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Seacoast NH LGBTQ+ Oral History Project
Description
An account of the resource
The NH Seacoast LGBT History Project was founded by Tom Kaufhold in 2015. Tom had been collecting papers, ephemera, and artifacts related to or created by the LGBTQ+ community on the Seacoast region of New Hampshire. To tell the story more fully, Holly Cashman, a professor at the University of New Hampshire, began collecting oral histories from the same community. <br /><br />With the assistance of interns and student workers, Dr. Cashman conducted ten interviews over a six-year period. The team processed each interview and created indexes and transcripts. Interviewees, also called narrators, were found through flyers and by visiting with local LGBTQ+ social groups such as Seacoast Gay Men. Participants were given the option to provide their full name or a partial name. This project is ongoing and Dr. Cashman and her team will continue conducting interviews which will be added to this site.<br /><br />Thanks to Holly Cashman, Tom Kaufhold, Aliya Sarris, Lily Pudlo, Zoe Dawson, the narrators, the interns, and the student workers who contributed to this project.<br /><br /><span>View the collections of the NH Seacoast LGBT History Project! Their video archive is available here: </span><a href="https://portsmouthexhibits.org/collections/show/25" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">portsmouthexhibits.org/collections/show/25</a><span> and the recordings of Women Singing OUT!, a lesbian-based choir, are available here </span><a href="https://portsmouthexhibits.org/collections/show/32" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">portsmouthexhibits.org/collections/show/32</a><span>.</span>
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Oral history with Robert Stiefel, July 21, 2020
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New Hampshire -- History
LGBTQ+ history
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An oral interview with Robert Stiefel. Recorded over Zoom.
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Cashman, Holly (interviewer)
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Seacoast NH LGBT History Project Archive
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Portsmouth Public Library, Special Collections
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2020-07-21
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Stiefel, Robert (interviewee)
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English
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8. Robert Stiefel
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Dublin Core
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Title
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Seacoast NH LGBTQ+ Oral History Project
Description
An account of the resource
The NH Seacoast LGBT History Project was founded by Tom Kaufhold in 2015. Tom had been collecting papers, ephemera, and artifacts related to or created by the LGBTQ+ community on the Seacoast region of New Hampshire. To tell the story more fully, Holly Cashman, a professor at the University of New Hampshire, began collecting oral histories from the same community. <br /><br />With the assistance of interns and student workers, Dr. Cashman conducted ten interviews over a six-year period. The team processed each interview and created indexes and transcripts. Interviewees, also called narrators, were found through flyers and by visiting with local LGBTQ+ social groups such as Seacoast Gay Men. Participants were given the option to provide their full name or a partial name. This project is ongoing and Dr. Cashman and her team will continue conducting interviews which will be added to this site.<br /><br />Thanks to Holly Cashman, Tom Kaufhold, Aliya Sarris, Lily Pudlo, Zoe Dawson, the narrators, the interns, and the student workers who contributed to this project.<br /><br /><span>View the collections of the NH Seacoast LGBT History Project! Their video archive is available here: </span><a href="https://portsmouthexhibits.org/collections/show/25" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">portsmouthexhibits.org/collections/show/25</a><span> and the recordings of Women Singing OUT!, a lesbian-based choir, are available here </span><a href="https://portsmouthexhibits.org/collections/show/32" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">portsmouthexhibits.org/collections/show/32</a><span>.</span>
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Oral history with Jon Kimbell, October 27, 2019
Subject
The topic of the resource
New Hampshire -- History
LGBTQ+ history
Description
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An oral interview with Jon Kimbell. Recorded at the Discover Portsmouth Center in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
Creator
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Cashman, Holly (interviewer)
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Seacoast NH LGBT History Project Archive
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Portsmouth Public Library, Special Collections
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2019-10-27
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Kimbell, Jon (interviewee)
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English
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7. Jon Kimbell
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Seacoast NH LGBTQ+ Oral History Project
Description
An account of the resource
The NH Seacoast LGBT History Project was founded by Tom Kaufhold in 2015. Tom had been collecting papers, ephemera, and artifacts related to or created by the LGBTQ+ community on the Seacoast region of New Hampshire. To tell the story more fully, Holly Cashman, a professor at the University of New Hampshire, began collecting oral histories from the same community. <br /><br />With the assistance of interns and student workers, Dr. Cashman conducted ten interviews over a six-year period. The team processed each interview and created indexes and transcripts. Interviewees, also called narrators, were found through flyers and by visiting with local LGBTQ+ social groups such as Seacoast Gay Men. Participants were given the option to provide their full name or a partial name. This project is ongoing and Dr. Cashman and her team will continue conducting interviews which will be added to this site.<br /><br />Thanks to Holly Cashman, Tom Kaufhold, Aliya Sarris, Lily Pudlo, Zoe Dawson, the narrators, the interns, and the student workers who contributed to this project.<br /><br /><span>View the collections of the NH Seacoast LGBT History Project! Their video archive is available here: </span><a href="https://portsmouthexhibits.org/collections/show/25" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">portsmouthexhibits.org/collections/show/25</a><span> and the recordings of Women Singing OUT!, a lesbian-based choir, are available here </span><a href="https://portsmouthexhibits.org/collections/show/32" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">portsmouthexhibits.org/collections/show/32</a><span>.</span>
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Oral history with Joe-Est, April 29, 2019
Subject
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New Hampshire -- History
LGBTQ+ history
Gay men
Description
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An oral interview with Joe-Est. Topics covered include AIDS, coming out, PRIDE, and life in Florida. Recorded at the Portsmouth Public Library in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
Creator
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Cashman, Holly (interviewer)
Source
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Seacoast NH LGBT History Project Archive
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Portsmouth Public Library, Special Collections
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2019-04-29
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English
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MovingImage
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5. Joe-Est
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Seacoast NH LGBTQ+ Oral History Project
Description
An account of the resource
The NH Seacoast LGBT History Project was founded by Tom Kaufhold in 2015. Tom had been collecting papers, ephemera, and artifacts related to or created by the LGBTQ+ community on the Seacoast region of New Hampshire. To tell the story more fully, Holly Cashman, a professor at the University of New Hampshire, began collecting oral histories from the same community. <br /><br />With the assistance of interns and student workers, Dr. Cashman conducted ten interviews over a six-year period. The team processed each interview and created indexes and transcripts. Interviewees, also called narrators, were found through flyers and by visiting with local LGBTQ+ social groups such as Seacoast Gay Men. Participants were given the option to provide their full name or a partial name. This project is ongoing and Dr. Cashman and her team will continue conducting interviews which will be added to this site.<br /><br />Thanks to Holly Cashman, Tom Kaufhold, Aliya Sarris, Lily Pudlo, Zoe Dawson, the narrators, the interns, and the student workers who contributed to this project.<br /><br /><span>View the collections of the NH Seacoast LGBT History Project! Their video archive is available here: </span><a href="https://portsmouthexhibits.org/collections/show/25" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">portsmouthexhibits.org/collections/show/25</a><span> and the recordings of Women Singing OUT!, a lesbian-based choir, are available here </span><a href="https://portsmouthexhibits.org/collections/show/32" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">portsmouthexhibits.org/collections/show/32</a><span>.</span>
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Oral history with Kevin, February 27, 2019
Subject
The topic of the resource
New Hampshire -- History
LGBTQ+ history
Gay men
Description
An account of the resource
An oral interview with Kevin (audio only). Topics covered include parents, bullying, PRIDE, Portsmouth clubs, and reflections on modern times. Recorded at Murkland Hall at the University of New Hampshire.
Creator
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Cashman, Holly (interviewer)
Source
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Seacoast NH LGBT History Project Archive
Publisher
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Portsmouth Public Library, Special Collections
Date
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2019-02-27
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<a href="https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-EDU/1.0/?language=en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">In copyright - educational use permitted</a>
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Sound
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4. Kevin
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Text
Randon T. Eddy oral history topics index
Seacoast NH LGBTQ Oral History Project
1:10 – Childhood, Long Island, NY
1:30 – Summer camp, Bow Lake, Strafford, NH; [2:30-3:00]
3:00 – College, Iowa Wesleyan College [3:00-4:17]
4:17 – Graduate school, Michigan State [4:17-4:26]
4:27 – teaching career, Title IX, inequality in women’s and men’s athletics [4:27-6:00]
6:08 – Peace Corps [6:08-6:48]
7:43 – Iris, initial idea for a women’s bar, finding the location [7:43 – 9:30]
7:53 – Newmarket, NH
9:40 – Liquor license, discrimination [9:40 – 12:37, 30:12 - 30:42]
12:50 – Iris, renovating the space [12:50 – 15:53]
14:22 – Iris, sign getting stolen [14:22, 28:55 – 29:57]
15:54 – Iris, events and communication [15:54 – 18:01]
18:37 – Iris, physical description [18:37 - 20:20]
22:10 – Iris, second sign
23:00 – Financial issues, unemployment
25:10 – Annual Christmas dinner event in Ogunquit
26:26 – Community [26:26 – 26:46]
27:01 – Iris, moving location, closing [27:01 - 28:09]
28:14 – Randon leaving Iris [28:14 – 28:55]
31:23 – lesbian life in 1980s [31:23 - 33:23]
34:00 – Message for future LGBTQ+ community
�
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PDF Text
Text
Randon T. Eddy transcript – 9/28/2023
00:00:00 Holly Cashman
And it should be recording. Hi, this is Holly Cashman. I am in Durham, New Hampshire. It's Thursday,
September 28th, 2023, and I'm recording an oral history with Randon Eddy for the Seacoast New Hampshire
LGBTQ Oral History Project. Good morning.
00:00:22 Randon T. Eddy
Good morning to you, Holly. I am talking to you from Palm Coast, Florida, just south of St. Augustine. I've
been down here in this town for going on 10 years. I moved north from Sanibel Island. And every day since a
year ago today, I'm extraordinarily thankful that I did leave the area. But my heart is broken for those people and
the environment. So welcome. Here we go.
00:00:51 Holly Cashman
And that is your artwork behind you, which is beautiful.
00:00:55 Randon T. Eddy
Yes, it is.
00:00:55 Holly Cashman
What a beautiful setting.
00:00:57 Randon T. Eddy
Thank you.
00:00:58 Holly Cashman
So, my first question is about where you grew up. Did you grow up in the Portsmouth area or did you move
here?
00:01:10 Randon T. Eddy
Well, I grew up until I could escape, which was college, on Long Island, New York in Huntington. But as a
child, starting in 1956, I was sent away to summer camp on Bow Lake, which is Northwood and Strafford. The
camp was on the Strafford side of the lake. And I went there every summer for five years as a camper, which
was glorious. And then as an adult, I wound up buying property across the lake and up the Hill from the same
lake and spent ten fabulous, soul healing years in that environment. So Portsmouth came through the many lists
of towns that I lived in in New Hampshire, but I was in Dover at the time that Portsmouth came in as far as
developing Iris. So it was that sequence.
00:02:14 Holly Cashman
So do you mind sharing your age?
00:02:18 Randon T. Eddy
Oh, no. I just turned, in July, I just turned 76.
00:02:24 Holly Cashman
Wonderful.
00:02:24 Randon T. Eddy
�So I, I earned every gray hair I have. There are a few.
00:02:32 Holly Cashman
And so how old were you when you started coming to the camp in New Hampshire?
00:02:38 Randon T. Eddy
I turned nine that summer and went on to five summers there as a camper. And I spent five summers over a 10year period as a counselor at the same camp, and interspersed another one out in Colorado, just for a little
variety, but that was right after college.
00:03:03 Holly Cashman
And where did you go to college?
00:03:06 Randon T. Eddy
I went to college in Iowa, my assistant is helping me with the wiring, so excuse me, at Iowa Wesleyan College,
which at the time was the oldest college west of the Mississippi River. And it was a very interesting and
marvelous experience to be out in the Midwest and see what that lifestyle is like compared to Long Island, New
York, back in the 50s, 60s, which was a lot calmer than it is now. The sad thing is that after two hundred and
some odd years that college closed this year, which is tragic because I mean, that's a historical site, but that's
another story Moving right along.
00:03:51 Holly Cashman
It's so sad. The pandemic has done that to a lot of really amazing, amazing higher educational institutions that
were already struggling before and then the pandemic just was the final straw.
00:04:08 Randon T. Eddy
Well, I got my undergrad degree there in physical education, recreation minor in biology and health. I went on
to Michigan State, got a master's degree and taught there. They cut the budget, took 16 of us and said, "see ya". I
wound up over in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and taught at the community college there, which was five times
bigger than my undergrad school. I was the first woman in the physical education department, coached the first
teams they ever had, had three sports, had two winning seasons, all under, for the three of them, the budget I had
for the three of them was less than the smallest men's budget. That was needless to say before Title IX. They
went on and on and said, how wonderful you are. We know we can ask you to teach anything, you're golden.
And then proceeded to cut the budget and got rid of me, but they wanted me to coach. And I said, no. So I
wound up back in New Hampshire. And the summer of '77, interviewed at West Point Military Academy. That
would have been disastrous. He wanted me. I asked, you know, what is my freedom? And he pointed to a threeinch thick binder and said, you follow that word for word. And I said, "bye". Got a job at Mount Wachusett
Community College as the aquatics director. The state had just set up the budget for that. The building was
there, the pool was there. It would have been mine to direct the whole nine yards. And the state took the money
back from the school to fund the teachers and any programs. So it took seven weeks for them to decide that. And
I said, "I'm done, I'm done with education. I've been given my heart and soul and they keep cutting budgets". So
I stepped out of that and went into industry in a million different jobs. That's the brief history on that. With one
little sideline to Africa. I stepped over and lived in Liberia, West Africa, with the Peace Corps in the mid-70s
and was the curriculum developer for the national schools. What a fabulous experience living in that country.
The people were so beautiful. The experience was wonderful. The whole idea was a farce, but what can I say? I
did what I was asked to do and then realized what a farce it was. Gave them what they asked for and said, "bye",
came back to the United States.
00:06:49 Holly Cashman
And then came back to New Hampshire? When you came back from the Peace Corps?
00:06:55 Randon T. Eddy
�Let's see. I came back, at first I went back to Michigan and could not get a job. Michigan was in a major
depression back then. I couldn't get a job sweeping floors in a factory. So I gave up after a year and then came
back to New Hampshire and was back at the camp again as assistant director and a counselor, did the interviews
at West Point and down at Mount Wachusett, and then in the fall of '77, after all of those and things fell through,
I said goodbye and went into industry.
00:07:31 Holly Cashman
So with that whole journey behind you, how did you come to decide to open a women's bar in Portsmouth?
00:07:45 Randon T. Eddy
Well, at the time, I was a chemical engineering technician. I had my own lab over there in Newmarket up on the
wonderful river in that beautiful stone former factory, which are all condos now. And it just came into my head
that we need a space where women can go and enjoy each other's company, have wonderful kinds of meetings
of various informative things, where they're safe. And I mentioned this to my business partner slash partner and
got laughed at, you know, "dream on". I said, "oh, thank you". And then I started pointing out places that might
be of interest in Dover. Thank God that didn't work because town would not have been receptive. And all of a
sudden, she was interested, and she found the space, which was Napa Auto Parts. They had the basement area
with all of their mufflers and things hanging from the ceiling. She said, come look at this. And we went in the
back stairs, and all you could see was ceiling to floor mufflers. She said, you have to get down on your hands
and knees and look underneath them to see the space. Well, we did it. We went from there. We got the space
rental. They took everything out. It was a bare, granite walled [space]. All the pipes of Portsmouth, I think, ran
through the ceiling. And just with a lot of hard work for many months, we opened New Year's Eve of 1980
without any advertising and had over 70 people and no liquor license.
00:09:30 Holly Cashman
That's so amazing. 70 people, no advertising, coming out for New Year's Eve With no liquor license is just
amazing.
00:09:40 Randon T. Eddy
That's a story the no liquor license is a is a major story about the trials of what we had to go through and the
discrimination. I always said this was a woman's space. I didn't say it was a lesbian bar, it was a woman's space.
Most lesbians seem to be women, so that worked out very well. Men have their private clubs, their Lions and all
that sort of stuff. Why couldn't we have a private club without there being a problem? Well, the individual who
was the liquor representative for Portsmouth area, never said anything, but we asked for the list of things we had
to comply with to get a license, and he gave us half of it. We didn't know that. So we got everything done, had
them all checked off, sent away our money for the license approval and waited and waited. We opened, we
made what little money we made by selling memberships And people had to bring their own, we had the mixers,
they had to bring their own booze. Wasn't pleasant. So we made a little bit of money. Not. We didn't make any,
we just got money coming in. Anyway, when we got our rejection letter from the Liquor Commission, which
was all men except for the head commissioner was a woman praise the Lord What there was no reason why. We
didn't comply with everything. Well we did with everything on the list we had, but there was the second page.
So we got an appointment to go before the commission and actually had to hire a lawyer. I laid out my vision for
going forward with the club, what I expected to go on there. And my partner laid out the business end. Couldn't
have done it without her. This was over my head. I'm the one with the vision. And we went to the Liquor
Commission, sat there and said we comply with everything. And one of the commissioners started reading off
things. Well, you don't do, let's see, statute number, blah, blah, blah. And my partner read it off with him as he
read it to us and said, yep, we do. Check that off. He went through a whole list and we complied with
everything. And he was mumbling under his breath. And finally, someone said, I think we should adjourn to
another room. So they left, left all their paperwork on the desk. And our lawyer got up and just put his hands
behind his back and casually walked around their table whistling a nice little tune, looking at what they had
written down on the pages and sat back down. And we waited. And one of them came in and said, this meeting
is over. We will be in touch with you within a week. And within a week we had our liquor license.
00:12:38 Holly Cashman
�And how long after you opened was that?
00:12:43 Randon T. Eddy
I think it was something like a month and a half or more. I really can't remember, but it was very painful. We
stupidly paid a contractor to build the beautiful bar that was downstairs and put in the dance floor and what little
lighting we had. We did all of the painting of the granite walls. But the loan that we had to pay for anything and
everything back in 1980, the percentage I think was 28% interest. Right, faces don't express the pain of that
number. So it was very, very painful. But the work we put in just went on. How do you make something that
looks like a granite basement into something that's enticing? Well, the idea is to paint everything black so it
disappears in the ceiling, and the lighting will make the pipes disappear. And the granite wall on Christmas Day,
1980, we gave ourselves an hour off and then went into town. And I'll never forget going over the big bridge
over the Piscataqua into town from Dover. And it was minus 10 degrees. And the sea fog was coming up off the
river. It was absolutely stunning. It was just beautiful. And it was a little cool in that basement, but I painted a
huge rainbow on the wall Just to add some color. Anyway, we survived. The membership kept growing. The
sign got stolen off the back. Finally, the insurance company, which was on the second floor, left. We were able
to get occupation of the upstairs, which was the street level, even though you had to go up three steps, it was the
street level business. And now we had to pay contractors again to go through the marble-on-top-of-cement,
steel-reinforced floor and cut a huge hole to put in metal stairs so that you can go from one floor to the other.
And this time we built the wall. So when you come in the front door there was a wall and then a door that went
into the upstairs space or you could go down the stairs. We did it ourselves so we didn't get in our heads over
our heads even more. Upstairs the space was the quiet -- compared to downstairs, anything was quiet -- was the
quiet space. We had a small bar, a nice salad bar, wonderful tables and chairs to sit and look out that spectacular
set of windows that looked at the old church. And that was before they built that new whatever it is, condos,
apartments, between the back of the theater and the old federal building. It was a beautiful, peaceful place with a
slight rumbling under the feet from downstairs. But the air was cleaner, no smoke, because hardly anybody went
up there. We had meetings. I'd have professionals come in and talk about maybe health issues, financial issues,
legal issues, anything we could think of that might be of interest. And we'd tell people the week before and I
don't know how I don't remember how we got the information out, but we had those little workshops just as a
service to our members. That was the whole idea. Keep it going.
00:16:20 Holly Cashman
About getting the word out, did you have a newsletter? Did you have ads that you put in the paper? Like how, it
was just word of mouth?
00:16:31 Randon T. Eddy
I would say it was word of mouth because I don't remember anything else. And this was this was back in the...
'81. And we didn't have all of the communications that we have now at our fingertips. So it had to be word of
mouth. You know, maybe they they did their own phone chain. I don't know. I really don't remember. But we
had a small turnout for each one and depending on the topic, some of them were a little bigger than others but it
pleased me. We also had Kate Clinton, the comedian, who was not Kate Clinton yet. This was before she was
Kate Clinton. She was just beginning. She came and did a packed house. Fortunately the fire marshal didn't
know. Absolutely hilarious set. She was wonderful. Holly Near stayed at the house when she did a concert at
UNH. I can't remember if she came in and just greeted and stuff. I just remember that she was there. I think that
was it for big names. We didn't have much in the way of outside entertainment come in. We did our own. We
had costume parties at Halloween that were hilarious, very creative, funny, funny stuff, talent shows, just
anything we could think of that would be different to just entertain ourselves and the others. So it was enjoyable.
00:18:03 Holly Cashman
The, I'm, how do I ask it? I'm trying to picture, for someone who has never been there, will never get to go
because it's closed. What if you were kind of imagining kind of walking in first to the original space, what
would I see? Like as you're going through the door, where is the bar? Where is the dance floor? Where is the
DJ? What kind of tables?
00:18:37 Randon T. Eddy
�Okay, here we go. I got you. The original space, one had to find their parking space on the streets wherever or in
the back. I think there was a bank parking lot that backed up to the back of the building. I can't really remember.
But you had to go down the steps, excuse me, which were probably used for unloading products from the other
businesses. Ring the bell. I was, even though I had my bartending license, went through the school, the whole
nine yards, and for a non-drinker, I think that's pretty funny. I preferred to be the greeter, because I'm a hugger,
so I got lots of hugs. It was quite lovely. And they'd ring the bell and I'd open the door, and as I got to know
them, you know, it was wonderful to greet people and welcome them. And they'd sort of walk through this small
hallway, I guess, probably eight feet, and turn left into the only room with the bathrooms off to the side, which
was a big open space. It would be sort of darkish, since we did paint everything black, but we did have lights.
We had a huge fan to suck smoke out. And there were tables set up. So you'd have, I don't remember how many,
but you'd have tables set up and then there'd be the dance floor, which was probably 10 by 10 or 12 by 12. It was
small. The bar ran along the right. It was a nice long bar and there were some stools, and then there were more
tables, and then you hit the other wall. When the stairs went in, after you walked past the bar, they would be to
the right opposite the doors that went to the restroom. Then you'd go up the stairs, turn left, the front door would
be right there. You turn left, walk a short distance, and then go through the door to the upstairs space, which was
a big open space, well lit, had, as I said, those spectacular, what, 10-foot windows that just view the church, and
at night it was well lit. It was really a beautiful view. One I wish I painted many times. The bar would have been
off to the left, the salad bar. It was a nice quiet space. We had a little backgammon table. Eventually a pool table
came in. So that was the, downstairs was darker, loud with the music, talking and smoke. Upstairs was quiet.
And that's once the upstairs opened, I volunteered to take care of that space. So It was peace and quiet for me. I
had a nice rocking chair with the occasional visitor.
00:21:21 Holly Cashman
Oh, I wish you had painted it too. I would love to have a painting to be able to... Do you have photos?
00:21:29 Randon T. Eddy
I have nothing.
00:21:30 Holly Cashman
Do you know anyone who has photos? Of course, we didn't all have a camera in our pocket at all times like we
do now with a cell phone.
00:21:38 Randon T. Eddy
This is true. This is true.
00:21:40 Holly Cashman
I'm hoping to talk with people who were members who went there regularly who have photos. But I don't have
very much hope because that's not -00:21:53 Randon T. Eddy
I don't think they will. I don't remember people walking around taking pictures, not like today. Everybody
would be doing selfies. But it was harder in those days, because it would have been a camera, there would have
been flash, it would have had to been set up. So it wouldn't have been quiet. There was a second sign put out on
the front. You showed me a picture of one that somebody had. And as I said, I don't remember which sign it
was. If it was the first one that was stolen or the second one, which I made sure was higher and no one could
reach without being very obvious on a high ladder. So anyway, I don't know what happened to the second sign. I
got out of IRIS probably around November. I was done. I did not make one cent. Not one penny. I was on
unemployment because I stopped my laboratory job because I needed to work full time at getting Iris up and
running. So I was living on unemployment. My partner was living on unemployment because she had quit her
job also. Someone somewhere saw an article about the bar and us and reported me, I think probably both of us,
to the unemployment security, and they came after us. And demanded that we pay back because we were getting
it fraudulently. I don't, all I know is I wasn't working, and you know New Hampshire gave you about one
quarter of one quarter of what you were making. So it was a minuscule amount. My partner got a lawyer and
fought it and won. I couldn't afford a lawyer. I didn't have any money. So they made me pay it back, which I
�kind of stalled doing for a long time because I thought it was very unfair. And no one said anything. And finally,
they came after me again. And we had a meeting, and they agreed that I could pay a small amount a month. I
mean, it would have taken probably the rest of my life. And then basically, they forgave me the debt eventually.
But I eventually got other jobs anyway and went on my merry way. But once I got out, my partner had it full.
That's all she could do, full time, seven days a week. And she carried it on. The membership got up to over 600
people from all over the world. It was a good community for those who were local in New Hampshire and even
Northern Massachusetts. It was a good community and it spawned other events that became annual events and
gatherings, which I think is the most important thing that came out of that club, was the community.
00:25:03 Holly Cashman
What kind of other events kind of grew out of the Iris community?
00:25:10 Randon T. Eddy
Well there was, and might still be, I'm not sure, I haven't been up there for 23 years, an annual Christmas dinner
that could have 250 women with a waiting list of well over 100 at a Ogunquit facility. I'm not gonna name any
names because I don't have anybody's permission. But it was fabulous because the women would get all dressed
up, and I loved to go and just watch them disembark from their jeeps or their limousines or their fancy cars. And
they'd come in just dressed to the nines. And it was really enjoyable. Food was excellent. It was just a wonderful
evening and I looked forward to it every year. Again, good community, meet new people, some of the old ones.
And as I said, that was the important thing. Excuse me. We supported each other if someone had an event they
were going to, like a road race running. Excuse me. We'd support each other and a group would go down and
cheer them on as they raced around Boston for the women's 5K or whatever.
00:26:24 Holly Cashman
Oh, that's great.
00:26:26 Randon T. Eddy
It was just, it was fun. It was a good community. We'd get together for potlucks and birthday parties or
whatever. It was a good way to meet some wonderful, wonderful people from all walks of life, jobs, intelligence
level, you name it. It was very, very encouraging. It was a good community. I was very proud of that outcome.
00:26:53 Holly Cashman
So when did Iris eventually have to close?
00:27:01 Randon T. Eddy
She moved out of that space, I can't tell you any years, and she moved over to Route 1, right where the entrance
ramp is that goes up to, what is it, Madbury Avenue, I think. There was a little business right at the base of that
ramp. And she had that. It was there. I don't know if she had to move another time. But I think she went on for
another six years until she said, time out. I'm done. She tried to sell it. But what are you selling? A liquor license
and a name. You don't have to do that. Just if someone wanted to open another one, it'd just be osmosis. Bang.
From one to another. So she got out of it. I mean, eventually she...
00:27:46 Holly Cashman
Did she have the same name in the new location?
