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

Lavender Letter (Harrisburg, PA) - November 1998

Date: November 1998

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...

Collection: LGBT-009 - Lavender Letter

Topics:

Organizations: Central PA Womyn's Chorus

View Item: PDF icon Lavender Letter (Harrisburg, PA) - November 1998

Lavender Letter (Harrisburg, PA) - October 1998

Date: October 1998

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...

Collection: LGBT-009 - Lavender Letter

Topics:

Organizations: Her Story Bookstore

View Item: PDF icon Lavender Letter (Harrisburg, PA) - October 1998

Lavender Letter (Harrisburg, PA) - September 1998

Date: September 1998

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...

Collection: LGBT-009 - Lavender Letter

Topics:

Organizations:

View Item: PDF icon Lavender Letter (Harrisburg, PA) - September 1998

Lavender Letter (Harrisburg, PA) - August 1998

Date: August 1998

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...

Collection: LGBT-009 - Lavender Letter

Topics:

Organizations: Her Story Bookstore

View Item: PDF icon Lavender Letter (Harrisburg, PA) - August 1998

Lavender Letter (Harrisburg, PA) - July 1998

Date: July 1998

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...

Collection: LGBT-009 - Lavender Letter

Topics:

Organizations:

View Item: PDF icon Lavender Letter (Harrisburg, PA) - July 1998

David Klinepeter

Date: December 1, 2017

David Klinepeter, father of the late Daniel Klinepeter, gives insight as a parent of a member of the LGBT community. He also speaks about his experience losing his son to AIDS and his advocacy with AIDS Memorial Quilt: The Names...

Collection: LGBT Oral History

Topics: HIV/AIDs

Organizations: The Names Project

View Item: PDF icon Transcription of LGBT Oral History 057: David Klinepeter

LGBT History Project Logo

Date: January 16, 2016

Nancy Helm was born in Lancaster Pennsylvania and graduated from Manheim Township High School in 1981. After graduating she worked for a printing company and did other odd jobs before opening a hair salon with her partner. Not long after that she...

Collection: LGBT Oral History

Topics:

Organizations:

View Item: PDF icon Transcription of LGBT Oral History 047: Nancy Helm

LGBT History Project Logo

Date: March 27, 2015

Walter Heiliger was born in 1944 and grew up in rural Carroll County, Maryland, the second of three children. Walter, who describes himself as “severely hearing-impaired,” encountered difficulties in school and in connecting...

Collection: LGBT Oral History

Topics: Family Unit, Coming Out

Organizations: Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG)

View Item: PDF icon Transcription of LGBT Oral History 046: Walter Heiliger

Richard Hause

Date: September 20, 2013

Richard H. Hause was born in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, on May 21, 1947, moving to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, after he graduated from high school in 1965. After coming out to his family when he was eighteen, Richard began working...

Collection: LGBT Oral History

Topics:

Organizations: Dignity/Central PA

View Item: PDF icon Transcription of LGBT Oral History 045: Richard Hause

LGBT History Project Logo

Date: April 20, 2015

Lori Hatch-Rivera was born in Rockville Central, New York on Long Island in 1958. After Lori’s family moved to South Florida, Lori enrolled into what is now Palm Beach Atlantic University and graduated in 1989 with a degree in...

Collection: LGBT Oral History

Topics:

Organizations: MCC Harrisburg, Equality PA

View Item: PDF icon Transcription of LGBT Oral History 044: Lori Hatch-Rivera

LGBT History Project Logo

Date: April 25, 2017

Mary Margaret Hart and Lynn Daniels are a married lesbian couple living in Central Pennsylvania. Lynn was born in New Haven, Connecticut in 1931, while Mary was born in 1949 in Cleveland, Ohio. Throughout the interview, Mary and...

Collection: LGBT Oral History

Topics: Family Unit

Organizations:

View Item: PDF icon Transcription of LGBT Oral History 018: Mary Margaret Hart and Lynn Daniels

Jerre Freiberg

Date: December 3, 2014

Jerre Freiberg was raised in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. His family has close ties to the Lutheran Church, and he has remained affiliated with the church throughout his life. Jerre attended Elizabethtown College for two years...

Collection: LGBT Oral History

Topics: HIV/AIDs

Organizations:

View Item: PDF icon Transcription of LGBT Oral History 039: Jerre Freiberg

Lavender Letter (Harrisburg, PA) - June 1998

Date: June 1998

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...

Collection: LGBT-009 - Lavender Letter

Topics:

Organizations: MCC of the Spirit, Her Story Bookstore

View Item: PDF icon Lavender Letter (Harrisburg, PA) - June 1998

Lavender Letter (Harrisburg, PA) - May 1998

Date: May 1998

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...

