LGBT History Project: LGBT-001 Joseph W. Burns Collection

Number of Pages
57
Date
1968 - 2015; Bulk Dates 1970 - 1980

Joseph W. Burns started to donate these materials in 2013 as the first contribution of historical documents to the LGBT Center of Central PA History Project.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.

Year
Origin
Gift of Joseph W. Burns
Collection
Location
LGBT-001 Joseph W. Burns Collection

LGBT History Project: LGBT-009 Lavender Letter Collection

Number of Pages
8
Date
1983 - 2006

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.

Find Other Issues
General Subjects
Origin
Gift of Lorraine Kujawa and Laury McIntyre
Location
LGBT-009 Lavender Letter Collection

Lehigh Valley Homophile Organization (Le-Hi-Ho) Records - 1960s to 1980s

Date
1960s to 1980s

This collection documents the earliest known organizational history of the LGBTQ+ community in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley region. The Lehigh Valley Homophile Organization ("Le-Hi-Ho") held its first meeting on June 22, 1969. The goal of the group was to provide social opportunities outside of the bar scene for members of the LGBT community in the Lehigh Valley. The society published monthly newsletters featuring the information relevant to the community, including social events and field trips, activist opportunities and reporting on the national and regional gay liberation movement, and eventually HIV and AIDS. Thanks in part to Le-Hi-Ho’s success and the establishment of other organizations to support the LGBTQ+ community, the organization faltered and disbanded by the early 1990s. The newsletter was continued as the “Lambda Valley Monthly” beginning in the fall of 1985.

The items in this collection are shared through a collaboration between the Lehigh Valley LGBT Community Archive and the LGBT Center of Central PA History Project. For more information on Lehigh Valley LGBT Community Archives, visit  https://archive.org/details/early-lehigh-valley-lgbt   

Materials include newsletters, meeting minutes, press releases, and promotional materials. View the collection on the Internet Archive.

General Subjects
Origin
Gift of Joseph W. Burns and the Lehigh Valley LGBT Community Archive
Collection
Location
LGBT-001 Joseph W. Burns Collection

LGBT History Project: LGBT-069 Amanda Porter Collection

Number of Pages
2
Date
undated

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.

Year
Time Period
Origin
Gift of Amanda Porter [now known as Amanda Hecker]
Collection
Location
LGBT-069 Amanda Porter Collection

LGBT History Project: LGBT-068 Anonymous Collection

Number of Pages
2
Date
1940 - 2017

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.

Year
Origin
Gift of Anonymous
Location
LGBT-068 Anonymous Collection

LGBT History Project: LGBT-067 Katie Ward Collection

Number of Pages
2
Date
2017

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

People
Organizations
General Subjects
Year
Time Period
Origin
Gift of Katie Ward
Collection
Location
LGBT-067 Katie Ward Collection

LGBT History Project: LGBT-063 PA State Archives Transfer Collection

Number of Pages
1
Date
circa 1976

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.

Year
Time Period
Origin
Gift of PA States Archives
Location
LGBT-063 PA State Archives Transfer Collection

Speaking out for Equality Pin - circa 1990

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."

General Subjects
Year
Time Period
Origin
Gift of Dr. Eric Selvey
Collection
Location
LGBT-013 Eric Selvey Collection

LGBT History Project: LGBT-006 Anonymous Collection

Number of Pages
2
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.

Year
Time Period
Origin
Gift of Anonymous
Location
LGBT-006 Anonymous Collection

LGBT History Project: LGBT-002 Lancaster, PA Area Activism Collection

Number of Pages
4
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.

General Subjects
Year
Origin
Gift of Mark Stoner and Mary Merriman
Location
LGBT-002 Lancaster, PA Area Activism

LGBT History Project: LGBT-085 Jackie & Rick Schulze Collection

Number of Pages
4
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.

Topics
General Subjects
Year
Time Period
Origin
Gift of Jackie and Rick Schulze
Collection
Location
LGBT-085 Jackie & Rick Schulze Collection

LGBT History Project: LGBT-058 Anonymous Collection

Number of Pages
3
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.

Organizations
Year
Time Period
Origin
Gift of Anonymous
Location
LGBT-058 Anonymous Collection

LGBT History Project: LGBT-061 Colin Kreitzer Collection

Number of Pages
3
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.

Year
Origin
Gift of Colin Kreitzer
Collection
Location
LGBT-061 Colin Kreitzer Collection

LGBT History Project: LGBT-036 Lawrence Valerio Collection

Number of Pages
2
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.

