TITLE | DESCRIPTION | DATE CREATED | IS FORMAT OF |
---|---|---|---|
Kinsey Sicks photograph [1] | Photograph of Kinsey Sicks posing before or after a show. Members pictured include: Kevin Kirkwood (Trixie), Ben Schatz (Rachel), Chris Dilley (Trampolina), and Irwin Keller (Winnie). |
2001 | |
Lyon-Martin House oral histories, 2023-52 | Oral history recordings and supplemental material for the Lyon-Martin House Oral History Project. Interviewees include: Kendra Mon, Pauline Shulman, Diane McCarney, Kate Kendell, Marcia Gallo, and Margie Adam. Located at 651 Duncan Street in San Francisco, the Lyon-Martin House is the former home of lesbian activists Phyllis Lyon (1924-2020) and Del Martin (1921-2008). In 2021, the City of San Francisco designated the Lyon-Martin House a City Landmark in recognition of its association, through Lyon and Martin, with the lesbian rights, homophile, and marriage equality movements. The oral history project documents the narrators’ memories of the Lyon-Martin House as a social and activist space, as well as of Lyon and Martin. |
2022 to 2023 | |
Kate Kendell oral history interview transcript | Oral History Interview: Kate Kendell, Interviewed by Keilina Heinz for the Lyon- Martin House Project.
ABSTRACT:
Kate Kendell is former longtime (1996-2018) Executive Director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights and current Chief of Staff at the California Endowment. She met Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon in 1993 or 1994 at an American Civil Liberties Union or National Center for Lesbian Rights event. Soon after she began monthly lunches with them in their home, where they would regale her with stories and history. She discusses the home, the living room with their chairs and the view, and their kitchen nook as special places in the home. She discusses parties from the 1950s and 1960s she had heard about there, including the curtains they would put up so women would feel comfortable dancing together. Kendell also underscores the importance of the outside stairs and position of the picture window from the sidewalk, where she could wave to Phyllis in her advanced age and they would blow each other a kiss. She underscores the parallel of the house’s modesty to Del and Phyllis’s modesty as “how they moved in the world.” Kendell imagines the space being used for LGBTQ and women’s political salons, community conversations, and community gardening. Located at 651 Duncan Street in San Francisco, the Lyon-Martin House is the former home of lesbian activists Phyllis Lyon (1924-2020) and Del Martin (1921-2008). In 2021, the City of San Francisco designated the Lyon-Martin House a City Landmark in recognition of its association, through Lyon and Martin, with the lesbian rights, homophile, and marriage equality movements. |
2022 to 2023 | |
Kendra Mon oral history interview recording | Kendra Mon oral history interview recording for the Lyon-Martin House Oral History Project.
ABSTRACT:
Kendra Mon is Del Martin’s biological daughter, from Martin’s first marriage. She lived with Del and Phyllis sometimes as a teenager and as an adult was in their lives across the rest of their lives. She describes the early decor of the home and her initial impressions of how small it was. She also describes some early parties in the home. Kenrda also describes how the house was adapted to Del and Phyllis’ needs as they aged. In addition, she notes the archival quality of their home, where they collected photos, news clippings, books related to women’s accomplishments, lesbian and gay issues, their own publishing, and records of their lives and activism, stored in the basement and throughout the house. Kendra also discusses how Phyllis’ caregiving was funded through community-based small loans against the assumed resale value of the property after she passed. She describes holidays at their home. Her vision for the house is to move it to some kind of LGBTQ “pioneer village” where it would be a tourist attraction with other well-known LGBTQ people’s homes. Located at 651 Duncan Street in San Francisco, the Lyon-Martin House is the former home of lesbian activists Phyllis Lyon (1924-2020) and Del Martin (1921-2008). In 2021, the City of San Francisco designated the Lyon-Martin House a City Landmark in recognition of its association, through Lyon and Martin, with the lesbian rights, homophile, and marriage equality movements. |
2022 to 2023 | |
Kendra Mon oral history interview transcript | Lyon-Martin House Oral History Project interview with Kendra Mon.
