Guide to the Walter "Butterfly" Blumoff Papers and Photographs
Ellen Meyers
Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society
657 Mission Street, Suite 300
San Francisco, California 94105
Phone: (415) 777-5455
Fax: (415) 777-5576
Email: info@glbthistory.org
URL: http://www.glbthistory.org/
© 2008
The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society. All rights reserved.
Guide to the Walter "Butterfly" Blumoff Papers and Photographs
Collection number: 1991-22
Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society
San Francisco, California
- Processed by:
- Ellen Meyers
- Date Completed:
- 1992
- Encoded by:
- Heather Cummins
© 2008 The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society. All rights reserved.
Descriptive Summary
Title: Walter "Butterfly" Blumoff Papers and Photographs
Dates: 1954-1991
Bulk Dates: 1968-1989
Collection number: 1991-22
Creator:
Blumoff, Walter "Butterfly"
Collection Size:
8 Cubic Feet
7 boxes
Repository:
Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society
San Francisco, California 94105
Physical location: Stored at the Archives of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society in San Francisco, California.
Languages:
Languages represented in the collection:
English
Access
Collection open for research.
Publication Rights
Copyright to unpublished manuscript materials are shared by the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society, Mildred
Blumhoff and Robin White.
Preferred Citation
Walter "Butterfly" Blumoff Papers and Photographs, 1991-22, Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society.
Acquisition Information
Donated to the GLBT Historical Society in September 1991 by Robin White.
Biography / Administrative History
Walter Blumoff was born in 1941 in New York City, and was adopted by Mildred and Barnett Blumoff. In 1986, when he was 45,
he undertook a search for his birth mother, and found out that she was his adopted mother's sister, Vera Foeppel.
Blumoff graduated from high school in Niagra Falls, NY in 1959, and attended Purdue University for three years, but did not
graduate. He had thyroid cancer when he was 21, and he was chronically sick throughout his life, with hearing problems, migraines,
and bouts of depression. From 1960-1968 he lived and worked in upstate New York and New Jersey as an electronic technician,
a career he continued throughout his life. In 1968, at age 27, he moved to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, where he began taking
photographs as a hobby.
In 1971 Blumoff moved to Los Angeles, where he lived until 1978. From 1972-1976 he was a freelance photographer for The Advocate,
covering L.A.-area political and cultural events. From 1972-1973 he was the Director of Military Affairs at the Gay Community
Services Center of L.A., a position which included counseling homosexual military recruits on how to obtain honorable or general
discharges. He was a member of the California Committee for Sexual Law Reform in 1973, representing the GCSC of L.A. In
1974 he was Director of the Gay Rights Project of the ACLU of L.A.
In 1978 he moved to Monterey, CA (about 3 hours south of S.F.), and in 1980, at age 39, he moved to the Santa Cruz area, where
he lived the rest of his life. Around 1980 he became active in Radical Faerie circles and attended Radical Faerie Spiritual
Gatherings throughout the 1980's, taking many photographs at their gatherings. He was also involved with NOMENUS, a faerie
land trust group, from 1984-1990. It was at this time he took on the name "Butterfly".
Butterfly was primarily attracted to young men and teenage boys, and photographed many of these throughout the 1970's and
1980's, including tricks, lovers and boys he happened upon at beaches and other locations. His closest companions were
a group of friends he met in the early 1970's in L.A.: Leo, Pat and John. Pat (Patrick L. McVie) was a young teenage runaway
Butterfly met at the Gay Community Services Center (GCSC), who lived with him for awhile. Pat died of AIDS in the 1980s.
Leo and John were Butterfly's age, and were also attracted to young men and teenage boys. One young man he was involved with
in the early 1970's, James C., was convicted in 1981 of molesting and murdering an 11-year-old boy.
Around 1988 Butterfly learned he was HIV+, and he progressed to AIDS in 1989. He participated in the STEPS program ("empowerment
for people with AIDS"), and was a speaker for Project First Hand in Santa Cruz, a PWA speakers bureau. He died in Santa Cruz
in April 1991, at age 50.
Scope and Content of Collection
The collection consists of correspondence, organizational files and working notes, directories, photographs, slides, negatives,
home movies, and memorabilia. Most materials relate to Blumoff's activities with the Gay Community Services Center in L.A.
in the early 1970's, his involvement with the Radical Faerie Movement throughout the 1980's, and his attraction to and involvement
with young men and teenage boys. The bulk of the material is from the early 1970's to the late 1980's, though some earlier
photographs and memorabilia are also included. The collection is arranged in six series: Biographical Material, Correspondence,
Activities and Interests, Photographs, Slides, and Movies and Audio Recordings.
