Lesbian Archives In West Hollywood

Click the link below to make a donation today!

Continuing our series, Lesbian Magazines Through the Decades we have DYKE, A Quarterly published in New York from 1975 to 1979. Liza Cowan and Penny House created the magazine as a space for Lesbian cultural analysis. It was radically political but also extremely personal with letters and submissions from Lesbians searching for community. DYKE was intended to be a platform curated for dykes, the group felt that devoting any time to explaining our way of life to the straight masses was a waste and energy should be put only to strengthening Lesbian culture. In a statement from the magazine this is made clear when they say “Lesbian community – Lesbian culture- means Lesbian only DYKE is a magazine for Dykes only! We will speak freely among ourselves. We are not interested in telling the straight world what we are doing. In fact, we hope they never even see the magazine. It is none of their business.” Here at the June L. Mazer Lesbian collection is open to anyone who wants to learn about Lesbian history.

The Lesbian Tide formed from the Los Angeles chapter of Daughters of Bilitis because younger members of the group were looking for a place to be more radical. The Lesbian tide ran from 1971 to 1980. The publication's purpose was to be a space for Lesbians to gain political information that was relevant to them. They publicized marches and protests, bills that either worked for or against them and politicians that supported their causes. The Tide touched on topics that many other publications were afraid to do. The first photo is the 1979 July/August edition “Are Roles Really Dead?” with an inside look in the next two photos to answer just that!

Today we celebrate June L. Mazer, born July 7, 1929 in Baltimore, MD. During her lifetime, Mazer was an accomplished psychodrama therapy practitioner and, along with her partner Bunny MacCulloch, was involved with various gay and lesbian non-profits, including Southern California Women for Understanding, Connexxus/Centro de Mujeres, and the West Coast Lesbian Collection. The WCLC was even moved to Mazer and MacCulloch's home in Altadena and stayed there from 1986 to 1989. After June's death in 1987, the WCLC changed its name to the June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives to honor her dedication to lesbian activism.

1. Bunny (L) and June (R) at the SCWU's 2nd Lesbian Rights Award Dinner, 1981

2. Bunny and June as babies, greeting visitors to the Archives

3. Letter to June regarding Connexxus Board membership

4. Del Martinez, Lauren Jardine, and June Mazer at the Connexxus office library

5. "June We'll Miss You," Connexxus Newsletter, vol. 3, no. 3, March 1987

Most of the images posted here can be found on the UCLA Library Digital Collections site. If you're curious to learn more, you can page UCLA Special Collections for the June L. Mazer papers, where you can look at June's original drawings and an astrology reading she received in 1976!