Year
Time Period
Origin
Gift of Lawrence Valerio
Collection
Location
LGBT-036 Lawrence Valerio Collection

LGBT History Project: LGBT-011 Sam Deetz Collection

Number of Pages
21
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.

People
Year
Origin
Gift of Sam Deetz
Collection
Location
LGBT-011 Sam Deetz Collection

LGBT History Project: LGBT-057 Central PA Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce Collection

Number of Pages
4
Date
1997 - 2012

The Central Pennsylvania Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (CPGLCC) was established in 2007. It grew out of The Business Association of Gays and Lesbians (BAGAL), which was established in the 1990s by Dan Miller. Miller wanted to create an association that brought together professionals of the LGBTQ+ community to network. After Miller stepped down from leadership, the group evolved into more of a social network over the years. In 2007, new leadership reshaped BAGAL with the rebrand to CPGLCC. A business affiliate of the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, CPGLCC began building partnerships between gay-owned and gay-friendly businesses, professionals, and students of business. Today, their mission is to “support diversity and assist Central Pennsylvania’s business community in pursuit of an ideal workplace, marketplace, industry, and region.”

People
Year
Origin
Gift of Central PA Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce
Location
LGBT-057 Central PA Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce

LGBT History Project: LGBT-055 Deb Fulham-Winston Collection

Number of Pages
2
Date
1994, circa 2004

Deb Fulham-Winston served as the director of development for South Central AIDS Assistance Network (SCAAN) from January 1992 until June 1995. This collection contains materials from SCAAN promoting HIV/AIDS awareness.

Topics
General Subjects
Year
Time Period
Origin
Gift of Deb Fulham-Winston
Location
LGBT-055 Deb Fulham-Winston Collection

LGBT History Project: LGBT-056 Anonymous Collection

Number of Pages
1
Date
1994, circa 1995

This collection was donated by Anonymous donors and houses two pins dealing with HIV/AIDs awareness in the mid-1990s. The AIDSWAlK was an annual fundraiser in Harrisburg, PA sponsored by the South Central Aids Assistance Network (SCAAN), and the Names Project AIDS Memorial Quilt was a national organization that served as a memorial to celebrate the lives of people who have died of HIV/AIDS.

Organizations
General Subjects
Year
Time Period
Origin
Gift of Anonymous
Location
LGBT-056 Anonymous Collection

PA Rural Gay Caucus statement on Gay Pride Week Proclamation - 1976

Number of Pages
3
Date
1976

Statement proposed by Joseph W. Burns in representation of the PA Rural Gay Caucus against the PA House of Representatives for rejecting Governor Shapp's Proclamation of Gay Pride Week, June 12 -19, 1976.

General Subjects
Year
Time Period
Origin
Gift of Joseph W. Burns
Collection
Location
LGBT-001 Joseph W. Burns Collection

Letter to the National Gay Task Force (NGTF) from the Gay Lobby Day Committee - January 28, 1976

Number of Pages
2
Date
January 28, 1976

Letter to the National Gay Task Force asking for resource materials for planning workshops in preperation for Gay Lobby Day, held on March 23, 1976. 

Organizations
Events
General Subjects
Year
Time Period
Origin
Gift of Joseph W. Burns
Collection
Location
LGBT-001 Joseph W. Burns Collection

Letter to Susquehanna Valley Gay Organization (SVGU) from Sam Deetz - November 27, 1975

Number of Pages
3
Date
November 27, 1975

Letter from Sam Deetz to members of the Susquehanna Valley Gay Organization (SVGU) about Gay Lobby Day planning.

People
Events
General Subjects
Year
Time Period
Origin
Gift of Joseph W. Burns
Collection
Location
LGBT-001 Joseph W. Burns Collection

Letter to St. Mary Magdalen Parish from William James - October 7, 1971

Number of Pages
2
Date
October 7, 1971

Letter from Williams James stating his opinion on the American O. Church. 

Topics
Year
Time Period
Origin
Gift of Joseph W. Burns
Collection
Location
LGBT-001 Joseph W. Burns Collection

Human Rights Day Announcement and Flyer - May 24, 1977

Number of Pages
10
Date
May 24, 1977

Announcement letter and informational flyer for Human Rights Day, held May 24, 1977 at Harrisburg, PA.

General Subjects
Year
Time Period
Origin
Gift of Joseph W. Burns
Collection
Location
LGBT-001 Joseph W. Burns Collection