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Hidden Histories: Discovering Los Angeles' LGBTQ+ Collections

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University of California, Irvine (UCI) Special Collections & Archives The University of California, Irvine (UCI) Special Collections & Archives houses the university’s collections of rare books, manuscripts, photographs, ephemera, born-digital files, and other unique materials. Their holdings include university archives, critical theory, performing arts, political literature, and a growing collection of artists’ books.

LGBTQ+ topics and themes represented in the collections held by the UCI Special Collections & Archives include HIV/AIDS and LGBTQ+ activism.
Featured Collections
Baldwin (Ian) collection of oral histories on LGBT experience in Orange County, California, 2013-2014
This collection contains four recordings on mp3, four transcripts, and six subject agreements from oral histories performed by scholar Ian Baldwin while he was a doctoral candidate at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Browning (Christine) files on LGBT issues at the University of California, Irvine, 1984-2002
Christine Browning, Ph.D., was a psychologist at the University of California, Irvine. She accumulated materials related to her work as a mentor and activist for LGBT issues at UC Irvine and within the University of California. The materials in this collection illustrate Browning's work as an advocate and leader, including UC Irvine's "Shantytown" and domestic partnership housing, the UC Irvine Matthew Sheppard Memorial, the UC Irvine Chancellor's Advisory Committee on the Status of Lesbians and Gay Men, the UC Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Intersex Association, the UC Irvine LGBT Resource Center and student retreats, the UC Irvine Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual Student Union (GLBSU), and the UC Irvine Lesbian and Gay Faculty Staff Network (LGFSN).
Callahan (Patricia) files on Orange County LGBT activism, 1965-2005
This collection primarily documents AIDS, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender activism in Orange County, California, including material on the Elections Committee of the County of Orange (ECCO), Laguna Outreach, and the No on 64 Campaign. Also included are VHS tapes, audiocassette tapes, and pins and buttons. The bulk of the collection consists of Patricia Callahan's subject files.
Elections Committee of the County of Orange (ECCO) records, 1984-2009
This collection comprises records of the Elections Committee of the County of Orange (ECCO) is an all-volunteer political action committee that works on behalf of civil rights, mainly those of women and the LGBT community. The collection includes newsletters, reports, programs, historical information, and correspondence from the organization, as well as posters, photographs, T-shirts, banners, awards, magazines, and video tapes.
Gay & Lesbian Community Services Center of Orange County records, 1977-2005
This collection comprises the records of The Gay and Lesbian Community Services Center of Orange County (The Center OC), a not-for-profit organization serving the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community in Orange County, California. The collection documents the Center OC's operations, sponsored events, services, fundraising, educational activities, and public health campaigns including those addressing HIV/AIDS. Materials include reports, newsletters, memoranda, event programs, photographs, fliers, posters, training and educational materials, clippings, and audiovisual recordings.
Hitt (Dick) files on gays & lesbians in Orange County, California, 1978-2008
This collection contains materials collected by Dick Hitt documenting gay and lesbian employees of the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California, as well as LGBT news and events in the Orange County area and beyond. Included are newsletters, fliers, reports, brochures, photographs, correspondence, and printed and non-printed ephemera. Many records document the activities of the PRIDE organization at the Disneyland Resort and other Disney Diversity Resource Group events and publications.
Magee (Patric A.) papers concerning transgenderism, 1976-2016
This collection comprises the papers of Patric A. Magee, a transgender man active in many transgender support groups and activities in Orange County and Southern California. The collection includes personal correspondence and writings by Magee, as well as fliers, pamphlets, and brochures from Southern Californian and national LGBT and transgender organizations, materials from transgender conferences attended by Magee, materials detailing surgical and medical procedures, newsletters and magazines, and catalogs for products related to transgenderism. Also included are reference DVDs. The materials are representative of the issues transgender Southern Californians face and many of the resources available to them.
Muirhead (Barbara) files on Orange County LGBT & HIV/AIDS activism, circa 1975-2006
This collection contains materials documenting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and HIV/AIDS activism in Orange County, California and other areas of Southern California. Materials include files, photographs, audiotapes of oral histories, slides, and artifacts documenting such topics as the Orange County Federation of Lesbian, Gay, HIV/AIDS support, the City of Laguna Beach AIDS committee, and the 1998 Orange County Gay Games team. Barbara Muirhead is an LGBT and HIV/AIDS activist and leader in the LGBT community in Orange County. Muirhead also founded the Orange County LGBT Historical Timeline Project in 1995.
Orange County LGBT Timeline research files, 1970-2000*
The collection consists of newspaper clippings, publications, and ephemera about Orange County, California's gay and lesbian communities. The materials were collected by multiple individuals as part of the Orange County Historical Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Timeline Project.
Photograph albums of West Street Beach Gay Volleyball, 1973-1975
This collection comprises three albums of photographs taken and assembled by Jerry Minnucci and given to Robert Major documenting a group of gay volleyball players in Laguna Beach, California. The photographs are primarily of men playing volleyball on West Street Beach and socializing in other locations. None of the men are identified by name.

*online materials available
Contact the UCI Special Collections & Archives
For more information about the UCI Special Collections & Archives' LGTBQ+ collections and holdings, including citation and copyright information, please contact Krystal Tribbett.

✉ Email: ktribbet@uci.edu
☎ Call: 949-824-9027
The UCI Special Collections & Archives is an L.A. as Subject member. For more information about L.A. as Subject, visit their website here.