Queer Omaha Archives

Scope and Contents

Two email messages. The first is organizing a committee meeting among University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) faculty and staff to discuss LGBTQIA+ issues and topics that relate to the university such as partner benefits, diversity, and discrimination. The second message is a memo to add the matter to an upcoming Executive Cabinet meeting, presumably of the UNO Faculty Senate. These printouts of emails were removed from an unidentified UNO Faculty Senate agenda (attachment 20).

Content Description The David and Kathy England Papers document their engagement with several Omaha-area LGBTQ+ organizations when their son came out to them as a young man. The Englands were actively involved with and in some cases founding members of a number of Omaha area organizations and initiatives including PFLAG, Proud Horizons, ANGLE (Achieving New Gay & Lesbian Endeavors), National Coming Out Day, Pride Prom, and others. The England family also appeared on the early 1990s talk show Jane hosted by...

Scope and Contents

Flyer describing and announcing auditions for the Elite Dance Troupe from January of 1996. EDT was a project of Gay and Lesbian Organization (GALO) of UNO.

Content Description The Ephraim Marks and David Rice collection is composed of personal material about this white, gay, Omaha couple. The collection includes a scrapbook kept by David Rice showcasing some of his work as an interior designer in the 20th century in Omaha along with biographical information about Ephraim Marks and David Rice from the time around Rice’s death. A copy of an oral history interview David Rice did with the Nebraska Jewish Historical Society is also available. Also included are photos...

Content Description The Fredrick J. Zydek papers primarily document his work and career as a poet. Zydek’s collection thoroughly documents his poetry with a folder of material about each of his poems containing drafts and final versions of the poems as well as correspondence with publishers when the poems were published, which was frequently the case (15 cubic feet). Many of Zydek’s poems were published and they covered a range of topics. The collection also includes his short stories. Folders of material about...

Content Description The Heartland Gay Rodeo Association (HGRA) collection has been organized into nine series with materials ranging from 1993-2008. The HGRA was established in Papillion, Nebraska, in 1993 as a nonprofit chapter of the International Gay Rodeo Association (IGRA). The association was created to not only support IGRA sanctioned rodeos, but to also raise funds for area LGBTQIA+ and AIDS organizations. HGRA hosted its inaugural rodeo in 1997, an event that continued in the Omaha area for several...

Content Description The records of the Imperial Court of Nebraska (ICON) include photographs, albums documenting twelve of ICON’s reigns, newsletters, programs for the annual coronation, and one binder containing other ICON documents such as copies of incorporation documents, correspondence, and other material. The photographs are largely unidentified and require arrangement and description. The albums for twelve of ICON’s reigns include programs, fliers, news clippings, photographs, and other material...

Content Description

The records of Lavender Couch include fliers, posters, and photographs documenting the alternative rock, all-lesbian band's shows or gigs in Omaha, Lincoln, and other locales. Publicity photos and casual photos of band members are also available. A small number of contracts or agreements are part of the collection along with ephemera such as a sticker. A copy of the band's eponymous 1994 audiocassette tape is part of the collection.

Content Description The LGBTQ+ Oral History Collection is the home for 52 oral history interviews conducted with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, nonbinary, and asexual individuals from various communities with a focus on those with a connection to Omaha, Nebraska. The interviews were consciously collected to be part of UNO’s Queer Omaha Archives. Interviews as of 2020 are all audio recordings and include community members and UNO faculty. Interviews to date have been conducted by UNO professor Jay...

Content Description Dr. W. Meredith Bacon joined the University of Nebraska Omaha faculty in 1976 and spent her UNO career as a political science professor, specializing in international relations, specifically Moldovan and Romanian politics. Throughout her career she has also served as an advocate for the LGBTQIA+ community. In 2005, she became the first UNO faculty member to openly transition and changed her legal name from Walter Meredith Bacon, Jr., to W. Meredith Bacon. Her transition...

Content Description The Metropolitan Community Church of Omaha (MCC Omaha) was chartered in 1974 as the first church in Omaha with positive ministry activities to the LGBTQ+ community. The MCC Omaha Records are comprised of 2.5 cubic feet of documents and photographs from 1959 through 2017 with the bulk of items dated 1973 to 1975 and 1996 to 2003. Photographs of church events and other activities from 1987 through 2003 make up most of the collection. There is a gap in materials from 1975 through the mid-1990s,...

