Collection context
Summary
- Creators:
- Milk, Harvey Smith, Scott
- Abstract:
- Extent:
- 15 cartons, 8 oversize boxes, miscellaneous large objects not in boxes (55 linear feet)
- Language:
- Preferred citation:
-
Harvey Milk and Scott Smith collection of artifacts and ephemera. GLBT Historical Society
Background
- Scope and content:
-
The collection includes artifacts and ephemera relating to Harvey Milk’s campaign for, and election to, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors; materials related to Milk’s assassination; artifacts from the Castro Camera store; clothing that belonged to both Milk and Smith; memorabilia and artifacts that had personal meaning for Milk and Smith; and political posters. There is some material in the collection that dates back to the late 1960s. For manuscript material and photographs, please refer to the Harvey Milk Archives--Scott Smith Collection at the San Francisco Public Library: http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8x63q17/. GSSO linked terms: http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/GSSO_003201; http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/GSSO_000381
- Biographical / historical:
-
Harvey Bernard Milk was born on May 22, 1930, in Woodmere, New York. He graduated from the New York State Teachers College at Albany in 1951 and served in the U.S. Navy until 1955. Milk worked briefly in New York on Wall Street. In 1972, Milk moved to San Francisco and soon after asked his boyfriend Scott Smith to follow him. They opened Castro Camera the following year. After two unsuccessful campaigns for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1973 and 1975, Milk was elected to the Board in November 1977. On January 9, 1978, Milk was sworn into office. In November 1978, ex-Supervisor Dan White assassinated Milk and Mayor George Moscone. Joseph Scott Smith (1948-1995) was a gay rights activist and Harvey Milk’s lover. Smith organized and managed Milk’s political campaigns. Although their relationship ended more than a year before the assassination, the two remained close friends and business partners in the camera store up until Milk's death.
- Acquisition information:
- Gift of Elva R. Smith in November 2002.
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
Collection is open for research. Funding for processing this collection was provided by the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR).
- Preferred citation:
-
Harvey Milk and Scott Smith collection of artifacts and ephemera. GLBT Historical Society
- Location of this collection:
-
989 Market Street, Lower LevelSan Francisco, CA 94103, US
- Contact:
- (415) 777-5455