lgbtqhistoryinaustin.org

Keeping the Past Alive for the Sake of the Future

A volunteer project in Austin, TX

Austin, a modern, vibrant city

Austin has changed since the 1990s

And even more since the 1970s

A passion for preserving knowledge

The aim of The Memory Project is to expand the Austin History Center’s collection and archives by seeking donations of additional historical materials. In particular, The Project will preserve personal stories and recollections of community events by recording (audio and video) interviews with people from across a wide spectrum of the LGBTQ+ population of our city down through the years. We especially hope for participation of racial, gender, class, etc. minorities. We know that minorities get forgotten. That’s what we’re working to prevent.

The Austin History Center has a Facebook page with lots of interesting postings about local history.

Facebook page for The Austin History Center

LGBTQ Collection

The History Center has a good LGBTQ collection. And they are interested in expanding it. If you are looking for a place to leave historical records and archives, please consider the History Center.

Donate to the Archives

Instructions for how to submit material for the History Center.

DONATE

Austin LGBTQ+ Oral History Project Records in the History Center Collection

The collection is comprised of thirty-two oral history interview files and their associated transcripts. The interviews total over forty hours of recordings, with most being around an hour in length. Twenty-four of the interviews are audio-only files and eight are video recordings. The community members interviewed include founders of local nonprofits, artists, activists, professors, and business owners, as well as longtime residents of the city who have been privy to its changes over time. https://ahc.access.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/2349

Video interviews

Randy Wicker

Tom Doyal

Richard Hartgrove

Dennis Paddie

Jim Caruth

Conversations

Arro Smith, Suzy Shelor and Toby Johnson discuss gay/queer history.

In Remembrance of Tom Doyal (1945-2025)

Speeches & Presentations

Dennis Paddie spoke to Austin Prime Timers about the local sites around UT involved with early gay organizing.

How Hippie Hollow got its name by Dennis Paddie on “I’m from Driftwood”

Articles

About Liberty Books, the Lesbian & Gay Community Bookstore, mid-80s to mid-90s.

LGBTQ culture & community in the 80s and 90s.

LGBTQ+ History in Austin by Isabel Alonzo at Storymaps.arcig.com

Stonewall’s ripple through LGBTQ Austin, Gay Pride in Austin by Michael Barnes

Other websites

Dennis Paddie interviewed by Grace McEvoy of The Austin History Center

Oakwood Cemetery Chapel Project has an extensive page on LGBTQ+ History

The Watson Chateau now a ruin on the UT campus

An array of resources

The History Center has an existing LGBTQ collection, consisting of papers and documents, many are related to specific individuals—like Doug Dyer, one of the founders of Esther’s Follies and producer of the 1989-90 gay/lesbian activists’ musical comedy review I Pass for Straight.

Also in the collection, for example, are the papers of Janna Zumbrun, the most visible lesbian activist in Austin for a decade, chair of the Fair Housing Ordinance Alliance and Director of AIDS Services of Austin. Also, the papers of Powell (“Punky”) Shepherd, dancer, choreographer, playwright, director, and artist, and his friend Joe Ed Manry, theater director. Activists, artists, poets, dancers, photographers, musicians, businesspeople, professionals, politicians, movers and shakers—WE are all of these. And all of us have played a role in making Austin what it is. Let’s preserve this rich legacy.

We are acting as agents for collecting these documents and records. The Memory Project will not edit, interpret, spin or sell any of these materials. The Project encourages researchers and scholars to use the material, of course, and it will be available to the general public as well.

We want everybody to participate. Our initial effort will be to widen our nets and expand our contact lists to include as many aspects of Austin LGBTQ+ life as we can. We’re also looking for interviewers and, of course, for interviewees. We need your help to reach out. We invite you to participate virtually by emailing us about your interest and helping us to set up a network through the internet.

austinmemoryproject@gmail.com

We all have stories

Please tell us your stories. The future is going to want to know what the past was like. And we are the only ones who can tell them.

In Downtown Austin

  • The Austin History Center
  • The Texas State Capitol
  • The University of Texas
  • Guy Town — the nightlife district around 4th and Colorado from as earlier as the 1880s

Here’s a little quiz.

What do you remember? (click on the number after the ? to see the answer)

  1. Where was the first meeting of Austin Gay Liberation Front held? 1 Sutton Hall on the U.T. Campus, March 1970
  2. Where was the National Gay Liberation Front Conference in 1971 convened? 2 The University Y on Guadalupe (now a Pizza joint) & The Unitarian Church on Grover
  3. Who chaired the ad hoc committee for the Austin Fair Housing Ordinance? Housing Subcommittee of the Human Rights Commission and was active in crafting the recommendations to City Council concerning the Fair Housing Ordinance in 1977? 3 Janna Zumbrun. Her papers are at the Austin History Center
  4. Where was the first Gay Pride at Fiesta Gardens founded? 4 The Austin History Center front meeting room in 1989
  5. Who founded AIDS Services of Austin? 5 Paul Clover, director of Waterloo Counseling, out of which ASA developed
  6. Who founded the Octopus Club? 6Lew Aldridge & Jim Lommori & Denise Lavendar
  7. Who staged famous Halloween parties in old Gay Austin and where? 7Don Rhodes on Helms St in the late 60s
  8. Who ran for U.T. Student Body President in the 50s and was exposed as a homosexual, but came within 30 votes of winning? 8 Charles Hayden, who later took the name Randy Wicker, and became a leader in The Mattachine Society
  9. Who was the first black lesbian U.T. Student Body President? 9 Toni Luckett in 1990
  10. Who were founders of ALLGO? 10 Michael Alfaro, Saul Gonzalez and Dennis Medina
  11. Which dairy industry lobbyist also represented the gay Tavern Guild? 11 Bettie Naylor
  12. Who founded Liberty Books, the lesbian and gay community bookstore on N Lamar and 11th ? 12 Tom Doyal in 1986
  13. Who founded BookWoman and where was the original store? 13 Susan Post on East 6th Street in 1980

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” 

– The Life of Reason, 1905

George Santayana, (Probably gay)