00:27:47 Randon T. Eddy
Yes. When she moved, she took the name with her because she had to have the liquor license to go with her. So
that's where you know the sign disappeared. No, I have no idea. Never asked her. Didn't care. But she, she hung
on and kept things going. Didn't have an upstairs, downstairs. It was just a space. And I think there were two of
them.
00:28:10 Holly Cashman
�What year was it when you left?
00:28:14 Randon T. Eddy
I left at the end of '81. So I was there working on it from the time we started working on it to the time I left, it
was a little over a year, it was probably about 14 or 15 months. But I'm not a bar person. I enjoy the dancing, but
I don't enjoy, I'm not a smoker, I certainly don't like the smoke. And I had other things to do in my life besides
sitting upstairs in a rocking chair every evening and wondering where the money's gonna come from. So I had
done my thing, which was having the site and getting it up and running and let the business person take it.
00:28:56 Holly Cashman
The question of the sign and it being stolen, Do you think that was just a negative reaction to
00:29:08 Randon T. Eddy
Yes!
00:29:09 Holly Cashman
what the business was about?
00:29:10 Randon T. Eddy
You don't even have to go on. We only had a couple of negative happenings, And that was when only the
downstairs was open. One was the sign was stolen and another was the door was egged and someone came and
bang on it and ran away. But that was it. And I'll say we got off very easily. No one tried to force their way in or
anything. Men were allowed if they were accompanied by a member. And I really only remember one woman
who brought her boyfriend, which there you go, it was a woman's space. And he was delightful, so it was good.
But really nothing negative other than sign stolen, egging, and banging.
00:29:58 Holly Cashman
And outside of the actual premises, was there Any kind of negative backlash like in the business community or
anything else?
00:30:12 Randon T. Eddy
No, the only negative thing would would be the male liquor commissioner in the beginning -- liquor
commission representative -- in the beginning. Whatever his concept was that we were trying to achieve here, he
just obviously by only giving us half of the application was making sure that we had a hard time.
00:30:43 Holly Cashman
The one thing I'm thinking that kind of might be of interest to people who will listen to this interview, you
know, now or in the future, is to try to imagine what life was like for women, and specifically for lesbians, in the
80s. Were most of the people who came to Iris, do you think they were out as lesbians in their lives? Were they
closeted because of work? What did you experience?
00:31:23 Randon T. Eddy
Yeah, I'm gonna have to make this short because I'm running out of time, but I think that's a good question. I am
so thrilled with the changes that have taken place over the decades of my life. Back then, you really got looked
at hard if you had the courage to walk down the street holding your partner's hand. You didn't even mention
partner. This is my "friend", if you introduced them. It was avoided because there was quite a bit of
discrimination. We did not get hassled. Most everybody behaved themselves. The community, the commercial
community was very open. Can you pause it a minute?
00:32:08 Randon T. Eddy
�I'm very happy with how many people have said, What's the problem here? You know, we're getting all blown
away by people who love versus getting blown away by drugs and guns and everything else that we should be
getting a little more upset about. Let's move on to priorities. And I know there are those who would try to
dismiss us and the whole idea of people being coupled with people they love, regardless of what the sex is. But
back then it was tough. We got by. I'm very happy with how the world is slowly changing in some countries. I
just hope it continues on a positive note for everyone. And I'm very happy that we muddled through what was
thrown in front of us for Iris and the community that it created. And my partner's keeping it going for six years
of her life, given to that. It was an important moment in that space and time. And I'm very happy for how it has
grown more open to more people.
00:33:24 Holly Cashman
And I'm happy that people are going to be able to remember it because you were willing to do this interview and
even beyond kind of our our lifespan for other people to be able to hear about it and hear about what you were
able to accomplish. Last question, because I know you have to run. If you have any message for kind of the
future generation of LGBTQ people? What would you want to share with them?
00:34:00 Randon T. Eddy
Don't let people laugh at your ideas because they don't appreciate them. If you believe in something, stick to it.
Find someone who has your sight and go for it. Put your priorities in the right place. Don't bang your head
against the wall. As I always say, if gravity doesn't fail, it's not that important. So that I just be true to yourself.
And you know, you know, you're going to get hurt emotionally by some people who reject you, but how you
handle yourself is the most important thing, not how they handle themselves. You're your issue, not them. So
stick to it.
00:34:50 Holly Cashman
Beautiful that is perfect to end on I'm going to hit stop now and...
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Seacoast NH LGBTQ+ Oral History Project
Description
An account of the resource
The NH Seacoast LGBT History Project was founded by Tom Kaufhold in 2015. Tom had been collecting papers, ephemera, and artifacts related to or created by the LGBTQ+ community on the Seacoast region of New Hampshire. To tell the story more fully, Holly Cashman, a professor at the University of New Hampshire, began collecting oral histories from the same community. <br /><br />With the assistance of interns and student workers, Dr. Cashman conducted ten interviews over a six-year period. The team processed each interview and created indexes and transcripts. Interviewees, also called narrators, were found through flyers and by visiting with local LGBTQ+ social groups such as Seacoast Gay Men. Participants were given the option to provide their full name or a partial name. This project is ongoing and Dr. Cashman and her team will continue conducting interviews which will be added to this site.<br /><br />Thanks to Holly Cashman, Tom Kaufhold, Aliya Sarris, Lily Pudlo, Zoe Dawson, the narrators, the interns, and the student workers who contributed to this project.<br /><br /><span>View the collections of the NH Seacoast LGBT History Project! Their video archive is available here: </span><a href="https://portsmouthexhibits.org/collections/show/25" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">portsmouthexhibits.org/collections/show/25</a><span> and the recordings of Women Singing OUT!, a lesbian-based choir, are available here </span><a href="https://portsmouthexhibits.org/collections/show/32" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">portsmouthexhibits.org/collections/show/32</a><span>.</span>
Moving Image
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Oral history with Randon T. Eddy, September 28, 2023
Subject
The topic of the resource
New Hampshire -- History
LGBTQ+ history
Lesbians
Description
An account of the resource
An oral interview with Randon T. Eddy with transcript and index included. Randon was the founder of Isis, a bar for women located in Portsmouth. She discusses its conception, opening, and operation during the 1980s. Recorded online using TheirStory. The interviewer was in Durham, New Hampshire and the interviewee was in Palm Coast, Florida.
Creator
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Cashman, Holly (interviewer)
Source
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Seacoast NH LGBT History Project Archive
Publisher
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Portsmouth Public Library, Special Collections
Date
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2023-09-28
Contributor
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Eddy, Randon T. (interviewee)
Rights
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<a href="https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-EDU/1.0/?language=en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">In copyright - educational use permitted</a>
Format
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mp4
0:34:51
PDF
Language
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eng
Type
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MovingImage
Text
Identifier
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10. Randon T. Eddy
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Josephy Murphy oral history topics index
Seacoast NH LGBTQ Oral History Project
00:53 – Manchester, NH [00:40-03:22, 06:49-16:08, 20:55]
01:10 – AA [01:10, 10:05-10:43, 22:10-25:05, 31:12-33:46, 36:01-37:05, 01:07:23-01:10:24]
03:11 – Depression, suicide
03:22 – St. Mary’s University (Halifax, Nova Scotia) [03:22-05:00]
04:52 – Benedictine Monastery (Benet Lake, Wisconsin) [04:52-6:55]
07:30 – Marriage [07:30-12:55, 14:52-16:30]
10:05 – Alcoholism [10:05-10:43, 11:15-13:48, 17:55-18:30, 20:22-21:00, 22:21-25:05, 01:07:2301:10:24]
13:51 – “Coming out” [13:51-16:08, 17:09, 01:10:25]
15.30 - Mental breakdown
16:08 – Portsmouth [16:08-18:28, 29:03-33:30]
16:30 – Blue Strawbery restaurant [16:30, 17:26, 21:19]
17:14 – Portsmouth, 1980s [17:14-17:48]
18:28 – Penhallow Group [18:28-19:28, 52:02]
19:28 – Florida, Clearwater Beach Hotel [19:28-20:58, 25:58]
21:22 – Relationship with family after “coming out” [21:22-22:10]
23:00 – Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), sobriety, St. John’s [23:13, 24:51]
25:05 – Gay AA [25:05-29:38]
25:20 – Seacoast Gay Men [25:20-31:12, 40:00-40:45, 42:48-44:02, 50:42, 52:02-53:45, 54:201:00:41]
26:57 – UU Church, State Street [26:57, 29:03]
27:05 – Durham, NH [27:05, 01:11:50]
27:18 – UNH [27:18, 01:11:00-01:12:05]
29:38 – LGBTQ+ places (names unknown) (businesses, hangouts, etc.) [29:38-31:12, 52:20-53:43]
33:47 – AIDS crisis [33:47, 42:03, 59:32-01:00:00]
34:45 – AIDS Response Seacoast [34:45-41:13]
40:27 – Feminist Health Center [40:27, 50:42]
41:16 – Gay Men Fight AIDS [40:49- 44:02, 56:19-56:48]
43:08 – The AIDS “cocktail” [43:08-44:02, 55:00]
43:26 – Tim/Kitty’s funeral; Religion, Catholicism [43:26-50:08]
47:30 – Portsmouth, discrimination [47:30-47:55, 50:12-51:34]
51:24 – Ogunquit, discrimination [51:24-51:50]
53:49 – The Rainbow Connection, collaboration with “gay women’s group” (name unknown) [53:4955:00]
54:20 – Seacoast Outright [54:20-56:48]
55:25 – Portland, Pride Dance [55:25-56:48]
56:48 – Message for the future [56:48-1:00:41]
01:00:51 – AIDS, personal loss [43:28-47:03, 01:00:51-01:06:36]
01:06:36 – Message for past self [01:06:36-01:10:58]
01:11:00 – Current life, hopes for the future [01:11:00-01:12:05]
�
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Joseph Murphy transcript - 2/23/2019
Seacoast NH LGBTQ Oral History Project
00:00:00 Holly Cashman
I should start rolling. Yep.
00:00:03 Joseph Murphy
Cool.
00:00:04 Holly Cashman
So, thank you so much for agreeing to do this.
00:00:07 Joseph Murphy
My pleasure. I'm glad to do it.
00:00:07 Holly Cashman
A second time.
00:00:08 Joseph Murphy
Yeah. Yeah.
00:00:09 Holly Cashman
At least this time, for the record. Can we start out just with your name, where you were born, your age, or
however you're comfortable sharing it, and start there?
00:00:23 Joseph Murphy
Yep. My name is Joseph Murphy. I was born in Manchester, New Hampshire. I'm 75 years old, 76 next month.
00:00:34 Holly Cashman
Oh, happy early birthday.
00:00:36 Joseph Murphy
Thank you. What else?
00:00:39 Holly Cashman
So, So, you maybe could talk a little bit about kind of growing up in Manchester, what your family was like,
what your neighborhood or community was like.
00:00:52 Joseph Murphy
Well, back in the days I grew up in, your neighborhood was your whole community. My family was Irish
Catholic, very strict, went to church every Sunday. When I talk about my childhood, especially when I share it
in an AA meeting, I'm in recovery, there's not a lot of memory about my childhood. Not because it was bad or it
was exceptionally exceptional, it just was. Things for me started changing when I was in my early teens, about
13. I pretty much knew then that I was gay. Didn't know anything about what it meant, how to do gay, but I
knew that I liked boys. Met an older guy who worked in a neighborhood drug store where we used to go and
have sodas and stuff and talk to him. And connected with him a little bit. Had not really a sexual relationship,
just experimenting. And at the time, my group of friends, it's hard to explain, in the back of my house was an old
�barn and we had like a clubhouse in the barn. And there was one of the guys, in the barn. And there was one of
the guys, an older man, he was 16 and I was 15. And we ended up having a sexual relationship, unbeknownst to
the rest of the group. And somehow, and the details are very vague now for me, but it came out that I might be
gay. In my group of friends. And I was, I just lost all my friends. So when that happened, I think I was a junior
in high school. So my junior and senior year in high school was very, very lonely and very depressing. I did try
to commit suicide on a bottle of aspirin. Nothing happened, of course, but I did try it. Anyway, when I graduated
from high school, I decided to go. At the time, I don't know why this was popular, but it was St. Mary's
University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. So So that was exciting. And so I went and I had two roommates. And like
the second day we were there, one of my roommates was from New Brunswick and he had a car. So we were
going to do a little road trip and explore the area. And area. And he had somehow gotten a bottle of rum. And so
they were drinking rum and 7-Up, and I hated 7-Up, so I was just drinking rum. I was 17 I was 17 years old. Of
course, by the time we get back to the dorm, I was drunk. And we had five flights of stairs to crawl up. There
was no elevators. I remember going into the room, throwing up in the sink, taking a nap, and then saying, Okay,
let's go, and we went out. That was the beginning of my drinking career at 17. I don't know why we were all 17,
18, but we always had booze. Somehow it was available. So I partied that whole year, flunked out of school, and
decided that I was going to join the Benedictine monastery and become a monk. So I did. I left Manchester and
went to Benet Lake, Wisconsin. It was a Benedictine monastery.
00:05:12 Holly Cashman
Is there like an application process, or how did that work?
00:05:15 Joseph Murphy
Oh, it was so easy. You just send them a letter. Yeah, it was easy to get in. And there were a lot of guys from
Manchester who went to St. Mary's, and a couple went out to Benet Lake as well. Someone else introduced me
to it. And it was a beautiful, beautiful place. We lived on this lake, Benet Lake. And the layout was great. The
life was great. The only thing that disturbed me was our abbot's parents were both alcoholics. So there was no
anything allowed in the monastery. No wine, no beer, no whiskey, anything. And I lasted about a year. I loved
it. It was an idyllic life. It was college. It was studying again. We also were, it was funny, we received alcoholic
priests trying to sober up. They were assigned to us. I remember we had this one Irish priest, he was so funny,
and and he was still a drunk. I don't know where he got the booze, but, I mean, we would be Latin class and he'd
be speaking to us in Greek, you know, stuff like that. Anyway, after a year, I had taken my simple vows, and
after a year, I wanted to drink. And I left. So, came back home with my tail between my legs again, another
failure. Ended up getting a job at a textile factory in Manchester. It was in the shipping room, it wasn't like a
laborer, but anyway, I became part of management very quickly. And I got into a group of friends who were a
little older than me, two and three years older, and we would go out every night in the car and just drink beer.
00:07:21 Holly Cashman
Would that have been like in the 70s? That would have been, let's see,
00:07:27 Joseph Murphy
late 60s, late 60s, early 70s. And so I met a girl there at work. We worked together in the department, and she
lived not far from where I lived, and I didn't drive. For some reason, at that point, I had never got a license. I I
learned to drive, crashed my father's car, and I never got my license. And anyway, she started picking me up,
and up, and we started hanging out together on weekends. We went partying together with the group. It It was a
whole group of us, and she drank like I did. And this went on for several years, because that would have been
two years probably, and around just before my 21st birthday, the friends I was hanging around with were all
getting engaged or married and blah, blah, blah, and my mother, who was a very wise Polish woman, said to me,
well, all your friends are getting married. If you get married, I'll buy you a colored TV. And I said, oh, okay.
00:08:35 Holly Cashman
Bribery.
00:08:36 Joseph Murphy
�So that's how I got married. We did. We got married, and just before the wedding, I got my draft notice. So we
moved the wedding up like a month.
00:08:51 Holly Cashman
Vietnam.
00:08:52 Joseph Murphy
Yup And I dodged the draft, and we got married.
00:08:58 Holly Cashman
So they did not make you go if you had just gotten married?
00:09:01 Joseph Murphy
Right. Right.
00:09:02 Holly Cashman
That was like a hardship kind of thing?
00:09:03 Joseph Murphy
Right. They weren't taking married men at the time. So we get married. I slept with a man on my honeymoon.
We were in New York City. Like the third night, we had gone out to dinner and gone to theater and stuff like
that. Like the third night, my wife said, I'm really tired. I don't want to go out tonight. I'm just going to go to bed
early. I said, fine, I'm just going to go downstairs and have a cocktail. So I go down to the lounge, and it's
mobbed. So they sent me at a booth, and they said, well, you know, we're going to have to settle the people in
here, too. And sure enough, they did, and this guy came on to me in the booth, and in the booth, and we ended
up sleeping together that night. So it should have been a signpost.
00:09:54 Holly Cashman
What were you thinking at that time? Were time? Were you thinking, like, what have I done?
00:10:04 Joseph Murphy
Yes and no, because what I'll tell you is, and I say this when I share at AA, that alcohol kept me married for 16
years. It was my escape. I was a binge drinker. I always said I didn't drink every day, but I really did. I always
drank beer every day. But my modus operandi was I would go out on a Friday night to get a pack of cigarettes
and be gone for three days. And that's how I dealt with my sexuality and my marriage. I had a wonderful
marriage. I I had a wonderful wife. We wife. We have two beautiful children. We have a bunch of
grandchildren. And after 16 years, through a set of circumstances, I've been leaving a lot off, I had a very
successful career. When I left the textile mill, I was in management, and and I was recruited by a trucking firm
because I used to deal with them. So I worked at a trucking firm in Manchester and had a very good job. I was
assistant vice president and a lot of responsibility, promotion, promotion, promotion, more money, more money,
more money. But my drinking was at that point out of control because the job I had was three, four martini
lunch. One day after lunch, I came back to my office, and I was drunk. And I just said, I don't want to do this
anymore. I left a note saying, I'm quitting. And that was it. It was a beautiful job. I had it made. Went home that
day, and there was six workmen in my backyard putting in a pool. But my wife made good money as well. And
our in-laws lived with us, my mother- and father-in-law, and and they were great. I loved them dearly. They
gave us the opportunity to both work, make good money. They took care of the kids. My mother-in-law did the
laundry. She did the housework. My father-in-law kept up the lawns, did the snow stuff. So we had it made.
And we were very, very involved in our community, our church community. And to look at us, people would
say we had the perfect ideal marriage and and that we were perfect. We were not. We were not. Inside the first
37 years of my life, I lived in total self-loathing and fear that someone would find out who I really was.
00:12:57 Holly Cashman
�So do you think there's a connection between the self-loathing of being in the closet and drinking?
00:13:10 Joseph Murphy
Well, yes. To set the record straight, I don't believe that my alcoholism made me gay. I do think that my gayness
fed into my alcoholism because one of the classic symptoms of alcoholism is that your disease tells you you are
worthless piece of shit, you will never amount to anything, nobody could possibly love you, and blah, blah,
blah. So they fed off each other. It was finally, I actually met, I was working at the time at a hotel and and there
was a young man who was the, what do you call him, he worked the desk with me, he took care of luggage, and
and he brought people to their rooms and stuff. And he was gay. And I wasn't out at that time to anybody, barely
to myself. Then he would start talking to me about his boyfriend and how they did this this weekend and blah,
blah, blah. And all I knew of the life at the time was you get drunk, you black out, you have sex, you might have
it in the bar, you might have it on the bar, you you might have it in the men's room, you might have it under a
table, you didn't care. And he started talking about like a normal life that gay men had, and I had no concept of
that, I had no experience with it. And he was pretty much the catalyst to make me decide that I had to come out.
And I made that decision, and I told my wife, and she called my brother, my older brother, who was my rock
growing up. He was my hero. And we were still very close, he and his wife and myself and my wife. And he is a
very hard-headed, opinionated, stubborn bastard. And he came to the house and he said, No, you're not gay,
you're sick, and we'll get a doctor. And at that point, my brain could not handle it, and I snapped. I I had a total
one flew over the cuckoo's nest breakdown. So I ended up in the nut house for a while, I don't remember how
long. It was a while, I do remember I was running the place when they left. At least I thought I did. But when I
came out of that, it was like an enema to the brain is the only way I can describe it. I it. I had made up my mind
that I was an alcoholic, that I would go into recovery, and that I was gay, and I was never going back into the
closet. And that was it. I ended up leaving my home. Ended up moving to the Portsmouth area. The funny thing
is my wife, my ex-wife, actually found me a living arrangement because she worked with a woman whose
brother lived in Portsmouth. And I don't remember if you remember the Blue Strawbery Restaurant.
00:16:33 Holly Cashman
I've heard of it.
00:16:34 Joseph Murphy
He was one of the owners.
00:16:36 Holly Cashman
Oh, wow.
00:16:37 Joseph Murphy
And I moved in with him, and I fell into an incredibly wonderful situation.
00:16:42 Holly Cashman
Yeah, you just arrived and you're right there in the center.
00:16:45 Joseph Murphy
Yeah, and I was thrust into a circle of straight and gay people who were very open-minded and very accepting.
He would take me to New York, we would go to plays, we'd go to Boston, we'd to Boston, we'd go to ballets,
we'd go to museums. It just opened me up to a culture that I had never been involved in.
00:17:07 Holly Cashman
Around what time was that?
00:17:09 Joseph Murphy
�That would have been in 1980. I was 37 when I came out.
00:17:14 Holly Cashman
And what was Portsmouth like in 1980?
00:17:17 Joseph Murphy
To me, it was amazing. Bow Street was very, very busy. And the Blue Strawbery was one of the original draws
to that whole area and and why it developed.
00:17:33 Holly Cashman
That restaurant row.
00:17:35 Joseph Murphy
Yes, yeah. It was very cultural. It was great. I loved it. But it it. But it was like moving to New York City from
Manchester. It was just like a whole new world. So that went okay for a while. And at one point, I said to
myself, well, you know what, I probably am not really an alcoholic. I probably drank because I was in the closet
and fighting my sexuality. So I experimented. And within two or three weeks, I knew I was an alcoholic. In the
course of probably two years, I ended up getting three DUIs. So lots of trouble. Then I was approached by a
gentleman from a group called the Penhallow Group, which was a gay advertising agency. Oh, Oh, wow. They
were right across the street from the post office on Daniel Street. So I took a job there. And the weirdest part of
it was they were all potheads, and I never even smoked pot. I I was booze. So I said, well, I can't drink. And
And they said, well, then you can smoke pot. And I go, okay. So I would buy it, and I liked cleaning it and all
that. But then I would give it away. I never really smoked it that much. And that lasted about a year. And then
business started really tanking. There was problems. I mean, it was so bad that I had to go to some of my
accounts and ask for payments a month in advance to get the payroll for the staff. Anyway, I decided I was
leaving that job. And a friend of mine who had worked for me in Porteus, Mitchell & Braun, which was a
clothing store, used to be in the original Newington Mall, and he and some other people from the area were
going to Florida to work in the Clearwater Beach Hotel. And at that point, how old am I? 40, 41. Why not
become a waiter at 41? Who knows? So we went down, and it was a great situation because they had built a new
hotel on the beach, but they left the old hotel right on the beach, and that was where they housed the staff. So we
lived there, and they fed us all our meals. And I mean, I would wake up in the morning, walk two steps and be
on this beautiful Clearwater Beach. And I was not doing very well being sober. I was drinking and not saving
any money. And then I got really involved in the gay community and promiscuous sexual events. So that lasted
about, well, I fell in love with another drunk. We We were both trying to recover. It didn't work, and I ended up
coming back home. Anyway, I'm jumping all over the place. Back home, back in Manchester.
00:21:05 Holly Cashman
Oh, so when you said back home, back in Manchester.
00:21:09 Joseph Murphy
Yeah, because I had left everything. Anyway, I ended up back within a month. I was back in my original living
situation with the owner of the Blue Strawbery, which was great.
00:21:23 Holly Cashman
When you came back from Florida, what kind of, you know, between coming out and then being in Portsmouth
and being in Florida, did you have any kind of relationship with your family, with your ex-wife, with your kids?
00:21:41 Joseph Murphy
I didn't see much of my family, and it was just because the way it happened, it wasn't. I did go through a really
hard time with my brother when I came out. It was really horrible, and we broke our relationship, and he didn't
come around until my mother died, and at the funeral he apologized for the way he treated me. But then our
relationship was never the same. But when I came back, things were good. I got right back into my circle, but
�what did happen was my recovery became more a part of my life. I was still drinking, and I knew that I had a
problem, and I was at a cocktail party one night, hitting on this guy, and I said, oh, excuse me, I have to go to
the men's room. And I came back, and I go, who's the asshole that put the cigarette out of my drink? He said,
that would be you. I said, oh. Anyway, we ended up in a sexual relationship for quite a while. He was 10 years
sober. He was in AA. He got me into AA, you know, for real. And I remember going to my first meeting with
him. It him. It was a huge meeting. I think it was St. John's on a Saturday night, and at that time there were like
200 people there. And I listened to a speaker, and I'm like, oh, my God, this is me. They're talking about me.
And then the cinch or the hook to me was when the speaker said, remember this, you never have to do this alone
again. And that was the hook that got me. So this guy I had the relationship, the sexual relationship with, and I
found out he was in an open relationship with an older man. Anyway, I asked him to be my sponsor. I don't
know what you know about AA, but part of it is sponsorship where you have a mentor that you go to if you have
troubles or questions.
00:24:13 Holly Cashman
But I would imagine you're not allowed to be in a relationship with that person.
00:24:17 Joseph Murphy
Well, that was the other thing. He said, well, you know what that means. I said, yeah, that means. I said, yeah,
that you'll be my sponsor. He says, no, you know what that means. I said, I said, no, what? He He said, no more
sex. I said, what? But I said, okay, because I knew I needed someone who could handle me because I was very
manipulative. I was a very charismatic personality, and I could get people to do almost anything I wanted
because I would do that for them. I would be whatever you wanted me to be.
00:24:51 Holly Cashman
And at that time was this huge, I'm guessing, that that this huge meeting at St. John's wasn't particularly gay
community.
00:24:59 Joseph Murphy
No. No.
00:25:00 Holly Cashman
So having a sponsor who could also understand that part of it.
00:25:03 Joseph Murphy
Well, he was of it. Well, he was gay.
00:25:04 Holly Cashman
Yeah, it must have been important.
00:25:06 Joseph Murphy
Yeah. But gay AA started very quickly right around that time.
00:25:16 Holly Cashman
Like mid-'80s?
00:25:20 Joseph Murphy
The best I can date it is in 1979, Seacoast Gay Men began. Oh, okay. Shortly after that, gay AA was founded by
the same people who started Seacoast Gay Men.
00:25:37 Holly Cashman
�Oh, okay.
00:25:38 Joseph Murphy
So Seacoast okay. So Seacoast Gay Men is celebrating 40 years this year.
00:25:43 Holly Cashman
That's amazing.
00:25:45 Joseph Murphy
And And I think AA is like 38 or 39.
00:25:49 Holly Cashman
Coming together as Seacoast Gay Men, a lot of people must have said, oh, hey, we also have this other thing in
common.
00:25:56 Joseph Murphy
Yeah, we were very enmeshed. And when I came back from Florida, I got involved in both, which was my
lifesaver. Started going religiously to Seacoast Gay Men, and the gay AA meeting was Friday night, and I went
to that. Plus, there was a group of us in the area, gay men and women, who hung out, and we would go to all the
meetings in the area. We would go to meetings seven nights a week. We never got home before midnight
because after the meeting, we did coffee, and we shared, we laughed, we cried. We had a really strong group of
support.
00:26:42 Holly Cashman
Men and women.
00:26:43 Joseph Murphy
Men Men and women. Gay AA, the first five or six years that I attended, averaged three to five people. It was
very small. So we decided, after like four or five years, to move to Portsmouth, to the UU church. So So did it
start in Kittery?
