Title: San Francisco LGBT Business Ephemera Collection

Dates: 1960-2010

Collection Number: BUS EPH

Creator/Collector:

Extent: 30 boxes(12.5 Linear feet)

Repository: GLBT Historical Society

Abstract: Consists of ephemera collected from businesses owned, operated or frequented by members of the LGBT community located in San Francisco and the greater Bay Area. Businesses in Russian River, San Jose, Sacramento, Berkeley and Oakland are also represented. Types of businesses include: bars and clubs; cabarets, performance venues and theaters; restaurants; bookstores and publishers; newspapers and magazines; art galleries; clothing and retail stores; BDSM (bondage) and sex toy shops; video stores and movie theaters; pot clubs and marijuana dispensaries; hotels and inns, and other travel or tourism related businesses. Also includes national corporations marketing to the LGBT community. The bulk of the material dates from the 1970s through the 1990s. While most of the material is intended for business related purposes, it is also reflective of LGBT community building and activism, and its literary, art, music and entertainment scenes. Types of ephemera include: advertisements, event announcements, benefit and show fliers, postcards, invitations, theatrical playbills, brochures, direct mail, sales catalogs, menus, napkins, tickets, letterheads, business cards, and some internal business communications and financial records.

Language of Material: English

Collection is open for research.

All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the Managing Archivist, GLBT Historical Society. Consent is given on behalf of the GLBT Historical Society as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission from the copyright owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright owner.

[Identification of item]. San Francisco LGBT Business Ephemera Collection. Collection Number: BUS EPH. GLBT Historical Society

Assembled by the staff at the GLBT Historical Society. Additions to the collection are ongoing.

Consists of ephemera collected from businesses owned, operated or frequented by members of the LGBT community located in San Francisco and the greater Bay Area. The bulk of the businesses represented are located in San Francisco's Polk Street, Castro Street, Folsom Street, South of Market (SOMA) or Valencia Corridor neighborhoods. Businesses in Russian River, San Jose, Sacramento, Berkeley and Oakland are also represented. Types of businesses include: bars and clubs; cabarets, performance venues and theaters; restaurants; bookstores and publishers; newspapers and magazines; art galleries; clothing and retail stores; BDSM (bondage) and sex toy shops; video stores and movie theaters; pot clubs and marijuana dispensaries; hotels and inns, and other travel or tourism related businesses. Many are affiliated or self-identify with specific social groups such as transgender, gay, leather, bears, drag, sex-positive, women-owned, lesbian, or lesbian separatist. Also includes national corporations marketing to the LGBT community. The bulk of the material dates from the 1970s through the 1990s. While most of the material is intended for business related purposes, it is also reflective of LGBT community building and activism, and its literary, art, music and entertainment scenes. Types of ephemera include: advertisements, event announcements, benefit and show fliers, postcards, invitations, theatrical playbills, brochures, direct mail, sales catalogs, menus, napkins, tickets, letterheads, business cards, and some internal business communications and financial records. Individual ephemera files can contain a single item or more extensive amounts of material, including hand-printed items and cut-and-paste photocopies.