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Supervisor Candidate Rafael Mandelman Inspired by "Generations of Queer People"
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by Terry Beswick
Rafael Mandelman is running for election to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in District 8, the district that includes the Castro neigborhood and that has been home to the GLBT History Museum and its predecessor pop-up museum since 2008.
An urban development attorney for the past 17 years, Mandelman holds a master's in public policy from Harvard University and a law degree from the University of California, Berkeley. Formerly an appointed commissioner on the San Francisco Board of Appeals, he has served since 2012 on the San Francisco City College Board of Trustees.
In addition, Mandelman has long been active in both Democratic political organizing and LGBTQ community service activities. In this exclusive interview with H
istory Happens
, he discusses his policy vision related to issues of LGBTQ culture, heritage and history.
What have you done to ensure that our diverse LGBTQ history and culture are preserved in San Francisco -- and why does this matter to you personally?
As chair of the board of the San Francisco LGBT Community Center, I oversaw a much needed renovation which added 10,000 feet of below-market nonprofit office space and put the center on stable financial footing for the first time in its 15 years. As president of the board of City College, I fought to save an educational institution that has been a pioneer in the field of LGBT studies. As supervisor, I will continue to champion LGBTQ culture and institutions because of my deep gratitude to prior generations of queer people and my commitment to preserving and enriching their legacy.
As supervisor, what will you do to help prevent the loss of LGBTQ culture in the Castro? What will you do to protect the LGBTQ people who live there and the businesses and organizations that serve them from displacement?
The housing crisis gravely threatens
the survival of LGBTQ culture in the Castro. I've worked with local governments and developers to produce thousands of affordable housing units throughout Northern California, and building and preserving affordable housing in District 8 will be a top priority for me as supervisor. I have been working with neighbors and merchants to address the epidemic of retail vacancies. We need leadership from City Hall that is committed to keeping community-serving small businesses and nonprofits in the neighborhoods. I support creation of an LGBTQ Castro Cultural District and will work to secure funding for the district.
We know you support our campaign to create a full-scale museum and research center dedicated to LGBTQ history and culture. Do you think the new museum should be in the Castro? What can the city do to help secure a large enough property?
People come to the Castro from all over the world to learn about the history of the LGBTQ movement. I cannot think of a better location for a museum and research center celebrating that history and culture. As supervisor I will work tirelessly to identify and acquire a prominent site large enough to accommodate the museum's growing needs over time. Even better would be a site or cluster of sites capable of addressing other acute needs as well, including affordable housing for LGBTQ youth and seniors, affordable office space for queer nonprofits, and queer performing and other arts spaces.
Terry Beswick is executive director of
the GLBT Historical Society.
NOTE:
History Happens interviewed the other District 8 candidate, incumbent Supervisor Jeff Sheehy, in our
June 2017 issue.
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 From the Staff
Highlighting the History of Queer Periodicals
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by Joanna Black & Jeremy Prince
A distance of two miles separates the GLBT History Museum and the GLBT Historical Society archives, but they're closely linked as part of a single larger effort to discover, preserve and tell stories of the LGBTQ past. As managing archivist (Joanna) and museum manager (Jeremy), we frequently collaborate on routine operations and special projects.
Despite these behind-the-scenes connections, the ways our two departments support and enhance each other are rarely visible to the public at our museum in the Castro District. As a result, we were particularly pleased when the opportunity arose to collaborate on an exhibition that would put the spotlight directly on the history and significance of a major part of our archives: the Periodicals Collection.
We decided to display a sample of our holdings of some 5,000 LGBTQ periodicals for a couple of reasons. First, because periodicals offer exceptional documentation of the queer history of Northern California, yet they often get less public notice than our artifacts, photographs and films. And second, because the very existence of LGBTQ periodicals reflects an amazing history of queer people overcoming censorship and stigma to find ways to communicate and create community.
From Private Newsletters to Mass Media
The show we put together, "Empowerment in Print: LGBTQ Activism, Pride and Lust" offers a succinct look at this history, from groundbreaking private newsletters in the 1940s to homophile journals that won the legal right to publish in the 1950s to the boom in LGBTQ magazines, newspapers, newsletters and zines during the high point of periodicals as a form of mass media from the 1960s to the 2000s.
The mission statement of one of the magazines we include in the exhibition particularly struck our fancy. The bisexual publication Anything That Moves, produced in San Francisco from 1991 to 2001, proudly announced,
"We will write or print or say Anything That Moves us beyond the limiting stereotypes," adding that the publication "is about Anything That Moves: that moves us to think; that moves us to fuck (or not); that moves us to feel; that moves us to believe in ourselves."
You really couldn't find a better summary of the motivation for LGBTQ periodicals in general.
From sober to sleek, from coy to explicit, from apolitical to militant, periodicals have given LGBTQ people the means to find empowerment in print.
Joanna Black is managing archivist for the GLBT Historical Society. Jeremy Prince is operations and exhibitions manager of the GLBT History Museum. Their exhibition, "Empowerment in Print," opens March 2 at the museum. For more information and to buy tickets to the opening reception, click here.
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| In the Archives
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by Magnus Berg
As a graduate student doing a research residency at the GLBT Historical Society, I'm working with the institution's extensive audiovisual holdings. Of the more than 800 collections in the archives, 160 contain such material. Compared to paper, audiovisual recordings exist in a wider variety of formats. All deteriorate at a rapid rate, with specific warning signs for each.
