Contact: Debra DeJonker-Berry, Library Director

Phone: 508-487-7094 X15

EMAIL: libdirector@provincetowngov.org

San Francisco Library Collection

“Comes Out” in Provincetown

Out at the Library: Celebrating the James C. Hormel Gay & Lesbian Center Exhibition to Include Civil War Boots, Pulp Paperbacks, Others

Provincetown, Mass. - May 10, 2006 – The Provincetown Public Library will host a traveling exhibition from the archives of the James C. Hormel Gay & Lesbian Center at the San Francisco Public Library from May 10 through June 8, 2006. The exhibit offers a unique look into the Hormel Center collection and demonstrates how important archives are to maintaining the legacy of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities. Reproductions of photographs, documents, and objects will provide an extraordinary historical perspective on the LGBT community.

“A generation ago, men and women in America were just beginning to realize full political and social expression around issues of sexual orientation and identity, and the Hormel Center’s collection helps tell the story of this community,” explains Debra DeJonker-Berry, library director of the Provincetown Public Library. “As this collection makes its nation-wide tour, we are honored to welcome it to Provincetown. A collection that seeks to preserve and record the history of an entire community that is so critical to Provincetown’s own history is truly a welcome visitor to our shores.”

The exhibit showcases reproductions of a variety of primary historical artifacts, from the boots of Civil War doctor Mary Walker, to a full range of old and contemporary periodicals, including Der Eigene, One Magazine, The Ladder, Transgender Tapestry, Anything that Moves, Black Lesbian Journal and many more. Also part of the exhibit is a lively collection of pulp paperback covers, with titles such as Warped Desire, Giovanni’s Room, and The Gay Year.

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Library Collection “Comes Out” in Provincetown

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The collection also seeks to capture historical facts and stories. For instance, many LGBT authors and activists used pseudonyms, including Patricia Highsmith (of The Talented Mr. Ripley fame), who wrote under the pseudonym Claire Morgan for the 1952 novel, The Price of Salt, considered to be the first lesbian novel with a happy ending. Also on display is correspondence between Highsmith and Barbara Grier, founder of Naiad Press, the longest-standing lesbian publishing house.

The exhibit also offers a frank look at AIDS through ACT UP stickers and other Queer Nation political materials, and scrapbooks kept by San Francisco General Hospital from 1983-2003. The scrapbooks include the most mundane of nurse records to touching personal accounts, artwork, and photos of patients. In addition to the materials mentioned here, the exhibit includes photographs of gay and lesbian poets and artists, Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas’ publications and correspondence, Gay Games medals and posters, and countless other stories from gay and lesbian history.

This exhibit enjoyed record-breaking attendance at the San Francisco Public Library prior to beginning its national tour. The Provincetown Public Library is one of several stops on the tour of U.S. libraries and community centers. At a time when the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities are often simultaneously making and interpreting their own histories, Out at the Library will help viewers imagine the endless connections implicit among past and future LGBT people.

NOTE TO EDITOR: A variety of photos are available upon request, as well as interviews with the organizers of the exhibition. Please contact Debra DeJonker-Berry for more information.