Scope and Contents
The collection contains material accumulated by John Mitzel in the course of his life and career as a writer, publisher, bookseller, and activist. Included are correspondence and research files on topics and individuals relevant to the LGBTQ community, gay rights, pornography, obscenity laws, and child sexual abuse trials; drafts and clippings of Mitzel's writings and records of the operations and legal disputes of the Glad Day Bookstore and Calamus Books; diaries and scrapbooks spanning several decades; personal and family papers; photographs; and audiovisual and electronic media. Correspondents include Boyd McDonald, Randy Shilts, Charley Shively, David Thorstad, and Gore Vidal. The collection also documents Mitzel’s involvement with organizations including the Fag Rag collective and the North American Man/Boy Love Association (NAMBLA), as well as other pro-pedophilia and pederasty organizations.
Dates
- circa 1924-2013
- Majority of material found within ( 1970-2000)
Creator
- Mitzel, John (Author)
Conditions Governing Access
The collection is open for research.
Box 51 (computer media): Restricted fragile material. Access copies of electronic files may be requested. Consult Access Services for further information.
Boxes 52-54 (audiovisual media): Restricted fragile material. Reference copies may be requested. Consult Access Services for further information.
Conditions Governing Use
The John Mitzel Papers is the physical property of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Literary rights, including copyright, belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns. For further information, consult the appropriate curator.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased on the Edwin J. Beinecke Book Fund, 2013, and gift of the estate of John Mitzel, 2014.
Arrangement
The collection is organized into eight series: I. Correspondence and Research Files, 1962-2013. II. Subject Files, 1941-2013. III. Professional Papers, 1964-2013. IV. Diaries, 1961-2002. V. Scrapbooks, 1972-2002. VI. Personal Papers, 1959-2012. VII. Photographs, 1924-2012. VIII. Computer and Audiovisual Media, 1971-1999.
Extent
39.14 Linear Feet (54 boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Catalog Record
A record for this collection is available in Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog
Persistent URL
Abstract
The collection contains material accumulated by John Mitzel in the course of his life and career as a writer, publisher, bookseller, and activist. Included are correspondence and research files on topics and individuals relevant to the LGBTQ community, gay rights, pornography, obscenity laws, and child sexual abuse trials; drafts and clippings of Mitzel's writings and records of the operations and legal disputes of the Glad Day Bookstore and Calamus Books; diaries and scrapbooks spanning several decades; personal and family papers; photographs; and audiovisual and electronic media. Correspondents include Boyd McDonald, Randy Shilts, Charley Shively, David Thorstad, and Gore Vidal. The collection also documents Mitzel’s involvement with organizations including the Fag Rag collective and the North American Man/Boy Love Association (NAMBLA), as well as other pro-pedophilia and pederasty organizations.
John C. Mitzel (1948-2013)
John Carl Mitzel was an American writer, publisher, bookseller, and activist who was prominently involved in the Boston LGBTQ community beginning in the 1970s. Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, Mitzel attended Boston University and helped to organize Boston’s first gay pride parade in 1971. He was a founding member of the Fag Rag collective, which published the newspaper Fag Rag, and was a regular contributor to the Philadelphia Gay News, Gay Community News (Boston), and The Guide (Boston). Mitzel operated the Boston branch of Toronto’s Glad Day Bookshop from 1985 until 2000, when he closed the store and opened the bookstore and publisher Calamus Books. He also founded Stonewall Distributors, a gay book and magazine distributor, and Manifest Destiny Press. In addition to his writing and activism for gay rights, Mitzel was also an advocate for the decriminalization of pedophilia and pederasty. He wrote extensively on the subject, served as editor for the North American Man/Boy Love Association (NAMBLA) newsletter, and advocated for and corresponded with men incarcerated for sex crimes. He died on October 4, 2013 in Arlington, Massachusetts.
Processing Information
Collections are processed to a variety of levels, depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived research value, the availability of staff, competing priorities, and whether or not further accruals are expected. The library attempts to provide a basic level of preservation and access for all collections, and does more extensive processing of higher priority collections as time and resources permit. Information included in the Description of Papers note and Collection Contents section is drawn from information supplied with the collection and from an initial survey of the contents. Folder titles appearing in the contents list below are often based on those provided by the creator or previous custodian. Titles have not been verified against the contents of the folders in all cases. Otherwise, folder titles are supplied by staff during initial processing. This finding aid may be updated periodically to account for new acquisitions to the collection and/or revisions in arrangement and description.
- Audiovisual materials
- Authors -- United States -- 20th century
- Authors -- United States -- 21st century
- Booksellers and bookselling -- United States
- Born digital
- Calamus Books
- Child sexual abuse
- Children and sex
- Diaries
- Gay activists -- Massachusetts -- Boston
- Gay activists -- United States
- Gay authors
- Gay men -- Sexual behavior
- Gay men -- United States
- Gay press publications -- United States
- Gay pride parades -- Massachusetts -- Boston
- Gay youth -- Sexual behavior
- Homosexuality
- Independent bookstores -- Massachusetts -- Boston
- LGBTQ resource
- McDonald, Boyd, 1925-1993
- Mitzel, John
- North American Man/Boy Love Association
- Pedophilia
- Photographs
- Pornography
- Publishers and publishing -- Massachusetts -- Boston
- Scrapbooks
- Shilts, Randy
- Shively, Charley
- Thorstad, David
- Trials (Child sexual abuse) -- United States
- Vidal, Gore, 1925-2012
- Title
- Guide to the John Mitzel papers
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- by Emma Gronbeck
- Date
- December 2021
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English.
Part of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library Repository
Location
121 Wall Street
New Haven, CT 06511
Opening Hours
Access Information
The Beinecke Library is open to all Yale University students and faculty, and visiting researchers whose work requires use of its special collections. You will need to bring appropriate photo ID the first time you register. Beinecke is a non-circulating, closed stack library. Paging is done by library staff during business hours. You can request collection material online at least two business days in advance of your visit, using the request links in Archives at Yale. For more information, please see Planning Your Research Visit and consult the Reading Room Policies prior to visiting the library.