The personal and business papers of longtime, gay civil rights activist, editor, and publisher of the Philadelphia Gay News (PGN), Mark Segal.
Scope and Contents:
The papers document the life, activism, and publishing activities of LGBT activist Mark Segal. The collection includes correspondence between Segal and elected officials, members of the news media, entertainers and others, newsletters, news articles, writings both original and collected, clippings, photographs both official and personal. This collection also includes papers and photographs documenting the first Gay Pride event in New York City in 1970, various Democratic National Conventions, other Pride celebrations and events, and an Elton John benefit concert Segal produced. The collection includes papers documenting the William Way senior housing center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for elder gay people. There are early papers, newsletters, and ephemera relating to the Gay Liberation Front organization, the Gay Activists Alliance, the Gay Raiders, and many more organizations that sprang up in the post-Stonewall era; programs from events; invitations; posters, and bumper stickers.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into six series.
Series 1: Segal, Mark, Personal, Subject, Photographs, and Audio-Visual Files, 1951-2018, undated
Subseries 1.1: Personal Files, 1961-2017, undated
Subseries 1.2: Subject Files, 1951-2017, undated
Subseries 1.3: Photographs, 1960-2018, undated
Subseries 1.4: Audio-Visual, 2005-2014, undated
Series 2: Philadelphia Gay News (PGN) and MASCO Communications Company and Lambda Award Files, 1972-2016, undated
Subseries 2.1: Company Files, 1972-2016, undated
Subseries 2.2: Lambda Awards, 1978-2000
Series 3: Organizations and Associations, 1962-2017, undated
Series 4: Newspapers and Periodicals, 1962-2016, undated
Series 5: Publications and Writings, 1970-2013, undated
Series 6: Pride and Events, 1970-2011, undated
Biographical / Historical:
Mark Segal was born January 12, 1951 to Martin and Shirley Weinstein Segal in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He attended public school in Philadelphia and upon graduating from high school made his way to New York, New York, at a time when the gay rights movement was poised to experience a watershed moment, the Stonewall Riots in June 1969.
As an activist, journalist, and publisher, Segal participated in and often organized a range of civil rights and social groups, protests, legal actions, and other activities in support of gay rights. He became well known for his very public acts of civil disobedience as a member of the Gay Raiders, termed "zaps," on the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite and the Mike Douglas Show in the early 1970s. Those appearances coupled with scheduled appearances on various national and local television and radio talk shows fulfilled one of the goals for Segal's activism, "to show the nation who gay people are: our sons, daughters, fathers, and mothers."
In 1976, Segal founded and currently publishes the influential newspaper, Philadelphia Gay News. With an increasing political profile, Segal used the influence and power of the gay press and his standing within political circles to further promote LGBTQ civil rights legislation. During the late 1970s and into the present day, these efforts met with criticism and sometimes outright acts of hate (newspapers boxes of the Philadelphia Gay News were often targets of anti-gay placards and vandalism). Segal and the many others working toward the goal of equal rights for LGBTQ persons were not deterred. Working within political circles and sometimes outside them, many landmark laws and court decisions were achieved in national, state, and local governments.
Separated Materials:
Related artifacts are in the Division of Medical Sciences (now Division of Medicine and Science).
Provenance:
This collection was donated to the Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian by Mark Segal, 2017.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Reproduction of some materials is restricted due to copyright or trademark.
