June Mazer Lesbian Archives

California Revealed is a State Library initiative to help California’s public libraries, in partnership with other local heritage groups, digitize, preserve, and provide online access to archival materials - books, newspapers, photographs, audiovisual recordings, and more - that tell the incredible stories of the Golden State. We also provide free access and preservation services for existing digital collections for partner organizations with in-house digitization programs. California Revealed is supported by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, administered in California by the State Librarian.

Institution: June Mazer Lesbian Archives

The Connexxus/Centro de Mujeres Collection contains personal photographs and administrative records from Connexxus / Centro de Mujeres, one of the first Los Angeles non-profit organizations that catered and provided services to lesbians. The organization was founded in 1984 by activists Del Martínez and Lauren Jardine, and later expanded from its original West Hollywood location to a second "Connexxus East" branch in East Los Angeles. Connexxus programs included referrals, a variety of supports groups, a business alliance, mental health services, workshops, social events, dances and a program for Latina lesbians in East Los Angeles. Connexxus also co-sponsored the first Latina Lesbian …

Institution: UCLA, Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, June Mazer Lesbian Archives

Lillian Faderman is an internationally-known literary scholar and historian of lesbian history. She has published nine books and numerous articles on lesbian history, literature and criticism, including Surpassing the Love of Men (1981), Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers (1991), her memoir, Naked in the Promised Land (2003) and Gay L.A. (2006), which she co-authored with Stuart Timmons. The digital collection contains correspondence, photographs and clippings.

Institution: UCLA, Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, June Mazer Lesbian Archives

A longtime lesbian activist and distinguished academic, Margaret Cruikshank (b. 1940) began her work in the 1970s at a time when lesbian studies barely existed and was one of the few lesbian academics in the U.S. to identify herself professionally as a lesbian. Her work has centered on raising awareness of lesbians within the academic profession and addressing the exclusion of lesbian literature and criticism from traditional canons and women's studies. The Margaret Cruikshank Papers consist of drafts, background/research notes, correspondence and publicity materials for three published works edited by Cruikshank; background/research files for women's studies and lesbian studies courses …

Institution: UCLA, Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, June Mazer Lesbian Archives

Born in Los Angeles in 1921, Elaine Mikels spent her early life in California attending UCLA, UC Berkeley, and USC, later receiving a Master's in Social Work. During this time, Mikels' struggles with expressing and living out her lesbian identity began as she grappled with forming healthy relationships and finding queer community amid the conformist atmosphere of the 1940s, 1950s, and early 1960s. Documented by over two-hundred photographs in the collection, Mikel's political activism on a national scale began in the late 1960s and continued throughout her life as she organized demonstrations for the anti-war movement, created lesbian-feminist communities, and …

Institution: UCLA, Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, June Mazer Lesbian Archives

Southern California Women for Understanding (SCWU), an educational non-profit organization, formed in 1976 and dedicated itself to "enhancing the quality of life for [the lesbian] community and for lesbians nationwide, creative and positive exchange about homosexuality, [and] changing stereotypical images of lesbians." SCWU emerged in the midst of the civil rights, gay rights, and women's movements when many marginalized social groups organized en masse to demand recognition and rights. SCWU was one of the earliest known lesbian organizations. At its height, SCWU reached membership of 1,100 and in 1982, Lesbian News hailed it as the "largest lesbian support group in …

Institution: UCLA, Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, June Mazer Lesbian Archives

The Women Against Violence Against Women(WAVAW) Collection is a mixture of papers and organizational records, publications, ephemera and audio-visual materials collected by organization member Dani Adams (national office in Los Angeles). Of particular interest are the internal memos and complete run of national newsletters produced by the Los Angeles Chapter for national chapter distribution and slides and scripts from the WAVAW slide show, the presentation that chapter members showed to audiences nationwide. There is also extensive coverage of WAVAW's actions against the film "Snuff" and the Rolling Stones's "Black and Blue" advertising campaign and national boycott of Warner Communications, Inc. …

Institution: UCLA, Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, June Mazer Lesbian Archives