Description
This collection contains the research files and oral history interviews of the World War II Project. The research and interviews
were conducted by historian Allan Berube and they resulted in the publication of his book,
Coming Out Under Fire: The History of Gay Men and Women in World War II (1990), and in a documentary film of the same name directed by Arthur Dong for DeepFocus Productions in 1994.
Background
The World War II Project was initiated and directed by community-based historian Allan Berube. Berube already had been involved
in community politics and in the San Francisco Lesbian and Gay History Project (SFLGHP) when in 1979 a neighbor gave him a
cache of discovered correspondence between a gay GI and his friends. This series of letters, Berube claimed, "changed my life,"
as they allowed him to enter "the secret world of gay soldiers who served in the Army during World War II." At that point
he decided to "set out to uncover and make public their hidden stories."
Restrictions
Copyright to unpublished manuscript materials has been transferred to the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society,
except as follows: Many interviews conducted by Berube contain restrictions, see releases in Series 2. Berube has retained
copyright to his own unpublished writings and his slide show, "Marching to a Different Drummer." Copyright to transcripts
of interviews conducted by Arthur Dong is retained by DeepFocus Productions.
Availability
Collection is open for research.