STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF MISSOURI RESEARCH CENTER-ST. LOUIS
UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-ST. LOUIS
Related collection:
sl 499 THE LESBIAN AND GAY NEWS-TELEGRAPH, ADDENDA, 1987-1994
Jim Thomas, editor of the Gay News-Telegraph, donated the records of the Gay News-Telegraph to the Western Historical Manuscript Collection at the University of Missouri-St. Louis on June 23, 1986.
Jim Thomas majored in Sociology and Anthropology at Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio where he served as chairperson of the Oberlin College Gay Union. After graduating in 1979, Thomas moved back to Alton and helped organize a civil rights march on Washington. Thomas came to St. Louis in 1980 and helped organize St. Louis' first Gay Pride Week. This experience led to the formation of the Gay News-Telegraph. After witnessing a lack of communication among gay and lesbian organizations, Thomas founded Piasa Publishing to start a newspaper to report accurately the news, events, issues and services affecting the gay community.
GNT published its first eight page issue on October 6, 1981. Three months later it expanded to twenty pages and began coverage of national and global legislation affecting gays and lesbians. A core staff of three volunteers did production work on the newspaper from their apartments. In 1982, the GNT moved into an office on Gore Avenue in Maplewood. It moved again the following September to a new office at 10 South Euclid. GNT distributed six thousand copies of the first issue in bars, bookstores, small shops, and restaurants in the Central West End.
Another gay newspaper, No Bad News, had been published in St. Louis for a year and supported by advertising from gay-owned businesses. To help the gay community support both papers, Thomas expanded GNT's advertising base to other small businesses with gay customers.
GNT expanded its distribution into Kansas City, Missouri and Indianapolis, Indiana in 1983 and to Memphis, Tennessee and Little Rock, Arkansas the following year. It stopped distribution in Indianapolis in 1985.
Gay News-Telegraph joined the Gay Press Association in 1981, but a lack of computers prevented the newspaper from receiving the Washington-based news service's wire copy. Thomas compiled stories from the national press and gay newspapers in other cities, but acknowledged a lack of press releases from area small towns. GNT, however, survived in these communities because, according to Thomas, "its coverage is vastly better than the local newspaper's."
Along with its news and features sections, GNT published a directory of gay and lesbian organizations and a calendar of events. Each month Piasa Publishing Company printed between ten and fifteen thousand copies of the not-for-profit GNT. It distributed half of the print-run in St. Louis, primarily to small businesses in the Central West End and the Delmar Loop area.
SCOPE AND CONTENT
The Gay News-Telegraph records (1981-1986) are divided into two series: (1) Unpublished Articles, Newsclippings, Newsletters, and Posters, 1981-1986; and (2) the Gay News-Telegraph (1981-1986). The records include copies of the newsletter No Bad News from 1982-1985, and all issues and unused copy of the Gay News-Telegraph 1981-1986. The records also include posters from Gay Pride Week celebrations in 1981 and 1983 and an oral history interview with the Gay News-Telegraph editor, Jim Thomas (T-844).
SERIES DESCRIPTION
SERIES 1 - UNPUBLISHED ARTICLES, NEWSCLIPPINGS, NEWSLETTERS, AND POSTERS, 1981-1986, FOLDERS 1-4
Contains unpublished articles from the Gay News-Telegraph, newsclippings on gay issues, No Bad News newsletters from 1982-1985, and posters from the 1981, 1983 Gay Pride Week celebrations. Arranged alphabetically.
SERIES 2 - GAY NEWS-TELEGRAPH, 1981-1986, FOLDERS 5-20
Contains all issues of the Gay News-Telegraph from 1981 to 1986. Arranged chronologically.
