on the
decriminalization of consensual private sex acts; with Los Angeles City
Councilwoman Peggy Stevenson on improving relations between the Los Angeles
Police Department and the gay community; and establishing liaison with Los
Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley and District Attorney John Van De Kamp. Other records
include materials from conferences of the California Committee on Sexual Law
Reform (1971-1972), the National Coalition of Gay Organizations (1972), and the
National Gay Alliance (1976).
Arrangement
Chronological.
Box 14 : 4
Political Activity
1972-1982
Box 14 : 5
California Committee on Sexual Law Reform.
Conferences
1971-1972
Box 14 : 6
National Coalition of Gay Organizations
1972
Box 14 :
7
National Gay Alliance. Bi-Centennial Gay Conference,
Washington, DC
October
10-14, 1976
Box 14 : 8-17
Subseries 5.13:
Prison, Probation and Parole
1972-1977
Physical Description: 0.2 linear foot
Subseries Scope and Content
This subseries contains materials documenting the Center's Prison,
Probation and Parole Program, which targeted gay prisoners-including those
incarcerated for consensual sexual activities decriminalized in California in
1976-and assisted their reintegration into society with counseling, temporary
housing (at the Fountain House, renamed in 1976 the "Stepping Stone"), and job
counseling and placement. The materials include correspondence with prisoners,
probation officers, and prison officials, and the proposal, contract, and
correspondence relating to the funding of the program by the Los Angeles County
General Revenue Sharing (GRS) Program.
Arrangement
Chronological.
Box 14 : 8
Correspondence and memos
1972-1976
Box 14 : 9
Staffing and volunteers
1974-1975
Box 14 :
10-13
Los Angeles County General Revenue Sharing
(GRS)
circa
1974-1976
Box 14 : 10
Funding proposal
March 1975
Box 14 : 11
Contract 25601 (I-44g)
1975-1976
Box 14 : 12
Contract 27555 (I-44g)
1976
Box 14 : 13
Contract correspondence
1976
Box 14 : 14
Papers
circa 1974-circa
1976
Box 14 : 18-32
Subseries 5.14:
Resource and Referral
1978-1980
Physical Description: 0.5 linear foot
Subseries Scope and Content
This subseries contains logs of information/referral requests made
to the Center from May through September 1979; a resource binder for 1980-1980,
with information on gay and lesbian-and gay and lesbian
supportive-institutions, organizations, and businesses, categorized by type;
and additional resource questionnaires for circa 1979-1980, arranged
alphabetically.
Arrangement
Alphabetical.
Box 14 :
18-19
Information/referral request log
May-September
1978
Box 14 : 19
Information/referral request log
July-September 1978
Box 14 : 20
Resource and referral brochure
no date
Box 14 : 21-22
Resource binder
1979-1980
Physical Description: 2 folders
Box 14 : 23
Resource flip file cards
no date
Box 14 : 24-32
Resource questionnaires
no date
Box 14 : 33 - 15 : 24
Subseries 5.15:
Self-Development
1971-2005
Physical Description: 0.3 linear foot
Subseries Scope and Content
This subseries documents the Center's work in promoting the
self-development of members of the gay and lesbian community, particularly
through (1) professional counseling, (2) peer counseling, and (3) group
programs, including consciousness raising groups, growth groups, and rap
groups. The materials include brochures, correspondence, memoranda, studies on
various aspects of counseling and group dynamics, evaluations of the Center's
programs, and calendars and flyers relating to the on-going groups and
workshops available at the Center. Calendars, flyers, and other materials
relating to fundraising events, art exhibition opening receptions, and other
one-time events not part of an on-going series can be found in Series 4.
Arrangement
General, counseling, groups and workshops.
Box 14 : 35
Gays with disabilities
no date
Box 14 : 36
Transvestites and transexuals
no date
Box 14 : 37
Peer counseling
1972-1978
Box 14 : 38
Consciousness raising groups
no date
Box 15 : 2-22
Groups and workshops
1972-2005
Box 15 : 22
Groups and workshops
no date
Box 15 : 24
Parents of gay people
no date
Box 15 : 25
Subseries 5.16:
Volunteer Program
1975-1981
Physical Description: 1 folder
Subseries Scope and Content
This subseries consists of a single folder relating to the
Center's recruitment, training, and utilization of volunteers. The materials
include correspondence with potential volunteers, publicity brochures and
flyers, and procedures for the intake, orientation and placement of
volunteers.