Collection: LGBT-009 - Lavender Letter

Topics:

Organizations: Stone Soup

View Item: PDF icon Lavender Letter (Harrisburg, PA) - May 1998

Lavender Letter (Harrisburg, PA) - April 1998

Date: April 1998

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...

Collection: LGBT-009 - Lavender Letter

Topics:

Organizations:

View Item: PDF icon Lavender Letter (Harrisburg, PA) - April 1998

Lavender Letter (Harrisburg, PA) - March 1998

Date: March 1998

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...

Collection: LGBT-009 - Lavender Letter

Topics:

Organizations: Her Story Bookstore, Central PA Womyn's Chorus

View Item: PDF icon Lavender Letter (Harrisburg, PA) - March 1998

Lavender Letter (Harrisburg, PA) - February 1998

Date: February 1998

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...

Collection: LGBT-009 - Lavender Letter

Topics:

Organizations: Her Story Bookstore, Central PA Womyn's Chorus

View Item: PDF icon Lavender Letter (Harrisburg, PA) - February 1998

Lavender Letter (Harrisburg, PA) - January 1998

Date: January 1998

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...

Collection: LGBT-009 - Lavender Letter

Topics:

Organizations: Her Story Bookstore

View Item: PDF icon Lavender Letter (Harrisburg, PA) - January 1998

Cassidy Frazee

Date: July 27, 2017

Cassidy Frazee was born in 1957 in Cedar Lake, Indiana. Cassidy grew up in Cedar Lake with her younger sister, father and mother. They had a Catholic upbringing, but Cassidy explains she was no longer interested in religious affairs by the time...

Collection: LGBT Oral History

Topics: Transgender Experiences

Organizations:

View Item: PDF icon Transcription of LGBT Oral History 038: Cassidy Frazee

Paul Foltz

Date: March 20, 2015

Paul Foltz grew up in Steelton in a very Catholic household, a background to which he attributes his unawareness of his sexuality until later in his college years. It wasn’t until he went to England to complete his graduate-level theatre studies...

Collection: LGBT Oral History

Topics: HIV/AIDs

Organizations: Harrisburg Men's Chorus, Lily White & Company

View Item: PDF icon Transcription of LGBT Oral History 036: Paul Foltz

John Folby

Date: March 26, 2014

John Folby was born in Pittsburgh in 1947. He was the oldest of five children in an Irish-Italian Catholic family. He relocated to Harrisburg in 1975 with his partner. John continues to live with his partner in Harrisburg in a relationship...

Collection: LGBT Oral History

Topics: HIV/AIDs

Organizations: Dignity/Central PA, Gay Switchboard of Harrisburg (GSH), LGBT Center of Central PA

View Item: PDF icon Transcription of LGBT Oral History 035: John Folby

Kathy Fillman

Date: February 10, 2015

Kathy Fillman was born in Coatesville, Pennsylvania to an Irish family that had their own business. Although she describes her childhood as idyllic, Kathy lived with her grandparents and three cousins due to her mother’s alcoholism and attended a...

Collection: LGBT Oral History

Topics:

Organizations:

View Item: PDF icon Transcription of LGBT Oral History 033: Kathy Fillman

LGBT History Project Logo

Date: May 15, 2017

Melinda Eash, child psychologist and LBGT rights ally, discusses her upbringing near the New York Metropolitan Area and the influence of the church. As a young adult she attended Susquehanna University, where she made friends with a gay student...

Collection: LGBT Oral History

Topics: LGBT Youth

Organizations: Bi, Gay, Lesbian Youth Association of Harrisburg (Bi-GLYAH), Common Roads

View Item: PDF icon Transcription of LGBT Oral History 032: Melinda Eash

Benjamin Dunlap

Date: November 23, 2015

Benjamin Dunlap was born in Lancaster County Pennsylvania on December 23, 1957. He was born to a family with a mother, father, and sister ten years older than him. Throughout his life he was highly involved with LGBT community life and in...

Collection: LGBT Oral History

Topics:

Organizations: Common Roads

View Item: PDF icon Transcription of LGBT Oral History 031: Benjamin Dunlap

MJ Dougherty

Date: November 22, 2014

MJ Dougherty was born on May 20, 1956 in Syracuse, New York. As a child of parents who traveled extensively for work, MJ had moved around quite a bit before settling into Williamsport, PA where she attended middle school and high school. Upon...

Collection: LGBT Oral History

Topics: 9/11

Organizations:

View Item: PDF icon Transcription of LGBT Oral History 030: MJ Dougherty

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