The San Francisco Public Library wants to expand its gay history archive and is asking people to bring their personal photo albums to share snapshots of everyday gay life in the city.
The current public inventory is heavy on festivals - such as the Gay Pride Parade and Castro Halloween - and tragedies, such as the 1978 assassination of mayoral candidate and Supervisor Harvey Milk.
“We have newspaper archives from the News-Call Bulletin, but most of the pictures are criminalized - women getting arrested for dressing like men, people getting busted in a gay bar. They are sensational, and that was only one part of early gay history,” said city archivist Susan Goldstein, who is leading the photo effort.
Because the San Francisco Public Library is one of the first stops for authors, filmmakers and historians working on gay-related projects, the archivists and librarians want to make room alongside such notables as Randy Shilts and Armistead Maupin for the little guy, who might have skipped the bohemia at the Beat-era Black Cat Cafe or the Queer Nation street protests but played just as important a role in the city’s gay history.
On Sunday, library leaders will host Shades of San Francisco Photo Day, so that people of all stripes: stroller-pushing dads, drag queens, power-suit lesbians, teenagers, activists and homebodies can expand the city’s official gay record by adding pictures of regular days at home, work and play.
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