ABSTRACT:
Kendra Mon is Del Martin’s biological daughter, from Martin’s first marriage. She lived with Del and Phyllis sometimes as a teenager and as an adult was in their lives across the rest of their lives. She describes the early decor of the home and her initial impressions of how small it was. She also describes some early parties in the home. Kenrda also describes how the house was adapted to Del and Phyllis’ needs as they aged. In addition, she notes the archival quality of their home, where they collected photos, news clippings, books related to women’s accomplishments, lesbian and gay issues, their own publishing, and records of their lives and activism, stored in the basement and throughout the house. Kendra also discusses how Phyllis’ caregiving was funded through community-based small loans against the assumed resale value of the property after she passed. She describes holidays at their home. Her vision for the house is to move it to some kind of LGBTQ “pioneer village” where it would be a tourist attraction with other well-known LGBTQ people’s homes. Located at 651 Duncan Street in San Francisco, the Lyon-Martin House is the former home of lesbian activists Phyllis Lyon (1924-2020) and Del Martin (1921-2008). In 2021, the City of San Francisco designated the Lyon-Martin House a City Landmark in recognition of its association, through Lyon and Martin, with the lesbian rights, homophile, and marriage equality movements. |
2022 to 2023 | |
Marcia Gallo oral history interview recording [part 1] | Marcia Gallo oral history interview recording [part 1] for the Lyon-Martin House Oral History Project.
ABSTRACT
Dr. Marcia Gallo, is an activist and professor of history. She met Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon when working for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to fight against state propositions to ban teaching about queer topics and also regulating pornography in the 1970s and ‘80s. Dr. Gallo discusses getting to know Martin and Lyon best when interviewing them for her book on the Daughters of Bilitis lesbian rights organization. She describes spending the most time in the living room and kitchen of their home. She also discusses Martin and Lyon’s memories of earlier times in the home, including parties, closing the curtains of their picture window for protection, writing in the home office, etc. Dr. Gallo suggests that the home would make for an excellent writer’s retreat for grant recipients. She concludes with a discussion of her different relationships with Martin and Lyon, and the ways those relationships evolved over time, particularly her relationship with Lyon after Martin passed away. Located at 651 Duncan Street in San Francisco, the Lyon-Martin House is the former home of lesbian activists Phyllis Lyon (1924-2020) and Del Martin (1921-2008). In 2021, the City of San Francisco designated the Lyon-Martin House a City Landmark in recognition of its association, through Lyon and Martin, with the lesbian rights, homophile, and marriage equality movements. |
2022 to 2023 | |
Marcia Gallo oral history interview recording [part 2] | Marcia Gallo oral history interview recording [part 2] for the Lyon-Martin House Oral History Project.
ABSTRACT
Dr. Marcia Gallo, is an activist and professor of history. She met Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon when working for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to fight against state propositions to ban teaching about queer topics and also regulating pornography in the 1970s and ‘80s. Dr. Gallo discusses getting to know Martin and Lyon best when interviewing them for her book on the Daughters of Bilitis lesbian rights organization. She describes spending the most time in the living room and kitchen of their home. She also discusses Martin and Lyon’s memories of earlier times in the home, including parties, closing the curtains of their picture window for protection, writing in the home office, etc. Dr. Gallo suggests that the home would make for an excellent writer’s retreat for grant recipients. She concludes with a discussion of her different relationships with Martin and Lyon, and the ways those relationships evolved over time, particularly her relationship with Lyon after Martin passed away. Located at 651 Duncan Street in San Francisco, the Lyon-Martin House is the former home of lesbian activists Phyllis Lyon (1924-2020) and Del Martin (1921-2008). In 2021, the City of San Francisco designated the Lyon-Martin House a City Landmark in recognition of its association, through Lyon and Martin, with the lesbian rights, homophile, and marriage equality movements. |
2022 to 2023 | |
Marcia Gallo oral history interview transcript | Oral History Interview: Marcia Gallo Interviewed by Keilina Heinz for the Lyon-Martin House Oral History Project
ABSTRACT
