Guides to Collections (Finding Aids)

Originally called AIDS Community Alliance, Adler Health Services aims to improve the health and wellness of individuals living with HIV/AIDS as well the larger LGBTQ+ communities in South Central PA. This collection contains advertisement material for Alder Health Services.

Parents, Families, & Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) is the first and largest support organization for LGBTQ+ people, their parents and families, and allies through peer support, education, and advocacy. This collection contains material from the Central PA Chapter of PFLAG.

The LGBT Center of Central PA, housed in Harrisburg, PA, provides services, programs, and community space for the LGBT community in the region. These materials represent these initiatives, including the Common Roads program for youth and young adults, its predecessor BiGLYAH, and FAB (Fall Achievement Benefit). This collection also contains materials regarding the founding of the Center, publications produced by the Center and other regional LGBT initiatives (such as Central Alternative, Out and About in Central PA, and the @ The Center newsletter), news clippings regarding local LGBT issues, and other documentation of LGBT organizations and programming in Central PA.

Cindy Lou Mitzel was born in April 1942 in York County, PA. Growing up Mitzel knew that she felt attraction towards women, however she married a man after graduating from high school and they had three children. Mitzel has been involved in the National Organization for Women [NOW]; the Lavender Letter newsletter; the Lesbian Alliance; the Central Pennsylvania Women’s Chorus; and York Support, later known as York Area Lambda, among other women’s and gay rights activist organizations.

These documents relate to Mitzel’s involvement in York Area Lambda, originally known as York Support. The collection consists primarily of news clippings related to efforts to hold a Gay Pride Week celebration in York, Pa in summer 1991.

This collection contains a poster for the Second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, October 11, 1987.

David Klinepeter was born April 26, 1926 in the Harrisburg, PA area. He married Gloria Klinepeter in 1949 and with whom he had four children. His youngest son, Daniel, was diagnosed with HIV and later died of AIDS-¬related complications in May of 1993. After Daniel’s passing, both David and Gloria became active in The Names Project AIDS Memorial Quilt. Gloria helped to create panels for her son, as well as others who died of AIDS-¬related complications, and they both participated in educational outreach surrounding HIV/AIDS.

This collection documents the involvement of Klinepeter and his wife in The Names Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, and the overall AIDS crisis. This collection contains 6 series: General Information, Memorial Programs, Posters, Media, Artifacts, and Books.

This collection contains a t-shirt from La Rose Rogue, an LGBTQ+ bar in Harrisburg, PA. La Rose Rogue was the final LGBTQ+ bar iteration at the 400 North 2nd Street location in Harrisburg, opened in 1978 by John Koch, and was open until 1990.

This collection contains citizen correspondence requesting that the inclusion of “sexual orientation” in the City of York’s non-discrimination ordinance be put on the ballot for a public referendum. The correspondence dates from February 1993 and is composed in large part of form letters. The City of York passed an anti-discrimination ordinance protecting sexual orientation in 1998.

This collection contains a 1991 Gay and Lesbian Guide to Central PA from the Gay and Lesbian Switchboard of Harrisburg (GLSH) and a Gay Trivia Game. O’Leary also donated a run of The Advocate magazine, from 1985 – 1991, which is housed in the Dickinson College Archives and Special Collection periodicals.

John Barns was born in Perry County, PA. He graduated from Greenwood High School in 1960 and then joined the Pennsylvania National Guard during the Vietnam War, where he was in the armored tank division. After discharging from the military, Barns worked for the State in the Department of Labor and Industry and The Department of Health. He was a state employee for 30 years. Barns was a member of Dignity/Central PA, a Roman Catholic based organization that was a place for LGBTQ+ community members of any religious background to be together in community; and a part of the Gay Switchboard of Harrisburg, a telephone service that gave information, referrals, and supportive counseling to members of the local LGBTQ+ community.

This collection contains 6 series: Newspaper and Magazine Clippings; Dignity/Central PA; Cards and Postcards; Montreal, Quebec, Canada LGBTQ+ Information; Miscellaneous; and Artifacts.

This collection contains two bar passes to The Allegro Bar that was located in Baltimore, MD.

This collection contains the Presidential Proclamation for Pride Month 2011 by Barack Obama.

This collection contains two AIDSWalk T-shirts from 2000 and 2001.

Dr. Eric Selvey was born and raised in Harrisburg, PA. He attended optometry school in Philadelphia and returned to the Harrisburg area after graduating.

Selvey was a member of Lily White and Company drag troupe, which raised thousands of dollars for local AIDS related organizations including South Central AIDS Assistance Network (SCAAN), of which he was also an active member. He worked on the Harrisburg Human Relations Commission, which fostered community relationships between the diverse Harrisburg populations; helped to develop Harrisburg’s Pride Festival; and was a part organizing the first Fall Achievement Benefit (FAB) fundraising event in Harrisburg. He was also the creator, editor, and publisher of the local LGBTQ+ publication Crossroads Magazine.

This collection was donated anonymously by an individual associated with the Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) of the Spirit in Harrisburg, PA.

The Newspapers Clippings series documents issues such as same–sex marriage, the relationship between local churches and LGBTQ+ individuals, LGBTQ+ activism, and discrimination against LGBTQ+ individuals. The majority of newspaper clippings are from Central PA newspapers published between 1991 and 2009. The Lancaster Anti-Discrimination Law 1991 series contains photocopies of newspaper clippings that deal with a debate that took place in 1991 regarding a Lancaster City ordinance banning discrimination against LGBTQ+ individuals.

This Central PA Pride Festival 1996 series contains documentation regarding the planning of Central PA Pride Festival 1996, and the Metropolitan Community Church of the Spirit series contains a program from a Celebration of Community event held at the MCC of the Spirit on March 21, 2004.

