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RJ Alcalá gay rights and culture collection

 Collection
Identifier: D.602

Biographical / Historical note

RJ Alcalá graduated from the Eastman School of Music 1971. He was one of the original members of the Gay Liberation Front at the University of Rochester, and was also an early member of the GLF’s Speakers Bureau. He is credited with naming The Empty Closet, one of the longest continually-running LGBTQ+ newspapers in the United States, when it began in 1971. RJ remained an important figure in the efforts for gay liberation in Rochester, NY, working to repeal NYS sodomy laws, and participating in the Names Project. RJ continued his work with the early GLF Speakers' Bureau with its continuation under the Out Alliance in their early days as the Gay Alliance of Genesee Valley, whose members offered themselves as informational outreach speakers at community meetings, companies, schools, and other institutions in order to better educate people about the realities of LGBT experience and life. He has also been a speaker at the Anthony Mascioli Rainbow Dialogues (Rochester, 2019), and was interviewed and featured in the Shoulders to Stand On oral history project (2012) and documentary film (2013).

Scope and Contents

The RJ Alcalá gay rights and culture collection, 1962-2003 (1980s), consists of materials gathered and created by RJ Alcalá. The materials largely focus on the gay liberation and gay rights movements, including Alcalá’s work with the Gay Liberation Front at the University of Rochester, the Gay Alliance of the Genesee Valley (the Out Alliance), the Names Project, and the Anti-Defamation League of Rochester. A large portion of the gathered materials consist of newspaper and journal articles, clippings, and entire issues (some arranged in two scrapbooks), representing a local and national scope of gay life on a personal and political level. International magazines in French (Globe) and German (Die Spiegel) featuring articles on gay life, identity, and political oppression are also present. Mainstream (The New York Times, Newsweek), limited-release (The Empty Closet), and underground publications (Gay Flames pamphlet/zine) are present. A significant portion of materials focus on the AIDS crisis, the personal experiences and losses sustained by the LGBTQ+ community, and the national political backdrop and response, as well as the Gay Games of the 1990s and early 2000s.

Creator

Dates

  • Creation: 1962-2003

Language of Materials

English

Extent

2.13 cubic feet (3 letter-size archival boxes and 2 oversize flat boxes)

Access

The RJ Alcalá gay rights and culture collection is open for research use. Researchers are advised to contact the Department of Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation, River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester prior to visiting. Upon arrival, researchers will also be asked to fill out a registration form and provide photo identification.

Use

Reproductions are made upon request but can be subject to restrictions. Permission to publish materials from the collection must currently be requested. Please note that some materials may be copyrighted or restricted. It is the researcher's obligation to determine and satisfy copyright or other case restrictions when publishing or otherwise distributing materials found in the collections. For more information contact rarebks@library.rochester.edu.

Preferred Citation

[Item title, item date], RJ Alcalá Gay Rights and Culture Collection, D.602, Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation, River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester

Arrangement

The collection is arranged in five series:

- Series I: Formation of the Gay Liberation Front, 1962-1971

- Series II: The Gay Alliance of Genesee Valley, 1982-1990

- Series III: National media coverage of the Gay Rights Movement, 1971-2003

- Series IV: The Gay Games, 1990-1994

- Series V: Novelty ephemera, 1995

Processing Note

The materials in this collection have been arranged to preserve the intersectionality of the personal and political implied in their original order. Materials which were originally housed together were kept associated, either by folder or series, though folder contents have been re-arranged chronologically for clarity.

Handling Note

Researchers and archives staff should be advised that some large newspaper articles have been left folded up and placed in protective sleeves in the collection. Researchers are allowed to remove these multi-page or folded items from the sleeves for closer examination with staff supervision or aid as needed.

Title
RJ Alcalá gay rights and culture collection
Status
Completed
Author
Lev Earle
Date
February 2020
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Library Details

Part of the Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation Library

Contact:
Rochester NY 14627-0055 USA