Silvia Kohan (1948-2003)

Silvia Kohan was an Argentinian-Jewish lesbian singer and songwriter. She was known for her big voice, flamboyant costumes and showy stage presence. Her family emigrated from Argentina in 1957 when she was ten years old, and she learned English by singing show tunes. Her only commercial album, “Finally Real,” was produced by George Winston and released in 1984. Her best known original song was called “Fat Girl Blues.” The collection contains journals; scrapbooks; correspondence and e-mails; photographs that date back to her childhood; music and lyrics; publicity materials; DVDs and audio recordings of her music, performances, and life; materials from her memorial; and costumes. Kohan toured with the group Up with People for five years, starting in 1965 (the year the revue formed) and we found these great photos in her collection.

Up with People! Kohan toured Europe, Asia and the U.S. with the revue for five years, starting in 1965.

Up with People–looks like that’s Kohan, front and center, circa 1965.

Silvia Kohan, in Japan, with Up with People, 1966.

You go girl! Silvia Kohan, circa 1970s

Silvia Kohan performing, undated

Some text for this post was taken from  Lineage: Matchmaking in the Archive, a project created by  GLBT Historical Society Board member and Artist-in-Residence E.G. Crichton. Crichton  asked artists to respond creatively to the archive of a deceased individual. She matched Kohan with writer, musician and performer Nomy Lamm. For more on Lamm’s performance piece, see http://www.queerculturalcenter.org/Pages/Lineage/Lamm2.html

Can you help us identify this item?

We found this small hand-drawn booklet of cartoons in a carton with other miscellaneous materials. Can anyone help us figure out what it is so we can catalog it?

Unknown drawing page 1.

Unknown drawing page 2.

Unknown drawing page 3

Unknown drawing page 4

Unknown drawing page 5

Unknown drawing page 6

“Dear funny blond[e] kid”

I just finished processing the Eric Garber papers (1996-20) and have to say that I was quite charmed by him. Garber was an activist, writer and historian. He was one of the founding members of the San Francisco Lesbian & Gay History Project and a founder of the Historical Society. His interests were broad, ranging from LGBT people in the Harlem Renaissance to alternative sexualities in science fiction, fantasy and horror literature, and his expertise in those subjects was nationally recognized. His better known works include T’Ain’t Nobody’s Bizness: Homosexuality in Harlem in the 1920s; the annotated bibliography, Uranian Worlds: A Reader’s Guide to Alternative Sexuality in Science Fiction and Fantasy, which he edited with Lyn Paleo; and Swords of the Rainbow, an anthology he edited with Jewelle Gomez.

Garber corresponded with a who’s who of writers and historians interested in LGBT life and letters, and his papers document the growing interest in and growth of the fields of LGBT history and literatary studies. The collection includes personal and professional correspondence, writings, his very thorough biographical and subject research files, materials from the History Project and Historical Society and its members, personalia and photographs. Garber’s BAR obituary notes that he was “passionately commited to gay liberation and ending all forms of oppression.” His collection reveals that he was a dedicated activist and scholar with many good friends who seemed to enjoy life and have a lot of fun.

High School?

Garber is seated on the far left, undated

[letter from a college boyfriend?], undated

Letter from Garber’s “Husband of his Heart,” Jeff Sunshine, 1979

Garber and friend [Lyn Paelo?], must be the 1970s

Garber and friends, undated

A change of address card from Jono Weiss: “I lived on Haight St. for ten years”

“And then I moved…I still believe in Peace and Love.”

A [mimeographed] poll from 7th period sociology class — high school years?

Commenting on the “Castro Clone,” late 1970s. Thanks to Randy Alfred for pointing out this was a Red Queen leaflet by Arthur Evans from 1978.

The “Award Winning” PS Restaurant/Cocktail Lounge on Polk St., is “Home of America’s most beautiful people who serve you in subdued and exquisite atmosphere…” undated

I just love that there used to be a store called the Typewritorium

Writer and artist Richard Bruce Nugent, Eric Garber and a friend/colleague, 1980s. Garber’s papers contain his correspondence with Nugent.

Eric Garber

A 30th birthday party invitation from John Juarez, 1986

Garber shared an apartment with Cleve Jones. They seem to have had a lot of parties–here’s an invitation from 1978

I

“I’ve Never Regretted Anything” — World War II Vet, Helen Harder

That quote was taken from the oral history interview Helen Harder did with historian Allan Bérubé for his World War II History Project.  Born in 1918, Harder (nee Eleanor F. Sugg) was a flight instructor in the Women’s Army Corps (WACS). After the war she worked in factories and canneries (among other jobs) before earning her teaching credentials and becoming an elementary school teacher. Harder was interested in spirituality and wrote a number of small essays on the subject. She also helped organize a NOW chapter in rural Nevada in the early 1980s. Harder died in 1984 in the Bay Area. Her collection is a rich documentation of her life and includes correspondence, lots of cool photographs, poetry and prose, fragments of a memoir, materials regarding her military service and NOW, financial records, ephemera, audiotapes and some personalia. Most of the photographs are unlabeled, and it would be great fo find someone who could identify the subjects!

A transcript of her oral history interview can be viewed at http://www.glbthistory.org/research/oh/Harder_Helen5-1982_web.pdf

Harder, senior year of high school in North Carolina, 1934

Army pals? Post-War friends?