The first series, Biographical Material, consists of scattered journal-type notes, memorabilia, and materials from his adoption
search.
Correspondence includes letters to and from his family, friends, and lovers, from 1972 to 1991. Included are letters to and
from his young lovers, and extensive correspondence between Butterfly and James C. (after his conviction for child molestation
and murder), and another man present at the time of the murder. Letters from living persons are restricted.
The third series, Activities and Interests, includes organizational files, printed material, and working notes from a variety
of Blumoff's activities. These include scattered materials from his gay rights work in the early 1970's, most notably his
work as a draft counselor at the Gay Community Services Center in L.A. A second sub-series relates to Butterfly's sexual
life. Of note here are printouts of sexually explicit Gay Bulletin Board Service logs, and his ad copy for personal ads.
A third sub-series concerns his Radical Faerie activities. This includes materials from conferences and gatherings throughout
the 1980's, NOMENUS minutes from 1984-1990 (NOMENUS is a faerie land trust group), and Faerie Directories from 1979-1990.
Access to the directories is restricted. The final sub-series consists of material relating to Butterfly's AIDS diagnosis.
Included are printed materials and his notes from his participation in the STEPS program ("empowerment for people with AIDS"),
and his work with Project First Hand, a PWA speakers bureau.
Photographs include black and white (and some color) prints, contact prints (8 1/2x10 and 16x20), and negatives from 122 rolls
of film, primarily from L.A. in the early 1970's. There are also some earlier and later photos. Roughly one-third of the
photos and negatives are of political actions, one-third are of cultural events, and one-third of family, friends, lovers,
tricks, and people in the community. Photos, contact prints, and negatives are sorted by subject. The negatives are sorted
by broad subject groupings (Political Actions, Cultural Events, etc.) and are numbered sequentially within each subject.
8 1/2 x 10 contact sheets corresponding to the negatives have been assigned matching subject/location numbers. Not all negatives
have contact sheets. There are also contact sheets for which no negatives could be found; these are filed separately under
the same subject headings and labeled "unsorted".
The fifth series, Slides, contains 78 mylar pages holding color slides ( approximately 1,500 slides), covering the early 1970's
to the late 1980's. About one-fourth of the slides are of early 1970's L.A. gay political activities, cultural events, or
people; about one-fourth are of Radical Faerie gatherings throughout the 1980's; and approximately half are of Butterfly's
friends, lovers, tricks, and anonymous boys taken from the early 1970's through late 1980's. Many of these portraits are
of young men and teenage boys. There are also many nude portraits, some showing explicit sexual activity. All slides and
photographs of explicit sexual activity appear to be of adult males. There are negatives for many of the slides; these are
filed following the slide pages and labeled to show which slides they correspond to. The slides are cataloged and indexed
by subject, date, and location using dBase III+. Detailed instructions on how to access the slides are in the "Computer Manual
for Using dBase III+ to access GLBTHS databases."
The sixth series, Home Movies and Audio Recordings, includes seven reels of short Super 8mm movies from the early 1970's,
and four tape cassettes made by Butterfly when he had AIDS. The movies include gay visibility actions and the 1972 Christopher
Street West parade in L.A., a young man arrested for hustling, a homemade adult porn movie, and two reels of teenage boys
seen on the street, the beach, or in the park. The tape cassettes were done as part of his work with the STEP program ("empowerment
for PWA").
Arrangement
The collection is divided into 6 series:
- Series 1: Biographical Material
- Series 2: Correspondence
- Series 3: Activities and Interests
- Series 4: Photographs
- Series 5: Slides
- Series 6: Home Movies and Audio Recordings
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in
the library's online public access catalog.
Gay men
Gay activists
Radical Faeries (New Age movement)
Processing Information
22 cartons were donated in 1991. After processing, approximately eight cartons of material were retained by GLBTHS. Periodicals
were added to the archives collection if needed, or discarded if duplicates. An organizational file for the Los Angeles Gay
Community Services Center from the early 1970's was sent to Jim Kepner at the IGLA Archives in Los Angeles. The rest was
returned to Robin White.
