Roz Joseph (1926–2019) was a San Francisco-based photographer who in the mid-1970s photographed the pageantry and activism of the city’s diverse drag cultures at Gay Freedom Day parades, Halloween celebrations, Imperial Court coronations and drag and costume balls. The collection consists of a total of 63 matted color photographic prints, 7 notebooks of slides, interviews and manuscript materials, and various ephemera.

Roz Joseph was born Rosalind Malamud on June 30, 1926, in the Bronx. She received a bachelor’s degree in education in 1947 from City College of New York, where she also pursued postgraduate courses in art and photography. In 1948, she married advertising professional and writer Elliott Joseph. The couple lived in Paris from 1950 to 1951, then returned to New York. While continuing her work as a photographer, Joseph also developed a career in higher education, ultimately serving as executive assistant to the chair of the City College of New York Psychology Department. Joseph began documenting drag queens in June 1975 at San Francisco’s annual Gay Freedom Day Parade, and continued to document drag and Imperial Court culture through 1984. (Source: GLBT Historical Society exhibit, "Reigning Queens, The Lost Photos of Roz Joseph," curated by Joseph Plaster).

7 linear feet (6 cartons, matted art)

Copyright to most material has been transferred to the GLBT Historical Society. All requests for reproductions and/or permission to publish or quote from material must be submitted in writing to the GLBT Historical Society Archivist.

Collection is open for research.