Harder, in her Link Instrument flight simulator during her service with the Fourth Army Air Corps, 1944

Harder and friends Bobby, Toby and Ken at Finocchio’s, November 1945

[Beatty Elementary School, Nevada,] 1975

The Many Faces of John Teamer

The John Teamer papers (2005-04) document the life of a gay African American public high school science teacher and civil rights and AIDS activist who was born in Asheville, North Carolina and lived most of his adult life in San Francisco. The collection is especially rich in documentation of Teamer’s involvement in the National Association of Black and White Men Together (NABWMT), and his life as a gay man in San Francisco from the 1970s to the 1990s. Teamer served on the Boards of many organizations, including the Black Coalition on AIDS and the Gay-Lesbian Tennis Association. His papers include organizational records; personal correspondence; photographs of friends, family and events that date back to the 1940s; and personalia, including his high school and college yearbooks. Of particular interest are photographs, correspondence and ephemera from Teamer’s time in the Peace Corps in the Philippines, from 1963-1965. A very small portion of the collection documents the political activities of Teamer’s partner of 12 years, Michael C. Foo (1944-2004). Here are a few glimpses into John Teamer’s life.

“Intelligent, Congenial” Senior, John Eric Teamer, Stephens-Lee High School in Ashville, [1959]

Teamer graduated from Blackburn College in Carlinville, IL in 1963, with a BA in Biology

In between college and graduate school, Teamer served in the Peace Corps in the Philippines from 1963 to 1965

John Teamer, with friend, 1970s

Souvenir fan from Black and White Men Together Philadelphia

Flyer from the Bay Area Chapter of the National Coalition of Black Lesbians and Gays, 1988

“La Familia Duca”

The Guy Duca photographs and ephemera (2001-10) document the life and family history of Italian-American hairdresser and entrepreneur, Gaetano “Guy” Duca (1936-1989). Duca was from Philadelphia but lived in San Francisco for 25 years before succumbing to AIDS. The family photos in his collection date back to at least 1919 and feature “La Familia Duca” (taken directly from the captions on the back of Guy’s photos) in Italy and Philadelphia. There are also lots of photographs from Guy Duca’s Navy days. Here are some of our favorite snapshots of Guy and his friends and family.

unidentified friend, late 1950s

unidentified friends, late 1950s

Guy at Holiday Lake, 1955

Dick, Mac, Joe and Chas at Holiday Lake, July 1955

Guy Duca, 1980

“La Familia Duca” [in Italy]. We can see why Guy was inspired to become a hairdresser!

unidentified couple, undated

[Guy Duca?] taken at the Roma Studio on Broad Street in Philadelphia, undated

[Guy] and friend, undated

Allan Berube Papers processed!

The GLBT Historical Society is happy to announce the opening of the Allan Berube Papers (#1995-17).  The finding aid can be viewed at:
http://www.glbthistory.org/research/FA/glbths_1995_17_AllanBerube_FA.pdf

Allan Berube was a historian, scholar, teacher and activist who devoted much of his life to researching history to better the world surrounding him. His archival collection, now available to access at the GLBTHS in San Francisco, encompasses his personal and professional life, offering a wide perspective on his life and work.

Allan was born in 1946. In the early 1950s, when Allan was a child, his family moved to Bayonne, New Jersey to the Sunset Trailer Park. Growing up in a working-class family, Allan had early insights into how class and race shaped and influenced the world around him.

Allan riding a bicycle, ca. 1950

The author of a well-known and influential book about gays in the military, “Coming Out Under Fire”, Allan began writing early in life, filling school notebooks with stories and poems. The poem below was written by Allan in the early 1960s, and is among other examples of early creative writing available to view in his collection.

Poem by Allan, ca. 1960-1964

Allan had many varied interests and talents, one of which was weaving. He taught classes in weaving and the creation of hats, and even made his own natural dyes from plants.

Weavings by, and modeled by Allan.

In 1983 Allan met British biochemist Brian Keith at a leather bar. The two quickly became close partners, and lived together for several years. In 1986 Brian was diagnosed with AIDS, and his health deteriorated rapidly. Brian died in 1987. A small collection of his papers are a part of Allan’s archival collection.

Brian Keith

Allan scattering Brian's ashes

Allan devoted much of his life to understanding the history of the gay community. To share his findings, he wrote many articles, gave talks, and created illustrated slide shows which he presented to audiences throughout the country. An early slide show that gained much recognition was titled “Lesbian Masquerade” and told the story of women who had passed as men in the 19th and 20th centuries in San Francisco. His presentations were met with enthusiastic responses and helped to promote Allan’s work within the gay community, and beyond.

Lesbian Masquerade Flyer

Allan spent many years working on a book about the Marine Cooks and Stewards Union, and in 1996 he was awarded the prestigious MacArthur award which allowed him to focus on his writing. Allan’s extensive research files, original oral histories, manuscript drafts and notes for this book are available for researchers at the GLBTHS.

In the early 2000s, Allan moved to Liberty, New York, and became deeply involved in the local community. His writing stalled for several years while he joined the volunteer fire department, managed a local theater, helped to save historic buildings from demolition, and was elected twice as a Trustee of the Village of Liberty.

Snowman in Liberty, NY

Allan Berube had a rich life devoted to the bettering of his community. He truly left the world a better place, and the GLBT Historical Society is pleased to offer his Papers to researchers and the public, so that his life, research and writings may continue to contribute many years many years from now. To make an appointment to use his collection, contact the Archivist.