Dr. Marcia Gallo, is an activist and professor of history. She met Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon when working for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to fight against state propositions to ban teaching about queer topics and also regulating pornography in the 1970s and ‘80s. Dr. Gallo discusses getting to know Martin and Lyon best when interviewing them for her book on the Daughters of Bilitis lesbian rights organization. She describes spending the most time in the living room and kitchen of their home. She also discusses Martin and Lyon’s memories of earlier times in the home, including parties, closing the curtains of their picture window for protection, writing in the home office, etc. Dr. Gallo suggests that the home would make for an excellent writer’s retreat for grant recipients. She concludes with a discussion of her different relationships with Martin and Lyon, and the ways those relationships evolved over time, particularly her relationship with Lyon after Martin passed away. Located at 651 Duncan Street in San Francisco, the Lyon-Martin House is the former home of lesbian activists Phyllis Lyon (1924-2020) and Del Martin (1921-2008). In 2021, the City of San Francisco designated the Lyon-Martin House a City Landmark in recognition of its association, through Lyon and Martin, with the lesbian rights, homophile, and marriage equality movements. |
2022 to 2023 | |
Margie Adam oral history interview transcript | Margie Adam Interview Lyon-Martin House Oral History Project
ABSTRACT
Margie Adam is a singer-songwriter and activist. She met Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon in the 1970s through her partner. She talks about walking up to the Lyon-Martin house as a “pilgrimage” for lesbian feminists of her generation, noting that their picture window looked out on San Francisco and the world. This was symbolic of Del and Phyllis’ expansive view of life and activism. She describes the power of the small house, going to parties there in “shifts,” because so many people wanted to attend, but couldn’t fit inside the house at the same time. Margie was also part of a group of women who took it upon themselves to help Del and Phyllis stay in their home as they aged, trying to get a chairlift installed and arranging for caregivers (or “carers” as Margie describes them). She imagines the future use of the house as an archive or retreat focused on lesbian history, broadly defined. Located at 651 Duncan Street in San Francisco, the Lyon-Martin House is the former home of lesbian activists Phyllis Lyon (1924-2020) and Del Martin (1921-2008). In 2021, the City of San Francisco designated the Lyon-Martin House a City Landmark in recognition of its association, through Lyon and Martin, with the lesbian rights, homophile, and marriage equality movements. |
2022 to 2023 | |
Pauline Shulman and Diane McCarney oral history interview recording | Pauline Shulman and Diane McCarney oral history interview recording for the Lyon-Martin House Oral History Project.
ABSTRACT:
Pauline Shulman and Diane McCarney were neighbors of Del and Phyllis from 1994 onward, across the street at Newburg and Duncan, three doors down. They had sightlines into one another’s homes from their kitchen windows. Their friendship evolved as Pauline and Diane supported them in their aging. Diane drove them to their 2004 marriage before then-Mayor Gavin Newsom, and they were their escorts to their 2008 City Hall marriage. They tell stories of the longtime goodwill of the neighborhood toward Del and Phyllis going back to the 1950s. They describe how Del and Phyllis politicized them initially through neighborhood politics related to gentrification. They give a lot of details of the furnishings and art as well as how Del and Phyllis used the garden and rooms in the house, including at the end of Phyllis’ life. They also detail the caregiving model in her later years. They describe their walkthrough video of the house after Phyllis passed, which has also been donated. They express interest in the space being recreated in ways that give the rooms “narratives” about its lived-in history for Del and Phyllis as well as an artist-in-residency and lecture/salon program, in a “living and breathing kind of way, not like a stilted sort of museum sort of thing....Something with a community spirit.” Located at 651 Duncan Street in San Francisco, the Lyon-Martin House is the former home of lesbian activists Phyllis Lyon (1924-2020) and Del Martin (1921-2008). In 2021, the City of San Francisco designated the Lyon-Martin House a City Landmark in recognition of its association, through Lyon and Martin, with the lesbian rights, homophile, and marriage equality movements. |
2022 to 2023 | |
Pauline Shulman and Diane McCarney oral history interview transcript | Pauline Shulman and Diane McCarney oral history interview for the Lyon-Martin House Oral History project.
