Today, the GLBT Historical Society celebrates the 37th anniversary of our first meeting, way back in 1985. This graphic contains an original button from the year that the society was founded, when we were known as the San Francisco Bay Area Gay and Lesbian Historical Society. Since then, we have grown significantly, from a living room full of boxes to an international leader in the field of LGBTQ history, and one of the most important queer cultural institutions in the world.
Over the past 37 years we have provided material for innumerable books, documentaries, podcasts, artistic projects and more that explore a broad array of LGBTQ histories. And for the last 11 years, we have operated a museum that shares our history with more than 26,000 people annually.
We have already told thousands of stories, and we have so many more to tell!
You can help us keep our irreplaceable history alive for another 37 years by making a contribution today at glbthistory.org/donate. Plus, check out our anniversary auction, which runs until noon Pacific Time on Wednesday, March 30.
Visit our virtual anniversary auction to bid on the items below and dozens more! Every dollar spent in the auction helps us preserve and share LGBTQ history with people from around the world.
Photograph of Reel in the Closet World Premiere at the Castro Theater by Danny Nicoletta Danny Nicoletta is a photographer who began his career in 1975 as an intern to Crawford Barton (1943–1993), who was then a staff photographer for the U.S. national gay magazine The Advocate, among other publications.
Nicoletta’s work maps a romance with San Francisco history and its people, especially LGBTQ people and allies, and is built upon the shoulders of our elders and ancestors.
This print depicts the Castro Theater on June 21, 2015, the date of the world premiere of Reel in the Closet at the Frameline Film Festival.
The Ladder with Business Card signed by Phyllis Lyon The Daughters of Bilitis was the earliest organization for lesbians in the United States. Founded by Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin in San Francisco in 1955, the pioneering group published a monthly national magazine, The Ladder; organized coffee klatches; offered information and support; and worked to improve the legal and social status of lesbians.
Offered here is the February/March 1968 issue of The Ladder, with a cover designed by Elizabeth Chandler, and a business card signed by Phyllis Lyon.
Sinister Wisdom 49 Sinister Wisdom is a multicultural lesbian literary and art journal that publishes four issues each year. Publishing since 1976, Sinister Wisdom works to create a multicultural, multi-class lesbian space.
This issue of the journal talks about the ways we experience and perceive our own Lesbian bodies, and the anti-lesbian/lesbian-feminist backlash. The idea of a lesbian body can be a kind of a labyrinth—a series of chambers in which it is difficult to find our way, though we can hear her heartbeat through the walls.
Kinsey Sicks Promo Set They’re funny, they’re witty, they’ve got harmony that’s out of this world…they’re the Kinsey Sicks!
Own this promo set of Rachel, Winnie, Trixie, and Vaselina, the original cast of the Kinsey Sicks, a drag a cappella ensemble that bills itself as “America’s Favorite Dragapella Beautyshop Quartet.”
Note: The GLBT Historical Society occasionally receives multiple copies of historic materials. This lot is one such duplicate—not a facsimile, but a historic original. The society has retained at least one vintage print of this publication for our permanent collection; unique items from the archives are never sold.
