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Guide to the William E. Houston Correspondence and Collection of Erotic Stories
1994-22
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Table of contents
Title: William E. Houston correspondence and collection of erotic stories
Dates: Circa 1940-1995
Collection number: 1994-22
Creator:
Houston, William E.
Creator:
Dougherty, Joseph R., 1929-1994
Collection Size:
1 box (0.5 linear feet)
Repository:
Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society
San Francisco, California 94105
Abstract: William Houston was a gay man from Santa Fe, New Mexico, with an interest in collecting erotic stories about men. Collection
includes, in addition to typescripts of 47 erotic stories, correspondence regarding Houston's life with his lover Duke (Joseph
R. Dougherty), and responses to a 1973 sex advertisement placed in
The Advocate by Dougherty.
Languages:
Languages represented in the collection:
English
Collection open for research.
Copyright to unpublished manuscript materials created by the donor has been transferred to the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender
Historical Society.
William E. Houston correspondence and collection of erotic stories, 1994-22, Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical
Society.
Donated by William E. Houston.
William E. Houston, a resident of Santa Fe, New Mexico, was raised in the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania area, but little else is
known about his life. He lived for many years with his lover, Duke (a pseudonym for Joseph R. Dougherty), who was born in
1929 and died of cancer in 1994.
Scope and Content of Collection
This collection comprises primarily 47 erotic stories by anonymous authors (with two exceptions) about gay male sexual experiences
collected by Bill Houston. The majority of the stories are photocopied or mimeographed, and date from the 1940s and 1950s.
Before commercial pornography was readily available, men used to write stories, and type or mimeograph them in order to trade
them; the stories in this collection are of that genre.
In addition to the stories, the collection includes two files of correspondence. The first, dated 1973, contains responses
to a sex ad placed in
The Advocate by Ed Granger, a pseudonym for Joe Dougherty. Dougherty, later in life, was Bill Houson's lover, and was known at that time
as Duke Houston. In addition to correspondence from the men answering the ad, the second file includes some photographs and
note cards documenting Granger's (Dougherty's) interactions with several of them, either by telephone or in-person. The second
correspondence file, dated 1994-1995, consists of correspondence between James Duggins of the GLBT Historical Society, and
Bill Houston, and provides biographical details about Houston's life and interests, and his relationship with his lover, Duke
(Joe Dougherty).
Collection is arranged by type of material; stories are arranged alphabetically by title.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Gay men
Erotica
A list of the titles of stories in the collection is available at the GLBT Historical Society.