ABSTRACT:
Pauline Shulman and Diane McCarney were neighbors of Del and Phyllis from 1994 onward, across the street at Newburg and Duncan, three doors down. They had sightlines into one another’s homes from their kitchen windows. Their friendship evolved as Pauline and Diane supported them in their aging. Diane drove them to their 2004 marriage before then-Mayor Gavin Newsom, and they were their escorts to their 2008 City Hall marriage. They tell stories of the longtime goodwill of the neighborhood toward Del and Phyllis going back to the 1950s. They describe how Del and Phyllis politicized them initially through neighborhood politics related to gentrification. They give a lot of details of the furnishings and art as well as how Del and Phyllis used the garden and rooms in the house, including at the end of Phyllis’ life. They also detail the caregiving model in her later years. They describe their walkthrough video of the house after Phyllis passed, which has also been donated. They express interest in the space being recreated in ways that give the rooms “narratives” about its lived-in history for Del and Phyllis as well as an artist-in-residency and lecture/salon program, in a “living and breathing kind of way, not like a stilted sort of museum sort of thing....Something with a community spirit.” Located at 651 Duncan Street in San Francisco, the Lyon-Martin House is the former home of lesbian activists Phyllis Lyon (1924-2020) and Del Martin (1921-2008). In 2021, the City of San Francisco designated the Lyon-Martin House a City Landmark in recognition of its association, through Lyon and Martin, with the lesbian rights, homophile, and marriage equality movements. |
2022 to 2023 | |
Pauline Shulman video tour of the Lyon-Martin House | Pauline Shulman video tour of the Lyon-Martin House, supplemental material for the Lyon-Martin Oral History Project. Located at 651 Duncan Street in San Francisco, the Lyon-Martin House is the former home of lesbian activists Phyllis Lyon (1924-2020) and Del Martin (1921-2008). In 2021, the City of San Francisco designated the Lyon-Martin House a City Landmark in recognition of its association, through Lyon and Martin, with the lesbian rights, homophile, and marriage equality movements. |
2022 to 2023 | |
Kate Kendell oral history interview recording | Kate Kendell oral history interview recording for the Lyon-Martin House Oral History Project.
ABSTRACT:
Kate Kendell is former longtime (1996-2018) Executive Director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights and current Chief of Staff at the California Endowment. She met Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon in 1993 or 1994 at an American Civil Liberties Union or National Center for Lesbian Rights event. Soon after she began monthly lunches with them in their home, where they would regale her with stories and history. She discusses the home, the living room with their chairs and the view, and their kitchen nook as special places in the home. She discusses parties from the 1950s and 1960s she had heard about there, including the curtains they would put up so women would feel comfortable dancing together. Kendell also underscores the importance of the outside stairs and position of the picture window from the sidewalk, where she could wave to Phyllis in her advanced age and they would blow each other a kiss. She underscores the parallel of the house’s modesty to Del and Phyllis’s modesty as “how they moved in the world.” Kendell imagines the space being used for LGBTQ and women’s political salons, community conversations, and community gardening. Located at 651 Duncan Street in San Francisco, the Lyon-Martin House is the former home of lesbian activists Phyllis Lyon (1924-2020) and Del Martin (1921-2008). In 2021, the City of San Francisco designated the Lyon-Martin House a City Landmark in recognition of its association, through Lyon and Martin, with the lesbian rights, homophile, and marriage equality movements. |
2022 to 2023 | |
Amanda St. Jaymes interview, part 2 | Susan Stryker interviews Amanda St. Jaymes, a trans woman who moved to the Tenderloin in December 1963 at the age of 19. St. Jaymes worked at the Chukker Club, a 1960s venue frequented by trans people, and later went to clerical school; in 1972, after her transition, she married and moved to Houston, falling out of contact with most of the people she'd known. In this section, St. Jaymes reminisces about Finocchio's and other venues, her time in Houston, well-known strippers and performers who crossed paths with her, the Central City Anti-Poverty Program, and her experiences transitioning. She also narrates over photos and ephemera from earlier in her life. Portions of this interview were used for Stryker and Victor Silverman's documentary Screaming Queens. |
