The LGBT Center of Central PA and the Dickinson College Archives and Special Collections have partnered to document the stories and history of LGBT life and activism in Central PA. Below are guides to the collections of documents, images, and artifacts that have been donated to the LGBT History Project as part of this effort.
Research assistance is available by e-mail (archives@dickinson.edu), telephone (717-245-1399), and on-site. Visitors are welcome Monday to Friday from 8 am to 4 pm, and on Monday and Wednesday evenings from 6 to 9 pm when classes are in session. Malinda Triller Doran, Special Collections Librarian, is Dickinson’s liaison to this project. It is recommended that you contact Malinda in advance of a site visit.
Joseph W. Burns donated these materials in 2013 as the first contribution of historical documents to the LGBT Center of Central PA History Project. These materials reflect his involvement in gay rights activism in rural Pennsylvania, beginning with a 1969 letter from the New York Mattachine Society seeking to form a branch in the Lehigh Valley area. That effort resulted in the creation of the...
Location: LGBT-001
Subject: LGBT History, Politics and Government, Social Reform and Advocacy
Format: Artifacts and Objects, Legal and Government Documents, Letters/Correspondence, Meeting Minutes, Newspapers and Magazines
Time Period: 1960-1979, 1980-1999
Collection Inventory: 
LGBT-001 Joe Burns Activist Papers Collection Inventory
This collection documents LGBT activism in Lancaster County, PA. The materials date from 1975 to 2013. They include publicity materials from events sponsored by local groups such as the Pink Triangle Coalition, promotional materials for March on Washington 1993, local newspaper clippings addressing LGBT issues in the Lancaster area and Elizabethtown school board debates, publications such as...
Location: LGBT-002
Subject: Education, Health and Medicine, LGBT History, Politics and Government, Religion and Spirituality, Social Reform and Advocacy, Visual and Performing Arts
Format: Artifacts and Objects, Audio-Visual Materials, Books and Pamphlets, Broadsides and Posters, Legal and Government Documents, Memorabilia and Ephemera, Music, Newspapers and Magazines, Reports
Time Period: 1960-1979, 1980-1999, 2000-2019
Collection Inventory: LGBT-002 Collection Inventory
This collection contains a campaign poster from John Campbell’s run for Harrisburg City treasurer as an openly gay candidate in 2011-2012.
Location: LGBT-003
Subject: LGBT History, Politics and Government
Format: Broadsides and Posters
Time Period: 2000-2019
Collection Inventory: LGBT-003 Collection Inventory
This collection contains campaign materials from Chris Dietz's run for PA State Representative in 2012, including flyers, a campaign poster, and a campaign button.
Location: LGBT-004
Subject: LGBT History, Politics and Government
Format: Artifacts and Objects, Broadsides and Posters, Miscellaneous
Time Period: 2000-2019
Collection Inventory: LGBT-004 Collection Inventory
Selected newsletters and annual report of South Central AIDS Assistance Network, 1990-1995.
Location: LGBT-005
Subject: Health and Medicine, LGBT History, Social Reform and Advocacy
Format: Reports
Time Period: 1980-1999
Collection Inventory: LGBT-005 Collection Inventory
This collection contains material related to the establishment of the LGBT Center of Central PA and the activities of the AIDS Community Alliance. It also includes a 1995-1996 Gay and Lesbian Switchboard of Harrisburg directory, a flyer for the FAB Fall Achievement Benefit in 1996, documents from a 1999 LGBT civil rights program, and matchbooks from area gay bars.
Location: LGBT-006
Subject: Health and Medicine, LGBT History, Social Reform and Advocacy
Format:
Time Period: 1980-1999, 2000-2019
Collection Inventory: LGBT-006 Collection Inventory
Dan Miller ran for mayor of Harrisburg, PA in 2013. While he was not successful in that election, he has held numerous positions of leadership. At the time of the mayoral campaign, he was the Harrisburg City Controller and Harrisburg’s first openly gay elected official. He is a former member of the city council in Harrisburg. He founded the Business Association of Gays and Lesbians in...
Location: LGBT-007
Subject: LGBT History, Politics and Government, Social Reform and Advocacy
Format: Artifacts and Objects, Miscellaneous, Photographs
Time Period: 1980-1999, 2000-2019
Collection Inventory: LGBT-007 Collection Inventory
This collection contains issues of the Here's How newsletter from 1978 to 1980. This newsletter was distributed by the Homophiles of Williamsport organization. Dan Maneval, cofounder of the organization, donated these newsletters in 2013. The timeline housed in folder 2.1 was created by Joseph W. Burns to document LGBTQ activism in the Williamsport, PA area.
Location: LGBT-008
Subject: LGBT History, Social Reform and Advocacy
Format: Newspapers and Magazines
Time Period: 1960-1979, 1980-1999
Collection Inventory: LGBT-008 Collection Inventory
This collection contains approximately 10 years worth of issues (1995-2006) of the Lavender Letter, a lesbian newsletter published in Harrisburg, PA. It also contains a small amount of documentation from the 1996 Central PA Pride Festival.
Location: LGBT-009
Subject: LGBT History, Social Reform and Advocacy
Format: Newspapers and Magazines
Time Period: 1980-1999, 2000-2019
Collection Inventory: LGBT-009 Collection Inventory
These materials document several gay bars that operated in the Harrisburg, PA area, namely The Archives Nightclub and Restaurant (1983), La Rose Rouge,(1978-1992), Neptune’s Lounge (1972), Paper Moon, and the Shadows bar (1980-1984). These items take the form of bar memorabilia, photographs, and video recordings. The donor of this collection, Larry Wilson, owned the Shadows Bar and The...
Location: LGBT-010
Subject: LGBT History, Sport and Recreation
Format: Artifacts and Objects, Audio-Visual Materials, Photographs, Scrapbooks
Time Period: 1960-1979, 1980-1999, 2000-2019
Collection Inventory: LGBT-010 Collection Inventory