A Year in Review

We’ve had a productive year at ONE and hope that you were able to enjoy one of our programs or exhibitions. We thought you might enjoy a “behind the scenes” look at life at the Archives and the projects that kept each of us busy. We’re proud of what we’ve accomplished in the service of our LGBTQ+ community and the many ways you have shown your support, including coming to visit us, donating material, donating financially, or donating your time. To find out more on how to do this, click here. 

ONE Archives reopened to the public on January 23, 2024 following a 19-month closure for renovations. It’s been exciting to see both new and returning folks in the Archives again.  Since January, we have welcomed 600 visiting researchers to our reading room to utilize our collections and led tours and presentations for hundreds more from community groups and classes. In July, we hosted a day-long workshop for the Queer Bibliography Conference. Also in July, we hosted the LGBTQ+ History Teacher Symposium, organized by the ONE Institute and the UCLA History-Geography Project, where educators from across California participated in a week-long curriculum symposium to develop LGBTQ+ history lesson plans.

The Archives staff completed the processing of nineteen collections as part of  a grant from the California State Library. These collections include administrative records for the National Organization for Gay and Lesbian Scientists and Technical Professionals (NOGLSTP), WW2-related materials from Jimmy Saip, research files from writer and historian Stuart Timmons, and papers from legendary activist, teacher, and LGBTQ youth advocate, Virginia Uribe. This project also included the debut of Hidden Histories: Discovering Los Angeles’ LGBTQ+ Collections, a collaboration with LA as Subject (LAAS). Working with over two dozen archives, libraries, museums, and historical societies, Hidden Histories highlights material from across Southern California into an online research guide and discovery tool that will allow researchers, students, educators, and other LAAS members to find relevant and related LGBTQ collections.

We collaborated with institutions across the country to loan dozens of archival items and artworks from ONE’s collections to exhibitions. In 2024, you may have seen our materials in:

• Copy Machine Manifestos: Artists Who Make Zines at the Brooklyn Museum, NY

• For Dear Life: Art, Medicine and Disability at the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego

• Millie Wilson: The Museum of Lesbian Dreams at the Krannert Art Museum, IL

• Radical Perverts: Ecstasy and Activism in Queer Public Space, 1975-2000 at the Museum of Sex, NY

• Teddy Sandoval and the Butch Gardens School of Art at the Vincent Price Art Museum (and traveling)

We provided tours for schools, organizations, and professional groups, including students from Kerns High School, the staff of San Diego Lambda Archives, the USC Staff Council, the LGBTQ group of Ernest & Young, and students from Cal Arts' Archives class. A USC professor asked us to provide examples from the collection at ONE Archives of the different means of printing for an Art History class. This request inspired a new way to look at the collection, and the entire staff provided ideas. Our selections included ordinary photographic prints as well as earlier types of photography, such as tintypes and daguerreotypes from the W. Dorr Legg collection. We pulled out some of the original printing blocks used for the covers and interior illustrations of ONE Magazine. We picked out early paste-ups from the James White Review, Sean's original pen and ink editorial cartoons from The Advocate collection, and, from Jeanne Cordova and Lynn Ballen's Square Peg, the overlays of more contemporary printing. We also found a number of body prints, including Annie Sprinkle's tit-prints in the Center for Sex and Culture collection. The curatorial staff provided a variety of works, ranging from painting using human blood to acrylics. Of course, we also have Bruce Refeil's silk screened "Gay In" poster. All told, we pulled more than 40 different kinds of media for the class.

ONE welcomed hundreds of researchers this year, who came to find information for upcoming books, articles, and talks. Some individuals who researched in our collection had their books published. You might have seen our materials in: 

• Dawsey, Jill, Isabel Casso, University of Texas Press, and PST ART: Art & Science Collide (Project). 2024. For Dear Life : Art, Medicine, and Disability. San Diego, CA: Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego.

• George, Marie-Amélie, Family Matters Queer Households and the Half-Century Struggle for Legal Recognition, First (Cambridge University Press, 2024).

• Reichard, David A.,  Here Are My People: LGBT College Student Organizing in California, Since 1970 : Histories of Contemporary America Series (Athens: The University of Georgia Press, 2024).

• Robert W. Fieseler, “Gay Geographer: Bob Damron, the Traveling Man Who Mapped a Queer Underground,” National Endowment for the Humanities, March 2024, https://www.neh.gov/article/gay-geographer.