00:27:06 Joseph Murphy
Durham.
00:27:07 Holly Cashman
Oh, in Durham.
00:27:08 Joseph Murphy
Durham. Durham. A women's, I can't remember what building it was, but it was a lesbian kind of thing.
Anyway.
00:27:18 Holly Cashman
At UNH?
00:27:20 Joseph Murphy
Yeah, at UNH.
�00:27:21 Holly Cashman
Oh, okay.
00:27:22 Joseph Murphy
And And when we moved to Portsmouth, the first night, we had 80 people. Wow. We had 80 to 100 people
every Friday night for ten years. Wow. It was a huge meeting.
00:27:37 Holly Cashman
How did you get the word out in those days? Was there a newsletter?
00:27:40 Joseph Murphy
Just word of mouth. No, AA is all word of mouth. In those days, it's not as strict now, but I mean, it was very,
very anonymous, and it was very, we didn't want publicity, we didn't want anything in writing or anything.
00:27:56 Holly Cashman
At this conference I go to every year, a huge conference, there's just a little line in the program with a room
number, and it just says Friends of Bill W. And it doesn't say anything else. If you're looking for it, you know
what it is.
00:28:11 Joseph Murphy
Exactly. And that's, it's funny because last night at the meeting we read Tradition 3 about how when AA first
started that that some groups had like hundreds of rules and regulations, and it was crazy. But now our only rule,
if you want to call it a rule, is to become a member of AA. You only need to have the desire to stop drinking.
That's it. There are no other rules, period. So AA at that time and SGM at the time were like the hottest things
on the Seacoast for gay people. And went on like that for years and years.
00:29:03 Holly Cashman
Where did, when you moved to Portsmouth from Durham, where did you meet?
00:29:08 Joseph Murphy
In Portsmouth?
00:29:09 Holly Cashman
Where did the gay AA meet in Portsmouth?
00:29:11 Joseph Murphy
The The UU Church, State Street. We were there for years. Then the rents became too high and we had to move,
just like Seacoast Gay Men had to move a couple years ago because because the rents were outrageous.
00:29:24 Holly Cashman
Did Seacoast Gay Men meet in the same place?
00:29:26 Joseph Murphy
Yeah. Yeah.
00:29:27 Holly Cashman
�Oh, okay.
00:29:28 Joseph Murphy
Yeah. Seacoast Gay Men met on Mondays and Gay AA was Friday.
00:29:34 Holly Cashman
Nice little bookend to the week.
00:29:36 Joseph Murphy
Yeah. Yeah.
00:29:38 Holly Cashman
What other places can you remember from your earliest days in Portsmouth, like gay-owned businesses or
places where gay people would go? Or places where lesbians would go?
00:29:53 Joseph Murphy
Well, the, I'm trying to remember the name of it. There There was a restaurant on Market where the Gaslight is
now. And I can't remember the name of it, but that was the go-to place. But also there was a couple, there was a
restaurant on State Street where, do you know where Snip n Clip is? The pedicure place on State Street? Right?
There was a restaurant there and that was like a Monday night place for Seacoast Gay Men. We always went
there after the meeting. And there was this woman, a straight woman. I can't remember her name now. It's been
so many years, but she was just wonderful for us. And it was a very redneck place. Right. They were mostly
lobster men and stuff like that. And when we came into that restaurant, if we got a sidelong glance from one of
those guys, she would go, don't you mess with my boys. And she took care of us. She set up a special room for
us. And eventually we became very connected with the men in that room. Same with AA. I remember at some
point there was a really bad incident in a downtown Portsmouth meeting, a straight AA meeting where a gay
man was sharing, and he got really obnoxiously into his sexual proclivities. And it caused this furor in the whole
AA community. People were like, no more fucking gays at the meetings, blah, blah, blah. So I wasn't there. I
didn't hear it, but it was pretty bad. And we had a Tuesday night regular meeting. It was a small meeting, maybe
15, 20 people. And it was mostly men. So it was four or five gay men and about 10 or 11 straight fishermen,
kind of redneck guys. But we always had good meetings. And right after the incident happened, at a smoke
break, they came up to us, a few of them. They said, oh, we need to talk to you. And we're going, oh, shit, it's
going to be about the mess. And they said, we just want you to know that we don't care what happened at that
meeting. And that you are a very important part of this group. And we wouldn't want you to leave. And so there
were incredible things like that happened through AA and the straight community and the gay community,
which is remarkable. But it just should be that way. I mean, there's still problems in AA where people complain
about, like, straight people coming to a gay meeting. And I'll like go off on them saying, they're a drunk. I don't
care who they love. I don't care who they sleep with. They are a drunk, and this is where they belong. So it's a
constant struggle. But for the most part, when I first started in AA, and I've been sober for 36 years, there was a
lot of, not rules, but restrictions. Like, AA old-timers didn't want to hear anyone talking about drugs. And that's
changed, thank God. Oh, yeah. That was it. They don't want to hear about your drug problem. But, you know,
over problem. But, you know, over the years, I realized a drug is a drug is a drug. I don't care if you call it
Quaaludes or whiskey. It does the same thing. So that's luckily changed. The AIDS crisis was devastating,
obviously. But it crazily almost saved me. I had been in a 10-year relationship that should have probably lasted
10 weeks. But anyway, it ended, and I was totally devastated. I thought I was going to die. I really did. Didn't
want to drink, but I didn't want to live. And I remember my ex's mother calling me and saying, you're you're not
going to drink? I said, no, I forgot. I didn't think about that. But I did not want to live. But AA saved my ass, and
I went back. Anyway, at the time, it was a struggle for me because I was shell-shocked that my whole life had
been just turned around. I got a job at AIDS Response Seacoast, the AIDS service organization I'm sure you're
familiar with. And that was such a saving event for me. I worked as the office manager. I didn't do case
management or anything like that. But because of who I am and how involved in the community I was, I mean,
the men and women, but the men primarily that were coming in, would stop into my office after they were with
the case manager and we would talk for hours. And the case managers did not like it.
00:35:27 Holly Cashman
�Because they would tell you things that you didn't tell them.
00:35:30 Joseph Murphy
Right. And I remember at a staff meeting that it was brought up that they didn't think it was right for me to
spend time with these men. And I said, let me tell you, they're my community. I said, I've slept with probably
30% of them. I said, I've loved them all at one point, maybe for a weekend or 10 days, but they're my people and
they will always have my attention. So that was a very life-changing experience for me because I had men who
were soon to die from AIDS ask me to sponsor them in AA. And I remember saying, why do you want to do
this now? Give up drinking now? And then they would say, because I want some quality of life to what I have
left. And that was another problem with the case managers. They didn't like it. They were making rules for AA
people, like if you don't go to five meetings, you can't get services at ARS. And again, I blew up and said, no,
you cannot do that. You have no right to it. I'm this individual's sponsor. I will tell him to run his program or I
will help him run his program. It has nothing to do with you and you can't do anything. So that was always a
point of contention.
00:37:05 Holly Cashman
So were the majority of people at the AIDS Response Seacoast not members of the gay community?
00:37:17 Joseph Murphy
Unfortunately, the two case managers I had a real problem with were gay women. Well, this is the reason I say
that. The original one, who was the manager of the client services, wanted to hire her wife. And I just said, no.
She would be reporting. You would be her boss. That's a conflict. It ended up happening and it became a huge,
huge problem. And I loved the original one, and her wife and I did not get along. We clashed like oil and water
immediately because she was really a whack job. I'm serious when I say that. I'm having a conversation with her
and I went like this. She like this. She said, you're threatening me. I said, this is just things I do when I talk. And
I said, you know, you're really crazy. I said, can you just leave my office? And then there was a battle. And they
were the demise that got me fired from that job, laid off. How long were you off.
00:38:46 Holly Cashman
How long were you there?
00:38:48 Joseph Murphy
I was only there probably three years.
00:38:54 Holly Cashman
But that was kind of at the very beginning of the AIDS crisis.
00:38:59 Joseph Murphy
No, it was in the early 90s, yeah. And one of the board members, who happened to be an AA member, and a
friend of mine, a woman, and she was on the board, and she came to us, she said, Joe, someone told us that you
called the board assholes. I said, well, I did. I said, but you wouldn't know that if you didn't have your little spies
eavesdropping. And I said, the reason I said that is, and you know this because we've had this discussion, one of
the primary responsibilities of the board is the financial stability of this organization. And And I said, you don't
do fundraising. You don't do anything to help. And I said, and that's why I have no respect for you. You may,
you know, this may sound good on your resume that you're a member of the board, but this board is totally nonfunctional. And I said, I'm president of the premier gay men's organization in the Seacoast. There's not one
member of our organization that's on the board. You have never come to us for any ideas or support or anything.
We support this agency because of us. We used to run a cruise, and we would make maybe $2,000 or $3,000
every year, and we would give, say, $1,500 to ARS, $1,500 to the Feminist Health Center. So we supported
them, and we volunteered for both organizations, but the board did shit.
00:40:46 Holly Cashman
�They just took it for granted, kind of.
00:40:48 Joseph Murphy
Yeah, you know. And coming from my job at ARS, at the time, there was no funding for programs for gay men
prevention education. There were no funds. So we started a nonprofit called Gay Men Fight AIDS, who was
originally going to be The Lifeguards, but when we tried to get the name with the state, it was already taken. So
we just made up Gay Men Fight AIDS, and the funny thing is I went home that day and Googled it, and there
was a Gay Men Fight AIDS organization in London, the same thing we just applied for. So we started that
organization. And again, so we had a new gay men's support organization. Ninety-nine percent of the people
who organized it were from Seacoast Gay Men. And that lasted for, like, 15 years. We did, like, Tupperware
parties. We would have sessions where you would get 8 to 10 gay men and have a host in someone's home, and
we would meet for five weeks, one night a week, to discuss prevention methods and what transmission was all
about, because people were so ignorant and so much afraid of it. And we got awards from the state. I remember
one year I picked up the award for Seacoast Gay Men and Gay Men Fight AIDS in Manchester at a state dinner.
It was called the Red Heart Award. Yeah, so, yeah.
00:42:48 Holly Cashman
So the focus of the Gay Men Fight AIDS was very different from AIDS Response Seacoast.
00:42:53 Joseph Murphy
Correct. Correct. It was an educational program.
00:42:55 Holly Cashman
But But were you kind of working together?
00:42:58 Joseph Murphy
Oh, yeah. We were recruited from the Seacoast gay men's meetings. We ran programs with Seacoast gay men.
We did presentations at Seacoast gay men. Yeah, I remember when the first cocktail came out, and everyone
was like, oh, my God, this is it. We don't have to worry. We're all set. And that was not true, because it was
being hyped. So we decided we had to do an information kind of thing. So we did a presentation at Seacoast
Gay Men, and and we had two guys who were on the cocktail. This was probably six months after it came out.
One of them was fabulous. Everything was fine. The other one had a really difficult time. Lots of side effects.
Constantly nauseous and, you know, just totally debilitated. Six months later, the individual who was doing so
well died. And it was shocking. And his mother asked me to do his eulogy. And I said I would. And I remember
writing a eulogy for him. And I wrote part of it because he had his stage name, if you want, was Kitty. So I was
writing, and I said, you know, a lot of gay men take female names. I said, not because they want to be a woman.
I said, I think it's really to honor their mothers for the things that they instilled in them, like compassion and
empathy and care. And anyway, I wrote this whole long eulogy, and I got to this Catholic church. And the priest
said, oh, can I read your thing? And I said, sure. So I had written it out, so I gave it to him. And he goes, well,
it's really well written. But I don't like the thing about the women's names. And I said, I really don't give a shit
how you feel. I said, not about you. It's about my dead friend upstairs. He said, well, I know you'll do what you
want. I said, you know what? My name is Joseph Daniel Mary Murphy. I said, every man, every male, starting
with my grandfather, has always taken Mary as a confirmation name in honor of the Blessed Mother. Is that
upsetting? Well, no, that's different. I said, no, it really isn't. He said, well, you'll do what you're going to do.
And I did. And I said, you know, I talked for quite a while. And I said, Kitty, I left you a little note. And I said,
dear Kitty, I will see you in heaven. Love, Sophie. That was the name that I was given by someone. And then
before I ended, I just ad libbed. And I said, you know what? Look at this beautiful place we're in. I said, look at
the beautiful stained glass windows, the gold candlesticks, the tabernacle. I said, it's so beautiful. But you know
what? When we leave here with Tim, we are the church. We will take the church with us. So then the priest
talked, and he quoted a lot of things I said. It said. It was very supportive. So as we're leaving, he's shaking
hands with people. And he shakes me, and he says, you really did well. I said, you did pretty good. But then the
mother, all the PFLAG mothers from that point on, if I see them in Portsmouth on the street, they'd be yelling
across, hey, Sophie. How are you? But they heard that he was upset about my speech. And the mother was
�furious. She said, I will never go back to the church. So.
00:47:06 Holly Cashman
When did the PFLAG start?
00:47:08 Joseph Murphy
Oh, God. I don't know.
00:47:12 Holly Cashman
But it was around the 80s and the 90s?
00:47:15 Joseph Murphy
Yeah. Probably, I would say, right at the beginning of the epidemic, in the probably mid-80s.
00:47:26 Holly Cashman
And the, I mean, it's surprising to hear the, I don't know. I would wonder how many times a church would refuse
to have a funeral or would not. Did you hear examples of that in Portsmouth?
00:47:47 Joseph Murphy
We did not. No, that was the only time I ran into a problem. No, I never did. But I do have some good, good
friends, and it's not the Portsmouth area. One of them is from here. Buddy was my roommate. He was in the
Navy here, and he ended up living with me. He came out here. And he met someone, and they moved to
Minnesota. But they, two gay men, the man he ended up with, Bruce, was like an organist. He was very talented.
And they lived on an Indian reservation because Buddy is Chippewa. And so they always, Bruce would play at
all the, like, three churches in the area. He would do the organ music for them on Sundays and all their funerals
and this, and never charge or anything. And they would take, and they were very devoted. They would take care
of the church cemetery, cleaning it and taking care of it and bringing flowers. They did a huge amount of work,
and they still do. And at one point, Bruce's mom was running for some, like, selectment or something. And her
opponent went to the bishop and wanted to know if he knew that he had two gay men running the church. And
they were forbidden to receive the sacraments. But you know what? Bruce went to see the bishop. And he talked
to him, and he said, yes, you can prevent us from taking the sacraments, he said, but do not prevent us from
doing our work, he said, because if we don't do the music, there is no music for all those churches and all those
people. So they continued to do that work. But that was one of the most heinous things I've ever heard. I said,
thank God I'm not out there. I'm going to be at that communion rail in a dress.
00:49:56 Holly Cashman
Sophie would make an appearance.
00:49:59 Joseph Murphy
Oh, yeah, Sophie Sodomski, this friend of mine who's Polish as well. I'm half Polish. It means Sophie, the
woman from Sodom.
00:50:11 Holly Cashman
Oh, that's great. So were there other examples of discrimination or harassment?
00:50:25 Joseph Murphy
That's one of the things about Portsmouth that you asked me about when I came back from Florida, or or when I
moved to Portsmouth, what I felt. And that was one of the things. I felt I could be out. I did not feel afraid. At
one point, Seacoast Gay Men were like guards for the Feminist Health Center. Women were getting harassed
going into the clinic and stuff, so we were always at the door preventing anything from happening. For the most
�part, I don't remember any gay bashings. I never experienced any of that in Portsmouth. The one bad incident
was the man that was murdered on Pierce Island years ago from Newmarket. I I know the man closeted. But I
never experienced a lot of gay bashing or name-calling. I did in Ogunquit. I mean, we would be walking
00:51:36 Holly Cashman
in Ogunquit!
00:51:37 Joseph Murphy
Oh, yeah, straight guys would drive by and yell faggots and queers and stuff like that. Oh, yeah, that happened a
lot. And there was gay bashings on the beach at night in Ogunquit. But for the most part, I never felt unsafe in
Portsmouth. And maybe it's because of the circle I moved in. I'm not sure. I remember one time at a Seacoast
Gay Men's meeting when we were very small. We were actually meeting in the conference room of the gay
advertising agency I worked at. And someone said, we're talking about possibilities of gay bashing or anything.
At the time, our bar was out. What the hell was the name of it then? It was out behind the convention center at
the circle. What's the name?
00:52:38 Holly Cashman
I'm not picturing it.
00:52:43 Joseph Murphy
Something Jones Center.
00:52:47 Holly Cashman
At the circle in Portsmouth?
00:52:49 Joseph Murphy
Portsmouth Circle, the traffic store where the liquor store is.
00:52:52 Holly Cashman
Yeah, I know that and the Roundabout Diner.
00:52:55 Joseph Murphy
Where the Roundabout is down from that on Route 1. Anyway, that's where our gay bar was. There was an old
meat packing plant in the back lot and that's where the gay bar was. And someone said, we were at a meeting, he
said, what if someone knocked on the door and we opened the door and there was a bunch of leather
motorcyclists at the door. We'd open our arms and welcome them out at home. So yeah, I fortunately did not
experience any of that.
00:53:33 Holly Cashman
And And so there were bars that everyone knew were there that weren't known as gay bars?
00:53:37 Joseph Murphy
Yeah, they were pretty, they were not like today, they were not mixed. It was 99% gay men and a lot of women
at the time. At one time there was a gay women's group, but it didn't last long. But we did partner with them and
in a venture we called the Rainbow Connection. We got a grant from somebody to do outreach or something.
But they were never strong. It was sad to see them dissipate. One year I remember Seacoast Gay Men had a
Halloween party and we invited, it was sponsored by Seacoast Gay Men and the gay women's group.
00:54:31 Holly Cashman
�Do you remember what they were called?
00:54:33 Joseph Murphy
I'd have to think, I can't. And then we had Seacoast Outright come to the party. It It was great, it was like 60
people there, it was a great event. And I miss those days when we had those events where several organizations
coordinated. What the hell was the name of their group? I'll think of it and text you or email you.
00:54:59 Holly Cashman
So you mentioned the moment where the first AIDS drug cocktail came out as being kind of a watershed
moment. What are some other moments that you remember as like...
00:55:17 Joseph Murphy
In the epidemic?
00:55:19 Holly Cashman
Or just in general in the community in Portsmouth?
00:55:25 Joseph Murphy
I remember many years ago at Gay Pride we went to Portland for the Pride dance. And it was in the early days
of Seacoast Outright. And I remember we were like in the parking lot and all of a sudden I saw like three
busloads pull up. They were all kids, 15 and up. Gay boys and girls. And I remember crying saying, this is so
incredible. When I think of my years at 13 to 15, what they were like. And to see these kids who were like,
we're here. And we're queer, get used to it. And they are the only group when The Lifeguards, Gay Men Fight
AIDS, wrote up a mission statement. Our mission was only to educate gay men. That was our primary purpose.
The only exception is that we would work with Seacoast Outright because they don't want to be separated. We
would work with girls and boys, men and women for Seacoast Outright. And we did for years.
00:56:48 Holly Cashman
What do you think about, like today, the community or looking forward? What message would you have to the
people who are just kind of figuring out who they are? Either about what you experienced that they should keep
in mind or kind of looking forward of what?
00:57:17 Joseph Murphy
It's a difficult thing because we often talk about at Seacoast Gay Men why we don't have more younger
members. And we've had this discussion for 30 years. And I've always said, and I still say it, gay men and young
men between 18 and 21, their goal in life is to meet someone and get laid and have a good time. They don't want
to come and listen to a bunch of old men. Whether our lectures are really interesting. We do have stuff to tell
them, but we haven't yet found the method to do that. We haven't become a mentoring organization. Will we
ever? I don't know. I think supporting Outright and things like that is probably one of the most important things
we can do because I believe that that is a vehicle for them. We, of course, still encourage. Earlier days we got
younger men, but we're an older group now. I mean our median age has got to be 65 now. I don't know the
answer to how we can integrate them. I think just continuing to be who we are and where we are. Keep in mind
that when Seacoast Gay Men was founded, it was a refuge. It was a safe place for gay men who are not out to
meet outside of the bars. It was a safe place for married men to meet and mingle. A lot of people say it's just a
viper's pit of older men trying to pick up young men. It has never been that. It has always had that reputation,
but it has never been that. I've been part of it for 38 years. In the beginning, we struggled trying to protect
people who were afraid. I I remember in the early days of the AIDS epidemic, I was really proud of the group at
one point because at one point because it was talking about people living with AIDS and how they should be
accepted in the community and the fears about transmission because there was still so much unknown. One of
the members, a poor guy, got up and said he was very upset because he was at the gay bar Saturday night and he
saw someone there who has AIDS. The whole group jumped down his throat and it was like, oh my God, they
get it. This is why we're here. This is why we make a difference. They told him, no, you need to educate
yourself. You need to realize how transmission works. There were a lot of moments like that that made me
�really proud of Seacoast Gay Men and what we have accomplished.
01:00:42 Holly Cashman
Even within the gay community in the early days, there was a lot of fear.
01:00:48 Joseph Murphy
Yeah, a fear of the unknown. Another friend of mine, Michael Kirk, who started the Piscataqua Coffee
Company years ago, he was sick. He was living in Boston and commuting back and forth. I I was living in
Wells, really Ogunquit. So he would come up on the weekends sometimes or we would talk a lot. He was really
struggling. He was having not very much success. A lot of his medication was making him ill. And I hadn't
heard from him in a couple months, not weeks, not months. And I finally called him. I said, Michael, what's
going on? He said, oh, I've been afraid to call you. I said, why? He says, I'm stopping my medications. I can't do
this anymore. I said, Michael, I will support you 100% of the way. It's your decision. You've fought so hard for
so long. And he did stop taking the medications. And the day that I did the eulogy for Kitty, I went to Boston.
He was in the hospital in Boston. He was in a coma. His mother was there. I talked to her many times on the
phone, but I had never met him. And I walked over and I bent down and I kissed him and I whispered, Michael,
I told you I'd get the last word. Because we were always in competition. His mother cracked up. And then she
asked me to do his eulogy. Yeah, he died right after that. And then the other most profound death was my friend
Paul and I had a good friend, Billy, who was sick and had been struggling with alcoholism and drug addiction
for years. And we worked with him for years trying to get him sober, keep him sober, keep him clean. And he
was really sick and he was in and out of the hospital in Boston. And we were down there, like every other week,
we were down there with him or bringing him back or bringing him back to the hospital. And at one point he
said, I can't do it anymore. And nothing worked for him. Everything he took made him sick. And he was such a
beautiful man. Everything he tried did not work. It just did the opposite. So he was going to stop his medication.
So Paul and I said, come home, come back to Maine, and we'll take care of you. So we actually moved in with
Paul. Paul bought a double, a beautiful pull-out sofa bed for him in his living room. Paul lived in a small little
trailer. So we became his end-of-life caretakers. And it was very humbling. It was very hard. And I remember
the day he died, I was over visiting, and Billy and I still smoked and Paul had an enclosed porch where we went
out to smoke. And that was the bone of contention. Paul would be calling me. He says, I don't know what I'm
going to do. Billy's going to burn the fucking house down. Because he's out there smoking and he's going to
sleep. So I get on the phone and I said, Billy, you stupid shit. I said, I'm going to tell him to kick you out of the
house if you don't stop this. He loves you, but you're not burning his fucking house. He was a good cop, bad
cop. I was the bad cop. So anyway, we were smoking that day and he said, and I'm there with the ashtray
because he's dropping his ashes. I said, I'm going to burn you with this fucking cigarette. I said, Billy, you can't.
You're too weak, you idiot. So anyway, he finished his cigarette and he said, I'm really tired. I'm going to lay
down. So we went in and he laid down and Paul and I were having coffee in the kitchen, like 10 feet away from
him. And all of a sudden we knew he was more than asleep. And we tried to wake him. He was in a coma. So
we called the hospice nurse and we said, what do we do? Because we know he could go in a coma for 10
months. Who knows? She says, just keep talking to him because he probably still can hear you. So we got on the
bed with him, one on either side of him, and we held him. And we just kept saying, Billy, it's okay. Let go. Let
go. We love you, but let go. It's been really hard on you. And he didn't say anything. He didn't wake up. One
tear rolled down his cheek and then he died. And it was like Paul and I looked at each other and it was like his
soul just went through us. So I have learned so much from dying men. I can't begin to tell you. The epidemic for
me was very cathartic. I've lost a lot of friends. I've cried a lot. But I have learned what's important in life from
those men. So life has been good. It's been tough, but it's been beautiful. Between that and my recovery, I am
truly blessed. And the people I've met, and I will tell you, I have loved thousands of times. Some maybe for 10
minutes, two days, but I have loved thousands of men. And And it's a gift.
01:06:36 Holly Cashman
What would you... I mean, if you think back to that 15-year-old kid in Manchester who was desperately sad after
losing all his friends. I mean, can you imagine what's happened since then in your life and what you've been able
to accomplish and all the lives that you've touched. What would you say to that kid?
01:07:15 Joseph Murphy
One day at a time. Every day is a new challenge. Always be hopeful. And my new tenet of belief in life comes
from a meditation book I read early in sobriety that said, don't fight evil, just do good. And I think that's been
�what's gotten me through everything. And I will say in sobriety, I have had more pain than I ever thought,
emotional pain than I ever thought one could experience. But I did. And when I got through it, I was much
stronger. And I was much wiser. I was blessed with a better understanding of... The answer to me is, why are we
here? To make a difference. It's on my card. To make a difference is the only thing I want to do. And I would
tell a young man or woman not to fear who they are, to embrace who they are. It took me in AA to totally,
finally accept my alcoholism. I had a year of sobriety, and I drank again. And I had this conversation with a
priest friend of mine, who was part of my circle when I was married, and still in touch with him. And he was
very supportive of my coming out and everything. And I called him and told him what he could do with his
God, because because I was sick of the fact that he made me queer and a drunk. And I ranted and raved like
three hours at this friend. I mean, screaming and crying and saying, how could he do this to me? And after like
three and a half hours of that, there was this moment of clarity, and I said, I'm exactly who I was meant to be.
I'm exactly who God meant me to be. I'm a gay man who's an alcoholic. But I can live a life of dignity and
integrity, embracing who I am. And that was a turning point for me for everything, accepting my gayness,
accepting my alcoholism, and moving on to an incredible, incredible life from that point on. My life is
incredible because getting sober didn't mean just not drinking. It It meant living, living out loud, embracing the
world, living, sharing other people's hopes and pain. That's what life to me is all about, is being involved. And
what I gave of myself, I got back a million times over without asking, without, you know, it's karma, it's the
universe, it's a gift.
01:10:29 Holly Cashman
Doy you know what ever happened to that gay bellboy in the hotel?
01:10:29 Joseph Murphy
I lost track of him. I did meet his boyfriend, and he was older, probably 10 years older than him. And they
seemed very happy.
01:10:40 Holly Cashman
Do you think he ever knew what an impact he had on your life?
01:10:43 Joseph Murphy
I I don't. Wow, I've never thought of that. No, I don't. Once I moved away, I was so wrapped up in trying to be
who I was going to be. Yeah, I lost touch. Now you've got me on a mission.
01:11:01 Holly Cashman
Now we have to move back there.
01:11:03 Joseph Murphy
Yes. Yes.
01:11:05 Holly Cashman
So what's next in your life? What are you doing now? What are you looking forward to?
