Collection Number:  1

Contact Information                        Compiled by                    Date completed
The Rainbow History Project                                        Mark Meinke                                      November 29, 2003

P O Box 11013
Washington, DC 20008
(202) 907-9007
info@rainbowhistory.org

© The Rainbow History Project

DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY

Title:   Bruce C. Pennington papers 19147 -2003
Collection:  1
Creator:  Bruce C. Pennington
Quantity:
Forms of Material: correspondence, organizational records, newspaper clippings, manuscripts, photographs, brochures, buttons, t-shirts,

The Bruce C. Pennington papers include personal correspondence, records and documents of the Gay Liberation Front-DC, Stonewall Nation Media Collective-Friends Radio,  Black and White Men Together, The Rainbow History Project, gay periodicals, photographs, political and organizational buttons, commemorative t-shirts, and collected periodicals.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Bruce C Pennington was born in Rugby, ND on September 17, 1947 and died in Washington, DC on August 26, 2003.  He arrived in Washington, DC in the autumn of 1968 to work initially for Liberation News Service.  In Washington, DC he was an early member of the Gay Liberation Front (1970-1974), founding member of the Stonewall Nation Media Collective, producers of the Friends radio program on WGTB-FM and WPFW-FM (1973-1982), of Black and White Men Together-DC, and of the Rainbow History Project (2000-2003).  He served on the Washington, DC Human Rights Commission from 1988 to 1991. Pennington worked professionally as a chef and restaurant manager and a teacher of English.  As one of the first gay men to serve as a foster parent to a gay youth, he gave credibility to the gay foster parenting campaign.

COLLECTION DESCRIPTION

Series I of the Bruce C. Pennington collection consists of personal correspondence and photographs; career resumes, diplomas, and school documents; topical files and documents including the Gay Liberation Front-DC; business files, manuscripts, and newsletters from his tenure as president of Black and White Men Together-DC; files of Names Project memorabilia and obituaries of prominent members of the Washington, DC community, drafts of articles for The Advocate, .  Series II consists of collected ephemera including gay-themed t-shirts, buttons, periodicals, and videotapes.

SUBJECTS

Names:

Gay Liberation Front-DC
Human Rights Commission
Stonewall Nation Media Collective
Friends Radio
Black and White Men Together-DC
Names Project
Rainbow History Project
The Advocate

INFORMATION FOR USERS
 

Cite as:

Bruce C. Pennington Papers, #1, The Rainbow History Project.

Provenance:

Gift of Bruce C. Pennington and of the estate of Bruce C. Pennington

SERIES LIST

Series I:  Pennington personal, career, activist files
Series II:  Ephemera, publications

CONTAINER LIST

Series I
 

Loose publications:  Gay Mayday, Mayday, Women Behind Bars, Craig Russell autographed picture, souvenir brochure “The Rose”, Because… poster	Box 1	Folder 1
My interview with Brian Miller (in envelope)	Box 1	Folder 2
Rainbow History (1)	Box 1	Folder 3
Rainbow History (2)	Box 1	Folder 4
Names Project	Box 1	Folder 5
lack and White Men Together: minutes, newsletters (3/86-8/87), correspondence (1982-87), Notes from the Chair, Leadership workshop materials	Box 1	Folder 6
Gay Studies	Box 1	Folder 7
Early Writings-1970s (envelope), James White correspondence (envelope)	Box 1	Folder 8
Final instructions	Box 1	Folder 9
Gay Pride ’72 – including GLF materials	Box 1	Folder 10
Friends Tapes – including letters, WPFW proposal, show script	Box 1	Folder 11
Necrology: obituaries of friends, associates	Box 1	Folder 12
Birthday tribute	Box 1	Folder 13
Glenn Allen McKenzie correspondence (1978 - ?)	Box 1	Folder 14
How to do a zap	Box 1	Folder 15
Published arts reviews, draft of 76 raid article	Box 1	Folder 16
Bayard Rustin	Box 1	Folder 17
Resumes	Box 1	Folder 18
Loose items: Black Pride 93 program, Human Rights Commission Appointment and Award, NIMH Task Force on Homosexuality, On Our Own: Gay Men in Consciousness-Raising Groups, Metropole Cinema Club ad, Carlino/Yawitz anniversary, April 1994 GLF reunion guest book,	Box 1	Folder 19

Series II
 

Collection of political and gay buttons, 2 wooden boxes, one large, one small	Box 2	Folder
Collection of ten gay-themed t-shirts Box 2	Box 2
Photographs of family and events in Washington, DC: 6 boxes, 1 box of slides, I envelope of negatives	Box 2
POZ magazine, 10 issues Box 2	Box 2
National Lampoon, May 1997 “Gay Ish” in bag Box 2	Box 2
The Men of Sierra Domino calendar Box 2	Box 2
Black/Out magazine, Vol 1, No 1, Summer 1986 Box 2	Box 2
VHS videotape, April 24, 1993 GLF-DC reunion, 2 copies Box 2	Box 2
Audiocassette NPR Horizons 12/6/94 “Changing Attitudes: Gays and Lesbians” Box 2	Box 2