Mary Richards was a journalist for the Bay Area Reporter (BAR), a San Francisco-based LGBTQ newspaper, in the 1980s and 1990s. The collection contains over 200 audiotapes of interviews Richards conducted with queer people on a wide range of topics. Included are conversations with figures like Tom Waddell, José Sarria, Gilbert Baker, Virginia Apuzzo, Rikki Streicher, Alan Selby, and others. For her stories, she explored a diversity of topics, including talking with people from local AIDS organizations, gay and lesbian vegetarians, religious leaders, lesbian bar patrons, gay Deaf community members, and many others. The collection has been fully digitized and is available online at https://calisphere.org/collections/28088/. This digitization project was supported by a Recordings at Risk grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR). The grant program is made possible by funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

1.25 linear feet

Collection is open for research.