01:11:15 Joseph Murphy
I don't know that. I try not to really think about it a lot. I'm still working. Two reasons I'm still working is I
couldn't live, I could survive on Social Security, but Security, but I don't want to just survive, I want to be able
to live. So So I continue working. I work four days a week at the university, 30 hours. I love my job, I love
working with the students and parents.
01:11:45 Holly Cashman
Here at UNH?
�01:11:50 Joseph Murphy
Yeah, UNH in Durham.
01:11:52 Holly Cashman
Okay, we're colleagues then.
01:11:54 Joseph Murphy
Yes, I work in financial aid.
01:11:56 Holly Cashman
Oh, we should meet up.
01:11:58 Joseph Murphy
I never leave the office, I have my lunch delivered and everything.
01:12:01 Holly Cashman
I know, that's the saddest thing, having lunch at your desk when I do the same thing.
01:12:05 Joseph Murphy
But I've had some health challenges. I have peripheral arterial disease, which is blood flow.
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Seacoast NH LGBTQ+ Oral History Project
Description
An account of the resource
The NH Seacoast LGBT History Project was founded by Tom Kaufhold in 2015. Tom had been collecting papers, ephemera, and artifacts related to or created by the LGBTQ+ community on the Seacoast region of New Hampshire. To tell the story more fully, Holly Cashman, a professor at the University of New Hampshire, began collecting oral histories from the same community. <br /><br />With the assistance of interns and student workers, Dr. Cashman conducted ten interviews over a six-year period. The team processed each interview and created indexes and transcripts. Interviewees, also called narrators, were found through flyers and by visiting with local LGBTQ+ social groups such as Seacoast Gay Men. Participants were given the option to provide their full name or a partial name. This project is ongoing and Dr. Cashman and her team will continue conducting interviews which will be added to this site.<br /><br />Thanks to Holly Cashman, Tom Kaufhold, Aliya Sarris, Lily Pudlo, Zoe Dawson, the narrators, the interns, and the student workers who contributed to this project.<br /><br /><span>View the collections of the NH Seacoast LGBT History Project! Their video archive is available here: </span><a href="https://portsmouthexhibits.org/collections/show/25" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">portsmouthexhibits.org/collections/show/25</a><span> and the recordings of Women Singing OUT!, a lesbian-based choir, are available here </span><a href="https://portsmouthexhibits.org/collections/show/32" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">portsmouthexhibits.org/collections/show/32</a><span>.</span>
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Oral history with Joseph Murphy, February 23, 2019
Subject
The topic of the resource
New Hampshire -- History
LGBTQ+ history
Gay men
Description
An account of the resource
An oral interview with Joseph Murphy with transcript and index included. Topics discussed include alcoholism, Seacoast Gay Men, and AIDS. Recorded at the Portsmouth Public Library in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
Creator
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Cashman, Holly (interviewer)
Source
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Seacoast NH LGBT History Project Archive
Publisher
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Portsmouth Public Library, Special Collections
Date
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2019-02-23
Contributor
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Murphy, Joseph (interviewee)
Rights
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<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-EDU/1.0/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">In copyright - educational use permitted</a>
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MOV
01:12:13
PDF
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eng
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MovingImage
Text
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3. Joseph Murphy
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Randa oral history topics index
Seacoast NH LGBTQ Oral History Project
00:34 – Manchester, NH [00:34-00:58, 26:20-27:14]
00:58 – University of New Hampshire, Durham [1:03, 19:54-20:54]
01:07 – Portsmouth, 1960s [01:07-06:43]
01:53 – New World Gallery
03:20 – Theater by the Sea [03:20, 20:54-22:12, 22:46-24:12]
03:36 – Jarvis’s Restaurant, Congress Street
04:58 – The Starlight Club, State Street [04:58-06:40]
06:44 – “Coming out” [06:44-13:24]
10:32 – AIDS [10:32, 13:34-14:19]
15:24 – UNH, Gay Students Organization [15:24-16:58]
18:02 – Stonewall [18:02-19:29]
19:29 – Portsmouth, post-Stonewall effects [19:29-20:54]
24:12 – Portsmouth, 1970s [24:12-26:12]
26:14 – Seattle
27:14 – Portsmouth, today [27:14-28:45]
30:51 – Religious journey [30:51-33:21]
31:01 – Metropolitan Community Church [31:01-33:21]
33:21 – North Carolina [39:08-42:21, 45:50-47:35]
34:43 – ACT UP
36:48 – Pulse Nightclub shooting [36:48-38:16]
38:16 – Current political climate [38:16-39:08]
44:17 – Duke University [44:17-45:50]
47:35 – Message for the future [47:35-49:33]
�
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Randa – 8/12/2018
Seacoast NH LGBTQ Oral History Project
00:00:00
Holly Cashman
And it'll start the counter. Yes, OK. So do you want to start just by introducing yourself, however you
would like to?
00:00:10
Randa
Oh, OK. So hi, I'm Randa. I identify with she, hers. And I am 71. I was born in New Hampshire. I
have lived in a number of different places, but my adolescence and college was spent in New
Hampshire.
00:00:32
Holly Cashman
Okay. So that would be a great place to start actually, about where in New Hampshire were you
originally from the Seacoast or did you come here from somewhere else?
00:00:44
Randa
Manchester.
00:00:45
Holly Cashman
Ah, okay. Okay.
00:00:46
Randa
The Queen City.
00:00:47
Holly Cashman
The Queen City. Now apparently people call it "Manch Vegas". I don't know what that's about.
00:00:53
Randa
I don't either. Oh, that's interesting.
00:00:55
Holly Cashman
Oh, it's all marketing. So what brought you to the Seacoast region of New Hampshire?
00:01:02
Randa
So I went to the University of New Hampshire in Durham, just down the road. And also, so there was
a coffee house in, I'm a singer, there was a coffee house in Portsmouth. And I spent many happy
moments there and I'm grasping for the name of the coffee house suddenly, but it'll come to me. Yes,
and so, but that's really what drew me here, was being a folk singer. I did that the summer before I
went to college. Oh, okay. So it became part of my whole reason for coming to Portsmouth.
00:01:35
Holly Cashman
�And so they had like open mics or singers that would perform at the coffee house?
00:01:42
Randa
Right, they booked you and all of that. Oh, that's great.
00:01:45
Holly Cashman
Okay, just obsessively checking.
00:01:47
Randa
Okay, all right.
00:01:48
Holly Cashman
So in the...
00:01:52
Randa
New World Gallery, that was the name of the coffee house.
00:01:55
Holly Cashman
Oh, okay, oh, interesting.
00:01:55
Randa
The New World Gallery on Bow Street.
00:01:57
Holly Cashman
On Bow Street, okay. Not there anymore.
00:02:01
Randa
Oh, no.
00:02:03
Holly Cashman
And so in what time frame was that? Like what decade?
00:02:08
Randa
Sure, the 60s.
00:02:09
Holly Cashman
The 60s, oh, okay.
00:02:10
Randa
So I started college in 1965. Okay. So that was, so Earlier that year was when I was at the New
World.
�00:02:18
Holly Cashman
And what was your impression of Portsmouth and Durham when you came? What was it like in the
60s? What do you remember?
00:02:29
Randa
Yeah. Well, you know, I think when you're 18, anything is magical. That's different from home. Oh
my God, it was magic. And of course, it was really then, it was a real sailor, Air Force type town. So I
mean, it was just, it was everything that Norman Mailer ever described in any of his novels about.
Really! It was dark and scary and delicious in every way. Yeah, thrilling. Yeah, just every kind of
person. And many, and also very, very diverse because of the base of Pease. So, you know, it was
great.
00:03:10
Holly Cashman
What were some of the, other than the New World Gallery, what were some of the other places that
you remember?
00:03:18
Randa
Okay, so Theater by the Sea.
00:03:21
Holly Cashman
Okay.
00:03:23
Randa
And let's see.
00:03:24
Holly Cashman
And that was on the street where
00:03:26
Randa
It was on Ceres, yeah, it was just on that little side street, you know, just a half a block from the coffee
house.
00:03:32
Holly Cashman
Oh, so that was in the same series, right?
00:03:35
Randa
Yeah, yeah. Of course, Jarvis's Restaurant, where I went, ate often, which is where the bus stop is.
Jarvis's isn't there anymore.
00:03:44
Holly Cashman
I don't think so.
00:03:45
Randa
�Oh, OK. Oh, Jarvis's. All right, So it's on Congress. Anyway, that is where you could get anything
you wanted. In terms of, I mean anything, I don't mean the food. Jarvis's was the focal point of street
action, all of that. So Jarvis's, I remember Jarvis's.
00:04:04
Holly Cashman
All of the lovely, delicious seediness of Portsmouth.
00:04:07
Randa
Exactly, that's right, that's right, that's right. The full Monty on that, yeah.
00:04:13
Holly Cashman
And when, So, and that was right in the same area of the theater and the...
00:04:21
Randa
So basically, so it's on Congress. So there you are on both, so then you'd have to just go over Market.
00:04:27
Holly Cashman
Just a little walk.
00:04:28
Randa
And then take a little, yeah, turn, yeah.
00:04:31
Holly Cashman
Other, well I mean, I shouldn't make assumptions. I was gonna say other like bars or nightlife.
00:04:36
Randa
Oh, sure.
00:04:37
Holly Cashman
But you were young.
00:04:38
Randa
I was young, that's right. I was young and then that's a whole story about coming out and I mean, you
know, what that was all about. But, you know, these things are, they are invisible and visible at the
same time. So this woman who I just really thought was the greatest, duh, and so there was a club
called the Starlight Club and it was on State Street.
00:05:03
Holly Cashman
Okay.
00:05:03
Randa
But it was down like a, it wasn't an alley, but it was a walkway between buildings.
�00:05:11
Holly Cashman
Okay.
00:05:11
Randa
And it was sort of a secret, a secret place at that point in the mid-60s. So she would always invite me
to the Starlight Club, and I only went once. I mean, I was, you know, I was scared of everything
imaginable that would be different, you know, even though, you know, we find out, oh, That's where
the truth is. But yeah, yeah, so that's the gay part. But I knew a few gay people, but still gay was still
like a, you know, scary. And, no, scary, no, Wrong word. You know, it was just hidden. It was so
hidden. Yeah. So you didn't know. Yeah.
00:05:55
Holly Cashman
So was the Starlight Club a generally kind of alternative place? Was it specifically a gay place?
00:06:04
Randa
Oh, that's a good question. So it was, so again, it's the 60s, right? So it's even mid-60s. And it's
Portsmouth. So, you know, like the idea of a New York-type club, no. It was just a dark place, mostly
men, some women. That's all, you know, just it had no, it was, the only theme was it was dark.
00:06:29
Holly Cashman
And things can happen in the dark.
00:06:31
Randa
Oh yes, oh no, no, absolutely. But that's my point, it was as dark as the idea of, oh I'm gay, you know.
00:06:39
Holly Cashman
And pre-Stonewall, pre00:06:41
Randa
Pre-Stonewall, that's right.
00:06:43
Holly Cashman
So when, after moving here and college, when did you either start to kind of question your own
identity, start to make any kind of more public declarations of it to friends or to other folks?
00:07:05
Randa
Yeah, boy, that took me a long time. But my very best friend, her name was Dina, of course she'd
want me to give you her entire life history besides her whole name and everything else. She was wild.
She just died in May. Yeah. She was my first love of my life. And that happened my freshman year in
college. But I'd known her in high school. And so it was traumatic and secret. And we both flunked
out of school. She was at Syracuse. So it took a long time, and then I turned away from it because I
was too scared if my parents ever found out. It was awful. Yeah, it was awful. But she and I stayed
friends. But then, finally, really, literally, in like 19... That's awful. Like in 1982 probably I really
came out. How awful is that?
�00:08:00
Holly Cashman
Twenty years of...
00:08:01
Randa
Right, yeah, but I mean, twenty years of course of being gay as gay can be, but, you know, maybe not
as can be, but yeah, so. Yeah, that was tough, but then I came out, and then, you know, when you're in
show business, particularly then, it's just, it's the kiss of death.
00:08:22
Holly Cashman
Oh, okay.
00:08:23
Randa
I mean, this was the early 80s. It's hard to believe in a way. Well, no, it's not, it shouldn't be. It still is,
kind of. But as a singer, so that's what I was trying to be. And I didn't have K.D. Lang's courage, you
know, well, and maybe not her voice, but so yeah, it was not a happy time.
00:08:49
Holly Cashman
I think the reason I might have looked surprised when you said that because you also think maybe of
like theater and arts as being a place where people are more accepting, but then even if people are
more accepting on a personal level, as far as making the leap to stardom, that would be where it was a
kiss of death.
00:09:11
Randa
That's right. I mean, if you're going for the brass ring, if you're viewing yourself as having a chance at
making it. In this particular, such narrow way. You just manipulate as much as you can about yourself
that you think will fit. I mean, No surprise on that.
00:09:31
Holly Cashman
No, that makes sense.
00:09:32
Randa
And then you have to just give that up. Now, what were the chances anyway, but that's, that you were
gonna make it a person's, you know, that's "a million sad stories in the lights of Broadway"... But
that's all. It's just the self-perception of, if I show that. Meanwhile, looking totally, completely like
lesbian city, like dyke-o-rama, and you're thinking, oh yeah, little lipstick, some earrings. No,
complete and utter, beyond. Yeah.
00:10:09
Holly Cashman
So was it one of those things like when you tell people and they were like, yeah, or were people
shocked?
00:10:15
Randa
Each, each, each, each kind, each, each, each type. Yeah. But mostly, well I was wondering when
you're gonna tell me that whole that whole normal story yeah
�00:10:24
Holly Cashman
yeah and was it around the same time that you also came out to your family or were you not still close
to them?
00:10:31
Randa
Oh, God. Oh, my God. Well, so AIDS, AIDS happened. And my very best male friend, his name was
John. I mean, my best. And so John got sick. And then I was his main person to- I mean he had tons
of friends, but on the line of the list I was the one to call first so he was also from Manchester So just
unbelievable. So 1985 I bet or '86, I had brought John home to see his family and I went home and my
mother said something a little disparaging about being gay, loving John, but... And she said, well, she
said, I'm certainly glad you're not like that. You know, and I said, okay, universe. Door pushed open a
tad. Let's open the damn door. And I said, well, Ma, you know, I wouldn't exactly say that. So that's
how that happened. So it took, it took, it took a little while. You know, we went through the no
money, no this, no that, as if there was money. But I mean, it was all she could really, you know,
come up with. My father, my father, he had a little bit of a drinking situation, so he was in and out of,
you know, so I never, my mother, she kind of made it clear, don't really discuss it with your father.
But he had to know from day one. I'm sure he did, so.
00:12:07
Holly Cashman
I can picture kind of the, on the one hand you have the situations where you're like planning a whole
coming out thing, you're working your way up to it, but this was just like spur of the moment, I can't
let this comment pass. Wow.
00:12:23
Randa
It was a gift, actually it was a gift to me. Yeah, which, you know, John provided me with that gift.
Yeah.
00:12:31
Holly Cashman
Wow, But also super courageous to be like, doors open, I'm coming through, come on.
00:12:36
Randa
Well, yeah, yeah, yeah. But, you know, at that point I was almost 40. So you know, really, you know,
type of deal.
00:12:48
Holly Cashman
And also seemingly coming from a place of your friendship with him and not wanting to let kind of
that half-insult kind of thing stand.
00:13:02
Randa
Yeah, yeah, that's true. That's true. I mean, but she came around big time. I mean, as life went on, I
mean, really supportive. Oh my God, had my back, always, yeah.
00:13:12
Holly Cashman
Oh, that's fantastic.
00:13:13
Randa
�Oh yeah, yeah. She wasn't in P-FLAG or anything, but she, you know, the heart was with me.
00:13:22
Holly Cashman
So when that was going on and you brought John back to Manchester to visit his family, you were
living in Portsmouth?
00:13:31
Randa
Okay, no. By then I had moved to New York.
00:13:34
Holly Cashman
Ah, okay.
00:13:35
Randa
Yeah.
00:13:36
Holly Cashman
Okay, so the whole experience of the AIDS crisis in the community you experienced in New York?
00:13:43
Randa
I did experience that in New York, yeah, yeah.
00:13:45
Holly Cashman
Wow. And I mean, I can't even start to imagine what that would have been like.
00:13:53
Randa
Yeah, that was tough. So many, everybody lost everybody. Yeah. Yeah, I lost John, he was my piano
player. I lost my manager. And yeah, well we all did, we all lost our best friends, we lost our history.
But here you are, you're gonna make it happen that it will not be gone. That's great.
00:14:19
Holly Cashman
It's such, I mean, the kind of origin from this project came from Tom, who reached out to you, and
kind of thinking a few years ago, like, oh, a few years from now, It will be the 50th anniversary of
Stonewall Like we need to do something about that and there'll be things in New York and in LA, but
what about what about smaller places where there is still a history that people lived and experienced
and you don't see that in the documentaries or read about it in the books. So I'm super excited that he
had that light bulb turn on and then the rest of us can can benefit from it.
00:15:09
Randa
Well in terms of the Seacoast I will say so so I was here from '65 essentially really until '74.
00:15:21
Oh, okay.
Holly Cashman
�00:15:22
Randa
So a lot happened in that time around the gay liberation movement. And so at UNH, there was a Gay
Students Organization and it's gotten a little press lately which is great through UNH kind of circles.
But I was a theater major and a number of my friends were in the GSO. And it was really, really
pretty thrilling. Very, very out. So therefore, very, very demeaned and all of that. So that was kind of,
that was always, it was like, Jesus, should I be in GSO? Well, no, you're not gay. Oh, oh, oh, okay,
yeah, you're not gay. You know, that kind of thing. And yes, yes.
00:16:26
Holly Cashman
So when you say the kind of internal monologue of whether or not to join and the, well you're not gay,
meaning you're kind of not comfortable even admitting this to yourself at this point. It wasn't that, just
to clarify, that it's not like you're not gay, you're a lesbian and it's only men who are involved.
00:16:48
Randa
Oh, I see. Oh, good, good point, yeah. No, no, no, it was me saying, oh, I'm absolutely not a lesbian.
Yeah, yeah, and...
00:16:55
Holly Cashman
I just can't be, I'm not gonna...
00:16:56
Randa
Yeah, I'm just, you know, and in the meantime, of course, my friends, my really close friends, they
were using the word dyke, and they were really going for it in terms of a lot of witchy stuff, a lot of
stuff that kind of was early lesbian culture. Not the earliest lesbian culture, but a certain thing that was
happening in San Francisco that was spreading, and they were into that full tilt, camping in the woods,
bacchanal, I mean, just having a great time. And you know, I was just uptight. Yeah.
00:17:36
Holly Cashman
So it's not that you didn't know people or see that they were out there, it was that you did and they
were kind of terrifying.
00:17:42
Randa
Yes, I just thought, just so judgmental. Oh, so bad. We learn, I guess. What can I say? We learn.
00:17:54
Holly Cashman
And kick yourself for all of the fun you're gonna have.
00:17:57
Randa
I try to make up for some of it.
00:17:59
Holly Cashman
Yeah, good. So even though, so we were saying that you experienced the kind of devastation of the
AIDS crisis in New York, but you experienced kind of Stonewall, pre-Stonewall and post-Stonewall
here. Did you hear about it? What did you think about it? How did people react to that riot moment?
�00:18:26
Randa
Right. Of course, Judy Garland was my idol. So that was definitely, I really got that big time that that
was part of this piece. I mean, as time has gone on, we've learned more and more about who was
standing where and when and all that, and really what was motivating them. No, I thought it was
fantastic. But I mean, I believed in revolution. And I believe in revolution. Or evolution, I'm not sure
what to call it. But if you've got to throw the bottle because you're just... But what are you going to
do? That's the only option you have. And by any means, necessary is a really deep conversation to
have. But yeah, I thought it was fantastic. And I really identified with those men who were drag
queens and they were just saying this is who I am. I even knew then even though I was having my
own thing I knew how strong and brave that was. Yeah.
00:19:29
Holly Cashman
And was there at that time was there any kind of ripple effect in Portsmouth? Were people being
harassed in similar ways by the police here? Did people kind of have any similar pushback?
00:19:52
Randa
Boy, yeah. That's a good question. You know what? I was not part enough of what we would call
subculture in that way to know. I can't answer that. Yeah. You know, UNH, I mean, you know, it's a
bubble environment, particularly then, I mean, particularly then. Definitely the white ivory tower
business, particularly white being the operative word on that.
00:20:20
Holly Cashman
Still is in a lot of ways.
00:20:23
Randa
Yeah, I know it is. So we were protected from that. That was in our life, you know? I don't recall that.
And again, yeah, bad I'm white. I mean, you know, no, no, you know, there could have been a whole
thing, but you know, the Black, the Black gay men, nevermind Black lesbians, God, I hadn't ever
heard of a black lesbian in Portsmouth. You know, of course there were, but I didn't know them.
00:20:54
Holly Cashman
What about this kind of, when I was reading the description of this reunion show online, it described
this theater renaissance or the golden years. When did you get involved with the Theater by the Sea
and what was that like?
00:21:16
Randa
So I graduated in '71, and so the '71, '72 season, I did their children's theater season. So I was the
director of the children's theater whatever. And my friend Dina, who I mentioned, Dina and I put
together what we called the Surprise Theater. And that's what we did for the children's season. And to
say it was a surprise, It was far more of a surprise to Dina and I what was going to happen than it was
to the children. So I did that and then years went by and then I did the park in the early 80s. So that
was my... But I mean, I hung with some of the people, but I was—music was really what I was going
for more than acting at that point.
00:22:10
Holly Cashman
�Right. And in that community or in those kinds of—after you graduated from UNH and were living in
Portsmouth?
00:22:21
Randa
I actually, I lived in Durham because I had an unbelievable situation there. But I was in Portsmouth
all the time. I mean Portsmouth was a place to be, you know. The coffee house was here. It's still, was
it still here? Yeah, it must have been. Yeah, I guess so. But, you know, I had a band, I was traveling
around. So I was just, my home was Durham, my home base.
00:22:46
Holly Cashman
And were there other, so were there people involved in the theater, in this Theater by the Sea, that you
knew that were out? Were there other people that you knew that were out at that time?
00:23:01
Randa
Yeah, no. Yeah, no. Boy, isn't that interesting? I mean, there would be occasionally an actor and I
would wonder, but it, yeah, it never, so fascinating.
00:23:18
Holly Cashman
It is.
00:23:19
Randa
No, it is. It's just, it's, but it's the truth. You know, whatever, through, you know, glasses looking
backward. It seems awful, but it was what it was.
00:23:32
Holly Cashman
Well, and also, who could have imagined what's happened between then and now?
00:23:37
Randa
I know, oh my God, I know. I mean, I assumed that the director of the theater, kind of I thought
maybe he might've been gay. Of course he totally is. And just, I'm seeing him, I've seen him during
this reunion. Lovely man. Hard director. And so, yeah. So in a way it would be like, oh well, he's in
this position of power and he's gay. So that was kind of a touchstone, or thinking he was, yeah.
00:24:11
Holly Cashman
And in the, can you think of other, even though it was all kind of like blurry or shadows or not really
part of your world, other places or spaces that you kind of associate, even looking back like, oh, I bet
that place was, or I bet that is trying to kind of bring to life what the '70s in Portsmouth might have
looked like for people.
00:24:42
Randa
Yeah, oh boy. There was a club out of town, out on the outskirts, it was a really good dance club, but I
can't remember the name of it, but it was women and men together and it was probably, that was like
a '70 from '72, '73, '74 on versus the Starlight Club, which you know, oh yes, whole different. So and
you know, gay men would bring their straight women friends and, you know, just everybody would
have a good time there. That I remember. But in terms of a place of thinking, well, where do gay
people gather? That was not on my radar. Yeah, and I think women and men, it was really separate
�then. Gay women and gay men. Lesbians and gay men. I'll use the word lesbians, I know I keep
saying gay, gay, but gay, yeah, yeah, lesbians and gay men. It wasn't, even in New York it was that
way. Well, you know, that's sort of how it is. Yeah. Still even.
00:25:49
Holly Cashman
Still.
00:25:51
Randa
We're working that. Yeah. Yeah. Still.
00:25:57
Holly Cashman
And especially looking at like clubs and organizations and groups they still tend to be very-- Or can
be very separate
00:26:09
Randa
yes, that's right. That's right
00:26:13
Holly Cashman
After so it was like '74 so you said that you left for New York?
00:26:20
Randa
So '74, I moved to Seattle. Because I wanted to learn how to live in a city before I moved to New
York. But I have some physical issues, and this is one of those, you believe somebody when you
shouldn't have, or not, I don't know. But out there a doctor told me I really should not live in a city
because of cement, I have a bad hip, because of cement and wear and tear. So I went back to
Manchester. Oh my God. So then, it was great, I had a great thing in Manchester. I got to be in a lot of
plays and everything, but Ultimately I ended up in New York. But even when I lived in Manchester,
then I would trek to Portsmouth because it was so much freer. I mean, it was just, and it was my place.
I mean, you know, yeah.
00:27:14
Holly Cashman
And coming back now, I mean, I'm imagining that in the intervening years you've been here and seen
changes, but how does it strike you now that you're back compared to how it was then?
00:27:30
Randa
Yeah, oh it's night and day. Yeah, but commercially, specifically, it's night and day. Yes, from a
perspective, now, of course, I'm older, and I've been in a relationship for a long time. I'm not
perceiving what's going on with the younger crowd of gay people. But I will say it's always
fascinating to me, endlessly fascinating how people are out in whatever way they are. I just am so
excited by that and my astonishment, my excitement, and then And then thinking, is it a role or is it
real? And then I say, you know what? It matters not. Because you're being seen. And you're being
seen, and then it just, that moves stuff along to be seen. And I never understood that before. You
know, but, you know, youth is youth. But that's thrilling to me. So that I see in Portsmouth all over the
place. So that's exciting. Yeah.
00:28:43
Holly Cashman
�It seems, I think, to be, I mean, it's something that also always blows my mind to see like gay student
or gay-straight alliances in high schools and students who come to UNH and they're already out and
it's like, what a world!
00:29:05
Randa
I know it, I know it. And it just proves that there are those among us that were so strong that guided
these kids. I mean, you're gonna be who you are and whatever, but boy, I just keep thinking somehow,
there's a through line from those who learned so much about AIDS and learned so much about, I
should say, suffering is what I mean, and then life. And then just said, you know, I'm gonna be a
teacher, I'm gonna just, all that. I love that, I love that idea.
00:29:44
Holly Cashman
The various kinds of progress that has come along, you know, the marriage equality or in some cases
the protection from being fired for being gay, for example, even in schools. It's remarkable to think
that that has all happened.
00:30:12
Randa
Right.
00:30:12
Holly Cashman
Back from the days in the late 60s and early 70s, for example, at UNH where a gay student
organization wasn't even allowed to be recognized.
00:30:24
Randa
That's right. That's right.
00:30:25
Holly Cashman
It's, it's amazing. Yeah. Yeah. So where, after leaving Portsmouth and Seattle and Manchester, what
kind of broad strokes, you mentioned being in a relationship for a long time, like where is your kind
of life and identity and all of that?
00:30:50
Randa
Sure. Good, yeah, the journey. So, let's see. So there I was in New York and I'd come out in the 80s.
