Los Angeles Public Library and Langston Hughes Poster Complaint Collection, 1989-1994, bulk Bulk, 1991-1994

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Summary

Title:
Los Angeles Public Library and Langston Hughes Poster Complaint Collection
Dates:
1989-1994, bulk Bulk, 1991-1994
Creators:
Gay and Lesbian United Employees (Los Angeles Public Library).
Abstract:
Petition, memoranda, press releases, interdepartmental correspondence, articles, organizational statements, reports, and other material documenting controversy over "issues of equity, censorship, and discrimination" with regard to gay and lesbian patrons and employees by the Los Angeles Public Library (LAPL), circa 1989-1994. According to a complaint filed in 1994 by library employees, in 1991 the City Librarian of the LAPL "censored and ordered destroyed Lesbian and Gay History Month materials."
Extent:
0.1 linear foot. [1 folder]
Language:
Preferred citation:

Box #, folder #, Los Angeles Public Library and Langston Hughes Poster Complaint Collection, Coll2011-064, ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, Los Angeles, California

Background

Scope and content:

Petition, memoranda, press releases, interdepartmental correspondence, articles, organizational statements, reports, and other material documenting controversy over "issues of equity, censorship, and discrimination" with regard to gay and lesbian patrons and employees by the Los Angeles Public Library (LAPL), circa 1989-1994. According to a complaint filed in 1994 by library employees, in 1991 the City Librarian of the LAPL "censored and ordered destroyed Lesbian and Gay History Month materials (a poster and a bibliography) which this public institution had already officially approved and distributed... to local branch libraries and... to the public." The action was in response to a patron's complaint over the use of a quote by Langston Hughes on the poster in question. The collection comprises material collected for the 1994 complaint.

Biographical / historical:

According to a complaint filed in 1994 with the City of Los Angeles by library employees, in 1991 the City Librarian of the Los Angeles Public Library (LAPL) "censored and ordered destroyed Lesbian and Gay History Month materials (a poster and a bibliography) which this public institution had already officially approved and distributed ... to local branch libraries and... to the public." The action came in response to a patron's complaint over the use of a quote by Langston Hughes on the poster in question. The issue became a flash point for already simmering tensions between LAPL administrators and gay and lesbian library employees over services provided to the gay and lesbian community.

Processing information:

In order to provide access to this collection, minimal processing on this collection was expedited in 2011. Date spans were given wherever possible, but do not reflect the most accurate inclusive dates.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Finding aid prepared by Marc LaRocque
Date Prepared:
(c) 2011
Date Encoded:
This finding aid was produced using the Archivists' Toolkit 2012-11-19T16:15-0800

Access and use

Restrictions:

Contact ONE archivist regarding access restrictions.

Terms of access:

Contact ONE archivist regarding publication and use restrictions.

Preferred citation:

Box #, folder #, Los Angeles Public Library and Langston Hughes Poster Complaint Collection, Coll2011-064, ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, Los Angeles, California

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