FOLDER LIST
BOX 1
SERIES 1 - UNPUBLISHED ARTICLES, NEWSCLIPPINGS, AND NEWSLETTERS, 1981-1986
1. Gay News-Telegraph, unpublished articles, 1982-1986
2. Newsclippings, 1981-1984
3. No Bad News Newsletters, July 1982-August 1983
4. No Bad News Newsletters, September 1983-January 1985
SERIES 2 - GAY NEWS TELEGRAPH, 1981-1982
5. October 1981-February 1982
6. March 1982-July 1982
7. August 1982-December 1982
8. January-May 1983
9. June-October 1983
BOX 2
10. November 1983-March 1984
11. April-July 1984
12. August-December 1984
13. January-May 1985
14. June-October 1985
15. November 1985-April 1986
1 Tape - T-844
MICROFILM ROLLS
Roll 1: Series 1, Folder 1 through Series II, Folder 8
Roll 2: Series 2, Folder 9 through Series II, Folder 13
Roll 3: Series 2, Folder 14 through Series II, Folder 16
INDEX
Agape Church, f. 1-15
AIDS, f. 1-15
Alternatives to Living in Violent Environments (ALIVE), f. 9
American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri, f. 1-15
Battered Women's Shelter, f. 9
Black and White Men Together, St. Louis Chapter, f. 5, 9
Catholics in St. Louis, f. 7
Changing Men, f. 12, 14
Clay, William L., f. 6, 7
Club St. Louis, f. 1-15
Courage (gay support group), f. 9
Dignity, St. Louis Chapter (Catholic support group for gays), f. 1-15
Double Helix, f. 5
Equal Rights Amendment, f. 1-15
ERA Action Center, f. 5-7
Family Protection, f. 5
Gala Alliance, f. 4, 13
Gay Academic Union, f. 5-7, 10
Gay and Lesbian Hotline, f. 5, 6, 8, 10
Gay Community Alliance of Washington University, f. 6-7
Gay Fathers' Coalition, St. Louis Chapter, f. 4, 8, 9, 10
Gay News-Telegraph, f. 1-15, T-844
Gay Pride Week, f. 1-15, T-844
Gay Rights National Lobby, f. 1-15
Gays in St. Louis, f. 1-15
Hawkins, Chris, f. 8
Illinois Gay and Lesbian Task Force, f. 10, 14
Jasmine, f. 5, 9, 11, 13
Joplin, Missouri, f. 7, 8
Jordan, Tom, f. 3
LAMBDA Legal Defense and Education Fund, f. 3-15
Lesbian and Gay People in Medicine, f. 10
Lesbians, f. 1-15, T-844
Metropolitan Community Church, f. 3-15
Metropolitan St. Louis Task Force on AIDS, f. 9
Midwest Business Guild, f. 6
Midwest Men's Festival, f. 7, 9, 11, 13
Missouri Equal Rights Amendment Coalition, f. 5, 6
Missouri Women's Vote Project, f. 11
National Organization of Women, Missouri Chapter, f. 5, 7
Newspapers, f. 1-15
No Bad News, f. 3-4, 12, 15, T-844
Parents and Friends of Gays, St. Louis Chapter, f. 8
Piasa Publishing Company, f. 5-15, T-844
Pornography, f. 7
Rape and Sexual Abuse Care Center of Southern Illinois
University, f. 5-15
Rape and Violence End Now (RAVEN), f. 5, 7
Reagan, Ronald, f. 7
St. Louis Gay and Lesbian Community Services, f. 7, 10, 11, 13, 15
St. Louis Lesbian/Gay Media Access Group, f. 6
St. Louis Women's Choir, f. 9
St. Louis Women's Coffeehouse, f. 6, 7, 9, 10, 11
Scott Air Force Base, f. 7, 8
Sexual Assault, f. 1-15
Shelter for Battered Women, f. 9
Sorkin, Steve, f. 6, 8, 10, 11
Take Back the Night, f. 5, 7, 10
Thomas, Jim, f. 1-10
Tivoli Theatre, f. 7
Unicorn Productions, f. 7
Wired Women Productions, f. 12-13
Women Against Racism (WAR), f. 5-15
Women Take Back the Night, f. 5, 6, 12
Women's Eye Bookstore, f. 6
Women's Sports Connection, f. 5-15
Woods, Harriett, f. 6-8, 11, 13
STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF MISSOURI RESEARCH CENTER-ST. LOUIS
222 THOMAS JEFFERSON LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-ST. LOUIS
ONE UNIVERSITY BOULEVARD
ST. LOUIS, MO 63121
(314) 516-5143