2001 | |
Aleshia Brevard interview, part 1 | Susan Stryker interviews Aleshia Brevard, an actor, model, author, theatre professor, and trans woman. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Brevard worked at Finocchio's drag revue as a Marilyn Monroe impersonator; a trans co-worker, Stormy, helped her to begin transitioning. She lived at the edge of the Tenderloin, and although she was not a central part of the trans community there, she felt more comfortable there than elsewhere. Stryker interviews Brevard about her early drag career, her transition, and the bars and venues where she spent time. This includes extensive attention to the culture and working conditions at Finocchio's. Portions of this interview were used for Stryker and Victor Silverman's documentary Screaming Queens. |
2001 | |
Amanda St. Jaymes interview, part 1 | Susan Stryker interviews Amanda St. Jaymes, a trans woman who moved to the Tenderloin in December 1963 at the age of 19. St. Jaymes worked at the Chukker Club, a 1960s venue frequented by trans people, and later went to clerical school; in 1972, after her transition, she married and moved to Houston, falling out of contact with most of the people she'd known. In this section, St. Jaymes reminisces about her Tenderloin era, describing the clientele at Compton's and Chukkers (as locals called it), her forays into sex work, police harassment and brutality, and her memories of the Compton's Cafeteria Riot. Portions of this interview were used for Stryker and Victor Silverman's documentary Screaming Queens. |
2001 | |
Amanda St. Jaymes interview, part 3 | Susan Stryker interviews Amanda St. Jaymes, a trans woman who moved to the Tenderloin in December 1963 at the age of 19. St. Jaymes worked at the Chukker Club, a 1960s venue frequented by trans people, and later went to clerical school; in 1972, after her transition, she married and moved to Houston, falling out of contact with most of the people she'd known. In this section, St. Jaymes gives Stryker a tour of the Tenderloin, reminiscing about the former locations of the Chukker Club, Compton's, the El Rosa Hotel, and other places. Portions of this interview were used for Stryker and Victor Silverman's documentary Screaming Queens. |
2001 | |
Aleshia Brevard interview, part 2 | Susan Stryker interviews Aleshia Brevard, an actor, model, author, theatre professor, and trans woman. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Brevard worked at Finocchio's drag revue as a Marilyn Monroe impersonator. In this section, Brevard narrates over a series of photographs from her career in entertainment. Portions of this interview were used for Stryker and Victor Silverman's documentary Screaming Queens. |
2001 | |
Ed Hansen interview, part 1 | Susan Stryker interviews Ed Hansen, a pastor who worked with young people in the Tenderloin in the 1960s, including the organization Vanguard. Hansen reminisces about Tenderloin organizing and his clients' demands and concerns, and also tells some lighter-hearted anecdotes. Portions of this interview were used for Stryker and Victor Silverman's documentary Screaming Queens. |
2001 | |
Felicia "Flames" Elizondo interview, part 1 | Susan Stryker interviews Felicia Elizondo, known as Felicia Flames, who was a sex worker, drag queen, and trans woman strongly associated with San Francisco's Tenderloin district. In this section, Elizondo tells her life story; she was born in Texas and moved to San Francisco as a teenager, staying for much of her life, with the exception of an early period when she returned to Texas and joined the Army in an attempt to become straight and cisgender. She extensively describes the scene of sex workers and LGBTQ people who spent time at Compton's Cafeteria and the neighboring Chukker Club, as well as her transition, professional history, and the experience of sex work in the Tenderloin. Elizondo witnessed the 1960s cultural shift among gender-nonconforming sex workers in the Tenderloin, in which they ceased to present themselves as feminine men and embraced the identity of trans women. Portions of this interview were used for Stryker and Victor Silverman's documentary Screaming Queens. |
2001 | |