The majority of the collection consisted of slides, photographs, and negatives. Approximately twenty percent of the slides
were kept. Not kept were images of landscapes and still-lifes. Slides of events, people, and other subjects were selectively
kept, with only the better images of each subject retained in order to avoid unnecessary duplication. Approximately half
of the photographs were kept. All negatives for photographs, and for those slides that have negatives, were retained. Slides,
negatives, and photographs not kept were returned to Robin White. Lists of all images and other materials not retained, along
with their disposition, remains in the GLBTHS Archives control file.
Collection Contents
Box 1
Biographical Material
1971-1985
Box/ Folder 1/ 3
Adoption Search-documents, notes
Box/ Folder 1/ 5
Mildred and Barnett Blumoff [mother and father]
1972-1991
Box/ Folder 1/ 6
Roslyn Bartholomay
1969-1990
Box/ Folder 1/ 7
Foeppels [birth mother and family]
1986-1990
Box/ Folder 1/ 9
Mark Jones-letters from WB to MJ
1976
Box/ Folder 1/ 10
Mark Jones-litigation notes, documents
1976
Box/ Folder 1/ 11
Mark Feitl-letters, notes, memorabilia [youth]
1978
Box/ Folder 1/ 12
James C.-letters from JC to WB, and WB to JC
1979-1983
Box/ Folder 1/ 13
James C.-notes and documents on case
Box/ Folder 1/ 15
Kirk Palmerton-letters from KP to WB, and WB to KP
1980
Box/ Folder 1/ 16
Dascus Haining and Gerald Denning-letters from DH to WB, GD to WB, and WB to DH [legal-size folder]
1988-1989
Box/ Folder 1/ 17
Miscellaneous correspondence
1974-1991
Box 1, 2
Activities and Interests
1972-1991
Box/ Folder 1/ 18
Harvey Baldwin investigation-final report [suspected gay basher]
1972-1973
Box/ Folder 1/ 19
Harvey Baldwin investigation-notes
Box/ Folder 1/ 20
Harvey Baldwin investigation-photos
Box/ Folder 1/ 21
California Committee for Sexual Law Reform-records, notes
1973
Box/ Folder 1/ 22
Gay Community Services Center, Growth Group-facilitator's notes
1973
Box/ Folder 1/ 23
Queen of Hearts Ball-investigation notes
1973
Box/ Folder 1/ 24
Gay Rights Project, ACLU of Southern California-records and letters [legal-size folder]
1974
Box/ Folder 1/ 25
Military Counseling, GCSC of Los Angeles-documents, working notes, letters
1972-1973
Access Information
Restricted
Box/ Folder 1/ 26
Military Counseling-clippings
1980
Box/ Folder 1/ 27
Military Counseling-Kirk Palmerton case
1980
Box/ Folder 1/ 28
Military Counseling-Don Lee case
1980
Box/ Folder 1/ 29
Military Counseling-Denzil G. Bush case
1981
Box/ Folder 1/ 30
NAMBLA file-pamphlet, flyers
circa 1984
Box/ Folder 1/ 30
NAMBLA file-pamphlet, flyers
circa 1984
Box/ Folder 1/ 32
Gay Bulletin Board Service Logs [sexually explicit]
1988
Box/ Folder 1/ 33
Sean William Smith [youth]-documents, photos
1981
Box/ Folder 1/ 33
Sean William Smith [youth]-documents, photos
1981
Box/ Folder 1/ 34
Duane Paul Mayne [youth]-documents, photos
1984
Box/ Folder 1/ 34
Duane Paul Mayne [youth]-documents, photos
1984
Box/ Folder 1/ 35
Spiritual Conference for Radical Faeries-printed materials