My friend Jeff told me, Jeff was from New Hampshire, he moved to New York and he said, there's
this gay and lesbian church. Now at that point I was an atheist, I grew up Catholic and felt very, very,
very, it was so sad, I just felt so sad in so many ways. So abandoned. So many Catholics. I mean, it
was really painful, the Catholic church, but at any rate, I just thought, so I was an atheist, you know,
what does that have to do with not being Catholic? Nothing, but that was where I went. Anyway, so
Jeff says, this is church. I laughed, I said, you've got to be kidding me, that's the funniest thing I've
ever heard. And he said, no, well, long story short, Metropolitan Community Church? Oh my God.
First real political gay organization in this country. I mean, there was the Mattachine Society, but
MCC does not get its due. I'm telling you, it was. So that's where, actually the person I've been with
now for 33 years, She was a pastor in Metropolitan Community Church. Yeah, and so that's where
then I just really, the political met, because I was political very much during the Vietnam War, and
that's where the political finally, then I was, I landed where I belonged. Out, political, then trying to
suddenly deal with language, with the pronouns in my music, et cetera, and learning from everyone
around me. So I just, I kind of had a New York life, but then AIDS came very quickly after that. And
then that defined what so many of us did. You know, women, this is of course, I'm talking about white
�people, not talking about in the Black community, but this is just white gay men with white lesbians,
some Black, but you know we learned about the color line slowly. So then I was gay. I mean, I was a
lesbian, I mean, you know, I'm so mad, "silence equals death", et cetera. So I think that's the answer.
It's just that then my partner changed careers after eleven funerals a week for six years, she really had
to, yeah, change careers. So she went into nursing. That's a lovely change. And then Duke University
offered her money to finish and get a master's. My career was, you know, so we moved to North
Carolina in '94. So we had lost, I mean, we lost so many people between '89 and 9'3, we were
breathless. I mean, we just couldn't, yeah. So again, my story is so many people's stories, so I'm not
saying that as my own little tragic thing. I'm just, you know, it was so real.
00:34:09
Holly Cashman
And I think it's hard for anyone who didn't live through it to really get their mind around what that
was like. And so I think as many times as people can see that that is, like you said, everybody's story,
that it helps get that point across.
00:34:32
Randa
Yeah. Yeah, I mean, we knew more about, God, about pneumocystis. I mean, we were all like
studying chemistry. I mean, and ACT UP. That was, ACT UP was, thank God for them. Really, it was
thrilling, because they really said to the government, sorry, sorry, no. And so that mattered. That
really mattered. And to be part of that, you felt at least a little bit of empowerment.
00:35:00
Holly Cashman
That you could do something.
00:35:01
Randa
Yes. Or at least you were, yes, you were not alone. You were not alone.
00:35:10
Holly Cashman
I mean, I think in my case, it's like knowing people who are surviving, right? And who are taking their
medicine, thankful to have health insurance. In 2005, no, it would have been a little bit earlier than
that. 2004, I lost a friend. And it makes me so angry that it happened so long after, in the time when it
could have been prevented. But he didn't want to face it, didn't want to accept help from people, and it
was awful. But to imagine that happening over dozens and dozens of people that you knew is
staggering to me. I can't even imagine it.
00:36:05
Randa
Well, it's that the shame is so powerful and the messages are so powerful. Yeah. That, you know, and
you just, I mean, that's what Karen, Karen found, Karen's the name of my partner, if I hadn't
mentioned that. She found that she endlessly did, she would do meditations with a young man and she
would say, Just know that Jesus loves you. Now, I'm just not necessarily, I mean, that was the, you
know, she's since then become a Buddhist, but she had a relationship with Jesus that way. I wanna
explain this right. And you know, And she said that was all she had to give them, to let them know.
And I'm telling you, in New York, so a young man dies. His parents come from Idaho or Indiana.
They had no idea he was gay. And the only thing they knew was he went to this church. And so
there's Karen. I mean, I'm trying to I'm telling her story, but I'm with her and she's the parents turned
to her to say, you know pastor what Tell us about our son and she would get to tell them about their
son who they didn't know that son, that part of their son. I mean...
00:37:23
Holly Cashman
�And in some ways, even looking at all the progress that's happened, you heard that kind of story
happen after the Pulse nightclub shooting. And in that case instead of coming from Idaho people were
coming from Puerto Rico or coming from from outside the country and and having the same
experience. And even just like during the early days of the AIDS crisis when people were afraid of the
bodies, people not wanting to claim the bodies of their relatives, it's just heartbreaking.
00:37:57
Randa
It is, it is.
00:37:59
Holly Cashman
To imagine those same conversations?
00:38:03
Randa
I know. Yeah. Always sobering when we're all kind of full of this, like, well, marriage and la la la la,
and then, you know, just, Yeah, it's deep.
00:38:16
Holly Cashman
And then the current political climate has a lot of people wondering if we're going to be going back,
right?
00:38:27
Randa
Right. Yep. So just fortunately good people are working hard to try to not let that happen. But I mean,
if it comes to it, and boots are put over heads and forced to the floor, then there are going to be a lot of
people outed. And that's it. I mean, it's going to be info to info warfare. You know, yeah man, you're
gay, you're a Republican, or you're a Democrat, I mean, wherever they stand, but it's just gonna get
ugly. Let's get real, you know, that kind of stuff. So I think that's gonna happen. If, I'm just saying that
will be the response to that. If we start getting all this stuff turned back.
00:39:09
Holly Cashman
Where do you see, and are you still in North Carolina?
00:39:14
Randa
Yes, I am, I am, yep.
00:39:17
Holly Cashman
Where do you see kind of the present, future? Are you hopeful? Are you... Does it depend on the day?
00:39:28
Randa
That's good. That's a good question, too. So, after the initial shock of what happened, and then the
starting to really reveal itself, so Karen, who has really, I mean, she was a professional lesbian as a
pastor out with the church, et cetera, et cetera. And then after the church, then she founded a few
AIDS organizations. So Karen and I together, because I'm kind of the music, but Karen's really the
person behind it. So we do a rally every week in front of the federal building in Raleigh, North
Carolina against Senator Tom Tillis. I'm not trying to speak to Senator Tom Tillis, who won't even
talk to us. So we do rallies every week. We've gathered a community. We've done it every Tuesday
�since the election. So we do it all the time. So gathering together as slowly as this has grown, then you
get a little bit of hope, because the only hope we have is in each other. You know, that's where I'm
coming from. So, because we can't believe it. It's just, you can't touch it. It's so unbelievable. So that's
why. Do I have hope? I have hope. Because if nothing else, we really have, we're starting to actually
have to talk to each other about what we believe. And really, so... You know, I mean, I've got my
own, you know, yes, I love the Statue of Liberty. You know, yes, I have friends who are Black who
say, you've got to be kidding me. You know, and also, I'm trying to come out of a fog myself about all
that, you know, two Americas, oh, didn't you know? That's been going on for a long time, blah, blah,
blah. So, but I've got hope. I do, because I think people are really doing some personal work.
00:41:25
Holly Cashman
And what you just said really resonates with me too about how the hope is kind of in the community
and in the other people.
00:41:33
Randa
Right, right.
00:41:34
Holly Cashman
And the idea of kind of every week not letting, just not letting up.
00:41:41
Randa
Right, that's right, that's right. That's right. Because that's, it's for nothing to be, pardon me, perhaps
even grandiose, it's a spiritual practice. I mean, you are there every Tuesday. It is church. It happens to
be the Church of Democracy or the Church of the Hope for Democracy or whatever. I mean, I made
that up right now. I like it. Yeah. But it's just, we're angry, and it's a way to express that, and we talk
amongst each other, as well as we have speakers, and then of course a few little tunes to just inspire,
which is music's real job. So, yeah.
00:42:21
Holly Cashman
It is, and I think one of the things that I, looking for community after moving down to Massachusetts,
to Newburyport, I was kind of marveled at how my mom, who'd retired and moved up to York, she
had all these friends and she knew all these people and she was always busy and I'm like, how come I
don't know anyone yet? And so she said, well, it's because I joined the church. I was like, well, I'm
kind of like you had the reaction back in New York. I thought, well, that's not really what I'm
interested in. But I ended up joining the Unitarian Church in Newburyport. And if I had not been
going there regularly when the election happened I don't know what I would have done. And the
Sunday after the election I remember the first hymn that people started singing, I just started sobbing
And I don't know where it even came from, but I was not the only one. Because the music has that
something. It can inspire, it can let you, kind of a catharsis. But it definitely is necessary.
00:43:37
Randa
It is. It's part of revolution. It always has been. The drumbeat.
00:43:43
Holly Cashman
So even though kind of coming out and in a way kind of letting go of the idea that you are going to be
a star. Music is still and singing has still been a part of your whole life.
00:44:01
Randa
�Right, right. Yeah, so I mean, I still have been singing and all that. That's right, that's right.
00:44:07
Holly Cashman
And having that kind of, having it be part of your activism, having it be part of your, having it be a
career.
00:44:17
Randa
Yes, that's right. I mean, I was very lucky. You know, I couldn't get arrested in show business, but at
Duke University, I was at the right place at the right time. So, I got a job at Duke training actors to, I
had a little department within the School of Medicine, training actors to work with medical students
and residents on doctor-patient communication, which is of course part of the whole picture of our
entire well-being. So it was, so, you know, I just was very lucky. So I get to sing, but then I didn't
have to worry about how I was gonna pay the rent. So that kind of worked out.
00:44:59
Holly Cashman
But what amazing work and also kind of an interesting through line with the AIDS activism and then
working with future medical personnel to be better at working with people. Wow.
00:45:14
Randa
That's right. Because that was, now I never, you know, yeah, that's, well, I hadn't thought of that. But
that's right. I mean, the doctor thing was pretty tough in New York, except not all doctors. Oh, some
doctors were, And doctors in North Carolina were pretty amazing, too. Yeah, when we went there,
then we started hearing all the AIDS stories from North Carolina. Much, a little bit different than New
York. There's a much less population, but... Yeah, anyway.
00:45:47
Holly Cashman
And North Carolina is a state that's been pretty rapidly changing as well as far as not just being kind
of a Black and White population, but also with a lot of Latinos and growth in Latinos and I imagine
now kind of a language issue, a different kind of language issue coming in with what medical folks
are working.
00:46:15
Randa
Yes, yes and they're trying to stay ahead of that. But, North Carolina right now, super majority
Republican in the state representation. Governor's a Democrat, but just barely is he governor. And it's
only because the previous governor bought into this thing that they loved to call the "bathroom bill",
which was they had the whole thing about transsexual kids. Anyway, he fortunately lost that election.
But, so we have a lot of work to do in North Carolina. And we are, it's, yeah, it's, there's a lot of work
to do. Because this whole thing that's happened with the border has really affected everybody in North
Carolina who is Latino. I mean, you just can feel it when you're with them. You can just feel it.
Because a lot of people come to our our rally that we do because we talk about DACA We talk about
now, of course, it's who's even talking about DACA anymore. It's like, what? Yeah.
00:47:30
Holly Cashman
What kind of if you had this seems kind of a contrived question, but like if you had a message for
someone who's watching this video ten years from now, twenty years from now, what would you
want to say about your experience, about anything really that something that you would hope travels
�or remains after we're all out of here?
00:48:09
Randa
Right, that's right. Okay, I will say that for me, without my friends, I would have been dead a long
time ago. You know, the low self-esteem that comes with being kind of just put down in society for
whatever reason. You have to fight so hard and you need friends to support you. So the thing is, I
guess what I would say is, who we are is our strength. Who we are is what we have to give to make
our community stronger and stronger. And that's the magic. That's the magic. It's when who you are
comes out and you can give that away. That's where it's gonna make a difference. And serving and
making a difference is the most beautiful feeling there is, you know, connecting. So that's what I
would say is just, ugh, the hard it as hard as it is to be who you are, Oh my God is it hard. It takes so
much. But when you are, you're giving the greatest gift you can to others. So they see what it looks
like and then they say, Yeah, I can be myself. Okay. Yeah.
00:49:33
Holly Cashman
That's great. Thank you.
00:49:35
Randa
Thank you.
00:49:36
Holly Cashman
Thank you for taking the time in this super busy weekend. And I think that's a super powerful
message.
00:49:43
Randa
Great, great, great.
00:49:46
Holly Cashman
I think our battery lasted. That's good.
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Seacoast NH LGBTQ+ Oral History Project
Description
An account of the resource
The NH Seacoast LGBT History Project was founded by Tom Kaufhold in 2015. Tom had been collecting papers, ephemera, and artifacts related to or created by the LGBTQ+ community on the Seacoast region of New Hampshire. To tell the story more fully, Holly Cashman, a professor at the University of New Hampshire, began collecting oral histories from the same community. <br /><br />With the assistance of interns and student workers, Dr. Cashman conducted ten interviews over a six-year period. The team processed each interview and created indexes and transcripts. Interviewees, also called narrators, were found through flyers and by visiting with local LGBTQ+ social groups such as Seacoast Gay Men. Participants were given the option to provide their full name or a partial name. This project is ongoing and Dr. Cashman and her team will continue conducting interviews which will be added to this site.<br /><br />Thanks to Holly Cashman, Tom Kaufhold, Aliya Sarris, Lily Pudlo, Zoe Dawson, the narrators, the interns, and the student workers who contributed to this project.<br /><br /><span>View the collections of the NH Seacoast LGBT History Project! Their video archive is available here: </span><a href="https://portsmouthexhibits.org/collections/show/25" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">portsmouthexhibits.org/collections/show/25</a><span> and the recordings of Women Singing OUT!, a lesbian-based choir, are available here </span><a href="https://portsmouthexhibits.org/collections/show/32" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">portsmouthexhibits.org/collections/show/32</a><span>.</span>
Moving Image
A series of visual representations that, when shown in succession, impart an impression of motion.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Oral history with Randa, August 12, 2018
Subject
The topic of the resource
New Hampshire -- History
LGBTQ+ history
Lesbians
Description
An account of the resource
An oral interview with Randa, transcript included. Topics discussed include UNH, AIDS, religion, and the current political climate. Recorded at the Discover Portsmouth Center in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Cashman, Holly (interviewer)
Source
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Seacoast NH LGBT History Project Archive
Publisher
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Portsmouth Public Library, Special Collections
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-08-12
Rights
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<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-EDU/1.0/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">In copyright - educational use permitted</a>
Format
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mp4
0:49:51
PDF
Language
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eng
Type
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MovingImage
Text
Identifier
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2. Randa
-
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PDF Text
Text
Jay Spears Index
02:08 – Adolescence [02:08-07:08]
07:08 – Portsmouth, 1970s [07:08-12:46, 19:17-22:20]
05:08 – Theatre by the Sea [05:08-07:08, 10:57-12:50, 19:17-22:28, 26:54-30:51]
12:50 – Coming out [12:50-19:17, 30:51-34:06, 57:04-01:52:00 (end)]
15:03 – Internalized homophobia [15:03-16:19, 34:12-37:17]
17:32 – Personal ads [17:32, 22:28-26:08]
34:12 – Representation [34:12-37:17]
40:39 – Musical inspiration [40:39-46:11, 54:48-56:06]
46:12 – Portsmouth, today [46:12-48:20]
48:20 – Ogunquit, today [48:20-49:53]
49:53 – Current climate [49:53-58:26]
�
https://portsmouthexhibits.org/files/original/5590b0f67f23db2a01295fcc031b53bf.pdf
04878dc80f97a710c5223b0ebdc83420
PDF Text
Text
Jay Spears – 8/11/2018
Seacoast NH LGBTQ Oral History Project
00:00:01
Holly Cashman
Now it is. I always have to make sure that the counter is going because I once did an entire
interview that did not record.
00:00:09
Jay Spears
I hate when that happens.
00:00:10
Holly Cashman
Yes, not good. So I wanted to start out kind of with just a general overview of what we mean
by oral history in case that's not clear from the not so clear consent form that the unlike other
interviews the purpose of oral history interviews is to become part of the public record, right,
to be available for future researchers and the public to have access to. And the -- so that's
kind of the purpose, makes it different, and also the content is just in-depth, personal
reflection and experiences. And so the other thing I wanted to focus at the outset is that you
can refuse to answer any question or you can stop the interview at any time. And that by
participating in the interview, you're transferring the rights to the content to the, let me get the
title right, Seacoast New Hampshire LGBT History Project. And our hope is to have it
archived in some place, whether it's the Portsmouth Historical Society or the Portsmouth
Athenaeum, where the exhibit's going to be a year from now for the 50th anniversary of
Stonewall.
00:01:33
Jay Spears
Oh, great.
00:01:34
Holly Cashman
So we're also supposed to say the beginning of the oral history and making sure it's still
going. We're recording this on Saturday, August 11, 2018 at the Portsmouth Library.
Interviewer is Holly Cashman. And the interviewee, also known as the narrator, is Jay Spears.
And just to start, so you sent me a link to your bio. And I've been watching your videos all
week, and I'm obsessed with them.
00:02:03
Jay Spears
Oh, great.
00:02:08
Holly Cashman
And the first question, I guess, to get started would be LA native, and here we are, all the way
across the country, brought you to Portsmouth, and when, time frame-wise, was that?
00:02:20
Jay Spears
�OK. Yes, LA native, but with an asterisk. My dad was a career Air Force officer, excuse me,
and stationed in England after the war. And my mom flew back here, well to LA, where her
parents lived to have her to have my older brother John to have my twin sister and me And
then when my younger brother Alan came along, she said, to hell with it. And he was born in
England. And so, yes. And so, so I was born in LA, but moved immediately to England
where my dad was stationed. And Then we lived all over as Air Force family, as you do, we
lived all over. So we lived in Turkey for two and a half years in the capital of Ankara, and
England, Ireland, and of course a bunch of places in the US. And I checked my mom's
address book one time and there had been 19 addresses before I went into high school. We
settled in a town in Central California, name of Santa Maria, about halfway between LA and
San Francisco on the central coast. And that's where I went to high school, Catholic high
school there. They settled there because It was, they wanted to be near Air Force Base,
Vandenberg Air Force Base is there, and when you're a retired military, you get to use the
commissary privileges and all that kind of stuff. And they wanted to be near a Catholic high
school, because we were all at that age going into high school. And mom always, wherever
we were stationed, mom would get us into the local Catholic school, if there was one. And If
not, then we would go to the Air Force Base school where my dad was stationed. Because in
California, they needed a near Air Force Base with a Catholic high school, plus California
because it was a community property state and mom could see the writing on the wall.
00:04:37
Holly Cashman
Ah, okay.
00:04:38
Jay Spears
And so, Smart woman. So that's where we settled. And so I was able to go through all four
years of high school at the same place. And that was the first time that we ever lived for more
than a couple of, well, the longest we had ever lived prior to that anywhere was Turkey for
two and a half years. Some of the places we lived were just like a few months before we got
transferred again. So I had the roaming life of an Air Force brat, which was great and we
loved it and everyone said, oh, why didn't you? No, no. It was great and we really liked it
because we were five kids and so we always had each other and it teaches you to make
friends quickly because you knew you were going to be gone and the people you were
meeting were going to be gone before you. And so we really liked that. And it was kind of
interesting for me when I went into high school and there was meeting guys who had gone
through kindergarten and all eight grades together, and now they're going to go through high
school together. I said, what do you talk about anymore?
00:05:38
Holly Cashman
What is this?
00:05:40
Jay Spears
So that was my roaming life as an Air Force brat. And so it so happened that the local
community college in Santa Maria had a nationally recognized theater conservatory called
Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts. And so, I went there, got their -- It was a twoyear on the campus of a community college -- so I got their AA degree. Then I finished my
theater degree in the California State University system. And it was shortly thereafter that one
�of my classmates from PCPA, Scott Weintraub, had been, whereas I had gone to get my
degree after finishing PCPA, he had moved to New York and had started working there. He
had been hired here at Theatre by the Sea. And Jon Kimbell, the director of the theater, had
shared with him what their upcoming season was. And he said, oh, I know a bunch of great
people who could do that. And so, long story short -- too late! -- we got hired by Scott to
come out here to do plays at Theatre by the Sea. So that's how I ended up in Portsmouth.
00:06:55
Holly Cashman
And around what year was that?
00:06:58
Jay Spears
Mid-70s. 1970s.
00:07:03
Holly Cashman
Right, since it's long term. So when I read on the theater website about this reunion show that
you're in town for, referring to the '70s and '80s as the Portsmouth theater of golden years or
the theater renaissance. What was it like to be in Portsmouth? Like, when you first arrived,
what was your impression? What was...?
00:07:35
Jay Spears
We were totally, totally charmed. Being, although I have lived all over, I definitely kind of
felt like a California person. And California is beautiful, but in a completely different way
from here. For instance, there's no such thing as seasons really. It does kind of rain more in
winter, but for, And just by chance, when I say we had been stationed in so many places
around the country, it seemed to always be in the south. So I had never really lived in the
north and in the northeast. And I was just completely unprepared for it. I mean, because
everyone was telling me, oh, wait till you see the foliage. Okay, the leaves are going to like
turn and fall off the trees, right? Is that what happens? Yeah, because for us, all those seasons
would be the decorations that they would have at the mall. That's how you'd know what the
seasons are.
00:08:29
Holly Cashman
And I lived for a while in Arizona.
00:08:31
Jay Spears
Oh, exactly.
00:08:32
Holly Cashman
So I totally get that.
00:08:33
Jay Spears
�Exactly. And so when I did come out here in, I guess it was the fall. Don't ask me what year.
I'm not good with numbers. But in the mid-70s or something like that. And it was stunning. I
mean, it was life-changing to see how that happened. I remember that I actually collected a
bunch of big red, yellow, orange, maple leaves, put them in a padded envelope and mailed
them to the theater department at Fresno State where I got my degree just to show them. And
it turns out that they used them in a production of Charlie Brown. You're a Good Man,
Charlie Brown. At the end of which or something he's kind of lying depressed on the stage or
something and they had this effect where they had these little electronic solenoids that would
release them. So they used the leaves in the set and then they would fire and release them and
they would come falling down. And they told me that in one performance it came and just
landed right on his chest. So yeah, and so that was great. Plus having rivers and rain and the
thunderstorms and stuff like that. And I thought we used to have thunderstorms in California
and we just don't anymore. I don't know if that's a climate change thing or cyclical or what,
but the idea of having just water running along the ground unsupervised.
00:10:13
Holly Cashman
Unclaimed by ten different people fighting over it.
00:10:16
Jay Spears
Yes, and no cement borders around it and under it. And water just falling out of the sky, I just
don't get that. And so that's what we do. So these days we do. And we were in a long drought
recently. And so I was glad we had a thunderstorm the other night, and I sat on their front
porch and the screen porch of Mike Huxtable and his wife, who were putting us up, who put
me and Luis up. One of the board members of the theater, I guess he is. And you really
enjoyed that, so that's good.
00:10:53
Holly Cashman
That's great. It's a good [to look forward to something in] New England.
00:10:55
Jay Spears
Yes, exactly. And so that's how I came here, because one of my classmates got a job and
hired us to come over. And I think the first thing was 1776. They needed a lot of men to play
all those roles of the patriots and the founding fathers and whatnot in 1776. And so we came
here and we did 1776 and Starshine, which was a Civil War musical, original Civil War
musical. And several shows. This is when Theatre by the Sea was in Ceres Street, right by the
tugboats. And to get here, a colleague, one of my fellow actors, I guess it was Jeff McCarthy
and me, and he's worked extensively in Broadway and stuff like that since then. We did a
drive-away car deal where you deliver someone's car who's moved from one coast to the
other, you drive their car across. And so we drove out here and in the middle of the night we
arrived and groggily went up the stairs from Market Street, we went up the stairs into the
theater. And when we got up there, we crossed the room to the big window overlooking the
Piscataqua and looked down and saw those tugboats there. And it's a memory that's been with
me ever since. Those bright red tugboats moored by the side of Ceres Street.
00:12:27
Holly Cashman
�It's such a postcard view.
00:12:28
Jay Spears
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So that's how I got here, doing plays with colleagues. And for all you
young whippersnappers out there, the friends you make in college will take you places, bind
them to you with chains of steel, and you'll be happy you did.
00:12:46
Holly Cashman
That's great advice. So when you came here in 70-something [1975], maybe right around the
bicentennial, I'm guessing, if 1776 was the play you were in. What kind of, where were you
in your personal journey of coming out? Were you out? Were you to your self?
00:13:09
Jay Spears
Gotcha. Not out at all. Oh no, Am I misremembering that? I was probably out to some
friends. I was very sure that I was not out to my family, certainly not to my parents. My
family dynamic was one of a little bit of, What do they call that? Dysfunctional, I think is
what they call it. My dad was pretty much a pack of, six pack of Bud per day plus two packs
of Camel unfiltered. He was a hard-bitten World War II war hero and a three-war vet. So he
was in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam and was largely estranged from us and I never felt
much of emotional connection to him, and rather, I was very close to my mom. So, but I was
not out to them. And I guess I was kind of out to like Scott and those other people that they
knew. It's just kind of hard for me to remember exactly who I was out to when, but generally,
certainly not out in public the way I am now. And so, yeah, so I was, I would consider myself
as not being out. And so when I came here, and also in theater, theater in general, when I first
came out of high school, Catholic high school, in a small agricultural community, in an Air
Force community.
00:14:57
Holly Cashman
All of that says super open
00:14:58
Jay Spears
all of that. And so I, in one of the first plays I did was, I had a bit part in a play called The
Hostage by Brendan Behan, an Irish play about the Irish Troubles. And in it, and I'm not
exactly sure why, there were two transvestite gay characters. One of them named Rio Rita,
and another one. And this is one of my first kind of exposures to the world of homosexuality
with these characters. And it really kind of threw me and kind of actually set me back
because of my own internalized homophobia or something, but it was like I was looking at at
those Characters every day and they were played by guys who I perceived to be gay in real
life. And so they played, and I just couldn't, is that what being gay is? Because I knew that I
was gay, and I said, well, I just don't. It didn't seem to comport with anything I felt about
what I was feeling. And so that kind of confused me also. And so, yeah, so when I was here
in Portsmouth, I was not out at all. So if, and so I lived, we lived in that building right by the
Unitarian Church, the big Unitarian Church right there that burned down recently next door
to it. All those things burned down. And so our apartment, it was gutted. We lived on the top
�floor of that.
00:16:38
Holly Cashman
So no walking by your old place? Oh that's so sad.
00:16:40
Jay Spears
Yes. Yeah. So the building still stands. I think they're going to fix that one, because the two
next to it on the corner are gone. And so, but the fire spread from the restaurant into that
building. And so, our apartment where I lived with Scott and Jeff McCarthy, Pekka Thomas
and some other, I think there were four of us in there. Yeah, there were four of me, Jeff
McCarthy, Scott, and Paca Thomas, who is a successful producer in Los Angeles now, and he
works with Bernie Taupin and is doing an American song project with Bernie Taupin, who's
Elton John's lyricist. So we all lived there on the top floor of what probably Scott came up
with as Tony's Hideaway Kingdom. So that was our apartment on a block off of the square.
And so for me it was tough because I was in love with Jeff McCarthy, in love with Scott.
