About the Organizations
Read below for more information on all the organizations from whose archives we retrieved the calendars and flyers!
WRAP: The Washtenaw Rainbow Action Project (WRAP) was an “organization founded in 1995 to encourage increased visibility and acceptance and appreciation of the lesbian/gay/bisexual and transgender community in Washtenaw County through education and political action.” Before the organization became WRAP, it was the Michigan Campaign for Human Dignitiy -- Washtenaw County chapter (MCHD). In 2010, WRAP became the Jim Toy Community Center. More information on the origins, the history of WRAP, and the finding aid for the collection at the Bentley can be found here. We also used the WRAP collection at the Labadie Collection at the University of Michigan Library, which does not have finding aids available online.
Lesbian/Gay Male Community Services Newsletter: We couldn’t find any information on the group that put this monthly newsletter together beginning in 1981. The latest editions the University has are from 1982, so it may have simply been a short-lived coalition. Judging by the newsletters, they were a politically active group of people fighting not just for gay rights but for a variety of left-wing causes.
Lesbian-Gay Male-Bisexual Programs Office: Originally named the Human Sexuality Office—then Lesbian-Gay Male Programs Office, and later in 1994 the Lesbian-Gay Male-Bisexual Programs Office—we found quite a few calendars and flyers that showed the events of the Lesbian-Gay Male-Bisexual Programs Office at the University of Michigan. The LGMBPO was created in 1971, and after various name changes and restructuring, the office continues today at the University of Michigan as the Spectrum Center.
The flyers and calendars about the LGMBPO were found in the James W. Toy Papers collection at the Bentley Historical Library.
Focus EMU: Focus EMU was a newsletter in the Eastern Michigan University community that ran from 1975-2011. These archives were found at the Eastern Michigan University Archives Digital Commons.
Michigan Organization for Human Rights (MOHR): Founded in 1977 and disbanded in 1994, MOHR was coalition of state and local human rights organizations, that "served as resource, lobbying and educational agent for organizations and individuals engaged in struggle to eliminate all forms of discrimination", with a focus on gay and lesbian rights in its early years. The flyer for the 1985 Harvest Moon Ball is attributed to this organization.
This flyer was found in the James W. Toy Papers collection at the Bentley Historical Library.