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 Rainbow History Project Oral History Collection Description An account of the resource Eye-witness accounts of what we’ve seen and experienced provide a valuable resource to researchers and future generations to understand our past and how we arrived where we are today. Each interview in this collection has a narrator telling the story and a documenter guiding the process. Collected since the founding of the RHP, this collection is growing and is open to researchers. All interviews have been digitized and are described in the catalog; only some of them have transcripts available. None of the interviews stream online. To obtain access to an interview, you must request by contacting us directly, providing a brief description of your project and your research interests. Our email address is: info AT rainbowhistory DOT org One of our team will share the file from our Google Drive, and you can listen from home. Please be sure to have "Music Player for Google Drive" enabled on your machine to play the recording. www.driveplayer.com Table Of Contents A list of subunits of the resource. To see all interviews in the collection, click on "Items in the Rainbow History Project Oral History Collection" link below. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Rainbow History Project Various narrators per oral history Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview. Diane Barnes Location The location of the interview. Washington, DC Transcription Any written text transcribed from a sound. No, not yet available. Original Format If the image is of an object, state the type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Yes, recording available. 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 interview with Lynne Brown, 1955 - Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 9 December 2014 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource No restrictions on access; no restrictions on use. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1974- 2014 Brown focuses on her business career at the Washington Blade newspaper, and begins with a description of her ancestral ties to North America's early European settlers. She came out as a lesbian in 1974 at Syracuse University, where she found strong acceptance partly rooted in the period's feminist politics. Brown moved to DC in 1977 in search of a local lesbian community she had started to discover through a college girlfriend and the publication "off our backs." She joined a car dealership and met the local activist Mary-Helen Mautner as a customer; Mautner introduced the young saleswoman to lesbian gathering places including the Owl and Tortoise, the Bachelor's Mill and Phase 1, and to several feminist theorists behind the journal,"Quest: A Feminist Quarterly." Brown became involved with groups that included the Lesbian and Gay Chorus of Washington, the DC Area Feminist Chorus (later renamed Bread and Roses), and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, where she served as treasurer on the board of directors. The Blade hired Brown for an advertising sales role in 1984, after she had returned to DC from a costly one-year stay in San Diego with another girlfriend. Shannon Rodes, the sales manager who recruited Brown, soon resigned from her position so the women could begin a relationship that remains ongoing. Brown discusses the Blade office's culture; the classified section's critical role in connecting readers over the 1980s and 1990s; and the struggle to sustain revenue as Craigslist and social media applications gained prominence. She touches intermittently on subjects that include local Pride celebrations in the 1980s; the prominent gay nightclub Tracks; ambivalence over her business career as an avowed critic of capitalist institutions; and business disruptions linked to the 2001 anthrax mailings. The firm Window Media purchased the Blade from the newspaper's employees in May 2001, and Brown details an intensive staff and community campaign to save the newspaper after the company moved to halt its publication in November 2009. They published as the "D.C. Agenda" until April 2010, when staff members retook ownership of the "Blade" brand. She concludes by considering the future of newspapers and of "the gay community," and by describing efforts to digitize the Blade's sizable archive. Description An account of the resource <strong>Want access to this audio?</strong> <br />Email <a href="mailto:oralhistories@rainbowhistory.org">oralhistories@rainbowhistory.org</a> to request access 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s Bachelor's Mill Bars and clubs Chorus groups Feminism Nightlife Phase One Pride Publications Restaurants Tracks Washington Blade