Paca, I liked you, you're fine with it. And so, but that's the life of a closeted guy. You fall in
love with straight, your straight pals and have to deal with that. And so, that was good and
fun and stressful and unhealthy and all of that rolled into one. It was my experience of living
in Portsmouth at the time as a basically closeted gay man. And if I ever wanted to explore
any actual sexuality or anything, it would be through personal ads and stuff like that, usually
involving a trip to Boston or something like that on a day off. And so that was the way I was
able to, That was the extent of the way I was able to express myself as far as my sexuality.
00:18:36
Holly Cashman
So there weren't any bars or places that people would meet up in Portsmouth that you went to
at the time?
00:18:45
Jay Spears
No. I didn't know of any. If there were, I didn't know any of them. And if I had known of
them, I probably would not have gone. It wasn't until later, until I was in LA, that I remember
going to my first gay bar. I don't drink anyway, so it's like I don't drink and so it's like I have
nothing to do if I go there. And so it was kind of... So, yeah, so I... Yeah, so the short answer
to that is no, I didn't. There was no scene here that I was aware of.
00:19:17
Holly Cashman
And the kind of mid-70s time that you came, how long did you stay in Portsmouth?
00:19:28
Jay Spears
I stayed that first year, I stayed through the winter. And it was great, because as I said, I got
to have the foliage and then the leaves all went off the trees and it started to get cold and
suddenly Halloween made so much more sense because that's how the world feels like it's
getting scary and then Thanksgiving and of course Halloween in New England is like, you
know, you got the whole headless horseman thing. It's all just, you got Salem, witches and
everything else. It was great. And then Thanksgiving And then you have the holiday season
�and you have the first snow and you have Christmas and everything and it's just all great.
And I was in a Christmas show with, at Theatre by the Sea, that Jon Kimbell wrote an
adaptation of Christmas Carol and it was just great. And the first snow and everything like
that, I remember one time that we, and they put us up in Strawbery Banke, where I was living
in a house on Manning Street, a big old salt bank, salt box house there. And I remember
walking from there, going downtown one evening with some friends and we were crossing an
open area, a lot or a parking lot or something. And I heard this noise and I couldn't tell where
it was coming from and it was this kind of hissing, hissing noise and really quiet and soft but
getting louder. And it was already a little after dark and we were in this parking lot that had
these street lights above here like this. And so it was then that I looked, and the snow
emerged from the darkness above the street lights. And it was the first time I had the
experience of a snowfall starting, and that you can hear it. And so that was all just great.
Because of course from California we have none of that.
00:21:23
Holly Cashman
I'm imagining the Strawbery Banke in the 70s is very different from the very tourist, very
polished Strawbery Banke today.
00:21:32
Jay Spears
It was just an open neighborhood with all those houses that had been saved from elsewhere
piled up there. Yes, and so. However, then there was all of January, all of February, all of
March, and half of April of huge goddamn production just to go out to get a goddamn loaf of
bread. So, yeah, so that was my one winter in New Hampshire. And then I got lucky because
I would work here during the summer and the fall and through Christmas, which of course is
great. And then I went back to California and worked through the winter there. And so there
are several years that I was able to have the best of both worlds.
00:22:20
Holly Cashman
Right. That makes a lot of sense. Winter here and summer there. Yes. So You mentioned
about the personal ads and going to Boston. What was that like? What was that?
00:22:40
Jay Spears
It was largely unsatisfactory, entirely unsuccessful from a technical point of view. And it was
just me desperately trying to do something in my long and tortured trip from being a gay
Catholic altar boy Air Force brat to the flaming international homopop sensation that I view
myself as today. Yeah, so just entirely, entirely stupid. I don't think I ever got laid or anything
on when I went into Boston for a personal ad. I'm sure I never got laid. I don't know if I ever
even ended up meeting a guy or anything like that. So yeah, nothing. Zero. Zilch. Zilch, zero.
00:23:38
Holly Cashman
I think it's hard for people who are coming of age today to imagine a world before the
internet, before social media, before any of those kinds of connections?
00:23:56
Jay Spears
�Yeah, when we were...
00:23:57
Holly Cashman
A whole different, like how were you...
00:24:00
Jay Spears
Of course. Yeah, we, for us, a personal ad was you would write a letter to the PO box on the
ad. And then the person who took out the ad, and when I moved back to LA, I did that
myself, took out ads, then every few days you could go into the alternative newspaper that
had published these ads and get your mail. And then you would read the ones that you
wanted. And I thought the hottest ones were the ones where the guy had written in block
letters on legal paper. That always just got me. And so you would read your mail and the ones
that you thought, and I don't think usually they would send a picture of themselves. And then
you would have to write a goddamn letter back to them, because usually they don't think they
put their phone numbers in there, because this was before the age of cell phones anyway. So
it was very slow analog communication. And so you would essentially do it by mail. And so,
and then if you could set up a date, you would set up a date and then meet someone.
00:25:11
Holly Cashman
And there were like alternative, Not necessarily specifically gay community publications, but
just like alternative papers.
00:25:24
Jay Spears
In Los Angeles, the LA Weekly and the LA Reader, of which I think only the Weekly
survives. So they would have been somewhat similar. And it definitely was not a gay paper.
But they would have a section in the back for personal ads, which even then did categorize or
did subcategorize themselves into male seeking male, male seeking female, blah, blah, blah.
00:25:53
Holly Cashman
So there was actual category that you had and not having to be like code words or any kind
of.
00:26:00
Jay Spears
Yes, I do believe so.
00:26:01
Holly Cashman
And you could get the alternative newspapers here in Portsmouth.
00:26:06
Jay Spears
Yeah, in any street corner or wherever they have them.
00:26:13
Holly Cashman
�So because I'm kind of on the cusp, I didn't get email until I was in college, but I am still a
sucker for any kind of like, because of having lived through times like that, any kind of
pandering of advertisers. Last night My partner and I were looking for, we're both into craft
beer. We're looking for craft beer and this brewery in Portland, Maine has a beer that's called
Girl Meets Girl. I don't even care what kind it was. They also had Boy Meets Boy and Boy
Meets Girl. But I'm like, that's
00:26:49
Jay Spears
It did, for heaven's sake.
00:26:51
Holly Cashman
So take my money. So until coming back for the reunion show, did you go back and forth for
a while?
00:27:03
Jay Spears
Yes, so I would say I worked here on and off for maybe 10 years because I finally settled in
LA in the early or mid 80s. So I was here for seven or so years and then landed in LA.
00:27:24
Holly Cashman
And you've kept in touch with people from the theater over the years?
00:27:30
Jay Spears
Definitely. From our theater pals, even in my neighborhood in Los Angeles, one of my best
pals from college lives a few blocks away. Another one is visiting here now, two of them
actually are visiting here now because they know Scott and me to see the show. And she lives
four or five blocks from me, so so I have these some of these theater people that live within a
few blocks me in LA. When I moved to LA, I moved in with some people from Santa Maria.
Yeah, including people from the theater. So, I moved in with them. So that was kind of a
huge reason why we, one of the huge reasons why we're still kind of together is that when I
did finally move to LA it was with people from, with friends from school. So, so we, and
yeah, so I've lived in the same neighborhood in LA for 30 plus years and in my apartment,
I've lived for 26 or 7 years in the same apartment. Finally, I have roots put down. So, yeah, so
that's how that worked out. And so, we're still very much in our day-to-day lives. And Scott
lives a few miles away in LA. And so, Scott got married here. And in fact, when we came out
here to do one of Scott's productions on the Viking Queen cruise ship that's anchored by the
salt piles down there and it goes out the Piscataqua to the Isles of Shoals and does whale
watching and whatnot and then comes back. So, Scott had the idea that we would be on board
to do a play on board. And so, we actually mounted this musical review called The Bon
Voyage on the boat. It turned out that the engines were much too loud for us to be heard at
all. And we ended up, the band would just play during the trip and then we convinced the
captain to let us have the boat at night when it was parked there. And So we turned it into sort
of a nightclub and we did our play at 10 o'clock over by the salt piles and people would come
and park there and come and see the play on the boat. But in the band, the bass player met his
wife here, Ginny Russell, who was at the show last night, the woman that sang I Remember It
�Well, the guest that came up and sang with Scott. So he married her and Scott got Nancy.
Another pal of mine got Jane Anson. Jill Anson was there. They're from Dover. And so it's
like these Californios came over here and plundered New Hampshire for all their women and
dragged them off to California. I wasn't so lucky. And so I'm in touch with all these people
still today.
00:30:51
Holly Cashman
So since you weren't out when you were here, and you've kept in touch with all those people,
how did the kind of00:30:58
Jay Spears
Oh, it was always the same thing. Every time it was the same thing, I would finally say, well,
you know, I'm, well, you know, I'm, I'm gay. And they would go, we were wondering when
you were going to tell us. They totally know. They know. Everyone knows. Don't be afraid.
Don't be afraid. And when the last, the one thing I'll say about coming out, it feels like you're
up against this huge barrier to your freedom and to your expression and to your life and to
your happiness. This whole big barrier. And then it finally comes and it falls. And you realize
it was a piece of cardboard. It was a piece of fucking cardboard. That's all it was in front of
you and you thought it was an impenetrable barrier. So if I don't have many regrets in life and
I'm a pretty happy person, but it, but you know, I should have been out sooner. You can't be
out soon enough. You can't be out soon enough. Well, everyone has privacy. You need to
have privacy. It's important to human dignity is privacy. You have a private life and that's
why prison is so horrible. You have no privacy, right? So you have to have a private life.
Secrecy is not the same thing as privacy. Privacy and secrecy are two different things. The
tape just went off.
00:32:21
Holly Cashman
Oh no. Oh, it says it's still going. This is why I've been obsessively looking at it.
00:32:28
Jay Spears
Hello, are you going? I do not want to have it happen again.
00:32:32
Jay Spears
The red light went off and now it's blinking again.
00:32:34
Holly Cashman
Oh, I think the red light is a sound.
00:32:37
Jay Spears
Hello?
00:32:37
Holly Cashman
�The sound, yeah.
00:32:39
Jay Spears
Hola. Okay. What was I saying so pithily and importantly? Yeah, yeah. Is it secrecy? Yes.
You have to have a private life. You don't want to have any secrets. Harboring a deep dark
secret is just is bad for you and for everyone else Especially if you look at your sexuality as
being a deep dark evil secret. How could that possibly possibly be healthy? I think that I'm
too late with my message now because I think that the young gay people that I meet now
know that and are saying, of course, old man, what are you talking about? But that was
definitely the way it was in my time. And there are still closeted guys out there, I suppose.
But my boyfriend Luis is not out to his parents. And he's justifiably afraid. And the fear is
real, but the problem isn't. So it's a cliche that when you're out to people, the people who
matter aren't going to care about it, and the people who care about it then actually don't
matter. So yeah, so that's, you know, I don't really have regrets as I say, but I, yeah, I do. I
wish I was out sooner and got laid more. OK, so that's my regrets.
00:34:06
Holly Cashman
That sounds like it would make a good t-shirt: "Come out earlier and get laid more".
00:34:10
Jay Spears
...get laid more, yes.
00:34:12
Holly Cashman
So back in the '70s, early '80s, do you remember from Portsmouth people who were out?
Like, did you remember knowing of people who were?
00:34:23
Jay Spears
Yes. Jon Kimbell, the director of the theater. Michael Spellman, the prop master that I met.
And so we worked closely. They were gay, but I didn't socialize with them. I was hanging out
with Scotty and Jeff and all of my college pals.
00:34:40
Holly Cashman
So it wasn't like there was no one who was out, but because maybe of that first experience of
like these gay actors playing straight characters, it was kind of...
00:34:53
Jay Spears
Yes. And of course, those would be extreme examples of gay people that dress up and wear
dresses and put outlandish makeup on and stuff like that, which is one whole kind of end of
the spectrum. But my homophobia and intolerance for that extended much farther along to
the normal spectrum. And so I didn't see myself as being like Jon Kimbell. I didn't see myself
as being like Michael Spellman, those gay guys. And so it's painful and embarrassing to say,
but that's how I felt.
�00:35:32
Holly Cashman
Well, because there is such limited representation, and if you don't identify with it, then
you're like, well.
00:35:40
Jay Spears
Yeah, am I like that? No. Because if you're a straight person, you can mock and dislike any
person in the straight spectrum and say, I'm not like that, I'm something else. But yeah, for
not having a, I mean, there wasn't even any Will and Grace or any of the other. And everyone
will say, you've heard this ad nauseum, that whenever there was a gay character on TV or
movies they always ended up dead or worse and so it was kind of like
00:36:12
Holly Cashman
I remember my first character that I was obsessed with was Monroe on Too Close for
Comfort. And he was like Jack in Will & Grace, you know
00:36:22
Jay Spears
Right
00:36:23
Holly Cashman
over the top. Everyone was laughing at him.
00:36:26
Jay Spears
Yes.
00:36:27
Holly Cashman
Not with him.
00:36:28
Jay Spears
Do you remember Billy Crystal in Soap?
00:36:31
Holly Cashman
Yes. Oh, that's true. I might have been too young to become really focused on that because I
might not have kind of identified in the way that I already was with Monroe. But yes, I'd
forgotten about that.
00:36:47
Jay Spears
But even so, and being a theater person, you just don't get to watch much TV because you're
always busy. And so I didn't really follow that show very much. But I was just aware that that
was a gay character. And to his credit, I think he did - He wasn't as a cliche. I think that for
the writers of that show, they did a good job of presenting him as a person. But I don't
�remember really what, that's a good Wikipedia question.
00:37:14
Holly Cashman
Yeah, I should go back and watch that, see if it's on Netflix.
00:37:17
Jay Spears
Yeah, yeah. So that was the only kind of thing. And all the rest of it was very covertly finding
materials to read about or porn or something like that.
00:37:35
Holly Cashman
And and not on the Internet yet.
00:37:37
Jay Spears
No, you had to do analog porn. And but so when I was really little, I mean, my self discovery
of being gay was I would look find myself and in libraries, like this beautiful one here,
getting medical books and seeing pictures of naked men in them and not knowing why. Not
knowing why because I wasn't sexually aware, but I was attracted to this image, but I couldn't
tell why. And my dad being Air Force, at the end of his career, he was a commander of A&E
squadron, which is armaments and electronics maintenance. And so he would bring home
fascinating things that I'm sure would get him arrested now. But he would bring home bullets
and air-to-air rocket shells and things. He brought home a bottle of mercury one time. And
we played with it. And we put it, because you put mercury in your hand, it's so cool. And I'm
sure we were, this is, oh.
00:38:46
Holly Cashman
Child endangerment!
00:38:47
Jay Spears
Yeah. And one day, and the thing about that is that when you're you have five kids and your
dad brings them something everyone gets to share it, but it usually ends up as being the sort
of owned by one kid or the other. So one day he brings home this airman's first aid manual
that's shaped like this to go in the pocket of their flight suit. And in it, it had two line
drawings of naked guys. One of them was to show pressure points for bleeding. So to press
this artery here and in your groin.
00:39:28
Holly Cashman
So someone didn't bleed out?
00:39:28
Jay Spears
Yes. And the other one was a diagram of a guy standing there in briefs with lines labeled hair,
pointing to his various hairy parts, for where you should wash extra carefully when you're
exposed to a nuclear explosion and fallout, to wash the fallout out of your hair. Like, yeah,
�before you die horribly of radiation poisoning. And so I made sure I got that sucker because
the guy in the briefs and the guy with the pressure points was standing there wearing a
jockstrap. And again, this was before I was sexual, before I knew anything about
masturbation or orgasm or anything. And I had this book and I was just in love with this and I
didn't know why. But that was the only sort of secret kind of way to express or to manifest
the experiences that I was feeling when I was becoming a man, becoming an adolescent I
guess it was.
00:40:38
Holly Cashman
So going from there and then to coming out to becoming the kind of out musician that you
are now What was that decision like because I see for example in your your video for I Like
Mike which is my favorite because it is exactly that kind of representation that you never see
of like athletic gay men. I remember when I was doing a different research project and I was
telling someone I had to get up at 6 a.m. to go record a gay softball practice. And then people
were like, so how are the lesbians this morning? And I was like, no, I told you it was gay
softball. They were like, gay men playing softball? Like they couldn't wrap their head around
it.
00:41:27
Jay Spears
And I'll have you know that all of the ball players in that were from my gay softball team. So
all of them were gay. When I moved to LA, obviously that was gonna be a new chapter in the
whole life. And so I got on the softball team and met all kinds of different, instead of the one
stereotype, all kinds of different representations of what a gay person or gay life would be
like. And of course, that's what people do. They move to the big city. They don't, they're not
in Portsmouth. They're not in Santa Maria. They moved to New York. They moved to San
Francisco, they moved to LA, and that's for that. And so, that's the short answer. So, when I
moved there, I found any number of different kinds of examples of what it was like to be gay.
And so I was in the gay softball league, went to the, one of my first experiences, or one of my
longest lasting gay bar affiliations was because I didn't drink. There's Oil Can Harry's, which
is a two-stepping, cowpoke, country-western place, which was great because you had
something to do when you went there. And so you would learn these different kinds of
dances, line dances or partner dances, which was great. And so I loved that. So I went there a
couple of times a week. Didn't drink anything, but I met a few boyfriends there, stuff like
that, over the course. So yeah, moving to the big city is the deal. And so when I had a bad
breakup and wrote the song, the first song I wrote was about that. And the song is called, My
Ray. And it's the opening song on my first album. And for me, you have to have some sort of
emotional freaking disaster in order to get your artistic juices flowing or whatever. And so
that's what was the catalyst for that. Because I'd been a musician all along, but I had never
really written much in the way of my own songs. In college, I made money playing guitar,
banjo, or mandolin in the orchestras for the musicals that the theater department would put
on. And so practically all...
00:43:55
Holly Cashman
You were in the orchestra, not in the, not acting?
00:43:59
Jay Spears
�I was in both, but to make money, I would do that. And part of my schooling, I would be on
stage. And to get my theater degree, I'd have to be on stage. But practically every American
musical has like Hello, Dolly and Mame and all that have banjo parts. And Shenandoah and
what is it? Old Man River, Show Boat. Those are all that kind of Civil War era stuff has
banjo in it. And then there's guitar things like Jesus Christ Superstar and Godspell and Man of
La Mancha. There's all guitar in that. And then there's Mandolin like Fiddler on the Roof and
all that. So all of those had, so many of them have guitar parts in the score and I would make
money doing that. So my musical style is greatly influenced by that. So my songwriting isn't
very rock and roll-y, although I do like to do that. I always make sure I hire some kick-ass
guitarists when I do stuff, but it's mostly informed by that. And my songs usually have
characters in them, sometimes even dialogue and stuff like that. And so it came out of that
bad breakup I wrote, My Ray, You Will Love Again, which we're doing in the show. Were
you there last night? No.
00:45:14
Holly Cashman
No, I've heard details about it from Tom.
00:45:18
Jay Spears
So about how, yeah, your heart's broken now, but don't worry, you will love again. And so
that's how that started. And I had no intention of making an album and putting it out to the
public for God's sake, but but that's that's how it happened. And then I Like Mike is about a
guy from the softball league who I fell in love with, who was already involved with his
longtime boyfriend. I don't think they've been, I don't think they got married, but yeah I fell in
love with him And that was a huge step for me, because he was the first gay, completely
unavailable man that I fell for. So that was progress.
00:46:02
Holly Cashman
Following the same pattern, but a twist.
00:46:06
Jay Spears
Yeah, yeah. And I got a great song out of it. So that's good. So yeah, so that's how that
happened.
00:46:11
Holly Cashman
So coming back to Portsmouth, What has that been like?
00:46:16
Jay Spears
Oh, it's been great. Two years ago, Scott and Nancy came back here to renew their vows,
because they got married in Prescott Park. And at the time, he invited me and Randa to come,
because they were going to, they were going to, he put together a show for one night in
Theater West where Stephanie Voss' theater is now. And so we did a one-night show there.
And so then, but that event was their vows, and we knew their vows, and so we came in to
the celebration of them and stuff. We went to Prescott Park, and it was great. So a bunch of
us came here for that. And so apparently, he got the idea that, well, why don't we just go there
�just to do a show? And so he put this together, a friend. And they contacted Pontine.
Stephanie Voss at Pontine, another Santa Maria, PCPA person, friend of ours from all those
years back. So she's part of the whole web. And when Scott, when we weren't working in
Theatre by the Sea, Scott and Nancy had their own production company called We Sing, We
Dance, Etc. And they're the ones that put on with us the cruise Viking Queen thing. We had a
singing waiters gig over in Kittery. There was a crab house or something like that, The Fish
Company it was called. So we did singing waiters there. We did Ogunquit Square Theatre
play. We did a Christmas show, not at The Music Hall, but there's some other huge
auditorium in Portsmouth that we could not fill. We did a Christmas show one year there.
And so he did a whole bunch of different projects around town.
00:48:13
Holly Cashman
Was the Ogunquit Playhouse around back then?
00:48:15
Jay Spears
Yes, it was. Yeah, And that was the Equity Playhouse, and we weren't in that.
00:48:20
Holly Cashman
Oh, OK. And in those days, was Ogunquit known for being the gay destination that it is now?
Did it have that connotation or no?
00:48:32
Jay Spears
It is?
00:48:32
Holly Cashman
It does.
00:48:33
Jay Spears
Oh. No.
00:48:35
Holly Cashman
Go check it out.
00:48:37
Jay Spears
Oh, news to me.
00:48:38
Holly Cashman
It does. Yeah. It does have that.
00:48:39
Jay Spears
�Really? I'll be darned.
00:48:40
Holly Cashman
I mean, lots of other folks go there as well, but
00:48:42
Jay Spears
Yeah. Yeah. Yes. The Ogunquit Square Theatre, I think it was, is just this little small theater
right in like downtown Ogunquit.
00:48:54
Holly Cashman
Yeah, yeah. I think, I mean, there's a movie theater there now that might be in that same
space, I wonder, like a white kind of clapboard New England-y looking building. And then
right on one of the streets that goes right into that crisscross area, there's a huge gay bar now
called Maine Street. Maine with an E at the end of it, because they're cute.
00:49:17
Jay Spears
I see what you did there.
00:49:20
Holly Cashman
Exactly. With tea dances and the you know I think once a month lesbians get to go there. But
it's definitely a more laid-back kind of open scene than anything down in Boston, for sure.
00:49:36
Jay Spears
Oh, gotcha.
00:49:37
Holly Cashman
One of my friends who was visiting from Phoenix said, I actually love this bar because it
looks nice, but I don't have to suck my gut in.
00:49:50
Jay Spears
I can relate.
00:49:53
Holly Cashman
So any other thoughts you want to share about kind of the coming up on the 50th anniversary
of Stonewall, about any kind of the major events and milestones that have happened,
marriage equality, all those kinds of things, the current political climate.
00:50:14
Jay Spears
Yeah. Well, it's definitely, in spite of the ridiculous current situation that we're in now, it is
certainly a testament to progress the way the gay life in America and in the world in general
�has made progress since I was in Portsmouth in the '70s. Yeah, I mean gay marriage, really?
Come on, like that could ever happen? And yeah, I mean, it's pretty incredible. And my main
anger, as far as it goes, is the way that our community has been used as a tool to frighten the
ignorant, you know? And it's like, that's what the conservatives do. They haul up a
boogeyman, frighten their ignorant base with them, promise them that they will save them
from you. Vote for us, we'll save you from the homos that are going to come and take your
kids. Vote for us.
00:51:29
Holly Cashman
These bathrooms, right? If we let them in their neutral bathrooms.
00:51:32
Jay Spears
Yes. Vote for us, we'll save you from all these women that are going to have an abortion.
00:51:36
Holly Cashman
Vote for us, We'll save you
00:51:36
Jay Spears
from all these women that are going to have an abortion. Vote for us. We'll save you from all
these Mexicans that are going to take your job. The terrorists are coming. Vote for us and
we'll protect you from them. And they fall for it every time. Every time. Time and time again.
And so that's the main thing that pisses me off about our political climate now is that they
successfully, cynically successfully used us as a, to literally demonize us in order to get votes
from their base. And so, now that more than half the country at least says, you know. It's the
same thing about Black people and Mexicans and everything. It's like they're gonna come and
get you, Vote for us and we'll save you. And for the people that say, well, the courts need to
wait till the public opinion kind of goes that way. And then the courts, when in the '60s, they
had the Loving vs. Virginia. Warren Burger, Earl Warren, not Warren Burger, Earl Warren,
the Chief Justice, went to all of the justices on the Supreme Court to make sure that they had
a consensus. And he, when they outlawed or when they voided all of those anti-mixed-race
marriage laws in their unanimous decision, shortly thereafter a poll was taken and 80something percent of people thought that Black people shouldn't marry white people. 80
something! Which means that a lot of black people thought that too, in order to get that kind
of percentage. And so the courts have to be ahead of the people on these kinds of issues,
because that's obvious that the courts, that the Legislature puts in action to the law the will of
the majority, that's how they got voted in, and the judiciary protects the rights of the
minorities. That's what they're there for. It seems to me that that is not going to be the case
these days with the politicized Supreme Court. And they're gonna just be using it as an issue.
And luckily, thank God for fucking Justice Kennedy. He's a conservative, but he's the one
that was the swing vote in all these cases. And we'll see now what's going to happen if they're
going to get another conservative justice to screw the court for the next 50 years. That's the
thing that worries me. I don't think that there's going to be a reversal. Usually when rights are
won, they're never taken away. So I don't think that that's going to be a problem. But then
again, I didn't think there was going to be Trump either. So yeah.
00:54:45
Holly Cashman
�You can always be surprised.
00:54:46
Jay Spears
Yeah. So.
00:54:47
Holly Cashman
It is in your song about, I can't remember the exact title now, but about Smashing the
Christians Down
00:54:55
Jay Spears
Smack, Smack Them Christians Down.
00:54:57
Holly Cashman
But I love how it shows kind of historically how piece by piece by piece what has been kind
of the attempt to Christianize or biblicize the country has been reversed. So I'm taking that as
a sign of hope.
00:55:18
Jay Spears
For future generations in the year 3077 who are watching this video, you can probably still
find my demented music videos on what we today call YouTube. I don't know what you
would call it. And you can see, and that song was written, remember I said I needed an
emotional upheaval? Direct response to the Defense of Marriage Act. That's why I wrote that
song. And the third verse of, about, the third verse is about, specifically about that. So yeah,
so that was written specifically to Bill Clinton signing the Defense of Marriage Act. I know
it's embarrassing, but yeah, they put that into law. I'm sorry, I apologize for America.
00:56:06
Holly Cashman
And then now, I mean, the Don't Ask, Don't Tell, kind of under threat of coming back into
some kind of... One thing that I was stunned by when I was doing my ethnography in
Phoenix, Arizona actually, among LGBTQ Latinos there was how many people left their
family, got out of their community to come out by joining the military. And this was back in
the '90s. You know? And They're like, yeah, Don't Ask, Don't Tell was not as scary as my
Mexican dad.
00:56:50
Jay Spears
Yeah. Yeah.
00:56:51
Holly Cashman
So we got out.
00:56:52
Jay Spears
�Yeah. Sad, but true.
00:56:55
Holly Cashman
And just kind of an example of how things really change and shift depending on your
position or your location.
00:57:04
Jay Spears
Yeah. And that's what gay people have historically had to do. Get out. Establish your identity
yourself, especially as an adult. I'm going through the same thing with Luis, with my
boyfriend. He's not out to his parents, but he was living at home with them. You can't really
come, for some people, you can't really come out in those circumstances because, "as long as
you're under my roof", and that whole thing, and you're depending on them for everything.