Content Description The Nebraska AIDS Project (NAP) collection is primarily composed of photographs in print along with negatives and some digital images. The topics of the photographs include a variety of NAP activities including the annual AIDS Walk, Night of 1,000 Stars, volunteer appreciation events, other events, as well as NAP’s former building. Celebrities participating in events include Olympian Greg Louganis, actress Shirley MacLaine, and comedian Joan Rivers. Documents are primarily related to...

Scope and Contents

Fliers advertising various LGBTQ related student organizations and events on the University of Nebraska Omaha campus. Many of the fliers are from events sponsored or co-sponsored by GALO of UNO (Gay and Lesbian Organization), but also include the Gender and Sexual Orientation Student Agency (GSO), Queers & Allies (Q&A), Gay/Straight Alliance, Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Organization, Nebraskans Against 416, UNO Women's Resource Center, and Elite Dance Troupe (sponsored by GALO).

Content Description Prof. Tammie Kennedy’s students in the spring 2016 English course Queer Film were required to create and use a blog platform as part of their coursework. The University of Nebraska at Omaha students discussed various films on their blogs including Pariah, The Kids Are Alright, Weekend, Boys Don’t Cry, Milk, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Dallas Buyers Club, The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Paris Is Burning, and How to Survive a Plague. Students also reflected on their enrollment...

Content Description

The Queer Omaha Archives Ephemera Collection is material collected or received from various sources.

Content Description The records of the Rainbow Outreach GLBT Center documents the founding and operations of the organization in Omaha, Nebraska, circa 1996-2011. The collection includes board meeting minutes, founding documents, operations manuals, facility information, a local business directory, and other records. The collection also includes records (circa 1989-1996) documenting the activities of other Omaha organizations including GLSEN, PFLAG, and most notably ANGLE (Achieving New Gay and Lesbian...

Content Description

The records of the River City Gender Alliance (RCGA) include copies of the organization's newsletters, brochures, fliers, and other documents. The collection also includes material from other local and national organizations.

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The records of the River City Mixed Chorus include meeting minutes, marketing materials (fliers, posters, etc.), grants, audiovisual recordings, correspondence, and other material documenting the organization.

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The Robert Gilmer and René Orduña collection is composed of personal and professional material from Gilmer and Orduña’s lives together. Most of the material covers the lives of Gilmer and Orduña in Omaha from the period after they left New York City in 1986 through the 2010s. The collection includes photographs, posters, programs, items from Gilmer and Orduña's wedding, and news coverage of Dixie Quicks, René Orduña, and RNG Gallery.

Content Description The papers of Scott Winkler document his activism for LGBTQ+ issues and organizations in Nebraska, such as Citizens For Equal Protection of which he served as executive director. The activities documented included National Coming Out Day events in Omaha in 1995-1996 (KETV news coverage for 1995), testifying before Nebraska unicameral legislative committees, Omaha Pride 1995 (KETV news coverage), and other activities. Notably, Candace Gingrich, LGBTQ+ activist and sister of Georgia politician...

Content Description The Terry Sweeney and Pat Phalen Papers document some of their interests and life together in Omaha, Nebraska in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, including participating in Marches on Washington, publishing The New Voice, Phalen’s reign as ICON Emperor, safe sex and HIV/AIDS education, workplace advocacy for LGBT+ employees at US West, the Omaha leather scene, and other activities. The collection includes newsletters, event programs, photographs, photo albums belonging to their friend...

Content Description The UNO Demonstration and Rally Collection documents local, national, and international demonstrations, rallies, protests, and other similar actions. The collection includes posters, signs, handbills, and photographs documenting specific events as well as general movements or actions. While there is a specific interest in documenting activities in and around Omaha, example material about demonstrations in other cities can also be found in the collection. For example, the collection includes...

Content Description

The UNO Gender and Sexuality Resource Center Ephemera Collection includes material produced as well as collected by the UNO Gender and Sexuality Resource Center. Please see component records for description.

Content Description The records of the Queer and Trans Services (formerly Gender and Sexual Orientation) student agency include posters and fliers, handmade signs for protests or rallies, training and orientation material, office files, photos, and other material. Some of the handmade signs were made and used in response to an itinerant evangelical preacher who frequently visits campus and espouses his beliefs that include condemnation and hate outside of the Milo Bail Student Center. The collection...