Joseph W. Burns started to donate 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, and document, LGBTQ+ activism in Central PA.

This collection contains materials from 1968 – 2015, but the bulk of the materials focus on LGBTQ+ activism from 1970 – 1980. There are 14 Series which highlight LGBTQ+ activist organizations, legislation, publications, photographs, personal/miscellaneous items, media, and artifacts, as well as Subject Files regarding people, organizations, or issues related to LGBTQ+ activism. Materials include documents, photos, a cassette tape, and multiple artifacts.

These materials document several LGBTQ+ bars that operated in the Harrisburg, PA area, namely The Archives Nightclub and Restaurant (1983), La Rose Rouge (1978-1992), Neptune’s Lounge (1972), and the Shadows bar (1980-1984). These items take the form of bar memorabilia, photographs, and video recordings.

This collection also includes trophies, plaques, and buttons highlighting the Harrisburg Hustler’s volleyball team, which Larry Wilson sponsored from 1981-1987. In addition, it includes an anniversary pin from The Pennsmen Inc., an organization for LGBTQ+ individuals with an interest in the leather/rubber/fetish lifestyle and was founded in South Central PA in 1977, and a scrapbook featuring Pennsmen events.

The beginning pages of the Pennsman scrapbook also includes pictures of Benedict A. “Wesley” Trautwein, a drag performer known as Francis Parker. Wesley was a part of the The Jewel Box Revue, a troupe of drag performers who traveled around the country from 1939 to 1969, which made many stops in Pennsylvania. After departing the Revue, he moved back to Harrisburg and continued preforming at local bars and clubs, such as The Neptune Lounge.

Created by Lorraine Kujawa, Cindy Mitzel, Mary Nancarrow, and several others in 1983, the Lavender Letter Newsletter was a calendar of events for, by, and about lesbian women to create community in the Central Pennsylvania area. The newsletter was distributed monthly until the mid-2000s.

This collection contains a history of the Lavender Letter by Lorraine Kujawa and copies of the Lavender Letter from 1983 to 2006. It was two separate donations combined into one collection for easier access and use.

Amanda Porter [now known as Amanda Hecker] was born in 1950 in Lansdale, PA and was assigned male at birth. She attended Grove City College, receiving her BA in History, and enrolled in ROTC. After college, she joined the Air Force, and after being discharged attended Temple University, receiving her MA in Industrial Arts Education. Porter is married and has three children.

Porter is a transgender rights educator and activist. She was the Vice President of the Lehigh Valley chapter of the Renaissance Transgender Association, where she gave transgender education presentations on Transgender Equality, Gender Dysmorphia, and Transgender Inclusion in the Workplace, and has spoken at multiple Keystone Conferences. Porter’s goal is to make transgender people visible everywhere.

Porter lives in the Lehigh Valley area today.

Joseph F. Christ was born in 1927 with Klinefelter Syndrome and assigned male at birth. The seventh of eight children, Christ was placed into an orphanage during the Great Depression until the age 18. Two weeks later, Christ was drafted into the Army and fast-tracked to work in a secret German Prisoner of War camp in Richmond, Virginia due to fluency in German, Pennsylvania Dutch, and English. Following World War II, Christ got a degree in education from Moravian College, going on to teach English, German, and Social Studies.

In 1974, Christ went to Germany to teach American English on a Fulbright fellowship, and there was married a second time to, Liz, a Fulbright scholar who was in Germany teaching British English. While working there, Christ helped improve the English skills of a German cytogeneticist to allow her to participate in the World Health Organization, and it was through this connection that Christ discovered they have XXY chromosomes. Christ had occasionally started presenting as a woman before learning they were intersex following the end of their first marriage in 1973, but never formally came out, electing to present as masculine or feminine selectively. Christ expresses comfort in being able to present as either/or, while not particularly identifying with the LGBTQ+ community.

Christ passed away in 2018.

Katie Ward was born in 1952 and assigned male at birth. She was drafted after graduating from high school, and spent 22 years in military service, including active duty on a nuclear submarine in the Navy and Air Force National Guard. After Ward left active duty, she married and attended community college. She started working in the printing industry, moving up in the international printing business until 2013 when her company was bought out and she decided to retire. Ward was married twice and had one child.

Ward was a transgender activist and very active in LGBTQ+ community in Central PA. She organized and participated in numerous activities, including the Keystone Business Alliance, Central PA’s LGBT Chamber of Commerce; LGBT business mixers; local Gay Pride events; monthly Nights-Out with the Girls, and many others. She was an officer and longtime volunteer for TransCentral PA, and she helped establish the Keystone Conference, an international Trans conference held annually in Harrisburg.

Ward passed away in 2021

Sophie Kandler was born in Spring City, PA in 1966. After graduating from high school, Sophie attended Drexel University, but transferred after two years to Pennsylvania State University where she graduated with a degree in Secondary Education in 1989. Growing up, Kandler always identified as female even though she was born a male. She transitioned in 2014.

This collection contains an embosser for the PA Governor’s Council for Sexual Minorities. The council was an officially appointed advisory committee created by Governor Milton J. Shapp in 1976. Governor Shapp, by executive order, declared that all executive branch offices and services were to end discriminatory practices and policies against all LGBTQ+ employees, clients, and program of state services. The council was his instrument for the implementation of his decree throughout the Executive Branch of state government. Council committees consisted of knowledgeable LGBTQ+ activists appointed by Governor Shapp to work side-by-side with official state employees to monitor and rewrite government regulations and practices to reflect the executive order.

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.