And then kids get kicked into the street and they become homeless. So you got to move up,
move out, become a person, get a job, establish a career, establish yourself as an adult. Then
you're not just their kid living, their kid living in their basement, and then you can relate to
them one-on-one and tell them, this is me, this is who I am. I'm an adult now, I do this for a
living. I'm not dependent on you for that. And parents want you to do that. They want you to
be a good parent. You want your kids to turn into adults, obviously successful adults. So you
turn into successful adults and then you can tell them if they're worried if this is the kind of
thing that they would be freaked by. It's much better to have it coming from an established,
successful, safe adult than from a kid that's living under their, you know, under their roof.
And so that's what Luis is doing right now. He's moved to L.A. And he's a machinist and he
has a good job and making a lot of money. And he just bought his dad for Father's Day a
good expensive lawnmower because they would always mow the lawn together. And so he's
afraid, but he's still afraid of what his parents would think if he comes out, although his mom
knows, I know she knows. But anyway, so, and he moved his dad to tears by giving him this
lawnmower. So he's, instead of living in their basement as a college dropout kind of thing,
He's moved to LA, set himself up, got a great job as a machinist, paying much better than
minimum wage, bought his dad an important present, and you know he's changing himself in
their eyes to a point where he's much more, I think, you have a much better standing to do
something that's controversial or something that might be a problem or that might be
controversial in your family.
00:59:33
Holly Cashman
Yeah. And what you said before about in your time in Portsmouth, where everyone pretty
much knew when you came out to them later.
00:59:44
Jay Spears
Yes.
00:59:45
Holly Cashman
But there's something very different about when you actually put words to it. And even if it's
just for you, even if they think what we knew and it doesn't matter, it's a big...
�00:59:55
Jay Spears
Yes. Yes. And I don't want to look like I'm saying, oh, there's nothing to be afraid of, because
in some families, in some cases, there is. There is. And my parents, when I finally told them,
my mom was just kind of, "Why do I have to know that?" Because she was old at the time,
you know, and I said, "Well, I donít know." But so, yeah. Yeah. So, it could be a problem. It
might be a problem for him. His dad and his family might get really super mad. They're
Hispanic. They're Puerto Rican and Cuban. So they have a Christian and conservative
culture. And so it might be more of a problem for him. But that's the way to do it. And I hope
that by the time that, I don't know, the next generation or two, that we can do it.
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Seacoast NH LGBTQ+ Oral History Project
Description
An account of the resource
The NH Seacoast LGBT History Project was founded by Tom Kaufhold in 2015. Tom had been collecting papers, ephemera, and artifacts related to or created by the LGBTQ+ community on the Seacoast region of New Hampshire. To tell the story more fully, Holly Cashman, a professor at the University of New Hampshire, began collecting oral histories from the same community. <br /><br />With the assistance of interns and student workers, Dr. Cashman conducted ten interviews over a six-year period. The team processed each interview and created indexes and transcripts. Interviewees, also called narrators, were found through flyers and by visiting with local LGBTQ+ social groups such as Seacoast Gay Men. Participants were given the option to provide their full name or a partial name. This project is ongoing and Dr. Cashman and her team will continue conducting interviews which will be added to this site.<br /><br />Thanks to Holly Cashman, Tom Kaufhold, Aliya Sarris, Lily Pudlo, Zoe Dawson, the narrators, the interns, and the student workers who contributed to this project.<br /><br /><span>View the collections of the NH Seacoast LGBT History Project! Their video archive is available here: </span><a href="https://portsmouthexhibits.org/collections/show/25" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">portsmouthexhibits.org/collections/show/25</a><span> and the recordings of Women Singing OUT!, a lesbian-based choir, are available here </span><a href="https://portsmouthexhibits.org/collections/show/32" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">portsmouthexhibits.org/collections/show/32</a><span>.</span>
Moving Image
A series of visual representations that, when shown in succession, impart an impression of motion.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Oral history with Jay Spears, August 11, 2018
Subject
The topic of the resource
New Hampshire -- History
LGBTQ+ history
Gay men
Description
An account of the resource
An oral interview with Jay Spears with transcript and index. Topics discussed include growing up, Portsmouth in the 1970s, Theatre-By-The-Sea, and the current climate. Recorded at the Portsmouth Public Library in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Cashman, Holly (interviewer)
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Seacoast NH LGBT History Project Archive
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Portsmouth Public Library, Special Collections
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-08-11
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Spears, Jay (interviewee)
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-EDU/1.0/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">In copyright - educational use permitted</a>
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
MOV
01:00:51
PDF
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
MovingImage
Text
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
1. Jay Spears
-
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72f134b3660e595216b96da125ec60d3
https://portsmouthexhibits.org/files/original/d16e8b86ce1c50aa50a888eb67473a39.mp4
0d3a57c121f937a4f40dc2fb551b2c6b
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
NH Seacoast LGBT History Project Video Archive
Subject
The topic of the resource
Gay and Lesbian Studies
Gay Pride
Gay and Lesbian Rights
Gay Community
Gay Literature
Gay-Straight Alliances in Schools
Gay Students
Oral History
Description
An account of the resource
Tom Kaufhold founded the NH Seacoast LGBT History Project in 2015 to “research, document, and preserve the history of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people on the Seacoast of New Hampshire with emphasis on Portsmouth."<br /><br />Project members contributed materials that tell stories about the LGBTQIA+ community. The papers and ephemera are held at the <a href="https://athenaeum.pastperfectonline.com/archive/B30EFEDB-8D30-48AB-9CF6-387397466415" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Portsmouth Athenaeum</a> while the library maintains the media archive. Video and audio recordings have been digitized by history project interns and library staff. Special thanks to intern Kate Persson.<br /><br />The complete list of LGBTQIA+ media and books collected by the history project is available upon request. It is a list of known accessible media, but may not be currently available at the library. Check our <a href="https://portsmouth.bywatersolutions.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">catalog</a> or ask a librarian if you need assistance.<br /><br />The Seacoast NH LGBTQ+ Oral History Project was created by Dr. Holly R. Cashman in partnership with the NH Seacoast LGBT History Project, the University of New Hampshire, and the Portsmouth Public Library. View the recordings here: <a href="https://portsmouthexhibits.org/collections/show/32" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">portsmouthexhibits.org/collections/show/32</a>. <br /><br />Digitized audio recordings from Women Singing OUT!, a lesbian-based choir, are part of the NH Seacoast LGBT History Project and are available here: <a href="https://portsmouthexhibits.org/collections/show/28" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">portsmouthexhibits.org/collections/show/28</a>.<br /><br />Members of the NH Seacoast LGBT History Project have presented lectures, created exhibits and displays, and conducted an oral history project with the University of New Hampshire that captures the stories of numerous interviewees. <span>Any questions about this collection can be directed to the <a href="https://www.cityofportsmouth.com/library/local-history-genealogy#contact" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Special Collections Librarian</a> at the Portsmouth Public Library or to the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Portsnh/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Seacoast NH LGBT History Project</a>.<br /></span>
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Cashman, Holly
Kaufhold, Tom
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Portsmouth Public Library Special Collection
Language
A language of the resource
Eng
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1975 - Present
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
AIDS Pledge Walk, 1996
Subject
The topic of the resource
AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts
LGBTQ+ community
Boston (Mass.)
Description
An account of the resource
Video documenting the 10th Annual AIDS Pledge Walk in Boston, Massachusetts. The walk was held on Sunday, June 2, 1996 and was hosted by AIDS Action Committee. Includes clips of Larry Kessler, Executive Director of AIDS Action Committee; Garry Bailey, President of the Board of Directors of AIDS Action Committee; and Bob Lobel, WBZ-AM/TV. Produced and directed by J. Dolan Barry.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Barry, J. Dolan
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Seacoast NH LGBT History Project Archive
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Portsmouth Public Library, Special Collections
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1996-06-02
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
View our <a href="https://portsmouthexhibits.org/copyright-information" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Terms of Use and Copyright Information</a>
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
mp4
00:08:35 minutes
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
MovingImage
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
6. AIDS Pledge Walk 1996.mpg
-
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d7389ebea1a40760c77fcd47495ab5fd
https://portsmouthexhibits.org/files/original/89d25ec93d1a3daf9bafff320dbf192a.mp4
67448cfdd78bde26ee4961bced7a0dbc
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
NH Seacoast LGBT History Project Video Archive
Subject
The topic of the resource
Gay and Lesbian Studies
Gay Pride
Gay and Lesbian Rights
Gay Community
Gay Literature
Gay-Straight Alliances in Schools
Gay Students
Oral History
Description
An account of the resource
Tom Kaufhold founded the NH Seacoast LGBT History Project in 2015 to “research, document, and preserve the history of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people on the Seacoast of New Hampshire with emphasis on Portsmouth."<br /><br />Project members contributed materials that tell stories about the LGBTQIA+ community. The papers and ephemera are held at the <a href="https://athenaeum.pastperfectonline.com/archive/B30EFEDB-8D30-48AB-9CF6-387397466415" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Portsmouth Athenaeum</a> while the library maintains the media archive. Video and audio recordings have been digitized by history project interns and library staff. Special thanks to intern Kate Persson.<br /><br />The complete list of LGBTQIA+ media and books collected by the history project is available upon request. It is a list of known accessible media, but may not be currently available at the library. Check our <a href="https://portsmouth.bywatersolutions.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">catalog</a> or ask a librarian if you need assistance.<br /><br />The Seacoast NH LGBTQ+ Oral History Project was created by Dr. Holly R. Cashman in partnership with the NH Seacoast LGBT History Project, the University of New Hampshire, and the Portsmouth Public Library. View the recordings here: <a href="https://portsmouthexhibits.org/collections/show/32" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">portsmouthexhibits.org/collections/show/32</a>. <br /><br />Digitized audio recordings from Women Singing OUT!, a lesbian-based choir, are part of the NH Seacoast LGBT History Project and are available here: <a href="https://portsmouthexhibits.org/collections/show/28" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">portsmouthexhibits.org/collections/show/28</a>.<br /><br />Members of the NH Seacoast LGBT History Project have presented lectures, created exhibits and displays, and conducted an oral history project with the University of New Hampshire that captures the stories of numerous interviewees. <span>Any questions about this collection can be directed to the <a href="https://www.cityofportsmouth.com/library/local-history-genealogy#contact" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Special Collections Librarian</a> at the Portsmouth Public Library or to the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Portsnh/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Seacoast NH LGBT History Project</a>.<br /></span>
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Cashman, Holly
Kaufhold, Tom
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Portsmouth Public Library Special Collection
Language
A language of the resource
Eng
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1975 - Present
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
WGME TV and footage from Hampton Beach protest, 1996
Subject
The topic of the resource
LGBTQ+ community
Demonstrations
Hampton (N.H.)
Description
An account of the resource
A news clip from WGME TV reporting on the Hampton Beach protest against The Shirt Factory on Ocean Boulevard, Hampton Beach. The clip is followed by footage from another protest outside of The Shirt Factory and a news clip from Channel 7 News.
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Seacoast NH LGBT History Project Archive
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Portsmouth Public Library, Special Collections
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1996
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
View our <a href="https://portsmouthexhibits.org/copyright-information" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Terms of Use and Copyright Information</a>
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
mp4
00:33:49 minutes
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
MovingImage
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
5. WGME TV - Home Video Lena.mpg
-
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623c4a4405faa604ec19427272dd2a71
https://portsmouthexhibits.org/files/original/9994c229dfc77c3fef9daceaa94fd8e2.mp4
c633386547316e60a50c64d311f579c4
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
NH Seacoast LGBT History Project Video Archive
Subject
The topic of the resource
Gay and Lesbian Studies
Gay Pride
Gay and Lesbian Rights
Gay Community
Gay Literature
Gay-Straight Alliances in Schools
Gay Students
Oral History
Description
An account of the resource
Tom Kaufhold founded the NH Seacoast LGBT History Project in 2015 to “research, document, and preserve the history of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people on the Seacoast of New Hampshire with emphasis on Portsmouth."<br /><br />Project members contributed materials that tell stories about the LGBTQIA+ community. The papers and ephemera are held at the <a href="https://athenaeum.pastperfectonline.com/archive/B30EFEDB-8D30-48AB-9CF6-387397466415" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Portsmouth Athenaeum</a> while the library maintains the media archive. Video and audio recordings have been digitized by history project interns and library staff. Special thanks to intern Kate Persson.<br /><br />The complete list of LGBTQIA+ media and books collected by the history project is available upon request. It is a list of known accessible media, but may not be currently available at the library. Check our <a href="https://portsmouth.bywatersolutions.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">catalog</a> or ask a librarian if you need assistance.<br /><br />The Seacoast NH LGBTQ+ Oral History Project was created by Dr. Holly R. Cashman in partnership with the NH Seacoast LGBT History Project, the University of New Hampshire, and the Portsmouth Public Library. View the recordings here: <a href="https://portsmouthexhibits.org/collections/show/32" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">portsmouthexhibits.org/collections/show/32</a>. <br /><br />Digitized audio recordings from Women Singing OUT!, a lesbian-based choir, are part of the NH Seacoast LGBT History Project and are available here: <a href="https://portsmouthexhibits.org/collections/show/28" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">portsmouthexhibits.org/collections/show/28</a>.<br /><br />Members of the NH Seacoast LGBT History Project have presented lectures, created exhibits and displays, and conducted an oral history project with the University of New Hampshire that captures the stories of numerous interviewees. <span>Any questions about this collection can be directed to the <a href="https://www.cityofportsmouth.com/library/local-history-genealogy#contact" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Special Collections Librarian</a> at the Portsmouth Public Library or to the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Portsnh/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Seacoast NH LGBT History Project</a>.<br /></span>
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Cashman, Holly
Kaufhold, Tom
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Portsmouth Public Library Special Collection
Language
A language of the resource
Eng
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1975 - Present
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Hampton Beach Protest Home Video by Lena, 1996
Subject
The topic of the resource
LGBTQ+ community
Demonstrations
Hampton (N.H.)
Description
An account of the resource
Home video taken on July 9, 1996. The film shows AIDS workers, people with AIDS, activists from the LBGTQ+ community, and allies protesting in front of The Shirt Factory on Ocean Boulevard, Hampton Beach, NH. The protest was led by Carl Bletzer and was sparked by the sale of t-shirts with homophobic text and graphics. The final three minutes of the video are clipped from local news stations, including WMUR.
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Seacoast NH LGBT History Project Archive
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Portsmouth Public Library, Special Collections
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1996-07-09
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
View our <a href="https://portsmouthexhibits.org/copyright-information" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Terms of Use and Copyright Information</a>
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
mp4
00:43:10 minutes
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
MovingImage
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
4. July 9, 1996 - Home Video Lena.mpg
-
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https://portsmouthexhibits.org/files/original/e081324c72a31eb017e8a9d90d8ce275.mp4
2ab9f6addc678be4d690386907be3580
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
NH Seacoast LGBT History Project Video Archive
Subject
The topic of the resource
Gay and Lesbian Studies
Gay Pride
Gay and Lesbian Rights
Gay Community
Gay Literature
Gay-Straight Alliances in Schools
Gay Students
Oral History
Description
An account of the resource
Tom Kaufhold founded the NH Seacoast LGBT History Project in 2015 to “research, document, and preserve the history of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people on the Seacoast of New Hampshire with emphasis on Portsmouth."<br /><br />Project members contributed materials that tell stories about the LGBTQIA+ community. The papers and ephemera are held at the <a href="https://athenaeum.pastperfectonline.com/archive/B30EFEDB-8D30-48AB-9CF6-387397466415" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Portsmouth Athenaeum</a> while the library maintains the media archive. Video and audio recordings have been digitized by history project interns and library staff. Special thanks to intern Kate Persson.<br /><br />The complete list of LGBTQIA+ media and books collected by the history project is available upon request. It is a list of known accessible media, but may not be currently available at the library. Check our <a href="https://portsmouth.bywatersolutions.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">catalog</a> or ask a librarian if you need assistance.<br /><br />The Seacoast NH LGBTQ+ Oral History Project was created by Dr. Holly R. Cashman in partnership with the NH Seacoast LGBT History Project, the University of New Hampshire, and the Portsmouth Public Library. View the recordings here: <a href="https://portsmouthexhibits.org/collections/show/32" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">portsmouthexhibits.org/collections/show/32</a>. <br /><br />Digitized audio recordings from Women Singing OUT!, a lesbian-based choir, are part of the NH Seacoast LGBT History Project and are available here: <a href="https://portsmouthexhibits.org/collections/show/28" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">portsmouthexhibits.org/collections/show/28</a>.<br /><br />Members of the NH Seacoast LGBT History Project have presented lectures, created exhibits and displays, and conducted an oral history project with the University of New Hampshire that captures the stories of numerous interviewees. <span>Any questions about this collection can be directed to the <a href="https://www.cityofportsmouth.com/library/local-history-genealogy#contact" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Special Collections Librarian</a> at the Portsmouth Public Library or to the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Portsnh/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Seacoast NH LGBT History Project</a>.<br /></span>
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Cashman, Holly
Kaufhold, Tom
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Portsmouth Public Library Special Collection
Language
A language of the resource
Eng
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1975 - Present
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Hampton Beach Protest Home Video by Mike, 1996
Subject
The topic of the resource
LGBTQ+ community
Demonstrations
Hampton (N.H.)
Description
An account of the resource
Home video taken on July 9, 1996. The film shows AIDS workers, people with AIDS, activists from the LBGTQ+ community, and allies protesting in front of The Shirt Factory on Ocean Boulevard, Hampton Beach, NH. The protest was led by Carl Bletzer and was sparked by the sale of t-shirts with homophobic text and graphics.
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Seacoast NH LGBT History Project Archive
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Portsmouth Public Library, Special Collections
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1996-07-09
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
View our <a href="https://portsmouthexhibits.org/copyright-information" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Terms of Use and Copyright Information</a>
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
mp4
00:28:20 minutes
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
MovingImage
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
3. July 9, 1996 - Home Video Mike.mpg
-
https://portsmouthexhibits.org/files/original/912316ea3a07fc87bbe5049ff573e646.png
6887983d7b0a33dfa7e64eec1393ab89
https://portsmouthexhibits.org/files/original/0ea9c868e05eb6a5bdf36741cbf67585.mp4
86724d048bf3395c6296e4175f632a3b
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
NH Seacoast LGBT History Project Video Archive
Subject
The topic of the resource
Gay and Lesbian Studies
Gay Pride
Gay and Lesbian Rights
Gay Community
Gay Literature
Gay-Straight Alliances in Schools
Gay Students
Oral History
Description
An account of the resource
Tom Kaufhold founded the NH Seacoast LGBT History Project in 2015 to “research, document, and preserve the history of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people on the Seacoast of New Hampshire with emphasis on Portsmouth."<br /><br />Project members contributed materials that tell stories about the LGBTQIA+ community. The papers and ephemera are held at the <a href="https://athenaeum.pastperfectonline.com/archive/B30EFEDB-8D30-48AB-9CF6-387397466415" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Portsmouth Athenaeum</a> while the library maintains the media archive. Video and audio recordings have been digitized by history project interns and library staff. Special thanks to intern Kate Persson.<br /><br />The complete list of LGBTQIA+ media and books collected by the history project is available upon request. It is a list of known accessible media, but may not be currently available at the library. Check our <a href="https://portsmouth.bywatersolutions.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">catalog</a> or ask a librarian if you need assistance.<br /><br />The Seacoast NH LGBTQ+ Oral History Project was created by Dr. Holly R. Cashman in partnership with the NH Seacoast LGBT History Project, the University of New Hampshire, and the Portsmouth Public Library. View the recordings here: <a href="https://portsmouthexhibits.org/collections/show/32" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">portsmouthexhibits.org/collections/show/32</a>. <br /><br />Digitized audio recordings from Women Singing OUT!, a lesbian-based choir, are part of the NH Seacoast LGBT History Project and are available here: <a href="https://portsmouthexhibits.org/collections/show/28" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">portsmouthexhibits.org/collections/show/28</a>.<br /><br />Members of the NH Seacoast LGBT History Project have presented lectures, created exhibits and displays, and conducted an oral history project with the University of New Hampshire that captures the stories of numerous interviewees. <span>Any questions about this collection can be directed to the <a href="https://www.cityofportsmouth.com/library/local-history-genealogy#contact" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Special Collections Librarian</a> at the Portsmouth Public Library or to the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Portsnh/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Seacoast NH LGBT History Project</a>.<br /></span>
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Cashman, Holly
Kaufhold, Tom
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Portsmouth Public Library Special Collection
Language
A language of the resource
Eng
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1975 - Present
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Hampton Beach Protest, 1996
Subject
The topic of the resource
LGBTQ+ community
Demonstrations
Hampton (N.H.)
Description
An account of the resource
Home video taken on July 9, 1996. The film shows AIDS workers, people with AIDS, activists from the LBGTQ+ community, and allies protesting in front of The Shirt Factory on Ocean Boulevard, Hampton Beach, NH. The protest was led by Carl Bletzer and was sparked by the sale of t-shirts with homophobic text and graphics. The video includes an interview with Mo Baxley.
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Seacoast NH LGBT History Project Archive
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Portsmouth Public Library, Special Collections
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1996-07-09
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
View our <a href="https://portsmouthexhibits.org/copyright-information" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Terms of Use and Copyright Information</a>
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
MovingImage
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
2. Hampton Beach Protest 1996.mp4
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
mp4
00:40:24 minutes
-
https://portsmouthexhibits.org/files/original/f3e65f5d78f7eda1ff742ed8d77d669e.JPG
4032c5651282ad60e5392c0a8f7a2e09
https://portsmouthexhibits.org/files/original/3f30d4a4c2f2e856769313af16c43ac4.mp4
56d63951213fa817c1aa4046663dc947
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
NH Seacoast LGBT History Project Video Archive
Subject
The topic of the resource
Gay and Lesbian Studies
Gay Pride
Gay and Lesbian Rights
Gay Community
Gay Literature
Gay-Straight Alliances in Schools
Gay Students
Oral History
Description
An account of the resource
Tom Kaufhold founded the NH Seacoast LGBT History Project in 2015 to “research, document, and preserve the history of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people on the Seacoast of New Hampshire with emphasis on Portsmouth."<br /><br />Project members contributed materials that tell stories about the LGBTQIA+ community. The papers and ephemera are held at the <a href="https://athenaeum.pastperfectonline.com/archive/B30EFEDB-8D30-48AB-9CF6-387397466415" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Portsmouth Athenaeum</a> while the library maintains the media archive. Video and audio recordings have been digitized by history project interns and library staff. Special thanks to intern Kate Persson.<br /><br />The complete list of LGBTQIA+ media and books collected by the history project is available upon request. It is a list of known accessible media, but may not be currently available at the library. Check our <a href="https://portsmouth.bywatersolutions.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">catalog</a> or ask a librarian if you need assistance.<br /><br />The Seacoast NH LGBTQ+ Oral History Project was created by Dr. Holly R. Cashman in partnership with the NH Seacoast LGBT History Project, the University of New Hampshire, and the Portsmouth Public Library. View the recordings here: <a href="https://portsmouthexhibits.org/collections/show/32" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">portsmouthexhibits.org/collections/show/32</a>. <br /><br />Digitized audio recordings from Women Singing OUT!, a lesbian-based choir, are part of the NH Seacoast LGBT History Project and are available here: <a href="https://portsmouthexhibits.org/collections/show/28" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">portsmouthexhibits.org/collections/show/28</a>.<br /><br />Members of the NH Seacoast LGBT History Project have presented lectures, created exhibits and displays, and conducted an oral history project with the University of New Hampshire that captures the stories of numerous interviewees. <span>Any questions about this collection can be directed to the <a href="https://www.cityofportsmouth.com/library/local-history-genealogy#contact" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Special Collections Librarian</a> at the Portsmouth Public Library or to the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Portsnh/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Seacoast NH LGBT History Project</a>.<br /></span>
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Cashman, Holly
Kaufhold, Tom
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Portsmouth Public Library Special Collection
Language
A language of the resource
Eng
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1975 - Present
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Seacoast Outright Ten Years Strong, 2003
Subject
The topic of the resource
LGBTQ+ community
Gay rights
Portsmouth (N.H.)
Description
An account of the resource
Short video featuring clips of interviews with members of Seacoast Outright. Included in the film were: Amy Adams, Robin Albert, Ruth Arrington, Dennis Bobilya, Calvin Couch, Mim Easton, Cari Moorhead, Ingrid Parkin, Josiah Richards, Paula Rockwell, Carina Self, and Steve Small. Produced by Pip Clews with assistance from Tanna Clews.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Seacoast Outright, 1993-
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Seacoast NH LGBT History Project Archive
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Portsmouth Public Library, Special Collections
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2003
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Pip Productions, 2002-
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
View our <a href="https://portsmouthexhibits.org/copyright-information" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Terms of Use and Copyright Information</a>
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
MovingImage
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
1. Seacoast Outright Ten Years Strong.mpg
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
mp4
00:07:29 minutes
-
https://portsmouthexhibits.org/files/original/a24b0074d2468b8d4518f1408a66903a.jpg
7b1bdcb71e0ef2e4088f0aead5e4a457
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Haven School Neighborhood Project
Description
An account of the resource
Puddle Dock and the South End are the oldest neighborhoods in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, which was settled in 1623. The first school building in Portsmouth was built and opened in 1713 and was located close to the site that would become the Haven School in 1846. When it opened, Haven School contained four graded schools: infant, primary, intermediate, and grammar. In 1969, Little Harbour School was built to replace Haven School. In 1978, the Haven School’s brick building was turned into condominiums.
The Haven School Neighborhood consists of the South End and Puddle Dock areas. Strawbery Banke Museum now occupies the space once known as Puddle Dock. The Haven School Neighborhood is central to all that has happened in Portsmouth since its settlement. It is no exaggeration to say that the history of this neighborhood is at the core of the history of the entire city. Whether the focus is settlement, revolution, maritime activity, economic decline, revitalization, or even acculturation, the Haven School Neighborhood provides the core for study.
Library staff have endeavored to make the Haven School Neighborhood Project public to increase access to this important collection and to the history of the neighborhood. The members of this community within a community, past and present, have a story to tell and the nature of that community has dramatically changed.
The core of this collection was scanned from photo albums of historic images of people and places from Portsmouth’s South End; created from the history and stories contributed by the people who lived there. The subjects include the South End neighborhood, Puddle Dock neighborhood, and Haven School alumni and span the late-19th to mid-20th centuries. These photographs were gathered in 1982 as part of a reunion of the Puddle Dock area (also known as the Haven School neighborhood for the purposes of this project). Copies of the resulting photo albums were given to Portsmouth Public Library following the Reunion. Former residents have also generously contributed additional photographs and documents to our digital archive project. Comments have been, and continue to be, added via the commenting feature available with each image.
This project was made possible by a group of volunteers from the Haven School Neighborhood. Special thanks to Sherm and Cathy Pridham who scanned the majority of these images and provided background information including names, dates, and locations. Images and memories will be added to the project as appropriate over time.
