Finding aid to the Harry Bartron papers, 1917-2007
Coll2008-054
Lilly Insalata
ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries, University of Southern California
© 2008, 2016
909 West Adams Boulevard
Los Angeles, California 90007
askone@usc.edu
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries, University of Southern California
Title: Harry Bartron papers
creator:
Bartron, Harry
Identifier/Call Number: Coll2008-054
Physical Description:
4.5 Linear Feet
11 boxes and 1 framed oversize item.
Date (inclusive): 1917-2007
Date (bulk): bulk
Abstract: Writings, manuscripts, publications and photographs documenting the life of pantomime artist and poet Harry Bartron from 1927
to 2006. The bulk of the collection dates from 1978 to 2005 and consists of poetry exploring in particular Bartron's Roman
Catholic faith and his homosexuality. Additional materials include liturgical materials, written for the Los Angeles chapter
of Dignity/USA; autobiographical reminiscences; correspondence; and materials documenting Bartron's daily activities and his
career as a pantomimist and his work as an advocate for GLBT seniors. The photographs include images of Bartron in costume
and in performance, as well as photographs and snapshots of family and friends.
Container: 1-11
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
[Box #, Folder/Item #], Harry Bartron Papers, Coll2008-054, ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives, Los Angeles, California.
Acquisition Information
Gift of Harry Bartron, in several transactions, between 2003 and 2006. An additional box of material was donated by Steven
Weissman on July 3, 2013, following Bartron's death in 2007.
Processing Information
Collection processed by Lilly Insalata, September 24, 2008. An additional box (1.25 linear ft.) of material was donated in 2013, following Bartron's death in 2007. The addendum was
processed and the finding aid was revised in 2016.
Processing this collection has been funded by a generous grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.
Biography
Harry Ollen Bartron was born in Van Etten, New York, on December 26, 1917, the fifth and youngest child of Fernando and Margaret
(Cranmer) Bartron. Shortly after Bartron's birth, his mother divorced his physically abusive father, and married a tenant
farmer named Frank Whitmore, and Harry lived his childhood on several farms in the neighborhood of Troy, Pennsylvania. Bartron's
mother left Whitmore when she discovered he had never divorced his first wife, and Bartron found himself on his own at age
13. He spent his high school years boarding with relatives and private families in Elmira, New York. Raised a Baptist, he
joined the fundamentalist Pilgrim Holiness Church in his late teens, and completed seminary work at the Allentown Bible School
in Allentown, Pennsylvania, where he met Inez Lee Fotner, whom he married. He joined the Navy in 1943 and converted to Roman
Catholicism in boot camp; he was expelled from the Navy later that year with an "Undesirable Discharge" for making sexual
advances to another sailor. He returned to his wife and son Stephen, born during his deployment, and moved Cincinnati, where
he obtained work with a Catholic goods shop, joined the Third Order of St. Francis, and took classes at Xavier University.
Bartron and his wife had two more children, Elizabeth (born 1945) and Carol (born 1947). In 1947, Bartron moved to Chicago
to attend Loyola University. He also became very active in the Uptown Players of Chicago, both as an actor and assistant to
the director; he also took private lessons in performance. His wife left him in 1948; she later married Paul Marcus Marker
(1925-1997), with whom she had several children, and died in 1986. Now single, Bartron developed a one-man show, first as
a monologist, then as a mime, and for the next 18 years performed over 4,200 times throughout the United States, Canada, the
British Isles, and Mexico. With the success of Marcel Marceau, Bartron was billed as "the American Pantomimist".
Bartron retired from full-time performance in 1966, and returned to school, earning a BA from Mansfield State College, in
Pennsylvania, in 1970. He moved to Los Angeles later that year, and in 1972 received an MA in Speech from UCLA and a Community
College Instructor Credential in Language Arts and Literature. He played small roles in films such as Cutting Loose (1980),
Let's Do It! (1982), and The Seventh Sign (1988) and in television shows such as Archie Bunker's Place (1981) and Mysterious
Two (1982); he also appeared in several commercials.
Bartron's later years were devoted to writing, in particular poetry. His first volume of poetry, Contemporary Words in Sound,
was published while he was still a student at Mansfield State University. The poems address a wide variety of subjects, but
the majority explore his Roman Catholic faith and his sexuality. His accomplishments as a poet were recognized by induction
into the International Poetry Hall of Fame in October 1996. Bartron also published a novel, Drummer Boy, on drummer boys in
the American Civil War, published in 2004. He was also active in the Roman Catholic Church, writing liturgical material for
the Los Angeles chapter of Dignity/USA, joining the Knights of Columbus in 2001, and constantly exploring the position of
Catholic homosexuals through speeches, essays, and support groups. He also became involved with the LA Gay & Lesbian Center,
in particular the Oral History Project; advocated for housing for GLBT seniors; and continued to perform as a member of a
senior theater group. He died in Los Angeles on July 18, 2007, at the age of 89.