Box 15 : 25
Volunteer Program
1975-1981
Box 15 : 26-44
Subseries 5.17:
Women's Services
1973-1993
Physical Description: 0.2 linear foot
Subseries Scope and Content
This subseries comprises materials relating to the Center's
provision of services to women. The documents include notices of women's staff
meetings, 1973-1974; publicity materials for women's dances and lesbian raps,
1973-1982; the proposal and contract for the Lesbian Resource Program for
Self-Development, funded by the Los Angeles County General Revenue Sharing
(GRS) Program, 1975-1976; materials on the Lesbian Resource Program's
successors, the Women's Resource Program, 1977-1980, the Women's Information
and Skills Project, 1980, the Women's Referral Project, 1981, and Lesbian
Central, established in 1981; correspondence, flyers, and other materials on
the Incest Awareness Program, 1977-1980; and a brochure on women's services
offered by the Center, issued by the Women's Issues Task Force in 1992. The
materials are fragmentary.
Arrangement
Chronological.
Box 15 : 26
Women staff meetings
1973-1974
Box 15 : 29
Women's Services. Miscellaneous
1974-1981
Box 15 : 31-32
Lesbian Resource Program for Self-Development. Los
Angeles County General Revenue Sharing (GRS)
1975-1976
Box 15 : 32
Contract 28453 (V321)
1976
Box 15 : 33
Lesbian Resource Program [for
Self-Development]
no date
Box 15 : 34
Incest Awareness Project
1977-1980
Box 15:35
Women's Resource Program
1977-1980
Box 15 : 36
Women's Information and Skills Project
1980
Box 15 : 37
Women's Referral Project
1981
Box 15 : 38-42
Lesbian Central
1981-1986
Box 15 : 43
Women's Calendar
1992-1993
Box 15 : 44
Women's Issues Task Force
1992
Box 15 : 45-54
Subseries 5.18:
Youth Services
1972-1983,
1997
Physical Description: 0.25 linear foot
Subseries Scope and Content
This subseries contains documents relating to the Center's youth
services programs, known in its earliest years as Gay Youth of Los Angeles. The
materials include correspondence, flyers, questionnaires, meeting minutes,
position papers, and extensive manuscript. The earliest records appear to have
come from the files of Center staff members Jay Fisher and Dacus Haining. The
file on the 1972 Southwestern Regional Conference of the National Coalition of
Gay Organizations contains considerable material on the Conference's Youth
Platform. The materials also include papers of the national Gay Student Center
and the Gay Student Council of Southern California, 1972-1973; a manual for
Center youth workers, circa 1972; and papers of the Center's Youth Task Force,
1976-1977. Personal papers of both Fisher and Haining can be found in Series
7.
Arrangement
Chronological.
Box 15 : 45
Gay Youth. General
1972-circa
1985
Box 15 : 46-47
Gay Youth of Los Angeles
1972-1983
Box 15 : 48
National Gay Student Center
1972-1973
Box 15 : 49
Gay Student Council of Southern California
1972
Box 15 : 50
National Coalition of Gay Organizations. Southwestern
Regional Conference (SWR/NCGO)
1972
Box 15 : 51
FPS; the Youth Liberation news service
1973
Box 15 : 52
Project Youth manual of operations
no date
Box 15 : 53
Gay Youth Task Force
1976-1977
Box 15 : 55-87
Series 6;
Publications
1971-1997
Physical Description: 0.3 linear foot
Series Scope and Content
This series comprises publications by the Center. Most of these
publications, such as
Center News (which suffers from
numbering inconsistencies), and
Outreach,
Outside and Inside, and
Vanguard, are general newsletters
intended for a public readership. Others, such as
In-House News and
Monday Morning Memo, address the
internal staff. Several Center programs published their own newsletters, some
for a public readership (
Lesbian Central Newsletter,
Empowerment Times,
P.C.P. Newsletter [Peer Counseling
Program], and
Reach), others (
Medical Services Newsletter and
Men's Clinic Newsletter) for staff
alone. Most titles are represented by only one or two issues.
