About LGBT History Project Resources
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 the greater Central Pennsylvania region. This site contains oral histories that have been recorded for the LGBT History Project, as well as fully accessible digital versions of documents, images, and artifacts that have been donated to the project.
This is a quickly growing collection, and not all items are available through this website. Please contact Malinda Triller-Doran at archives@dickinson.edu for information about how to access all of the resources of the LGBT History Project, as well as how to donate additional materials.
Generous support to make these unique resources accessible has been provided by the Schlegel Deibler Charitable Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.
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LGBT History Project
Date: 2006
A white STUDS Magainze t-shirt with "Handsomely Beautiful Men" logo.
Collection: LGBT-032 - Snowden
Topics:
Organizations: STUDS Magazine
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Date: circa 1972
White matchbook from the Netpunes Lounge in Harrisburg, PA.
Collection: LGBT-006 - Anonymous
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Date: circa 1978
Red matchbook from La Rose Rouge in Harrisburg, PA
Collection: LGBT-006 - Anonymous
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Date: circa 1975
White matchbok from Club 1031 in Harrisburg, PA.
Collection: LGBT-006 - Anonymous
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Date: circa 1990
A black and white pin depicting a protest. The pin reads in white and yellow text on a purple back ground "Speaking out for Equality," and then in smaller text under that, "The constitution, Gay Rights & The Supreme Court."
Collection: LGBT-013 - Selvey
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Date: circa 1972
White and blue matchbooks from the Neptune's Lounge in Harrisburg, PA.
Collection: LGBT-013 - Selvey
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Date: circa 1990
Pink Lily White & Company T-Shirt.
Founded by Paul Foltz in 1982, Lily White and Company was a south central Pennsylvania organization composed of entertainers and female impersonators. Lily White and Company produced numerous shows and performances throughout central Pennsylvania and the United States with the intent of raising funds for HIV/AIDS and LGBTQ+ organizations in the 1980s and 1990s.
Collection: LGBT-013 - Selvey
Topics:
Organizations: Lily White & Company
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Date: circa 1985
Three matchbooks from Stallions in Harrisburg, PA, two silver, one black. Both the black and silver matchbooks are identical except for the colors.
Collection: LGBT-023 - Maurer
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Date: circa 1990
A black matchbook with silver text from Stonewall in Allentown, Pa.
Collection: LGBT-023 - Maurer
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Date: circa 1990
A white matchbox from The Cartwheel Night Club & Restaurant in New Hope, Pa.
Collection: LGBT-023 - Maurer
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Date: circa 1990
Two empty white matchbooks from The Courtyard, a Women's Bar on the top floor of Stallions, and was considered "The Woman's Bar of the 90's."
Collection: LGBT-023 - Maurer
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Date: 2000
Buisness card for Liquid 891, a lesbian bar in Harrisburg, PA.
Collection: LGBT-023 - Maurer
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Date: 1990
A creneck sweatshirt for the Harrisburg Men's Chorus.
Collection: LGBT-023 - Maurer
Topics:
Organizations: Harrisburg Men's Chorus
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Date: 1990
Two handmade, black leather spats covered in metal studs created by Thomas Pfeiffer for Pennsman Inc.
Collection: LGBT-017 - Pfeiffer
Topics:
Organizations: Pennsmen Inc.
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Date: 1977
Wooden nickeles from the Neptune's Lounge in Harrisburg, PA.
Collection: LGBT-015 - Barns
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Date: 1985
Pin with Dignity/Central PA's logo. Dignity/Central PA is a forum for human concerns, a place of seeking for greater self, knowledge, and wisdom, an affirmation of one's sexual orientation in faith, and personal ministry.
Collection: LGBT-015 - Barns
Topics:
Organizations: Dignity/Central PA
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Date: 1985
A black string bolo tie, with a silver, blue and gold clasp with the Pennsmen Inc. logo.
Collection: LGBT-028 - Twaddle
Topics:
Organizations: Pennsmen Inc.
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Date: 1985
Pin crated for the Pennsman Inc.
Collection: LGBT-028 - Twaddle
Topics:
Organizations: Pennsmen Inc.
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Date: 1995 - 2005
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 rights program, and three matchbooks from gay bars once in Harrisburg, PA.
Collection: LGBT-006 - Anonymous
Topics:
Organizations: LGBT Center of Central PA, AIDS Community Alliance
View Item: LGBT History Project: LGBT-006 Anonymous Collection
Date: 1975, 1980 - 2013
There materials were donated at the Lancaster PA Pride event in June 2013. The collection represents the contributions of Mark Stoner and Mary Merriman, and documents LGBTQ+ issues and activism in Lancaster County, PA.
Of particular interest in this collection is The Pink Triangle Coalition materials and the newspaper articles from the Lancaster New Era and Intelligencer Journal, two local newspapers in the area. The newspaper address the establishment of an MCC Church in Mountville, PA, debate over LGBTQ+ rights in the Elizabethtown school system, and controversies over an LGBTQ+ book display in the Lancaster County Public Library. There is also a run of The Lancaster Inqueery, housed in the periodical series.
Collection: LGBT-002 - Lancaster, PA Activism
Topics:
Organizations: Pink Triangle Coalition (PTC)
View Item: LGBT History Project: LGBT-002 Lancaster, PA Area Activism Collection
Date: 1980 - 1998
Gloria Jackie Schulze was born on November 25, 1934 in Huntington, WV. She graduated from high school and attended John Marshall University (now known as Marshall University) where she received her degree in Journalism.