Source: Harry Bartron Papers, Coll2008-054, ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, Los Angeles, California.
Scope and Content of Collection
This collection contains writings, manuscripts, publications and photographs documenting the life of Harry Bartron. The bulk
of the collection consists of poetry, both printed and manuscript, exploring in particular Bartron's Roman Catholic faith
and his homosexuality; Bartron's erotic poetry was published under the pseudonym "Henri de Boise". Additional writings include
liturgical materials, written for the Los Angeles chapter of Dignity/USA, and autobiographical reminiscences in the form of
emails to his daughter and transcripts of interviews given as part of the LA Gay & Lesbian Center's Oral History Project.
Personal papers document Bartron's daily activities, career as a pantomimist and in film and television, his involvement with
the Roman Catholic Church and Dignity/USA, his activities as an advocate for GLBT seniors, and his various social activities.
The photographs include images of Bartron in costume and in performance, as well as photographs and snapshots of family and
friends.
Arrangement
This collection is arranged in four series: (1) Writings, (2) Personal, (3) Photographs and (4) Graphics.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Catholic gays -- United States
Gay men's writings
Homosexuality -- Religious aspects -- Catholic Church
Mimes -- United States
Photographs
Poetry
Poets, American -- 20th century
Bartron, Harry
Dignity/Los Angeles
Writings Series 1.
1927-2006
bulk
Physical Description: 2 Linear Feet
Series Scope and Contents
This series contains Bartron's writings, both published and unpublished. The bulk of the series consists of poems, including
published volumes, manuscript compilations, and a small number of individual poems found loose. The majority of poems explore
Bartron's Roman Catholic faith and his homosexuality (Bartron published his erotic poetry using the pseudonym "Henri de Boise").
The religious writings consist primarily of liturgical materials composed by Bartron for the Los Angeles chapter of Dignity/USA.
The autobiographical materials include email reminiscences-the originals titled Toilet Book, the transcript titled Personal
Memoir-addressed to Bartron's youngest child, Carol; transcripts of interviews Bartron gave as part of the LA Gay & Lesbian
Center's Oral History Project; and (nominally fictional) short stories. Bartron attempted in the mid-1980s to sell his American
Civil War novel, Drummer Boy (not published until 2004), as a film script, and the file contains an extensive synopsis used
to "shop" the story to Hollywood studios. The other writings consist largely of poems sent to Bartron by other people.
Autobiographical
1981-2004
Box 1, Folder 2
Toilet Book or Oral History: An Autobiography
2000
Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Community Services Center. Oral History Project
2003-2004
Box 1, Folder 3
Coming of Age, Chapter 1
2003
Box 1, Folder 9
Administrative records
1985-1993
Box 11, Folder 11
Administrative records and publicity material
1996-2001
Box 11, Folder 31
Annotated photocopies
circa 2004
Box 11, Folder 12
Book sales and book donations
circa 2005
Box 11, Folder 13
Condensation and plot summary
circa 2004-2006
Box 11, Folder 14-18
Correspondence, royalties, and other financial records
1996-2006
Box 11, Folder 19
Library donations
2006-2007
Box 11, Folder 2-10
Screenplay
1983, 1987
Scope and Contents
3 manuscript copies.
Box 11, Folder 20
Vantage Press, Inc. correspondence and administrative records
2003-2006
Published Collections
1969-1997
Box 2, Folder 2
Contemporary Words in Sound
1969
Box 6
Poems of Protest
1970
Physical Description: 2 copies.
Box 11, Folder 22
Poems of Protest notes
circa 1970
Box 2, Folder 3
Three Narrative Poems
1996
Box 2, Folder 4
Dame Nature; The Four Seasons
1997
Box 2, Folder 5-8 ; 7, Folder 1-7 (Oversize) ; 8 :
1-4 (Oversize)
Manuscript Collections
1927, 1968-2006
Box 7, Folder 1-5 (Oversize)
Poems
1927, 1968-2003
Physical Description: 5 folders.
Box 7, Folder 6-7 (Oversize) ; 8, Folder 1-2
(Oversize)
Sacred and Devotional Poetry
1989-2004
Physical Description: 4 folders.
Box 8, Folder 3 (Oversize)
Box 8, Folder 4 (Oversize)
Box 2, Folder 5
Collected Poems. Retrospective of Poems Published in Various Anthologies by the National Library of Poetry
1995-2005
Box 2, Folder 6
Poems on Sexuality
1998-2003
Box 2, Folder 7
Poems Published in the
Beachwood Voice
2002-2006
Box 2, Folder 9-15
Individual Poems
1992-2005
Box 2, Folder 10
My Middle Years
2000-2002
Box 2, Folder 11
Objectively Disordered
1998-2003
Box 2, Folder 13
Reconstruction Suite
1992
Box 2, Folder 14
Seven Last Words of Jesus
2002
Box 2, Folder 16-17 ; 3, Folder 1
Box 2, Folder 16
Octette; Eight Sexually Oriented Poems
1988
Box 11, Folder 21
Octette, poetry book originals
2005
Box 2, Folder 17 ; 3, Folder 1
Quite Another Place; Erotic Homosexual Fantasies in Verse
1996
Physical Description: 4th edition.