Arrangement
Alphabetical.
Box 15 : 55
Annual Plan and Budget
1995/96
Box 15 : 56
Annual Report
1985/86,
1986/87,
1988/89-1990/91,
1993,
1994/95,
1999
Box 15 : 67
Center News, 12
1991-1992
Box 15 : 73
Communicator (Staff), 1
1974
Box 15 : 74
Empowerment Times
1994,
no date
Box 15 : 75
Gay Community Services
Center
1971
Box 15 : 79
Lesbian Central
Newsletter
1987-1989
Box 15 : 80
Medical Services
Newsletter
1975
Box 15 : 81
Men's Clinic Newsletter
1979
Box 15 : 86
Reach (Youth Department and
Information Desk)
1984
Box 15 : 88 - 16 : 11
Series 7:
People
1946-1979,
1992
Physical Description: 0.3 linear foot
Series Scope and Content
This series contains materials concerning individuals connected in
one way or another with the Center. Approximately half the materials document
activities related in one way or another to the Center: in particular, Morris
Kight's files contain notes and correspondence relating to his many activities
at the Center, and Ed Edelman's file contains correspondence, press releases,
and photographs relating to his active support on the County Board of
Supervisors for the Center and its programs. The other materials document
activities not necessarily related to the Center, including personal
correspondence of Jay Fisher, of the Youth Services Program; adoption and other
legal papers of Dacus Haining, as well as correspondence from his work with the
Services to Juveniles Committee in New Orleans prior to his employment by the
Center; and festivities surrounding the arrival of June Herrle's child. Ken
Bartley's file includes a curriculum vitae, copies of his letter resigning from
the Center, and articles of incorporation for Sun Family, Incorporated, which
Bartley used following his resignation to pursue a career in music production
and marketing. Richard Nash's file contains copies of several articles by him
on gay identity and Unitarian Universalism.
Arrangement
Alphabetical.
Box 16 : 1
Fisher, Jay. Personal
Correspondence
1972
Box 16 : 2-3
Haining, Walton Dacus
1946-1972
Box 16 : 2
Personal papers
1946-1972
Box 16 : 3
Services to Juveniles Committee (New
Orleans)
1971-1972
Box 16 :
8
Kilhefner, Don
circa
1972-1977
Box 16 : 12-26
Series 8:
Subject Files
1973-1981
Physical Description: 0.4 linear foot
Series Scope and Content
This series contains a small number of original subject files found
among the Center records. These files relate, inter alia, to workshops on
health and gay awareness, free clinics in California, older gays, sex law
reform, sexism, and transsexuals. The police file contains correspondence,
memoranda, flyers, and other materials relating to the Center's work to stop
the harassment of gays and lesbians by the Los Angeles Police Department. Linda
Poverny's PhD thesis is a study of the organizational issues that faced the
Center during its first decade.
Arrangement
Alphabetical.
Box 16 : 12
California Community Health Seminar
1974
Box 16 : 13
Free Clinics in California, Profile of
1974
Box 16 : 15
Gay Awareness. Workshop materials
no date
Box 16 : 16
Gay Community of Concern (Gay People's Union at Stanford
and Whitman-Radcliffe Foundation)
1973-1974
Box 16 : 19-21
Poverny, Linda Marlene.
The Organizational life cycle and the
adaptation process: a case study of the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Community
Services Center
. PHD Thesis (University of Southern
California)
1984
Physical Description: 3 folders
Box 16 : 23
Sex laws and reforms
no date
Box 16 : 24
Sexism / Sexual discrimination
1974
Box 16 : 26
Women's Community Hotline
no date
Box 16 :
27
Series 9:
Ephemera
circa
1972-1981
Physical Description: 1 folder
Series Scope and Content
This series comprises two Center staff badges, a flyer for the
Center's Gay Help-Line, and a button from the Center's 1981 "Declare Our
Independence" campaign to free itself from dependence on government grants to
fund regular staff positions.
