Tede Matthews Oral History Project records
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: Tede Matthews Oral History Project records
Dates: 1978-1994
Collection Number: 1993-12
Creator/Collector:
Extent: 1 box, 2 oversize boxes (1.8 linear feet)
Repository:
GLBT Historical Society
San Francisco, California 94103
Abstract: Tede Matthews was a longtime member of the Modern Times Bookstore collective, an impresario, a poet and an activist for LGBT
rights in the United States and Latin America. He died of AIDS in 1993. The Tede Matthews Oral History Project was conceived
of as a memorial to Tede. The collection includes flyers, poetry, audiotapes of memorials for Matthews, poetry readings and
oral histories.
Language of Material: English
Collection is open for research. Funding for processing this collection was provided by a grant from the National Historical
Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC).
All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the Managing
Archivist at the GLBT Historical Society. Permission to publish is given on behalf of the 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]. Tede Matthews Oral History Project records. Collection Number: 1993-12. GLBT Historical Society
Gift in 1993. Duplicate audiotapes donated by Nina Jo Smith in March 2013.
Biography/Administrative History
Tede Matthews (July 29, 1951-July 17, 1993) was a longtime member of the Modern Times Bookstore collective, an impresario,
a poet and an activist for LGBT rights in the United States and Latin America. Matthews started Modern Times’ monthly open
reading for LGBT writers and created the store’s Spanish language section. He also hosted Mainstream Exiles, a salon for poets
and musicians at the Valencia Rose.
Matthews grew up working class in Florida and moved to Boston to avoid arrest for dodging the draft. He moved to San Francisco
in the early 1970s. Matthews helped found Bay Area Gay Liberation in the 1970s, Lesbians and Gays Against Intervention in
the 1980s and worked with the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission’s Latin American programs in the 1990s.
According to his obituary, Matthews “built bridges between movements, and he gave all he had to the causes he believed in.”
He died of AIDS in July 1993. (See his Bay Area Reporter obituary for more information: (http://obit.glbthistory.org/olo/imagedb/1993/07/29/19930729_Matthews_Tede/m19930729_0.jpg)
Scope and Content of Collection
The Tede Matthews Oral History Project was conceived of as a memorial to the poet and activist. The collection includes audiotapes
of memorials for Matthews, poetry readings and oral histories. There are also flyers for poetry readings, events and workshops;
materials related to Mainstream Exiles; a chapbook by Matthews (Some of My Best Friends) and anthologies of poetry that include
his work; obituaries; and programs from his memorials. Matthews was known for bridging cultural divides. Speakers at one of
his memorials, Sistahs for a Brother, included Adrienne Rich, Sara Levi Calderon, Cherrie Moraga, Dorothy Allison and June
Jordan. Interviewees in the collection include Kim Anno, Chuck Barragan, Wendy Cadden, Vicki Dello Joio, Randy Johnson, Ruth
Mahaney, Canyon Sam, Nina Jo Smith, and Leslie Simon.
GSSO Linked Terms: http://purl.bioontology.org/ontology/MESH/D008091; http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/GSSO_000374; http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/GSSO_000381
Literature
Gay men
Lesbians