Box 3, Folder 1
Manuscript facsimile
May 1996
Religious Writings
1988-2003
Box 3, Folder 2
Being Gay in My Day. Dignity Angelus
1998
Box 3, Folder 5
Evening Prayer & Patristic Readings for the Five Wednesdays of Lent. Dignity/Los Angeles
1992
Box 3, Folder 7
Gift of the Magi--Revisited
1995
Box 3, Folder 8
Litany of Our Lady of Dignity. Dignity/Los Angeles
2002
Box 3, Folder 9
Marian Devotion for La Familia Guadalupena
no date
Box 3, Folder 10
Meditations for the Traditional Hours of Prayer, Used for Centuries by Members of the Secular Franciscan Order
no date
Box 3, Folder 12
Noonday Prayer. Adopted for Optional use by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles' Ministry with lesbian & Gay Catholics (MLGC)
no date
Box 11, Folder 25
St. Solicita brochure
circa 1988
Box 3, Folder 14
St. Solicita. Brochure, Dignity Hymn, Litany, Novena
1988-1989
Box 3, Folder 15
Sonnet for the Feast of St. Joseph, March 19th
2003
Box 3, Folder 16
Way of the Cross; Tradition, Catholic Devotion for Lent. Dignity/Los Angeles
1994
Other Writings
circa 1990-2005
Box 3, Folder 18
Frog & the Scorpion (fable)
no date
Box 3, Folder 19
Ingenious Proposal (speech)
no date
Writings by Others
1968-2005
Box 3, Folder 24
Writings by Others
1968-2004
Box 4, Folder 1
Hurd, Derrick Harrison
2002-2003
Box 4, Folder 2
Vos, Wesley & Tom
2004-2005
Personal Series 2.
1946-2005
Physical Description: 0.75 Linear Feet
Series Scope and Contents
This series contains materials relating to Bartron's life outside his writings. The calendars, day minders and pocket planners
document his daily activities. The files contain information on his career as a pantomimist (as well as information on other
mimes); his acting roles in film and television; his involvement with the Roman Catholic Church of the Blessed Sacrament,
in Hollywood, Dignity/USA, and the Knights of Columbus; his activities as an advocate for housing for GLBT seniors; and his
various social activities. The series also includes a small file of correspondence; diplomas, certificates and awards; several
photocopies of articles on family and friends; and a folder of drawings, possibly for a children's book, by Bartron's daughter,
Liz Pittenger.
Box 4, Folder 3
Acting (Film & Television)
1980-1988
Calendars, Day Minders & Pocket Planners
1978-2005
Box 6
Day Minders
2001-2005
Physical Description: 6 items.
Box 6
Pocket Planners
1978-1989, 1997
Physical Description: 12 items.
Box 4, Folder 5
Diplomas, Certificates, Awards
1967-2006
Box 4, Folder 6
Family & Friends
2000-2004
Box 11, Folder 30
Gay and Lesbian Elder Housing postcard
undated
Box 4, Folder 7
Knights of Columbus
2001-2004
Box 6
Prophecies of the Passion [video recording]
2005
Physical Description: 1 DVD.
Roman Catholic Materials
1997-2005
Box 4, Folder 11
Church of the Blessed Sacrament, Hollywood (Calif.)
1998-2004
Box 4, Folder 15
Social Activities
1992-2004
Photographs Series 3.
1946-2005
Physical Description: 0.25 Linear Feet
Series Scope and Contents
This series contains photographs of Bartron, his family, and friends. The personal photographs consist primarily of 8 x 10-inch
formal photographs of Bartron, and photographs of him dressed and performing as a mime. The photographs of family and friends
include Bartron's son, Stephen, Vladimyr Golovin, and actors Sidney Feldman, Hal Holbrook and Alan Koss. Box 10 contains snapshops
of Bartron, his family and friends; to help identify members of Bartron's family, a list of his descendants, prepared by ONE
Archives staff, is included.
Box 9, Folder 2
Family & Friends
circa 1950-1990
Box 9, Folder 3
Photographic negative
no date
Box 10
Photographs of Harry Bartron, family & friends
circa 1975-2005
Graphics Series 4.
circa 1988
Physical Description: 1 print.
Series Scope and Contents
This series consists of a single item, a framed color print of an icon, by Robert Lentz, of "St. Solicita", the name given
by the Los Angeles chapter of Dignity/USA to the Canaanite woman referred to in Matthew 15:21-28, and "adopted" by the chapter
as its patron saint.
Item 12
Icon of St. Solicita, by Robert Lentz
circa 1988
Physical Description: 1 print ; 17 x 14 inches (framed) ; color.
Box 3, Folder 17
You Can Be A Bird, But You Can't Fly. Dignity/USA Convention
1997