After her son Rick came out to her, Jackie attended a local Parents of Gays meeting, and then she, and Hope Nancarrow, local activist Mary Nancarrow’s mother, established a local Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) chapter. Founded in 1973, PFLAG is the largest LGBTQ+ organization for LGBTQ+ people, families, friends, and allies. Jackie was president of the local PFLAG chapter for 18 years, and during those years she regularly spoke at universities, schools, and churches. Jackie was also active in HIV/AIDS related activism alongside her son, Rick.
Jackie passed away in 2018.
Rick Schulze was born in Delaware in the early 1960s to Jackie Schulze and his father George. After moving around as a young child, Rick grew up primarily in the Harrisburg area. After high school, Rick went on to Mansfield University and was instrumental in forming The Mansfield Gay Alliance, the first gay organization on campus. Rick also was active in HIV/AIDS awareness in Central PA, along with his mother, and worked closely with the organizations South Central AIDS Assistance Network (SCAAN) and AIDS Resource. Rick then went on to work with the Department of Health in HIV/AIDS Counseling during the 1990s. Rick is now in academia, eventually settling in as a professor in Health Education and Public Health at Lock Haven University.
Rick lives in the Lock Haven area today.
This collection documents Jackie and Rick's activism through photographs, correspondence, PGLAF memorabilia, newspaper clippings, and other miscellaneous items.
Collection: LGBT-085 - Schulze
Topics: HIV/AIDs
Organizations: Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG)
View Item: LGBT History Project: LGBT-085 Jackie & Rick Schulze Collection
Date: 1989 - 1992
This collection contains materials from the Harrisburg Men’s Chorus, and the 1989 and 1990 Unity Festivals, precursors to the Central PA Pride Fest. Unity Festival materials include planning documents, advertisements, and letters for Unity Festival 1990, which were originally stored together in the folder which is housed in the first folder in this collection. There are also photographs from Unity Festival 1989 and 1990. Harrisburg Men’s Chorus materials include programs from performances. There are also Artifacts which include one Harrisburg Men’s Chorus T-shirt and four Unity Festival T-shirts, which are a mixture of staff and spectator versions.
Collection: LGBT-058 - Anonymous
Topics:
Organizations: Harrisburg Men's Chorus
View Item: LGBT History Project: LGBT-058 Anonymous Collection
Date: 1979, 1980 - 2009
Colin Kreitzer was born in 1947 in Enola, Pennsylvania, and grew up in Wormleysburg, PA with his parents and his younger sister. He attended West Chester College (now West Chester University) and moved to Harrisburg in 1977, where he began getting involved in the gay community through activism and social activities. Kreitzer was involved in the Gay and Switchboard of Harrisburg (GSH), later known as the Gay and Lesbian Switchboard of Harrisburg (GLSH), Dignity/Central PA, Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) of the Spirit, and volleyball.
Collection: LGBT-061 - Kreitzer
Topics:
Organizations: Gay and Lesbian Switchboard of Harrisburg, Dignity/Central PA, MCC of the Spirit
View Item: LGBT History Project: LGBT-061 Colin Kreitzer Collection
Date: 1980 - 1994
These materials contain artwork designed by Lawrence Valerio for LGBT events and organizations in Central PA, including Dignity of Central PA, a forum for human concerns, a place of seeking for greater self, knowledge, and wisdom, an affirmation of one's sexual orientation in faith, and personal ministry; the Open Air Festival, which was a precursor to what is known today as Central PA PrideFest; and the South Central AIDS Assistance Network (SCAAN) Caring a la Carte fundraiser, which was a local dinner held to raise funds to support the work of SCAAN and it’s support of the local HIV/AIDs positive community.
Collection: LGBT-036 - Valerio
Topics:
Organizations: Dignity/Central PA, South Central Aids Assistance Network (SCAAN)
View Item: LGBT History Project: LGBT-036 Lawrence Valerio Collection
Date: 1975 - 2010
Samuel Deetz was born in Quakertown, PA on April 21, 1951 and was one of eight children. His father was a minister, so his family moved from place to place throughout his childhood, until they came back to Central PA where Deetz finished high school. While living at home after high school, Deetz started working as an accountant, which led him to continue a career in accounting.
Deetz became active in the LGBTQ+ community in his mid-twenties in the 1970s. He, with help from Mark Seagal, founded the Susquehanna Valley Gays United (SVGU) in the summer of 1975. He was a member of the PA Rural Gay Caucus from its inception in 1975 until 1978, where he was co-chair for the first Gay Lobby (Education) Day in March 1976 and became the convener of the Legislative Committee. He was invited to become a member of the PA Governor’s Council for Sexual Minorites in 1976, where he became a facilitator between the Rural Gay Caucus and the Council, as well as the Council and the PA State Police Department. He also was treasurer for the Pennsylvania for Social Justice Political Action Committee (PAC) from 1982 to 1985.
Deetz passed away in 2019.
This collection highlights Deetz’s activism in various LGBTQ+ groups in Central PA. Deetz was an accountant by trade which enabled him to hold treasurer positions in most of the organizations highlighted in this collection.
Collection: LGBT-011 - Deetz
Topics:
Organizations: Network Political Action Committee (PAC), Pennsylvania for Social Justice Political Action Committee (PAC), PA Rural Gay Caucus, PA Governor's Council for Sexual Minorities
View Item: LGBT History Project: LGBT-011 Sam Deetz Collection