Fernandez (Victoria) / Vicki Starr Papers, circa 1910s-1990s, bulk 1950s-1980s
Online content
Collection context
Summary
- Title:
- Victoria Fernandez / Vicki Starr papers
- Dates:
- circa 1910s-1990s, bulk 1950s-1980s
- Creators:
- Starr, Vicki Fernandez, Victoria Fernandez, Julie
- Abstract:
- Extent:
- 1.5 linear feet (two manuscript boxes)
- Language:
- Preferred citation:
-
Victoria Fernandez / Vicki Starr papers. GLBT Historical Society
Background
- Scope and content:
-
The collection is divided into two series, Manuscripts and Photographs. Manuscript materials of particular interest include extensive correspondence, a folder of notes and letter drafts (some as brief as a jotted address, others which reveal Fernandez’ emotional and spiritual life), and a folder of materials related to Fernandez’ struggle to visit her incarcerated partner, in which she worked with legal aid to counter transphobic and homophobic restrictions on her visitation rights. Other materials in this series include press clippings and various ephemera. The Photographs series chronicles roughly forty years of Fernandez’ life, from her early years in Puerto Rico, through her early transition, her career as a performer, and her later years in San Francisco. Fernandez’ dancing career has limited representation in this collection. Interested researchers will find more about this aspect of her life in the private collection of Albert Tanquero and Lewis Rawlinson, whose book Remember Me, Vicki Starr documents their own holdings. The collection arrived without an original order (and had had at least two owners since Fernandez). Only the materials related to Fernandez’ struggle for visitation rights were originally organized into their own folder. GLBT Historical Society archivists arranged the remainder of the collection. Photographs have been organized by format, but not by date.
- Biographical / historical:
-
Victoria Fernandez, who performed as Vicki Starr and also went by Vicki or Julie Fernandez, was a transgender woman best known for performing in topless clubs in North Beach during the 1960s. Born in 1932 to an unaccepting family in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Fernandez moved to New York in the late 1940s and began transitioning in the 1950s. By 1965, she was in San Francisco working as a topless dancer, part of a local craze for topless entertainment whose first famous performer was Carol Doda. At the North Beach venue Coke’s, Fernandez performed alongside another trans woman, Roxanne; the two women were billed as novelty acts, with promotional language that emphasized their assigned sex at birth. Fernandez continued to perform until the early 1980s, and was also involved in other forms of sex work. Towards the end of her life, she struggled with her mental health and with alcoholism. Scholar Horacio Roque Ramirez recorded an oral history with Starr before Roque Ramirez's 2015 death, which is now apparently lost. This collection, acquired by the donor’s brother in a storage unit auction, may have been previously owned by Roque Ramirez. In addition to the collection itself and conversations with researchers, portions of this note are sourced from Michael Flanagan’s 2022 Bay Area Reporter piece: https://www.ebar.com/story.php?ch=bartab&sc=barchive&id=321295
- Acquisition information:
- Gift of Paul Kagawa, December 2023.
Indexed terms
About this collection guide
- Date Prepared:
- circa 1910s-1990s, bulk 1950s-1980s
- Date Encoded:
- This finding aid was produced using Record Express for OAC5 on July 14, 2025, 2:54 p.m.
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
Collection is open for research.
- Terms of access:
-
All requests for reproductions and/or permission to publish or quote from material must be submitted in writing to the GLBT Historical Society Archivist. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.
- Preferred citation:
-
Victoria Fernandez / Vicki Starr papers. GLBT Historical Society
- Location of this collection:
-
989 Market Street, Lower LevelSan Francisco, CA 94103, US
- Contact:
- (415) 777-5455