The Harold T. O'Neal Collection is emblematic of most of these issues. Consisting of 305 home movies made between the late 1930s and the late 1980s, it's one of the Historical Society's largest audiovisual collections. It's also the most diverse in terms of formats, as it contains 8mm, Super 8 and 16mm films, as well as 1/4-inch open-reel audiotapes and Digital Betacam and VHS videotapes.
Pressing Conservation Concerns
One of the most pressing conservation concerns for this collection is film loops held together with masking tape. Independent filmmakers and hobbyists often used such household materials to store their films. Unfortunately, over time the tape degrades and can cause damage to the film emulsion. Storing film in loops rather than on plastic cores also can cause the film to warp.
My residency at the archives includes performing conservation on audiovisual materials such as these loops. The O'Neal collection contains the oldest moving images of queer life held by the Historical Society. By assessing, repairing, cleaning and rehousing these materials, we can ensure their preservation for researchers and other viewers long into the future.
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Exhibition Opening
Empowerment in Print: LGBTQ Activism, Pride & Lust
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Friday, March 2
7:00-9:00 PM
The GLBT History Museum
4127 18th Street
A new exhibition highlighting the GLBT Historical Society's holdings of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex periodicals published in Northern California from the 1940s to the 2000s. The magazines, newspapers, newsletters and zines on display reflect how queer people have used periodicals to create community, develop culture, express desire and inspire activism. The curators will provide a brief introduction at the opening. Light refreshments will be served. Purchase tickets here.
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Illustrated Talk
The History of San Francisco's Queer Art Scene
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Thursday, March 8
7:00-9:00 PM
The GLBT History Museum
4127 18th St., San Francisco
Founded nearly 150 years ago, the San Francisco Art Institute has a rich history with LGBTQ people often playing a major role as both teachers and students. This illustrated talk by SFAI librarian and archivist Jeff Gunderson and former SFAI library staffer Jim Van Buskirk will explore the stories of those unconventional San Francisco characters. Among the figures who will be highlighted: faculty such as Jerry Burchard and James Broughton; alumni such as Bernice Bing, Catherine Opie, Win Ng, Annie Leibowitz and Jess; and cultural fellow travelers including the Cockettes, David Cannon Dashiell and Martin Wong. Join the Facebook conversation here.
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Community Gathering
A March to Remember & Reclaim Queer Space
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Saturday, March 10
4:00-6:00 PM
The Gangway
841 Larkin St., San Francisco
Free
LGBTQ leaders, LGBTQ and neighborhood organizations, activists and community members will gather at the site of The Gangway in San Francisco for a march through the Polk Gulch, one of the city's main LGBTQ enclaves starting as early as the 1950s. Participants will lay black wreaths at the sites of former queer spaces. The event is designed to call on elected officials, foundations, philanthropists, residents and all who love San Francisco to both commemorate the city's LGBTQ past and take active steps to sustain its living queer heritage and culture. Sponsored by the GLBT Historical Society, the San Francisco LGBT Center, Lower Polk Neighbors, Middle Polk Neighborhood Association and more. Join the Facebook conversation here.
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Illustrated Talk
Designing Women: An Arts-and-Crafts Lesbian Couple
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Thursday, March 15
7:00-9:00 PM
The GLBT History Museum
4127 18th St., San Francisco
$5.00 | Free for members
Architectural historian Inge Horton and novelist Linda Ulleseit will present their research on architect Emily Williams (1869-1942) and her partner, metalwork artist Lillian Palmer (1871-1961). Active in Northern California cultural circles in the first half of the 20th century, Williams and Palmer met in 1898 and became life partners, supporting each other's careers in traditionally male occupations. Both contributed work to the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exhibition, and they went on to make significant contributions to the design heritage of the region. Join the Facebook conversation here.
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Benefit
Museum After Hours: Two Anniversaries, One Party
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Friday, March 16
7:00-9:00 PM
The GLBT History Museum
4127 18th St., San Francisco
$15 - $20 (general) | $10 - $15 (members)
Buy Tickets Now
Thirty-three years ago, a band of queer history enthusiasts created the GLBT Historical Society to uncover and preserve stories of the LGBTQ past. Seven years ago, the society opened the doors of the GLBT History Museum in the Castro, featuring vibrant exhibitions highlighting the resilience and diversity of the LGBTQ community. Join us after hours at the museum for a double anniversary party to celebrate these milestones; enjoy a performance by our mistress of ceremony, Landa Lakes; and dance to the sounds of DJ Marke B. Drinks and light refreshments will be served. Purchase tickets here.
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Community Forum
Fighting Back: Identity Politics & Electoral Politics
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Wednesday, March 28
7:00-9:00 PM
The GLBT History Museum
4127 18th St., San Francisco
Free Admission | $5.00 donation welcome
The latest in the our monthly "Fighting Back" series exploring contemporary queer issues in a historical context, "LGBTQ Lives, Identity Politics and Electoral Politics" will offer a multigenerational conversation about the role of sexual orientation, gender and other identities in electoral politics. A panel of historians, veteran organizers and younger activists will discuss the changing role of identity in political discourse, how a candidate's identity influences voter choice, representation of diverse populations in government, and how this history can help inform today's resistance movements. Join the Facebook conversation here.
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EXHIBITIONS & PROGRAMS
The GLBT History Museum
4127 18th St.
San Francisco, CA 94114
(415) 621-1107
Monday & Wednesday - Saturday: 11:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Tuesday: Closed
Sunday: Noon - 5:00 PM
ARCHIVES & RESEARCH CENTER
The GLBT Historical Society
989 Market St., Lower Level
San Francisco, CA 94103-1708
(415) 777-5455
www.glbthistory.org/archives
Call to schedule a research appointment.
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