Finding aid of the Harry Bartron Papers
Lilly Insalata
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
© 2008
ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives. All rights reserved.
Finding aid of the Harry Bartron Papers
Collection number: Coll2008-054
ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives
Los Angeles,
California
- Processed by:
- Lilly Insalata
- Date Completed:
- September 24, 2008
- Encoded by:
- Michael P. Palmer
© 2008 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: Harry Bartron papers
Dates: 1917-2006.
Bulk Dates: Bulk
1978-2005.
Collection number: Coll2008-054
Creator:
Bartron, Harry,
1917-2007
Collection Size: 6 archive cartons + 3 archive
half-cartons + 1 clamshell box album + 1 framed print. 3
linear feet.
Repository:
ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives.
Los Angeles, California 90007
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.
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
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.
Processing Information
Collection processed by Lilly Insalata,
September 24, 2008.
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 4 series: (1) Writings, (2) Personal, (3)
Photographs and (4) Graphics.
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this
collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Autobiography
Catholic gays--United States
Dignity/Los Angeles
Gay men's writings
Homosexuality--Religious aspects--Catholic
Church
Mimes--United States
Photographs
Poetry
Poets, American--20th century
Collection Contents
Box 1 : 1-9 ; 2 : 1-17 ; 3 : 1-24 ; 4 :
1-2 ; 6 (Oversize) ; 8 : 1-4 (Oversize)
Series 1.
Writings
1927-2006
Bulk 1969-2003
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.
Box 1 : 1-8
Autobiographical
1981-2004
Box 1 : 2
Toilet Book or Oral History: An
Autobiography
2000
Box 1 : 3-6
Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Community Services Center.
Oral History Project
2003-2004
Box 1 : 3
Coming of Age, Chapter
1
2003
Box 1 : 9
Drummer Boy. Papers
1985-1993
Box 2 : 1-7 ; 3 : 1; 6 ; 7 : 1-7
(Oversize) ; 8 : 1-4 (Oversize)
Box 2 : 2-4 : 6
Published Collections
1969-1997
Box 2 : 2
Contemporary Words in
Sound
1969
Box 6
Poems of Protest
1970
Physical Description: 2 copies.
Box 2 : 3
Three Narrative
Poems
1996
Box 2 : 4
Dame Nature; The Four
Seasons
1997
Box 2 : 5-8 ; 7 : 1-7 (Oversize) ; 8 :
1-4 (Oversize)
Manuscript Collections
1927,
1968-2006
Box 7 : 1-5 (Oversize)
Poems
1927,
1968-2003
Physical Description: 5 folders.
Box 7 : 6-7 (Oversize) ; 8 : 1-2
(Oversize)
Sacred and Devotional
Poetry
1989-2004
Physical Description: 4 folders.
Box 2 : 5
Collected Poems. Retrospective of Poems
Published in Various Anthologies by the National Library of
Poetry
1995-2005
Box 2 : 6
Poems on Sexuality
1998-2003
Box 2 : 7
Poems Published in the
Beachwood Voice
2002-2006
Box 2 : 9-15
Individual Poems
1992-2005
Box 2 : 10
My Middle Years
2000-2002
Box 2 : 11
Objectively
Disordered
1998-2003
Box 2 : 13
Reconstruction Suite
1992
Box 2 : 14
Seven Last Words of
Jesus
2002
Box 2 : 16
Octette; Eight Sexually Oriented
Poems
1988
Box 2 : 17 ; 3 : 1
Quite Another Place; Erotic Homosexual
Fantasies in Verse
1996
Physical Description: 4th edition.
Box 3 : 1
Manuscript facsimile
May
1996
Box 3 : 2-17
Religious Writings
1988-2003
Box 3 : 2
Being Gay in My Day. Dignity
Angelus
1998
Box 3 : 5
Evening Prayer & Patristic Readings
for the Five Wednesdays of Lent
. Dignity/Los Angeles
1992
Box 3 : 7
Gift of the
Magi--Revisited
1995
Box 3 : 8
Litany of Our Lady of Dignity.
Dignity/Los Angeles
2002
Box 3 : 9
Marian Devotion for La Familia
Guadalupena
no date
Box 3 : 10
Meditations for the Traditional Hours of
Prayer, Used for Centuries by Members of the Secular Franciscan
Order
no date
Box 3 : 12
Noonday Prayer. Adopted for Optional use
by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles' Ministry with lesbian & Gay Catholics
(MLGC)
no date
Box 3 : 14
St. Solicita. Brochure, Dignity Hymn, Litany,
Novena
1988-1989
Box 3 : 15
Sonnet for the Feast of St. Joseph, March
19th
2003
Box 3 : 16
Way of the Cross; Tradition, Catholic
Devotion for Lent
. Dignity/Los Angeles
1994
Box 3 : 17
You Can Be A Bird, But You Can't
Fly
. Dignity/USA Convention
1997
Box 3 :
18-23
Other Writings
circa
1990-2005
Box 3 : 18
Frog & the Scorpion
(fable)
no date
Box 3 : 19
Ingenious Proposal
(speech)
no date
Box 3 : 24 ; 4 : 1-2
Writings by Others
1968-2005
Box 3 : 24
Writings by Others
1968-2004
Box 4 : 1
Hurd, Derrick Harrison
2002-2003
Box 4 : 2
Vos, Wesley & Tom
2004-2005
Box 4 : 3-15 ; 5 : 1-4 ; 6
(Oversize)
Series 2.
Personal
1946-2005
Physical Description: 0.75 linear foot.
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 : 3
Acting (Film & Television)
1980-1988
Box 5-6
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 : 5
Diplomas, Certificates, Awards
1967-2004
Box 4 : 6
Family & Friends
2000-2004
Box 4 : 7
Knights of Columbus
2001-2004
Box 4 : 10-13
Roman Catholic Materials
1997-2005
Box 4 : 11
Church of the Blessed Sacrament, Hollywood
(Calif.)
1998-2004
Box 4 : 15
Social Activities
1992-2004
Box 9 : 1-3 ; 10
Series 3.
Photographs
1946-2005
Physical Description: 0.25 linear foot.
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 : 2
Family & Friends
circa
1950-1990
Box 9 : 3
Photographic negative
no date
Box 10
Photographs of Harry Bartron, family &
friends
circa
1975-2005
Item 11
Series 4.
Graphics
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 11
Icon of St. Solicita, by Robert Lentz
circa 1988
Physical Description: 1 print ; 17 x 14 inches (framed) ;
color.