Felicia "Flames" Elizondo interview, part 2 | Susan Stryker interviews Felicia Elizondo, known as Felicia Flames, who was a sex worker, drag queen, and trans woman living in San Francisco's Tenderloin district. In this section, Elizondo describes her transition as a patient of Dr. Harry Benjamin, including the medical and social aspects of the experience. During this time in the early 1970s, Elizondo left sex work and got a job as a telephone operator, transitioning on the job. At work, she felt generally accepted by her co-workers, but the experience was still isolating, patronizing, and difficult. Stryker also talks to Elizondo about the history of her evolving self-identification as the available categories changed, and about clubs, bars, and other hangouts where she formerly spent time. Finally, the camera records older photographs of Elizondo and companions. Portions of this interview were used for Stryker and Victor Silverman's documentary Screaming Queens. |
2001 | |
Elliott Blackstone interview, part 2 | Susan Stryker interviews Elliott Blackstone, a retired officer with the San Francisco Police Department. In 1962, Blackstone became the department's official liaison with the LGBTQ community, and worked extensively with trans women in the Tenderloin. Stryker speaks with Blackstone about his advocacy, including his work providing education on trans life for cisgender people as well as with the National Transsexual Counseling Unit; both projects were funded by trans philanthropist Reed Erickson. She also asks for his recollections of prominent figures like Harry Benjamin, Donald Laub, Ray Broshears, and Joel Fort. Portions of this interview were used for Stryker and Victor Silverman's documentary Screaming Queens. |
2001 | |
Elliott Blackstone interview, part 1 | Susan Stryker interviews Elliott Blackstone, a retired police officer with the San Francisco Police Department. In 1962, Blackstone became the department's official liaison with the LGBTQ community, and worked extensively with trans women in the Tenderloin, including the group Conversion Our Goal. Stryker speaks with Blackstone about his early life, his career, and the connections that drew him to the community as a straight and cisgender ally. The two also discuss political action surrounding Compton's Cafeteria, including his limited recollections around the famous 1966 riot.
Portions of this interview were used for Stryker and Victor Silverman's documentary Screaming Queens. |
2001 | |
Elliott Blackstone interview, part 3 | Susan Stryker and colleagues interview Elliott Blackstone, a retired police officer with the San Francisco Police Department. In 1962, Blackstone became the department's official liaison with the LGBTQ community. In this section, Blackstone tells stories about his career, explains his philosophy of policing, and reminisces about the Tenderloin activist known as Jean-Paul Marat. Portions of this interview were used for Stryker and Victor Silverman's documentary Screaming Queens. |
2001 | |
Tamara Ching interview | Susan Stryker interviews Tamara Ching, a sex worker, trans woman, and native San Franciscan. Ching extensively discusses her experience of living and working in the Tenderloin, describing sex work as a source of lifelong validation and pride, despite the harassment and violence she endured as a young woman from police offers and clients. Stryker and Ching also talk about political and religious organizing in the Tenderloin. Portions of this interview were used for Stryker and Victor Silverman's documentary Screaming Queens. |
2001 | |
Ed Hansen interview, part 2 | Susan Stryker interviews Ed Hansen, a pastor who worked with young people in the Tenderloin in the 1960s, including the organization Vanguard. In this section, Hansen talks about Tenderloin sex workers, police harassment, alcohol and drugs, and young gender-nonconforming people's search for identity. Portions of this interview were used for Stryker and Victor Silverman's documentary Screaming Queens. |
2001 | |
BAAITS/SF LGBT Center Tenant Announcement | A letter announcing that Bay Area American Indian Two-Spirits (BAAITS) will be a tenant at the new San Francisco LGBT Center. The BAAITS mission statement and organization description are included in the announcement. This digital collection was created in part through the generous support of BAAITS via the Hewlett Foundation. |
2001 | |
Dragapella! poster | Poster for the Kinsey Sicks off-Broadway show, Dragapella! which took place at Studio 54. Members pictured include: Irwin Keller (Winnie), Ben Schatz (Rachel), Chris Dilley (Trampolina), and Maurice Kelly (Trixie). |
2001 | |
Kinsey Sicks in convertible | The Kinsey Sicks ride in a convertible during a parade in Provincetown, Massachusetts, circa 2001. |
2001 |