The HIC Archives

A brief overview and history

Only in recent years has homosexuality become acceptable as a subject of general inquiry, and the scattered nature and unreliability of the sources of information have been a grave deterrent to practical study and enlightenment.

Perhaps one of the most significant developments within the short history of the homosexual movement has been the establishment of the Homosexual Information Center Library as a public information effort aimed at bringing about open discussion and understanding where silence and misunderstanding once prevailed.

The Library collection was begun in 1952 by dedicated founders of the homosexual movement in Los Angeles, California. The collection was first gathered by Don Slater, Editor of ONE Magazine, and founder of the magazine’s parent organization, ONE, Inc. It was expanded upon with help from Jim Kepner and other pioneering activists in and around Los Angeles.

Slater shepherded the collection until ONE’s division in 1965. The library, which had recently been renamed the Blanche M. Baker Memorial Library, was then acquired by Slater’s Tangent Group, where it was incorporated in 1968 into the non-profit, federally tax exempt organization, The Homosexual Information Center.

The HIC Archives is now largely contained as a Special Collection within Oviatt Library, at California State University, Northridge. It is one of the most unusual collections in the United States. It contains over 4,000 books, periodicals and pamphlets—many of them otherwise unobtainable—which give access to important information on all aspects of homosexuality.

The HIC Archives is a subset of the Vern and Bonnie Bullough Collection on Sex and Gender, and the relationship between CSUN and the HIC was brokered by Bullough himself as an enduring partnership to expand and promote the collection.

The Homosexual Movement section of the Bullough/HIC Collection spans the crucial years from 1948 to 1968 and records the homophile movement’s organizational, social, and political history. The collection includes periodicals in Japanese, French, German, Dutch, and other European languages. The HIC Archives includes rare pamphlets, newsletters, periodicals, photographs, correspondence, and reports of homosexual organizations, some not to be found in any other archive.

Our Mission

The Homosexual Information Center provides general information on homosexuality as well as specialized, in-depth resources for scholars. It serves both the general public and schools, where it assists in the preparation of papers and research projects. Our sole purpose is to make knowledge available in a field too long clouded by myth and uncertainty.

We publish books, bibliographies, selected reading lists, directories of homosexual movement organizations throughout the world, Tangents magazine, and a newsletter.

Services from Homosexual Information Center are free except for the usual nominal charges for mailing, duplication, and the sale of some publications. When writing letters of inquiry, we request that you send a self addressed, stamped envelope.

Contributions of money or historic bibliographical materials are welcomed. Donations are tax deductible, and our Federal Tax ID number is available upon request.

Updated 05/22/16