San Francisco LGBT Business Ephemera Collection
Finding aid created by GLBT Historical Society staff using RecordEXPRESS
GLBT Historical Society
2023
989 Market Street, Lower Level
San Francisco, California 94103
(415) 777-5455
reference@glbthistory.org
http://www.glbthistory.org/
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
San Francisco, California 94103
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.
Scope and Content of Collection
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.