1980
Box/ Folder 1/ 36
Gay Vision Circle [gay community land trust]-records
1980-1982
Box/ Folder 1/ 37
Stonewater Circle Gathering of Faeries-printed materials, letters
1982
Box/ Folder 1/ 38
NOMENUS-minutes
1984-1990
Box/ Folder 1/ 39
Faerie, miscellaneous-publications, flyers
1979-1990
Box/ Folder 1/ 40
Faerie Directories [names and addresses]
1979-1982
Access Information
Restricted
Box/ Folder 1/ 41
Faerie Directories
1983-1988
Access Information
Restricted
Box/ Folder 1/ 42
Faerie Directories, Santa Cruz and South Bay area
1984-1990
Access Information
Restricted
Box/ Folder 2/ 43
California Men's Gathering-printed materials
1984-1987
Box/ Folder 2/ 44
Monterey Bay Men's Gathering-printed materials
1991
Box/ Folder 2/ 45
Re-evaluation Counseling ["co-counseling"]-print materials, notes
1985-1989
Box/ Folder 2/ 46
Faerie Group, Re-evaluation Counseling-facilitator's notes
1986-1987
Box/ Folder 2/ 47
Roommate Dispute with Robert Biles-notes
1985
Box/ Folder 2/ 48
Roommate Dispute with Robert Biles-court documents
1985
Box/ Folder 2/ 49
Roommate Dispute with Robert Lindeman-notes
1985
Box/ Folder 2/ 50
Roommate Dispute with Robin, Paul, Ann, Todd, Sarah-notes
1988-1989
Box/ Folder 2/ 51
STEPS Program ["empowerment for people with AIDS"]-workbook
1988
Box/ Folder 2/ 52
STEPS Program-notes, printed materials
Box/ Folder 2/ 53
The Living Room Project-records
1989
Box/ Folder 2/ 54
Project First Hand [PWA Speakers Bureau]
1990
Box/ Folder 2/ 55
Living with AIDS, miscellaneous-notes, printed material
1989-1990
Box/ Folder 2/ 56
Photos: Family, miscellaneous
Box/ Folder 2/ 58
Photos: College and post-college years
circa 1965-1969
Box/ Folder 2/ 59
Photos: Friends (Florida)
1968-1970
Box/ Folder 2/ 60
Photos: Lovers
circa 1972-circa 1989
Box/ Folder 2/ 61
Photos: Friends [3x5 prints]
1971-1990
Box/ Folder 2/ 62
Photos: Friends [8x10 prints]
1971-1990
Box/ Folder 2/ 63
Photos: Tricks [seem to be 18 years plus] (miscellaneous dates)
Box/ Folder 2/ 64
Photos: Youth, Male [seem to be under 18 years] (miscellaneous dates)
Box/ Folder 2/ 65
Photos: Boy lovers with boys
1981
Box/ Folder 2/ 66
Photos: Faeries, Ukiah, California
Box/ Folder 2/ 67
Photos: Stonewater Circle Faeries Gathering [Harry Hay]
1982
Box/ Folder 2/ 68
Photos: Faeries, around a campfire
Box/ Folder 2/ 69
Photos: Faeries, at swimming hole
Box/ Folder 2/ 70
Photos: Faeries, miscellaneous (miscellaneous dates)
Box/ Folder 2/ 71
Photos: Groovy Stud Contest, Los Angeles
circa 1972
Box/ Folder 2/ 72
Photos: Women's Cultural Events, Los Angeles [Robin Tyler]
circa 1972
Box/ Folder 2/ 73
Photos: Gay Cultural Events, miscellaneous, Los Angeles [SPREE]
circa 1972
Box/ Folder 2/ 74
Photos: Gay Visibility action at Disneyland
circa 1972
Box/ Folder 2/ 75
Photos: Santa Cruz, Gay Pride ["early"]
Box/ Folder 2/ 76
Photos: San Francisco Gay Pride Parade
circa 1972
Box/ Folder 2/ 77
Photos: San Francisco Gay Pride Parade
circa 1973
Box/ Folder 2/ 78
Photos: Gay Pride Parade [San Francisco? Los Angeles?]
