Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) records, 1985-2011

Collection context

Summary

Creators:
Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.
Abstract:
Organizational records of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), 1985-2009, and primarily of the Media Monitoring and Response Committee, 1992-2011. The committee collected materials regarding LGBT defamation in the media, used email mailing lists to inform the LGBT community, and organized campaigns against people and institutions spreading anti-LGBT views. The records include meeting agendas, email mailing lists, and project files, including extensive records documenting GLAAD's campaign against Dr. Laura Schlessinger.
Extent:
9.6 linear feet. 5 archive boxes + 5 archive flat boxes + 2 archive cartons
Language:
Preferred citation:

[Box/folder #, or item name] Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) Records, Coll2012-173, ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries, University of Southern California

Background

Scope and content:

Organizational records of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), 1985-2009, and primarily of the Media Monitoring and Response Committee, 1992-2011. The committee records include meeting agendas, email mailing lists, media releases, correspondence, and assorted project files, including the project files documenting GLAAD's campaign against Dr. Laura Schlessinger. The project files include clippings and correspondence as well as content on audiocassette, CD, and DVD. To a lesser extent, the records document the activities of the board and its board members, GLAAD publications, and the annual GLAAD Media Awards. Graphic materials primarily comprises photographs of GLAAD protests and public appearances from 1999-2000.

Biographical / historical:

The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) was formed in New York City in 1985 to protest the New York Post's sensationalized AIDS news coverage. Concerned with issues of representation in the media, GLAAD began putting pressure on media organizations small and large to end defamatory and prejudicial reporting. The Los Angeles chapter was formed in 1988 to broaden GLAAD's scope to target negative representations of LGBT people in movies and television. The New York and Los Angeles chapters merged in 1994, with other city chapters joining soon thereafter. Functioning as one of its primary strategic programs, the Media Monitoring and Response Committee collected materials regarding LGBT defamation in the media, used email mailing lists to inform the LGBT community, and organized campaigns against people and institutions spreading anti-LGBT views.

Schlager, Neil, editor. Gay and Lesbian Almanac. Detroit: St. James Press, 1998.

Boxes 1 and 2, Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) Records, Coll2012-173, ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries, University of Southern California.

Acquisition information:
Donated March 6, 2012, by Charlotte Wells. Supplemented by an April 9, 2012, donation by Adam G. Bass, and a mailed-in April 2013 donation of magazines with LGBT content dated 2010-2011.
Processing information:

Collection processed by Kyle Morgan, 2013.

Because the collection of mass mailings from anti-gay groups from 2006-2007 lacked correspondence, notes, or any other organizational context, the materials were separated to the ONE Archives subject files collection.

Arrangement:

This collection is arranged in the following series:

Series 1. Media Monitoring and Response Committee records, 1992-2009

Series 2. Board, publication, Media Awards, and graphic materials, 1985-2009

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] Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) Records, Coll2012-173, ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries, University of Southern California

Location of this collection:
909 West Adams Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90007, US
Contact:
(213) 821-2771