Collection context
Summary
- Creators:
- Fairbanks, Harold, 1935-2014
- Abstract:
- Correspondence, photographs, manuscripts, clippings, diaries, audiocassettes, and other material documenting the life, family, and professional career of Harold Fairbanks (1935-2014), a Los Angeles-based journalist and film critic who wrote for the Advocate, Update, Entertainment West, and Newswest.
- Extent:
- 15.8 Linear Feet 17 boxes.
- Language:
- English
- Preferred citation:
-
[Box/folder #, or item name] Harold Fairbanks Papers and Photographs, Coll2016-009, ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries, University of Southern California.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
This collection includes administrative records, correspondence, press kits, drafts, clippings, sound recordings, and photographs from Fairbanks' career as a staff writer for publications such as Newswest and Update. Personal records include correspondence with friends Robert Arthur and Olin Wood, as well as early childhood records and photographs acquired from his family. The collection also includes materials from Fairbanks' parents and grandparents (on the maternal side), such as family photographs, correspondence, and diaries.
- Biographical / historical:
-
Harold Fairbanks was born George McKay Spence in Duluth, Minnesota, in 1935. He attended the State University of Iowa (approx. 1954-1958) where he was involved in film programming on campus. He moved to Los Angeles in 1959 where he began a career in film, working as a projectionist, film programmer for schools, booker in a film exchange, film editor, technician, and publicist. In addition, he helped produce two low-budget features. He assumed the name Harold Fairbanks for his career in journalism. He worked as a movie reviewer for the Advocate, where he often reviewed gay erotic films; and then became the Entertainment Editor for Newswest (1975-1977). In the 1980s, Fairbanks began writing obituaries while a staff writer for Update, bringing a more journalistic approach by interviewing friends and survivors rather than relying on biological family who would often exclude details of homosexuality and AIDS from the obituary ("AIDS Obituaries: The Newspaper Quilt [draft]," by Karen Ocamb, LA Times Sunday Magazine). Fairbanks died in 2014.
- Acquisition information:
- Gift of David C. Allen, May 6, 2016.
- Processing information:
-
Collection processed by Scott Reed, 2016.
- Arrangement:
-
The collection is divided into four series:
Series 1. Newspaper administrative records
Series 2. Personal papers
Series 3. Spence family papers
Series 4. Audiocassettes
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
The collection is open to researchers. There are no access restrictions.
- Terms of access:
-
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the ONE Archivist. Permission for publication is given on behalf of ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives at USC Libraries as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Box/folder #, or item name] Harold Fairbanks Papers and Photographs, Coll2016-009, ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries, University of Southern California.
- Location of this collection:
-
909 West Adams BoulevardLos Angeles, CA 90007, US
- Contact:
- (213) 821-2771