1975
Box/ Folder 2/ 79
Photos: Political Actions, Los Angeles [descriptions on each]
circa 1972
Box/ Folder 2/ 80
Photos: Political Actions, miscellaneous, Los Angeles [unidentified]
circa 1972
Box/ Folder 2/ 81
Photos: Men and women, [not lovers, friends, tricks]
circa 1970-circa 1989
Box/ Folder 2/ 82
Photos: Teen boys swimming [not gay]
1981-1983
Box/ Folder 2/ 83
Photos: Location shots, Los Angeles, [GCSC, MCC, a pier]
circa 1972
Box/ Folder 2/ 84
Photos: Homoerotic art shots [male]
Box/ Folder 2/ 85
Photos: Professional shoots, miscellaneous
Box/ Folder 2/ 86
Contact Sheets: Friends/Lovers, Los Angeles, [matched to negatives]
circa 1972
Box/ Folder 2/ 87
Contact Sheets: Friends/Lovers, Los Angeles, [unmatched]
circa 1972
Box/ Folder 2/ 88
Contact Sheets: Cultural Events, Los Angeles, [matched to negatives]
circa 1972
Box/ Folder 2/ 89
Contact Sheets: Cultural Events, Los Angeles, [unmatched]
circa 1972
Box/ Folder 2/ 90
Contact Sheets: Political Actions, Los Angeles, [matched to negatives]
circa 1972
Box/ Folder 2/ 91
Contact Sheets: Political Actions, Los Angeles, [unmatched]
circa 1972
Box/ Folder 2/ 92
Contact Sheets: Locations, Los Angeles, [matched to negatives]
circa 1972
Box/ Folder 2/ 93
Negatives: Youth, male
circa 1972
Box/ Folder 2/ 94
Negatives: Friends/Lovers
circa 1972
Box/ Folder 2/ 95
Negatives: Cultural Events, Los Angeles
circa 1972
Box/ Folder 2/ 96
Negatives: Political Actions, Los Angeles [rolls 001-039]
circa 1972
Box/ Folder 2/ 97
Negatives: Political Actions, Los Angeles [rolls 040-069]
circa 1972
Box/ Folder 2/ 98
Negatives: Locations, Los Angeles [GCSC]
circa 1972
Box/ Folder 2/ 99
Negatives: Stonewater Circle Faerie Gathering [for photo album 2]
1982
Box/ Folder 2/ 100
Negatives: Stonewater Circle Faerie Gathering [for photo album 2]
1983
Box/ Folder 2/ 101
Negatives: Blossom of Bone Faerie Gathering [for photo album 3]
1983
Box 3
Contact Sheets: 102, 16 x 20 inch contact sheets of early 1970's Los Angeles gay political and cultural activities, friends,
lovers, tricks, youth and
locations. Contact sheets are unsorted with some descriptive information on them. Duplicate 8 x 10 inch contact sheets are
sorted and matched to negatives.
Box 4
Photo Album 1: Tricks, youth. Florida and California.
1968-circa 1972
Box 5
Photo Album 2: Stonewater Circle Radical Faerie Spiritual Gathering, San Diego, California.
August/September 1982
July 1983
Box 6
Photo Album 3: Blossom of Bone Radical Faerie Spiritual Gathering, Napa, California.
October 1983
Box 7
Slides
circa 1970-circa 1990
Subseries Scope and Content Summary
Slides: 78 pages of color slides, about 1500 slides in all, covering the early 1970's to the late 1980's. About one-fourth
of the slides are of early 1970's Los Angeles gay political activities, cultural events, or people; about one-fourth are of
Radical Faerie gatherings throughout the 1980's; and approximately half are of Butterfly's friends, lovers, and tricks, early
1970's through late 1980's. Many of these portraits are of young men and teenage boys. There are also many nude portraits,
some showing explicit sexual activity. There are negatives for many of the slides; they are filed following the slide pages
and they are labeled to show which slides they correspond to.
Arrangement
The slides are cataloged and indexed by subject, date, and location using the dBase III+ program.
Access Note
Access to them is through the SLIDE file, on drive C.
Use Note
Detailed instructions on how to use this program are in the "Computer Manual for Using dBase III+ to Access GLHS [GLBTHS]
Databases."
Box 7
Home Movies and Audio Recordings
circa 1970-1989
Box 7
Super 8mm movie: "Gay Day in the Park" (Los Angeles), 3" reel, about 2 minutes
circa 1972
Box 7
Super 8mm movie: "Gay-In in the Park" (Los Angeles), 3" reel, about 2 minutes
circa 1972
Box 7
Super 8mm movie: "Christopher Street West, 1972" [gay pride march] (Los Angeles), 3" reel, about 2 minutes
1972
Box 7
Super 8mm movie: Young man arrested for hustling (Los Angeles), 3" reel, about 2 minutes
circa 1972
Box 7
Super 8mm movie: House Party [homemade porn], (possibly Buffalo, New York, or Los Angeles), 5" reel, about 10 minutes
circa 1972
Box 7
Super 8mm movie: Miscellaneous shots of teenage boys and street scenes (possibly Florida), 5" reel, about 10 minutes
circa 1970
Box 7
Super 8mm movie: Boys, boys, boys (Fort Lauderdale, Forida), 7" reel, about 20 minutes
circa 1970
Box 7
Audio Cassette: "Life History, 10/31/89"
1989
Box 7
Audio Cassette: "Getting to know my parts, 11/21/89"
1989
Box 7
Audio Cassette: "Feeling the parts: wounded child, grandfather, higher self and symptoms"
Box 7
Audio Cassette: "Recreating a perfect family, 12/12/89"
1989