If you have stories and photos you would like to share, please contact Special Collections Librarian Katie Czajkowski at cfczajkowski@cityofportsmouth.com.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Portsmouth Public Library, Special Collections
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Puddle Dock Reunion Photo Albums held by the PPL, Special Collections.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Portsmouth Public Library, Special Collections
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Portsmouth Public Library
Sherman and Cathy Pridham, scanned and provided factual information for each image.
Portsmouth Public Library Omeka Team created the Digital Collection.
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Rights are held to the Digital Images by the Portsmouth Public Library. Images are intended for research and reference use only. Please see the Copyright information link at the bottom of each page for further information regarding image use and reproduction.
Relation
A related resource
Vertical files of the Portsmouth Public Library contain historical information regarding the neighborhood, locations mentioned, family genealogy, and published works. Puddle Dock reunion video
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Images used in the database are jpg files derived from archival .tif files.
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Primarily the content of this collection is photographic in nature. The photo collections used in the core of this collection are considered historic information about the people and neighborhood of the South End of Portsmouth.
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
South End of Portsmouth, Puddle Dock Neighborhood, Haven School Alumni, late 19th Century-mid 20th Century.
Miscellaneous
Miscellaneous
Put whatever you want in here.
--title::Haven School Neighborhood Project
--text::The Haven School Neighborhood Digital Collection has been created for several reasons. The library chose to increase access to this important collection because, in part, that is what a public library does, but also because of the importance of this neighborhood to the history of Portsmouth. The members of this community within a community have a story to tell and the nature of that community has dramatically changed.
--images::687,582
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples of still images are: paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type "text" to images of textual materials.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
George Francois and Altona Small in a stroller
Subject
The topic of the resource
Portsmouth (N.H.)
Children
Black-and-white photographs
Description
An account of the resource
A black and white photograph of George Francois and Altona Small as children seated in a stroller on a dirt road.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Pecunies, Robert
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Haven School Neighborhood Project Collection
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Portsmouth Public Library, Special Collections
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
The original images are the property of the contributor. See our <a href="https://portsmouthexhibits.org/copyright-information" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Terms of Use and Copyright</a> for additional information.
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
StillImage
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
JPG derived from TIF
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PPL-P:2010.1.520
20th century
photograph
South End
-
https://portsmouthexhibits.org/files/original/8e998639117f6fe0446a9ce7286d0d7e.jpg
8556bd44a64955aafc536e4749c8d414
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Haven School Neighborhood Project
Description
An account of the resource
Puddle Dock and the South End are the oldest neighborhoods in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, which was settled in 1623. The first school building in Portsmouth was built and opened in 1713 and was located close to the site that would become the Haven School in 1846. When it opened, Haven School contained four graded schools: infant, primary, intermediate, and grammar. In 1969, Little Harbour School was built to replace Haven School. In 1978, the Haven School’s brick building was turned into condominiums.
The Haven School Neighborhood consists of the South End and Puddle Dock areas. Strawbery Banke Museum now occupies the space once known as Puddle Dock. The Haven School Neighborhood is central to all that has happened in Portsmouth since its settlement. It is no exaggeration to say that the history of this neighborhood is at the core of the history of the entire city. Whether the focus is settlement, revolution, maritime activity, economic decline, revitalization, or even acculturation, the Haven School Neighborhood provides the core for study.
Library staff have endeavored to make the Haven School Neighborhood Project public to increase access to this important collection and to the history of the neighborhood. The members of this community within a community, past and present, have a story to tell and the nature of that community has dramatically changed.
The core of this collection was scanned from photo albums of historic images of people and places from Portsmouth’s South End; created from the history and stories contributed by the people who lived there. The subjects include the South End neighborhood, Puddle Dock neighborhood, and Haven School alumni and span the late-19th to mid-20th centuries. These photographs were gathered in 1982 as part of a reunion of the Puddle Dock area (also known as the Haven School neighborhood for the purposes of this project). Copies of the resulting photo albums were given to Portsmouth Public Library following the Reunion. Former residents have also generously contributed additional photographs and documents to our digital archive project. Comments have been, and continue to be, added via the commenting feature available with each image.
This project was made possible by a group of volunteers from the Haven School Neighborhood. Special thanks to Sherm and Cathy Pridham who scanned the majority of these images and provided background information including names, dates, and locations. Images and memories will be added to the project as appropriate over time.
If you have stories and photos you would like to share, please contact Special Collections Librarian Katie Czajkowski at cfczajkowski@cityofportsmouth.com.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Portsmouth Public Library, Special Collections
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Puddle Dock Reunion Photo Albums held by the PPL, Special Collections.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Portsmouth Public Library, Special Collections
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Portsmouth Public Library
Sherman and Cathy Pridham, scanned and provided factual information for each image.
Portsmouth Public Library Omeka Team created the Digital Collection.
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Rights are held to the Digital Images by the Portsmouth Public Library. Images are intended for research and reference use only. Please see the Copyright information link at the bottom of each page for further information regarding image use and reproduction.
Relation
A related resource
Vertical files of the Portsmouth Public Library contain historical information regarding the neighborhood, locations mentioned, family genealogy, and published works. Puddle Dock reunion video
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Images used in the database are jpg files derived from archival .tif files.
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Primarily the content of this collection is photographic in nature. The photo collections used in the core of this collection are considered historic information about the people and neighborhood of the South End of Portsmouth.
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
South End of Portsmouth, Puddle Dock Neighborhood, Haven School Alumni, late 19th Century-mid 20th Century.
Miscellaneous
Miscellaneous
Put whatever you want in here.
--title::Haven School Neighborhood Project
--text::The Haven School Neighborhood Digital Collection has been created for several reasons. The library chose to increase access to this important collection because, in part, that is what a public library does, but also because of the importance of this neighborhood to the history of Portsmouth. The members of this community within a community have a story to tell and the nature of that community has dramatically changed.
--images::687,582
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples of still images are: paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type "text" to images of textual materials.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Julia Small and John Watson
Subject
The topic of the resource
Portsmouth (N.H.)
Men, Women
Black-and-white photographs
Description
An account of the resource
A black and white photograph of Julia Small and John Watson sitting outside. John has one arm around Julia's shoulders.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Pecunies, Robert
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Haven School Neighborhood Project Collection
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Portsmouth Public Library, Special Collections
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
The original images are the property of the contributor. See our <a href="https://portsmouthexhibits.org/copyright-information" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Terms of Use and Copyright</a> for additional information.
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
StillImage
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
JPG derived from TIF
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PPL-P:2010.1.519
20th century
photograph
South End
-
https://portsmouthexhibits.org/files/original/de7393ae7e2d707b1dce7d216b8b4a09.jpg
9f7c53a285d839dccf55113682cbd215
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Haven School Neighborhood Project
Description
An account of the resource
Puddle Dock and the South End are the oldest neighborhoods in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, which was settled in 1623. The first school building in Portsmouth was built and opened in 1713 and was located close to the site that would become the Haven School in 1846. When it opened, Haven School contained four graded schools: infant, primary, intermediate, and grammar. In 1969, Little Harbour School was built to replace Haven School. In 1978, the Haven School’s brick building was turned into condominiums.
The Haven School Neighborhood consists of the South End and Puddle Dock areas. Strawbery Banke Museum now occupies the space once known as Puddle Dock. The Haven School Neighborhood is central to all that has happened in Portsmouth since its settlement. It is no exaggeration to say that the history of this neighborhood is at the core of the history of the entire city. Whether the focus is settlement, revolution, maritime activity, economic decline, revitalization, or even acculturation, the Haven School Neighborhood provides the core for study.
Library staff have endeavored to make the Haven School Neighborhood Project public to increase access to this important collection and to the history of the neighborhood. The members of this community within a community, past and present, have a story to tell and the nature of that community has dramatically changed.
The core of this collection was scanned from photo albums of historic images of people and places from Portsmouth’s South End; created from the history and stories contributed by the people who lived there. The subjects include the South End neighborhood, Puddle Dock neighborhood, and Haven School alumni and span the late-19th to mid-20th centuries. These photographs were gathered in 1982 as part of a reunion of the Puddle Dock area (also known as the Haven School neighborhood for the purposes of this project). Copies of the resulting photo albums were given to Portsmouth Public Library following the Reunion. Former residents have also generously contributed additional photographs and documents to our digital archive project. Comments have been, and continue to be, added via the commenting feature available with each image.
This project was made possible by a group of volunteers from the Haven School Neighborhood. Special thanks to Sherm and Cathy Pridham who scanned the majority of these images and provided background information including names, dates, and locations. Images and memories will be added to the project as appropriate over time.
If you have stories and photos you would like to share, please contact Special Collections Librarian Katie Czajkowski at cfczajkowski@cityofportsmouth.com.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Portsmouth Public Library, Special Collections
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Puddle Dock Reunion Photo Albums held by the PPL, Special Collections.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Portsmouth Public Library, Special Collections
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Portsmouth Public Library
Sherman and Cathy Pridham, scanned and provided factual information for each image.
Portsmouth Public Library Omeka Team created the Digital Collection.
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Rights are held to the Digital Images by the Portsmouth Public Library. Images are intended for research and reference use only. Please see the Copyright information link at the bottom of each page for further information regarding image use and reproduction.
Relation
A related resource
Vertical files of the Portsmouth Public Library contain historical information regarding the neighborhood, locations mentioned, family genealogy, and published works. Puddle Dock reunion video
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Images used in the database are jpg files derived from archival .tif files.
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Primarily the content of this collection is photographic in nature. The photo collections used in the core of this collection are considered historic information about the people and neighborhood of the South End of Portsmouth.
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
South End of Portsmouth, Puddle Dock Neighborhood, Haven School Alumni, late 19th Century-mid 20th Century.
Miscellaneous
Miscellaneous
Put whatever you want in here.
--title::Haven School Neighborhood Project
--text::The Haven School Neighborhood Digital Collection has been created for several reasons. The library chose to increase access to this important collection because, in part, that is what a public library does, but also because of the importance of this neighborhood to the history of Portsmouth. The members of this community within a community have a story to tell and the nature of that community has dramatically changed.
--images::687,582
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples of still images are: paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type "text" to images of textual materials.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Seven fourth grade girls
Subject
The topic of the resource
Portsmouth (N.H.)
Children
Black-and-white photographs
Description
An account of the resource
A black and white photograph of seven girls in winter coats. "4th grade girls Haven School" is typed on a label affixed to the image.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Pecunies, Robert
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Haven School Neighborhood Project Collection
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Portsmouth Public Library, Special Collections
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
The original images are the property of the contributor. See our <a href="https://portsmouthexhibits.org/copyright-information" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Terms of Use and Copyright</a> for additional information.
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
StillImage
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
JPG derived from TIF
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PPL-P:2010.1.518
20th century
photograph
South End
-
https://portsmouthexhibits.org/files/original/e972f3175c051c5f33de86d9052a8377.jpg
e787225cda215fe186e78fe1ef7c4cc7
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Haven School Neighborhood Project
Description
An account of the resource
Puddle Dock and the South End are the oldest neighborhoods in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, which was settled in 1623. The first school building in Portsmouth was built and opened in 1713 and was located close to the site that would become the Haven School in 1846. When it opened, Haven School contained four graded schools: infant, primary, intermediate, and grammar. In 1969, Little Harbour School was built to replace Haven School. In 1978, the Haven School’s brick building was turned into condominiums.
The Haven School Neighborhood consists of the South End and Puddle Dock areas. Strawbery Banke Museum now occupies the space once known as Puddle Dock. The Haven School Neighborhood is central to all that has happened in Portsmouth since its settlement. It is no exaggeration to say that the history of this neighborhood is at the core of the history of the entire city. Whether the focus is settlement, revolution, maritime activity, economic decline, revitalization, or even acculturation, the Haven School Neighborhood provides the core for study.
Library staff have endeavored to make the Haven School Neighborhood Project public to increase access to this important collection and to the history of the neighborhood. The members of this community within a community, past and present, have a story to tell and the nature of that community has dramatically changed.
The core of this collection was scanned from photo albums of historic images of people and places from Portsmouth’s South End; created from the history and stories contributed by the people who lived there. The subjects include the South End neighborhood, Puddle Dock neighborhood, and Haven School alumni and span the late-19th to mid-20th centuries. These photographs were gathered in 1982 as part of a reunion of the Puddle Dock area (also known as the Haven School neighborhood for the purposes of this project). Copies of the resulting photo albums were given to Portsmouth Public Library following the Reunion. Former residents have also generously contributed additional photographs and documents to our digital archive project. Comments have been, and continue to be, added via the commenting feature available with each image.
This project was made possible by a group of volunteers from the Haven School Neighborhood. Special thanks to Sherm and Cathy Pridham who scanned the majority of these images and provided background information including names, dates, and locations. Images and memories will be added to the project as appropriate over time.
If you have stories and photos you would like to share, please contact Special Collections Librarian Katie Czajkowski at cfczajkowski@cityofportsmouth.com.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Portsmouth Public Library, Special Collections
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Puddle Dock Reunion Photo Albums held by the PPL, Special Collections.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Portsmouth Public Library, Special Collections
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Portsmouth Public Library
Sherman and Cathy Pridham, scanned and provided factual information for each image.
Portsmouth Public Library Omeka Team created the Digital Collection.
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Rights are held to the Digital Images by the Portsmouth Public Library. Images are intended for research and reference use only. Please see the Copyright information link at the bottom of each page for further information regarding image use and reproduction.
Relation
A related resource
Vertical files of the Portsmouth Public Library contain historical information regarding the neighborhood, locations mentioned, family genealogy, and published works. Puddle Dock reunion video
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Images used in the database are jpg files derived from archival .tif files.
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Primarily the content of this collection is photographic in nature. The photo collections used in the core of this collection are considered historic information about the people and neighborhood of the South End of Portsmouth.
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
South End of Portsmouth, Puddle Dock Neighborhood, Haven School Alumni, late 19th Century-mid 20th Century.
Miscellaneous
Miscellaneous
Put whatever you want in here.
--title::Haven School Neighborhood Project
--text::The Haven School Neighborhood Digital Collection has been created for several reasons. The library chose to increase access to this important collection because, in part, that is what a public library does, but also because of the importance of this neighborhood to the history of Portsmouth. The members of this community within a community have a story to tell and the nature of that community has dramatically changed.
--images::687,582
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples of still images are: paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type "text" to images of textual materials.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Jefferson Street in winter
Subject
The topic of the resource
Portsmouth (N.H.)
Black-and-white photographs
Description
An account of the resource
A black and white photograph of Jefferson Street in the winter. "Jefferson Street, picture taken from Abbotts Store." is typed on a label affixed to the picture.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Pecunies, Robert
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Haven School Neighborhood Project Collection
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Portsmouth Public Library, Special Collections
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
The original images are the property of the contributor. See our <a href="https://portsmouthexhibits.org/copyright-information" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Terms of Use and Copyright</a> for additional information.
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
StillImage
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
JPG derived from TIF
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PPL-P:2010.1.517
20th century
photograph
South End
-
https://portsmouthexhibits.org/files/original/8f63b659b3fe8e5dc03e17dbe71a6561.jpg
f5ce3a386cb7c0d130334cd3771c6785
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Haven School Neighborhood Project
Description
An account of the resource
Puddle Dock and the South End are the oldest neighborhoods in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, which was settled in 1623. The first school building in Portsmouth was built and opened in 1713 and was located close to the site that would become the Haven School in 1846. When it opened, Haven School contained four graded schools: infant, primary, intermediate, and grammar. In 1969, Little Harbour School was built to replace Haven School. In 1978, the Haven School’s brick building was turned into condominiums.
The Haven School Neighborhood consists of the South End and Puddle Dock areas. Strawbery Banke Museum now occupies the space once known as Puddle Dock. The Haven School Neighborhood is central to all that has happened in Portsmouth since its settlement. It is no exaggeration to say that the history of this neighborhood is at the core of the history of the entire city. Whether the focus is settlement, revolution, maritime activity, economic decline, revitalization, or even acculturation, the Haven School Neighborhood provides the core for study.
Library staff have endeavored to make the Haven School Neighborhood Project public to increase access to this important collection and to the history of the neighborhood. The members of this community within a community, past and present, have a story to tell and the nature of that community has dramatically changed.
The core of this collection was scanned from photo albums of historic images of people and places from Portsmouth’s South End; created from the history and stories contributed by the people who lived there. The subjects include the South End neighborhood, Puddle Dock neighborhood, and Haven School alumni and span the late-19th to mid-20th centuries. These photographs were gathered in 1982 as part of a reunion of the Puddle Dock area (also known as the Haven School neighborhood for the purposes of this project). Copies of the resulting photo albums were given to Portsmouth Public Library following the Reunion. Former residents have also generously contributed additional photographs and documents to our digital archive project. Comments have been, and continue to be, added via the commenting feature available with each image.
This project was made possible by a group of volunteers from the Haven School Neighborhood. Special thanks to Sherm and Cathy Pridham who scanned the majority of these images and provided background information including names, dates, and locations. Images and memories will be added to the project as appropriate over time.
If you have stories and photos you would like to share, please contact Special Collections Librarian Katie Czajkowski at cfczajkowski@cityofportsmouth.com.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Portsmouth Public Library, Special Collections
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Puddle Dock Reunion Photo Albums held by the PPL, Special Collections.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Portsmouth Public Library, Special Collections
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Portsmouth Public Library
Sherman and Cathy Pridham, scanned and provided factual information for each image.
Portsmouth Public Library Omeka Team created the Digital Collection.
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Rights are held to the Digital Images by the Portsmouth Public Library. Images are intended for research and reference use only. Please see the Copyright information link at the bottom of each page for further information regarding image use and reproduction.
Relation
A related resource
Vertical files of the Portsmouth Public Library contain historical information regarding the neighborhood, locations mentioned, family genealogy, and published works. Puddle Dock reunion video
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Images used in the database are jpg files derived from archival .tif files.
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Primarily the content of this collection is photographic in nature. The photo collections used in the core of this collection are considered historic information about the people and neighborhood of the South End of Portsmouth.
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
South End of Portsmouth, Puddle Dock Neighborhood, Haven School Alumni, late 19th Century-mid 20th Century.
Miscellaneous
Miscellaneous
Put whatever you want in here.
--title::Haven School Neighborhood Project
--text::The Haven School Neighborhood Digital Collection has been created for several reasons. The library chose to increase access to this important collection because, in part, that is what a public library does, but also because of the importance of this neighborhood to the history of Portsmouth. The members of this community within a community have a story to tell and the nature of that community has dramatically changed.
--images::687,582
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples of still images are: paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type "text" to images of textual materials.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
William Rose
Subject
The topic of the resource
Portsmouth (N.H.)
Children
Black-and-white photographs
Description
An account of the resource
A black and white photograph of William Rose as a child, holding an adult's hand.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Pecunies, Robert
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Haven School Neighborhood Project Collection
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Portsmouth Public Library, Special Collections
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
The original images are the property of the contributor. See our <a href="https://portsmouthexhibits.org/copyright-information" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Terms of Use and Copyright</a> for additional information.
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
StillImage
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
JPG derived from TIF
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PPL-P:2010.1.516
20th century
photograph
South End
-
https://portsmouthexhibits.org/files/original/951fd382c81258e01f81cd9342dd2e82.jpg
0c3ea82a6e5c3ffa5ebb28a68b229516
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Haven School Neighborhood Project
Description
An account of the resource
Puddle Dock and the South End are the oldest neighborhoods in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, which was settled in 1623. The first school building in Portsmouth was built and opened in 1713 and was located close to the site that would become the Haven School in 1846. When it opened, Haven School contained four graded schools: infant, primary, intermediate, and grammar. In 1969, Little Harbour School was built to replace Haven School. In 1978, the Haven School’s brick building was turned into condominiums.
The Haven School Neighborhood consists of the South End and Puddle Dock areas. Strawbery Banke Museum now occupies the space once known as Puddle Dock. The Haven School Neighborhood is central to all that has happened in Portsmouth since its settlement. It is no exaggeration to say that the history of this neighborhood is at the core of the history of the entire city. Whether the focus is settlement, revolution, maritime activity, economic decline, revitalization, or even acculturation, the Haven School Neighborhood provides the core for study.
Library staff have endeavored to make the Haven School Neighborhood Project public to increase access to this important collection and to the history of the neighborhood. The members of this community within a community, past and present, have a story to tell and the nature of that community has dramatically changed.
The core of this collection was scanned from photo albums of historic images of people and places from Portsmouth’s South End; created from the history and stories contributed by the people who lived there. The subjects include the South End neighborhood, Puddle Dock neighborhood, and Haven School alumni and span the late-19th to mid-20th centuries. These photographs were gathered in 1982 as part of a reunion of the Puddle Dock area (also known as the Haven School neighborhood for the purposes of this project). Copies of the resulting photo albums were given to Portsmouth Public Library following the Reunion. Former residents have also generously contributed additional photographs and documents to our digital archive project. Comments have been, and continue to be, added via the commenting feature available with each image.
This project was made possible by a group of volunteers from the Haven School Neighborhood. Special thanks to Sherm and Cathy Pridham who scanned the majority of these images and provided background information including names, dates, and locations. Images and memories will be added to the project as appropriate over time.
If you have stories and photos you would like to share, please contact Special Collections Librarian Katie Czajkowski at cfczajkowski@cityofportsmouth.com.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Portsmouth Public Library, Special Collections
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Puddle Dock Reunion Photo Albums held by the PPL, Special Collections.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Portsmouth Public Library, Special Collections
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Portsmouth Public Library
Sherman and Cathy Pridham, scanned and provided factual information for each image.
Portsmouth Public Library Omeka Team created the Digital Collection.
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Rights are held to the Digital Images by the Portsmouth Public Library. Images are intended for research and reference use only. Please see the Copyright information link at the bottom of each page for further information regarding image use and reproduction.
Relation
A related resource
Vertical files of the Portsmouth Public Library contain historical information regarding the neighborhood, locations mentioned, family genealogy, and published works. Puddle Dock reunion video
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Images used in the database are jpg files derived from archival .tif files.
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Primarily the content of this collection is photographic in nature. The photo collections used in the core of this collection are considered historic information about the people and neighborhood of the South End of Portsmouth.
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
South End of Portsmouth, Puddle Dock Neighborhood, Haven School Alumni, late 19th Century-mid 20th Century.
Miscellaneous
Miscellaneous
Put whatever you want in here.
--title::Haven School Neighborhood Project
--text::The Haven School Neighborhood Digital Collection has been created for several reasons. The library chose to increase access to this important collection because, in part, that is what a public library does, but also because of the importance of this neighborhood to the history of Portsmouth. The members of this community within a community have a story to tell and the nature of that community has dramatically changed.
--images::687,582
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples of still images are: paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type "text" to images of textual materials.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
William Rose
Subject
The topic of the resource
Portsmouth (N.H.)
Men
Black-and-white photographs
Description
An account of the resource
A black and white portrait of William Rose.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Pecunies, Robert
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Haven School Neighborhood Project Collection
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Portsmouth Public Library, Special Collections
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
The original images are the property of the contributor. See our <a href="https://portsmouthexhibits.org/copyright-information" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Terms of Use and Copyright</a> for additional information.
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
StillImage
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
JPG derived from TIF
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PPL-P:2010.1.515
20th century
photograph
South End
-
https://portsmouthexhibits.org/files/original/ee1960b74c40d2617cdcebfd78dcec13.jpg
ff91f05ac3f5329e55f1b2b19aff4113
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Haven School Neighborhood Project
Description
An account of the resource
Puddle Dock and the South End are the oldest neighborhoods in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, which was settled in 1623. The first school building in Portsmouth was built and opened in 1713 and was located close to the site that would become the Haven School in 1846. When it opened, Haven School contained four graded schools: infant, primary, intermediate, and grammar. In 1969, Little Harbour School was built to replace Haven School. In 1978, the Haven School’s brick building was turned into condominiums.
The Haven School Neighborhood consists of the South End and Puddle Dock areas. Strawbery Banke Museum now occupies the space once known as Puddle Dock. The Haven School Neighborhood is central to all that has happened in Portsmouth since its settlement. It is no exaggeration to say that the history of this neighborhood is at the core of the history of the entire city. Whether the focus is settlement, revolution, maritime activity, economic decline, revitalization, or even acculturation, the Haven School Neighborhood provides the core for study.
Library staff have endeavored to make the Haven School Neighborhood Project public to increase access to this important collection and to the history of the neighborhood. The members of this community within a community, past and present, have a story to tell and the nature of that community has dramatically changed.
The core of this collection was scanned from photo albums of historic images of people and places from Portsmouth’s South End; created from the history and stories contributed by the people who lived there. The subjects include the South End neighborhood, Puddle Dock neighborhood, and Haven School alumni and span the late-19th to mid-20th centuries. These photographs were gathered in 1982 as part of a reunion of the Puddle Dock area (also known as the Haven School neighborhood for the purposes of this project). Copies of the resulting photo albums were given to Portsmouth Public Library following the Reunion. Former residents have also generously contributed additional photographs and documents to our digital archive project. Comments have been, and continue to be, added via the commenting feature available with each image.
This project was made possible by a group of volunteers from the Haven School Neighborhood. Special thanks to Sherm and Cathy Pridham who scanned the majority of these images and provided background information including names, dates, and locations. Images and memories will be added to the project as appropriate over time.
If you have stories and photos you would like to share, please contact Special Collections Librarian Katie Czajkowski at cfczajkowski@cityofportsmouth.com.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Portsmouth Public Library, Special Collections
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Puddle Dock Reunion Photo Albums held by the PPL, Special Collections.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Portsmouth Public Library, Special Collections
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Portsmouth Public Library
Sherman and Cathy Pridham, scanned and provided factual information for each image.
Portsmouth Public Library Omeka Team created the Digital Collection.
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Rights are held to the Digital Images by the Portsmouth Public Library. Images are intended for research and reference use only. Please see the Copyright information link at the bottom of each page for further information regarding image use and reproduction.
Relation
A related resource
Vertical files of the Portsmouth Public Library contain historical information regarding the neighborhood, locations mentioned, family genealogy, and published works. Puddle Dock reunion video
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Images used in the database are jpg files derived from archival .tif files.
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Primarily the content of this collection is photographic in nature. The photo collections used in the core of this collection are considered historic information about the people and neighborhood of the South End of Portsmouth.
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
South End of Portsmouth, Puddle Dock Neighborhood, Haven School Alumni, late 19th Century-mid 20th Century.
Miscellaneous
Miscellaneous
Put whatever you want in here.
--title::Haven School Neighborhood Project
--text::The Haven School Neighborhood Digital Collection has been created for several reasons. The library chose to increase access to this important collection because, in part, that is what a public library does, but also because of the importance of this neighborhood to the history of Portsmouth. The members of this community within a community have a story to tell and the nature of that community has dramatically changed.
--images::687,582
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples of still images are: paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type "text" to images of textual materials.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Arlene Matthews
Subject
The topic of the resource
Portsmouth (N.H.)
Women
Black-and-white photographs
Description
An account of the resource
A black and white portrait of Arlene Matthews wearing a U.S. marine corps uniform.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Pecunies, Robert
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Haven School Neighborhood Project Collection
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Portsmouth Public Library, Special Collections
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
The original images are the property of the contributor. See our <a href="https://portsmouthexhibits.org/copyright-information" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Terms of Use and Copyright</a> for additional information.
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
StillImage
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
JPG derived from TIF
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
PPL-P:2010.1.514
20th century
photograph
South End