Six napkins from The Archives, a prominent gay bar and restaurant in Harrisburg, PA.
Matchbook from Harrisburg, PA gay bar Shadows.
T-shirt for the Harrisburg, PA gay bar Shadows.
Charm City (PA) invitational volleyball tournament plaque.
Harrisburg Hustlers HBG #16 yellow and black, long sleeve shirt.
Harrisburg Hustlers #3 yellow and black, short sleeve Captain shirt.
Harrisburg Hustlers #3 maroon and white long sleeve captian shirt.
Harrisburg Hustlers #3 red, long sleeve shirt.
NAGVA Nationals Tournament 4 (Chicago, IL) white, long sleeve shirt.
Sabrina Dare-Bledsoe was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in 1960. She grew up in a large family of entrepreneurs and bar owners, whom she worked alongside as a child and teenager. Her father, Stuart Withero Dare, inherited and ran The Clock Bar from his father George Dare. Her mother, Maureen Goodman, was from England, and lived above The Clock Bar before she met and married Stuart. In this interview, Sabrina talks about The Clock Bar, as well as the many other queer bars and restaurants her family owned, including the Commerce Diner, City Line Diner, The White Elephant, The 400 Club, The Golden Coach, Orpheus, The Rose Garden, and The Candy Shop. She describes the homophobia of her peers and teachers at school and the welcoming environment her family cultivated at work and at home. She tells the story of The Clock Bar’s 1965 raid and the jazz scene her family participated in. Sabrina shares the stories of some of her family’s close friends who frequented the bars and restaurants, many of whom have since passed away.
Marie DiFava was born in Lebanon County in 1953 and grew up in a troubled Italian home. She graduated from high school and attended nursing school, but after burning out from her job and schooling, she dropped out, married, and had three children with her husband. During her marriage and after her divorce, Marie volunteered as an EMT and worked for the United States Postal Service as a mail carrier. In this interview, she discusses going to a doctor and being referred to therapy which gave her the tools to live a healthy life despite the violence and instability of her childhood. Her therapist pushed her to come out so she told her children. After her youngest daughter informed the entire neighborhood of her sexuality though, Marie looked for gay organizations to join. She travelled to groups across Central Pennsylvania, but she grew frustrated with the lack of community in Lebanon, so she started her own group, Lebanon County Lesbians. The group met in her home for five or six years and ended when Marie started to let transwomen join and other members disagreed. Finally, she discusses the challenges facing her and other older LGBT people, the love her children gave her, and her pride in being able to donate the newsletters and activities letters from her organization to the History Project.
Video footage of this interview is unavailable at this time. Please contact archives@dickinson.edu for more information.
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 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.
This collection contains two bar passes to The Allegro Bar that was located in Baltimore, MD.
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.
HBG (Harrisburg) Hustlers #3 white tank top.
Harrisburg Hustlers Captain #3 silver and black stripe t-Shirt.
Long sleeved shirt from volleyball competition Charm City Invitational '86.
The Archives Nightclub and Resturant matchbook.
Central PA Vipers dark blue sweatshirt. The front has the Viper's logo, and the back says in white font "Women's Semi Pro Football No Limits - No Boundaries."
Handmade chain vest created by Thomas Pfeiffer for Pennsman Inc.
The Central PA Vipers', a women's semiprofessional full contact football team, dark blue gym shorts with logo.
White matchbook from the Netpunes Lounge in Harrisburg, PA.
Red matchbook from La Rose Rouge in Harrisburg, PA
