Collection Guide
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Fairbanks (Harold) papers and photographs
Coll2016-009
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Table of contents
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries, University of Southern California
Title: Harold Fairbanks papers and photographs
creator:
Fairbanks, Harold, 1935-2014
Identifier/Call Number: Coll2016-009
Physical Description:
15.8 Linear Feet
17 boxes.
Date (inclusive): 1905-2011
Abstract: Correspondence, photographs, manuscripts, clippings, diaries, audiocassettes, and other material documenting the life, family,
and professional career of Harold Fairbanks (1935-2014), a Los Angeles-based journalist and film critic who wrote for the
Advocate, Update, Entertainment West, and Newswest.
The collection is divided into four series:
Series 1. Newspaper administrative records
Series 2. Personal papers
Series 3. Spence family papers
Series 4. Audiocassettes
Harold Fairbanks was born George McKay Spence in Duluth, Minnesota, in 1935. He attended the State University of Iowa (approx.
1954-1958) where he was involved in film programming on campus. He moved to Los Angeles in 1959 where he began a career in
film, working as a projectionist, film programmer for schools, booker in a film exchange, film editor, technician, and publicist.
In addition, he helped produce two low-budget features. He assumed the name Harold Fairbanks for his career in journalism.
He worked as a movie reviewer for the Advocate, where he often reviewed gay erotic films; and then became the Entertainment
Editor for Newswest (1975-1977). In the 1980s, Fairbanks began writing obituaries while a staff writer for Update, bringing
a more journalistic approach by interviewing friends and survivors rather than relying on biological family who would often
exclude details of homosexuality and AIDS from the obituary ("AIDS Obituaries: The Newspaper Quilt [draft]," by Karen Ocamb,
LA Times Sunday Magazine). Fairbanks died in 2014.
The collection is open to researchers. There are no access restrictions.
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the ONE Archivist. Permission
for publication is given on behalf of ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives at USC Libraries as the owner of the physical
items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of David C. Allen, May 6, 2016.
[Box/folder #, or item name] Harold Fairbanks Papers and Photographs, Coll2016-009, ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives,
USC Libraries, University of Southern California.
Collection processed by Scott Reed, 2016.
This collection includes administrative records, correspondence, press kits, drafts, clippings, sound recordings, and photographs
from Fairbanks' career as a staff writer for publications such as Newswest and Update. Personal records include correspondence
with friends Robert Arthur and Olin Wood, as well as early childhood records and photographs acquired from his family. The
collection also includes materials from Fairbanks' parents and grandparents (on the maternal side), such as family photographs,
correspondence, and diaries.
The following newsletters have been separated to ONE's newsletter collection:
Florida Gay Liberation News, Issue #19-20 (1977).
Rainbow Project NoHo Newsletter [Project Rainbow North Hollywood], July 2004.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
AIDS activists -- California -- Los Angeles
Duluth (Minn.)
Film criticism
Gay newspapers
Journalism and motion pictures
Motion pictures and gay men