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LGBT History Project
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: August 6, 2017
Harry Long was born in Lebanon, Pennsylvania in 1951 and attended Lebanon High School. After attending Millersville State College, now Millersville University, and becoming involved with an underground newspaper, Harry began his career of working...
Collection: LGBT Oral History
Topics:
Organizations:
View Item: 
Transcription of LGBT Oral History 069: Harry Long
Date: July 29, 2017
Robert Sevensky was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania in 1948. Despite having an unpleasant experience in early education and having financial issues, Robert persevered and ended up pursuing an academic career in college. After two years at the...
Collection: LGBT Oral History
Topics: HIV/AIDs
Organizations:
View Item: Transcription of LGBT Oral History 105: Robert Sevensky
Date: June 9, 2017
Marty Tornblom was born in Utah and was raised in the greater Salt Lake City area, as a member of the Mormon Church. She decided to get a degree in education which lead her to teaching. Following her marriage, she converted to Presbyterianism and...
Collection: LGBT Oral History
Topics: HIV/AIDs
Organizations: South Central Aids Assistance Network (SCAAN)
View Item: Transcription of LGBT Oral History 114: Marty Tornblom
Date: April 25, 2017
Kerry Wiessman was born on October 26, 1954 in Glen Ridge, New Jersey. She grew up in Wayne, New Jersey in a lake community. Kerry discusses her upbringing in a large family and her relationship with her mother. Kerry also discusses her career in...
Collection: LGBT Oral History
Topics:
Organizations: Gay Affirming Interfaith Network
View Item: Transcription of LGBT Oral History 125: Kerry Wiessman
Date: March 26, 2017
James Tompkins was born and grew up in Southern Pennsylvania, where he lived on a farm with his one brother, three half siblings, and parents. In this interview, James discusses his experiences coming out to his family, his art, and various bars...
Collection: LGBT Oral History
Topics: HIV/AIDs
Organizations: Act UP
View Item: Transcription of LGBT Oral History 113: James Tompkins
Date: March 19, 2017
Deb Fulham-Winston was born in 1952 in Boston, Massachusetts. She grew up in an Irish-Catholic family with eight siblings, and spent the first half of her schooling in Catholic school. Early on, she had a strong conviction for feminism and social...
Collection: LGBT Oral History
Topics: HIV/AIDs
Organizations: South Central Aids Assistance Network (SCAAN)
View Item: Transcription of LGBT Oral History 040: Debra Fulham-Winston
Date: March 12, 2017
Frederick (Rick) Schulze was born in Delaware in the 60s and spent his childhood and adolescence in the 70s in the Harrisburg area. He first talks about his complicated relationship with his family and his gay identity, mentioning his mother’s...
Collection: LGBT Oral History
Topics: HIV/AIDs
Organizations: The Mansfield Gay Alliance, South Central Aids Assistance Network (SCAAN), Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG)
View Item: Transcription of LGBT Oral History 101: Rick Schulze
Date: March 5, 2017
Patricia ''Pat'' Mastandrea Sanders was a hair stylist in Boston before moving up to advertising and marketing for 300 salons across the country. One fateful day she slipped on an ice cube and hit her head. Her life changed forever. Unable to...
Collection: LGBT Oral History
Topics: HIV/AIDs
Organizations: Lancaster AIDS Project, The Betty Finney House
View Item: Transcription of LGBT Oral History 100: Patricia ''Pat'' Saunders
Date: January 30, 2017
Gary Hufford (born 1952) and George Centini (born March 11, 1937) are a married couple living in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. In this interview, George and Gary recount their time in the gay bar and restaurant business. Both grew up in the restaurant...
Collection: LGBT Oral History
Topics:
Organizations:
View Item: Transcription of LGBT Oral History 015: George Centini and Gary Hufford
Date: January 19, 2017
This is an interview with Steven Leshner of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He conveys his struggles of coming out in the 1970s and being a gay man in central PA through a series of anecdotes. Steven also talks extensively about his work at Dignity and...
Collection: LGBT Oral History
Topics:
Organizations: Dignity/Central PA
View Item: Transcription of LGBT Oral History 063B: Steven Leshner
Date: October 27, 2016
Hannah-Smith Brubaker was born in Tioga County, Pennsylvania, and spent most of her childhood in Port Allegany, McKean County. She began to identify as a lesbian at the start of college, and she entered the political sphere for the first time...
Collection: LGBT Oral History
Topics:
Organizations:
View Item: Transcription of LGBT Oral History 109: Hannah Smith-Brubaker
Date: July 20, 2016
Mark Segal is a gay rights activist, author, and journalist for the Philadelphia Gay News. In this interview, Mark discusses his political involvement in the gay rights movement in Pennsylvania in the ‘60s and ‘70s. Particularly, he focuses...
Collection: LGBT Oral History
Topics:
Organizations:
View Item: Transcription of LGBT Oral History 103: Mark Segal
Date: April 9, 2016
Sabrina Valente was born in Baltimore, MD and lived most of her childhood and adolescence in Littlestown, PA in Adams County. She attended Eastern University for an undergraduate degree in Biblical Studies and Wagner College for a Master’s degree...
