Harvey Milk and Scott Smith collection of artifacts and ephemera
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: Harvey Milk and Scott Smith collection of artifacts and ephemera
Dates: 1973-1993
Collection Number: 2002-43
Creator/Collector:
Milk, Harvey
Smith, Scott
Extent: 15 cartons, 8 oversize boxes, miscellaneous large objects not in boxes (55 linear feet)
Repository:
GLBT Historical Society
San Francisco, California 94103
Abstract: The collection includes artifacts and ephemera relating to Harvey Milk’s campaign for and election to the San Francisco Board
of Supervisors, his assassination, and the Castro Camera store; and clothing and memorabilia that belonged to both Milk and
Scott Smith.
Language of Material: English
Collection is open for research. Funding for processing this collection was provided by the Council on Library and Information
Resources (CLIR).
[Identification of item]. Harvey Milk and Scott Smith collection of artifacts and ephemera. Collection Number: 2002-43. GLBT
Historical Society
Gift of Elva R. Smith in November 2002.
Biography/Administrative History
Harvey Bernard Milk was born on May 22, 1930, in Woodmere, New York. He graduated from the New York State Teachers College
at Albany in 1951 and served in the U.S. Navy until 1955. Milk worked briefly in New York on Wall Street. In 1972, Milk moved
to San Francisco and soon after asked his boyfriend Scott Smith to follow him. They opened Castro Camera the following year.
After two unsuccessful campaigns for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1973 and 1975, Milk was elected to the Board
in November 1977. On January 9, 1978, Milk was sworn into office. In November 1978, ex-Supervisor Dan White assassinated Milk
and Mayor George Moscone.
Joseph Scott Smith (1948-1995) was a gay rights activist and Harvey Milk’s lover. Smith organized and managed Milk’s political
campaigns. Although their relationship ended more than a year before the assassination, the two remained close friends and
business partners in the camera store up until Milk's death.
Scope and Content of Collection
The collection includes artifacts and ephemera relating to Harvey Milk’s campaign for, and election to, the San Francisco
Board of Supervisors; materials related to Milk’s assassination; artifacts from the Castro Camera store; clothing that belonged
to both Milk and Smith; memorabilia and artifacts that had personal meaning for Milk and Smith; and political posters. There
is some material in the collection that dates back to the late 1960s. For manuscript material and photographs, please refer
to the Harvey Milk Archives--Scott Smith Collection at the San Francisco Public Library: http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8x63q17/.
GSSO linked terms: http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/GSSO_003201; http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/GSSO_000381
Gay men
Politics and elections
Milk, Harvey--Archives.