CHESTERMAN, John, d 1996, gay activist

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0097 HCA/Chesterman
Held at	: British Library of Political and Economic Science   Click here to find out how to view this collection at http://www.lse.ac.uk/library ›
Full title	: CHESTERMAN, John, d 1996, gay activist
Date(s)	: 1970-1978
Level of description	: Subfonds of the Hall-Carpenter Archives View parent record
Extent	: 2 boxes
Name of creator(s)	: Chesterman | John | d 1996 | gay activist

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

John Chesterman was closely involved in the formation of the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) in 1970, and the production of the Gay International News, which preceded Gay News. The GLF began life in a basement room at the London School of Economics on 13 October 1970. Though without a formal structure, the movement grew rapidly for the next few years and undertook a great number of consciousness-raising activities, such as demonstrations, debates and the establishment of a new gay press.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Papers collected by John Chesterman relating to the Gay Liberation Front (GLF), 1970-1978, including a GLF manifesto, 1971; early GLF leaflets and fliers, 1971-1974, and other papers mainly relating to organised demonstrations; GLF diaries, [1971-1973]; papers relating to GLF regional and special interest groups, [1972], notably the London and South London GLF, the first gay squat, the GLF Counter Psychiatry Group, the Women's Liberation Workshop, Leeds GLF, Camden GLF and the transvestites newsletter; press cuttings and reports relating to GLF, 1970-1973, mainly concerning gay social life, and including the first mentions of GLF in print; material relating to gay publications, 1970-1972, such as Come Together and Gay News, including photographs of their production; material relating to the GLF campaign against Everything you always wanted to know about sex (W H Allen, London and New York, 1970) by David Robert Reuben, [1971]; material concerning GLF conferences, seminars and debates, 1971- 1972, including a typescript report on the first national GLF think-in at Leeds University and photographs of a debate at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh; GLF stickers.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

The papers have been listed according to the files created by Chesterman.

Conditions governing access:

Open

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copyright retained by the depositor and their heirs.

Finding aids:

Full handlist and on-line catalogue available.

Archival Information

Archival history:

Given by John Chesterman in 1993 and 1995.

Immediate source of acquisition:

Allied Materials

Related material:

The Hall-Carpenter Archives at the British Library of Political and Economic Science also contain the papers of the Gay Liberation Front, and the papers of Rupert Beach relating to the GLF.

National Register of Archives: Click here to view NRA record

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:
Sources: British Library of Political and Economic Science Archives catalogue. Compiled by Sarah Aitchison as part of the RSLP AIM25 project.

Rules or conventions:
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions:
Oct 2000