Olympics Out of Cobb County records, 1990-1998

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Summary

Creators:
Weaver, Jon-Ivan
Abstract:
Correspondence, photographs, letters of support, notebooks, anti-gay material, flyers, press releases, banners, T-shirts, clippings, stamps, audiocassettes, a videocassette and other material from Olympics Out of Cobb County (OOCC), 1990-1998, as well as OOCC co-founder, Jon-Ivan Weaver. OOCC formed in 1994 as a grassroots response by individuals and organizations to the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games' (ACOG) decision to hold the volleyball competition of the 1996 Olympic Games in Cobb County, Georgia. Cobb County came under fire from gay rights groups in 1993 when the Cobb County Board of Commissioners passed an anti-gay resolution condemning the "gay lifestyle."
Extent:
1 Linear Feet 1 archive box + 5 T-shirts + 2 banners.
Language:
English .
Preferred citation:

[Box/folder #, or item name] Olympics Out of Cobb County Records, Coll2013-053, ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries, University of Southern California.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection comprises correspondence, photographs, letters of support, flyers, press releases, stickers, banners, T-shirts, clippings, stamps, letterhead and other material from Olympics Out of Cobb County, 1990-1998. Included are articles relating to bigotry in Cobb County, such as copies of the Cobb County Board of Commissioners' anti-gay resolution, a Neighbors Network report on anti-gay groups in Georgia, documentation of racist merchandise for sale in Cobb County, as well as hate mail and voice recordings received by Cobb Citizens Coalition.

The collection also contains a number of personal items that belonged to co-founder Jon-Ivan Weaver, including domestic partnership papers, an appointment book, speech notes, notepads, a videotape birthday tribute and a T-shirt and letter that Weaver delivered to Shirley Franklin the senior policy advisor for the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games (ACOG) at the beginning of the campaign.

Biographical / historical:

Pat Hussain and Jon-Ivan Weaver founded Olympics Out of Cobb County (OOCC) in February 1994 in Atlanta, Georgia. OOCC formed as a grassroots response by individuals and organizations to the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games' (ACOG) decision to hold the volleyball competition of the 1996 Olympic Games in Cobb County, Georgia. Cobb County came under fire from gay rights groups including Cobb Citizens Coalition in 1993 when the Cobb County board of commissioners, led by Gordon Wysong, passed an anti-gay resolution condemning the "gay lifestyle." Cobb Citizens Coalition began organizing for a repeal of the resolution and a boycott of Cobb County.

OOCC successfully staged a campaign of protests, letter writing and outreach in order to first remove the volleyball competition from Cobb County, and later to block the Olympic torch relay from passing through Cobb County. Organizations who helped and endorsed the work of OOCC included ACT-UP, Dykes & Faggots Bash Back, Human Rights Campaign Foundation and the Lesbian Avengers.

Sources :

Olympics Out of Cobb County Records, Coll2013-053, ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries, University of Southern California.

Acquisition information:
Donated by Jon-Ivan Weaver, January 20, 1999. Weaver donated additional materials to the collection on April 7, 2018.
Processing information:

Formerly boxes 103-240 and 103-241. Collection processed by Lane Goldszer, May 2013. The finding aid was updated in 2024 to reflect additional materials that were donated in 2018.

Arrangement:

An index to the collection is at the beginning of the collection. The remaining folders are arranged alphabetically.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

The collection is open to researchers. There are no access restrictions.

Terms of access:

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.

Preferred citation:

[Box/folder #, or item name] Olympics Out of Cobb County Records, Coll2013-053, ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries, University of Southern California.

Location of this collection:
909 West Adams Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90007, US
Contact:
(213) 821-2771
askone@usc.edu
Website