Boston, Massachusetts: 1977-1986. 78 pieces or packets on 11” x 8½” printing paper, about 110 pages total. Generally very good: a few pieces with light spotting, creasing or scattered small stains; some penciled and inked notations; one form with mailing label.

This is a revealing group of internal memos and newsletters distributed among the staff of the noted periodical, Gay Community News (GCN).

A true community effort, GCN was established in 1973, collectively run by and for gays and lesbians in Boston. It went national in 1978 and until 1999 was one of the earliest and most influential newspapers in Boston's gay community. The Boston Globe deemed it the movement's “paper of record,” with alumni that “occupied so many leadership roles around the country that they were called the 'GCN mafia'.” In later years GCN operated as the Bromfield Street Educational Foundation, sponsoring various projects in support of gay and lesbian prisoners, writers and activists.

This collection includes in-house newsletters, meeting minutes, drafts of subscriber forms and mass mailings, policies, program proposals and much more. The items reveal plans for news stories, including coverage of local and national events and demonstrations such as the March on Washington, riots in San Francisco and the Texas Gay Conference in Houston. There are reports of GCN efforts including co-founding the “Lesbian and Gay Business Guild,” protesting the firing of the first “gay liaison” to the Boston mayor, a collaboration with Food Not Bombs and an “enthusiastic lesbian/gay task force working on outreach” about a nuclear disarmament march at the UN. In 1980, “after four years of grinding through the wheels of justice . . . our suit against the Bureau of Prisons has been settled, and We Won! This means that GCN and other gay and lesbian publications must now be admitted to federal prisons.”

The documents also cover staff changes and Board of Directors elections, complete with bios of candidates, position roles and responsibilities. There are staff and committee reports on advertising, design and distribution, as well as the paper's finances, tax exempt and corporation status. A number of items cover the fire that destroyed the GCN building in 1982, including a dramatically photographically illustrated mailing seeking contributions, suspicions of arson and a handdrawn map on a meeting announcement “to discuss rebuilding the paper and community action.” There are plans and reports of outreach and fundraising efforts such as a Pat Parker poetry reading, gay/lesbian film festivals and a benefit calendar, as well as a summary of an “Emergency Meeting” to address staffing issues and “lack of queer-energy.”

Great behind the scenes coverage of an early and important LGBTQ+ newspaper and activist group. A detailed inventory is available. Very good. Item #6388