This post is guest authored by one of our first-year History MA students, Dylan Rice.
From April 3rd-5th, I (Dylan Rice) went to Chicago to visit the Gerber/Hart Library & Archives, along with the Leather Archive & Museum, with funding from the Department of History. These archives have material relevant for my thesis project, which is about gay bars in Cleveland in the 1960s and how the gay community came together.
Both of these archives had collections that relate to Cleveland. At the Gerber/Hart Library & Archive, there was an unprocessed collection of materials about the Central Ohio Mattachine Society. This was a chapter of the national organization, the Mattachine Society, which was an activist group that supported homosexuals. This folder was filled with newsletters and meeting minutes from the organization. The newsletter included advertisements for gay bars in Ohio and gave information on social services for people to use.
At the Leather Archive & Museum, the Stallion MC collection placed in a single box consists of photographs collected by the Stallions Club historian, Jim Green. The Stallions are a leather gay men’s group that began in the 1970s, and the photographs within the collection are from different events the group hosted. Both archives also had copies of national guides to gay friendly businesses, which include Cleveland.
These archives helped me learn more about the communities that were built in Cleveland and the type of news that these groups consumed. The letters that were sent to the Central Ohio Mattachine Society showed what was happening with gay people in the state of Ohio and what problems they were facing. The Stallion collection showed a subculture of Cleveland’s queer scene that I had not explored prior to this trip.
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