Collection: LGBT Oral History
Topics:
Organizations: TrueNorth Wellness
View Item: Transcription of LGBT Oral History 117: Sabrina Valente
Date: May 5, 2016
Amy Skillman talks about her childhood growing up in Michigan in a large Episcopalian family and the influence of spirituality in her life, both as a teenager and an adult. Amy went to an all-girls school where rumors circulated about certain...
Collection: LGBT Oral History
Topics: HIV/AIDs
Organizations: Common Roads, Institute for Cultural Partnerships
View Item: Transcription of LGBT Oral History 108: Amy Skillman
Date: November 24, 2015
Don Haines was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and grew up there. In this interview he discusses his experience in Lancaster County as a gay man. He also discusses his experience in Columbia, PA and the acceptance that he has from his family and...
Collection: LGBT Oral History
Topics:
Organizations:
View Item: Transcription of LGBT Oral History 043: Don Haines
Date: November 19, 2015
Gretchen Little was born on October 26, 1958 in Elmira, New York. As a child, Gretchen was interested in sports and experimented with wearing women’s clothing in the home. While studying Media Arts at Southern Methodist University in Dallas,...
Collection: LGBT Oral History
Topics: Transgender Experiences
Organizations: TransCentral PA
View Item: Transcription of LGBT Oral History 067: Gretchen Little
Date: November 11, 2015
Cathy Nelson was born in Brooklyn, New York, and moved to Staten Island, New York, at the age of two with her strict Italian-Swedish family. As a child, Cathy loved music and did well in school. She also participated in Catholic youth group...
Collection: LGBT Oral History
Topics: Coming Out
Organizations: Central PA Womyn's Chorus
View Item:
Date: August 3, 2015
Shaka Hudson was born in 1949 in Harrisburg as the middle of five children. An artist his whole life, Shaka attended John Harris High School and Penn State University before unenrolling in college and leaving Harrisburg to join the Washington D.C...
Collection: LGBT Oral History
Topics: HIV/AIDs
Organizations:
View Item: Transcription of LGBT Oral History 050: Shaka Hudson
Date: March 24, 2015
Joy Verner was born in 1963 and grew up in Franklin Pennsylvania near Erie, Pa. Joy was one of three children and a mother and a father. She relocated to central Pennsylvania during graduate school where she attended school near Shippensburg. She...
Collection: LGBT Oral History
Topics:
Organizations:
View Item: Transcription of LGBT Oral History 119: Joy Verner
Date: April 9, 2015
Dr. Eric Selvey was born and raised in Harrisburg, PA. He attended optometry school in Philadelphia, but returned to the Harrisburg area after graduating. In his interview he discusses his relationship with his mother and grandmother — and coming...
Collection: LGBT Oral History
Topics:
Organizations: Lily White & Company, South Central Aids Assistance Network (SCAAN)
View Item: Transcription of LGBT Oral History 104: Eric Selvey
Date: April 6, 2015
Eva O’Diam was born in Dayton, Ohio in 1953 to her mother, a school teacher, and her father, an engineer. Growing up in conservative, rural Ohio, Eva lost her father at the age of 12 and moved to Covington, Ohio where she graduated from high...
Collection: LGBT Oral History
Topics: Coming Out, HIV/AIDs
Organizations: Metropolitan Community Church (MCC)
View Item: Transcription of LGBT Oral History 088: Eva O'Diam
Date: March 29, 2015
Laury was born in New Port Beach, California on March 20, 1961. She is the middle child with two brothers from a Presbyterian home. Laurie and her current partner Jan are not married and do not live together. She currently resides in Harrisburg,...
Collection: LGBT Oral History
Topics:
Organizations:
View Item: Transcription of LGBT Oral History 080: Laury McIntyre
Date: March 29, 2015
Cindy Lou Mitzel was born in April of 1942 in York County, Pennsylvania as the youngest in a big family. Growing up, Cindy knew that she felt attraction towards women but married a man just after graduating from high school and had three children...
Collection: LGBT Oral History
Topics:
Organizations: National Organization for Women (N.O.W.), Lesbian Alliance, Metropolitan Community Church (MCC), Central PA Womyn's Chorus
View Item: Transcription of LGBT Oral History 083: Cindy Lou Mitzel
Date: March 29, 2015
Louie Marven moved to central Pennsylvania from his hometown of Wappingers Falls, New York to attend Messiah College in 2003 and has lived in the Harrisburg area ever since. The school’s conservative values and prohibition of “homosexual behavior...
Collection: LGBT Oral History
Topics: Coming Out
Organizations: LGBT Center of Central PA, Common Roads
View Item: Transcription of LGBT Oral History 076: Louie Marven
Date: March 23, 2015
The interview performed on March 23, 2015 is with Oral History project volunteer, Michele Metcalf and long-time LGBT activist and self-identified gay man, Phil Wenger. Wenger was born and raised in Ethiopia in a large Mennonite missionary family...
Collection: LGBT Oral History
Topics: Coming Out
Organizations: LGBT Center of Central PA, Lancaster AIDS Project
View Item: Transcription of LGBT Oral History 128: Philip ''Phil'' Wenger