• Rodriguez Binnie, Mari, David Evans Price, C. Ondine Chavoya, César González-Aguirre, Raquel Gutiérrez, Armando Pulido, Sean Nesselrode Moncada, et al. Teddy Sandoval: And the Butch Gardens School of Art. 1st ed. Los Angeles: Inventory Press, 2024.

In January, we welcomed hundreds of visitors to ONE’s then newly-reopened space for Blood Baby, a multi-part, interdisciplinary installation, exhibition, and performance on queer kinship led by the brilliant Meg Foley. Long hours were spent converting our outdoor space into a sweaty ritual disco for the multiple Carpet Womb performances.  Visitors also enjoyed the projection installation Primordial and the interactive stations of Touch Library inside. We were excited to welcome many students from USC and neighboring communities with the help of our partner, USC Visions & Voices, sparking multigenerational connections and conversations. 

In June, we opened  Robert Andy Coombs: No Content Warning, a show focused on the intersections of disability and sexuality from contemporary photographer Robert Andy Coombs. We had a packed house opening night for co-curator Cyle Metzger’s presentation on disability in the U.S. We took great joy in providing a space for Coombs to display works that have been censored and rejected from other institutions; they were in good company with our vast collection of erotic photography a doorway away. 

p.s. We’ve heard from a little gay mouse that Robert is personally selling some of the works featured in this exhibition. Contact [email protected] for inquiries.

Of course, we spent just a little time (five years!) working on one of our most ambitious projects to date: the exhibition and companion catalog for Sci-fi, Magick, Queer L.A: Sexual Science and the Imagi-Nation as part of PST Art. Since opening in August, the exhibition has welcomed thousands of visitors, and we’ve been proud that both the exhibition and catalog have met with fantastic reviews. We’ve hosted a variety of programs that delved deeper into the themes of the show, including curator tours and academic talks. Hundreds of guests attended the Halloween party and drag show, Drag Me to Hell. We recently announced the wonderful news that the exhibition is being extended through March 15, so make sure to see it when it reopens on January 14th! We will offer more events in the new year to further connect the queer community of sci-fi and occult enthusiasts. Stay tuned for announcements–we’ll have more curator tours, panels, and even a maker’s fair! 

For updates on visiting, hours, and parking please check the Fisher Museum’s Website 

For copies of our catalog, expected to sell out soon, visit our co-publisher’s store 

Select Media Coverage for Sci-Fi, Magick, Queer LA:

• Hyperallergic “Top 50 Exhibitions Around the World in 2024”

• Hyperallergic “30 Best Artbooks of 2024”

• New York Times “7 Shows that Make this Art Festival Worth the Trip to California”

• LA Review of Books “Queering the Way” 

• LA Times “The Busy Person’s Guide to PST Art: Art & Science Collide exhibitions” 

• LAist “Art show explores sci-fi, the occult and queer history in mid-20th century LA”

• The Daily Trojan “Drag Me to Hell Brings the Heat at the Fisher”

In addition to this robust set of exhibitions and programs, we hosted Lane Igoudin and Lucas Hildebrand for book talks. We added new works to our collection, including a portrait of Samson DeBrier by Cameron and a large collection of Bay Area figurative works by James Huber and Michael Hossner, thanks to a generous gift by Lee Draper. 

ONE Archives looks forward to supporting more researchers in the new year and making the collections more easily findable through new finding aids and refined USC catalog searches. We also encourage professors and community groups to reach out for tours and visits. We hosted our first public tour in December and plan to offer more in the new year. 

In February 2025, we’ll be partnering with Kaya Press on an event to celebrate their 30th anniversary. The accompanying exhibition will tell some of their history and its queer connections. In the spring/summer, we will open an exhibition by artist Halo Sterling called Fairy Prince that looks at radical faeries and sanctuary space in today’s environment. We are also planning a show to highlight some of our favorite recent acquisitions. 

Please check our website, Instagram, or Facebook for updates and make plans to join us! All are welcome and celebrated!

We are proud to have welcomed so many folks over the last year for research, programs, and exhibitions. As we reflect on another year, we’d like to celebrate the fact that ONE Archives has been around for almost 75 years, and we are not going anywhere. We continue to bring new items into the collection and safeguard LGBTQ+ history for present and future generations. We are open to everyone and hope that you will visit us or view items from our collection in exhibitions across the country over the next year.

There are several ways to support our work. If you would like to volunteer, have a collection that you would like to donate, or just have a question, we would love to talk with you! You can contact us at [email protected].

If you would like to support us with a year-end donation, please click the button below.

Warmest Wishes, 

Joseph, Loni, Michael, Bud, Lexi, and Quetzal