Sample Items in the Tretter Archive
Political ParaphenaliaPop Culture Icons
History
Pulp Novels
Political Paraphenalia
Buttons from National Campaigns
Buttons from Local Campaigns
1969 FREE Newsletter
1969: This is the first newsletter/leaflet produced by FREE (Fight Repression of Erotic Expression), a University of Minnesota student group organized to advocate for GLBT rights in April of1969? two months before the Stonewall Riots that began the modern GLBT equal rights movement.
Jack Baker Poster
1971: This campaign poster is from Jack Baker's election campaign for the University of Minnesota student body president. Jack Baker is the first known instance of an openly Gay person's election to such a position.
Clinton Pride Letter
1998: Letter to the Pride Committees from President Bill Clinton. President Clinton sent this letter to all of the major Pride Committees in the United States to signify that he still supported equal rights for GLBT people. This was in response to accusations from the national GLBT community that he had not been strong enough in his support for the community after congress forced him to accept the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy for Gays in the military. Gift of the Twin Cities GLBT Pride Committee, 1998.
Pop Culture Icons
Rock Hudson Ad
1956: This advertisement is from an unknown magazine featuring Rock Hudson (1925-1985). A popular American movie star during the 1950s and 1960s, Hudson was revealed to be Gay when he died of AIDS in July of 1985.
Sylvester Funeral Program
Sylvester Funeral Program Inside
1988: Church program (front and back) from the funeral for Sylvester James (1947-1988). One of the first prominent African-American Gay disco divas, Sylvester began his stage career in 1970 with the drag troupe the Cockettes and went on to become one of the best-selling pop singers of the 1970s and 80s. He is best known for the hit "Mighty Real."
Sports Cards
Two sports cards
1975: Football card of Jerry Smith, tight end for the Washington Redskins [sic]. His sexual orientation was hidden until he died of AIDS. The first professional American football player to come out of the closet was David Kopay, who also played for Washington.
1978: Baseball card of Glenn Burke of the Oakland A's. Burke was the first known professional baseball player to openly declare that he was Gay.
History
Stag Dance Poster
THE STAG DANCE from /Harper's Weekly/, February 6, 1864
The caption reads: "Our soldiers believe in the literal interpretation of the dictum of the Wise Man that 'there is a time to dance.' But to put their faith into works is not the easiest thing in the world, owing to the lack of partners of the feminine persuasion. However, by imagining a bearded and pantalooned fellow to be of 't'other kind,' they succeed in getting up what they call a 'Stag Dance,' which is better than none, as is shown by the intense interest evinced by the spectators."
Pulp Novels
Sappho of Lesbos
The Battlefield
Spring Fire
Pick the Right Road
Mask of Lesbos
Roots
Lesbian pulp novels and Gay pulp novels (LPNs & GPNs) are paperback books produced from the end of WW II through the early 1970s. This form of popular fiction was often highly sexual in content and not especially noted for its literary qualities. Nonetheless, these books provided a conduit for GLBT people to have a connection with a greater GLBT community, no matter how isolated they were by geographic location or socio-economic conditions.