Support the Oberlin LGBT Community History Project
Your financial support is needed to maintain and expand this LGBT history resource. Funds will be used for hosting fees, website design, and other related expenses.
You may make a tax-deductible donation to this project through San Francisco’s GLBT Historical Society, a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt non-profit corporation. Checks should be made out to “GLBTHS” and sent to:
Daniel Bao, GLBTHS
657 Mission Street #300
San Francisco, CA 94105
To make a credit card or PayPal donation online, follow the link below to the GLBT Historical Society, click the “Make a Donation” box, and indicate that the donation is for the “Oberlin Project” under “Payment For.”
Make credit card donations here >>
***It is very important that you indicate that the donation is for the “Oberlin Project” on your check, or in the online form under “Payment For.”***
You will be sent a written thank-you and acknowledgement letter that can serve as your receipt for tax purposes.
Please do not hesitate to write for detailed information by using the contact form.
Endorsements
“I’ve been following Joey Plaster’s ambitious LGBT history project since its inception six years ago. What started off as a worthwhile student project has grown into a remarkable effort to capture and illuminate significant events and people that might otherwise have been overlooked or forgotten. Whether we were “out” or not during our student days, the environment created by those who came before us at Oberlin shaped our experience, just as our presence and activities informed those who came after. We owe it to ourselves; to those whose deaths, many premature, have threatened their stories with invisibility; and to those who have yet to set foot on campus, to support this project. In single-handedly pursuing this undertaking, Joey has performed an incredible service to the Oberlin community, past, present and future. Please join me in supporting this important initiative to make the lives and contributions of LGBT people at Oberlin more visible by contributing generously toward the creation and maintenance of this historically significant website.”
- Peter Nicholson (OC 91)
“All Oberlinians know of the College’s pioneering role in multicultural and co-education. Joey Plaster’s LGBT history of Oberlin reveals that in addition to those official College commitments, in which many Oberlinians take pride, gay Oberlinians were, on their own and in secret, advancing the cause of universal human dignity. As a student in the 1950s, I was oblivious to gay life on campus. As president in the early 1970s, my wife and I attended one of the first College-sponsored Gay Liberation dances. What happened during the 15 years prior to bring about such a change? Joey Plaster’s history tells the story and much more. It reveals the disproportionate impact on Oberlin’s culture of what for most of its history was an invisible wellspring of creativity. A donation to the Oberlin College LGBT Community History Project does more than right a wrong. It helps us reclaim a part of our past in which all Oberlinians can now, at last, take pride.”
- Robert Fuller was a student at Oberlin (1952-55) and served as president (1970-74).
“Joey Plaster has done remarkable work in unearthing the hidden histories of queer life at Oberlin from a time when queer love had to remain largely hidden. His work brings into the light an important, but almost unknown, phase of Oberlin’s history and raises interesting questions about the college’s understanding of sexuality and human rights. His study has broader significance for American queer history as well. It’s fascinating material that will interest anyone curious about Oberlin, sexuality, higher education, and unfolding understandings of personal freedom.”
Clayton Koppes, Professor, Department of History, Oberlin College
