http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt3v19r12d No online items Finding aid of the Crawford Barton Papers Processed by Sara Chabino-Lott and Marjorie Bryer; machine-readable finding aid created by Rebekah Kim Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society 657 Mission Street, Suite 300 San Francisco, California 94105 Phone: (415) 777-5455 Fax: (415) 777-5576 Email: [email protected] URL: http://www.glbthistory.org/ © 2007 The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society. All rights reserved. Finding aid of the Crawford 1993-11 1 Barton Papers Finding aid of the Crawford Barton Papers Collection number: 1993-11 Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society San Francisco, California Processed by: Sara Chabino-Lott and Marjorie Bryer Date Completed: September 2007 Encoded by: Rebekah Kim © 2007 The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society. All rights reserved. Descriptive Summary Title: Crawford Barton Papers Dates: 1945-1995 Collection number: 1993-11 Creator: Barton, Crawford Wayne Collection Size: 17 manuscript boxes, 4 record carton boxes, 35 medium boxes, and 1 oversize box38.85 linear feet Repository: Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society San Francisco, California 94105 Abstract: This collection contains professional and personal records created and collected by Crawford Wayne Barton. Inclusive dates are 1945-1995; the bulk of the collection is from 1961-1990. The collection has a particular emphasis on the photography of Barton as well as his creative writing. The collection includes photographs, negatives, slides, 8 and 16mm movies, correspondence, journals, manuscripts and clippings. Physical location: Stored at the Archives of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society in San Francisco, California. Languages: Languages represented in the collection: English Access Collection open for research. Publication Rights Copyright to unpublished manuscript materials has been transferred to the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society. Preferred Citation [Identification of item], [Name of Series], Crawford Barton Papers, 1993-11, The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society. Acquisition Information Donated to the Library. Processing Information Collection processed by Sara Chabino-Lott with the aid of Rebekah Kim. Photographs processed by Marjorie Bryer. Processing completed in August 2007. Guide written by Sara Chabino-Lott in August 2007. Processing funded by a grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission. Biography Crawford Wayne Barton was born on June 2, 1943 in rural Georgia. As a child and teenager Bartontook piano lessons and enjoyed drawing and studying nature. After graduating from Calhoun High School in 1961, Barton attended the University of Georgia on an art scholarship. Barton studied drawing painting and sculpture at three different colleges in Georgia as an art major, but never graduated. Late in 1968 Barton decided to move to Los Angeles, CA to study filmmaking at UCLA. However, Barton never enrolled and instead moved to San Francisco. It was in San Francisco that Barton became a leading photographer of gay life. Barton took photographs for the Advocate, the Bay Area Reporter, the San Francisco Examiner, Finding aid of the Crawford 1993-11 2 Barton Papers Newsday, and the Los Angeles Times. In 1974, the M.H. de Young Memorial museum featured Barton's prints in an exhibit called New Photography, San Francisco and the Bay Area. Barton started his own photography business with a resale license in 1973, under the name Arts Unlimited. The business operated through 1978, but was never a profitable endeavor. However, a book of Barton's prints titled Beautiful Men was published in 1976 with a 2nd edition published in 1978. Barton's prints were also used to illustrate Look Back in Joy (1990) by Malcom Boyd. Crawford Barton, Days of Hope, a book of Barton's prints covering the years between the Stonewall riots and the onset of the AIDS epidemic, was published posthumously in 1994. Barton moved away from photography in the early 1980s and devoted his artistic energies to writing. He continued to show his photographs, but did not produce new work at the pace he did in the 1970s. During the 1980s Barton completed his epic novel, Castro Street, and a book of poetry, One More Sweet Smile, but neither was published. Barton passed away from AIDS on June 12, 1993. He was fifty years old. Scope and Content of Collection This collection contains the professional and personal papers of Crawford Barton. This collection includes records from 1945-1995, although the bulk of the collection is from 1961-1990. Barton is best known as a photographer of San Francisco's gay culture in the 1970s. This collection contains numerous photographs, slides and journals from the 1970s. The rest of the collection is primarily from the 1960s and 1980s with some material from the 1970s. It contains correspondence, financial and medical records, clippings, and critical reviews. There is also a significant amount of material related to Castro Street, a novel that Barton wrote and tried to get published through most of the 1980s. Arrangement This collection is organized in 7 series: Series 1. Correspondence Series 2. Journals Series 3. Writings Series 4. Personal Papers Series 5. Professional Papers Series 6. Objects Series 7. Photographs and Audiovisual Material This collection has been maintained in its original order. Unless otherwise noted, dates are inclusive. Indexing Terms Barton, Crawford Photographers--United States AIDS (Disease)--Patients Related Material William J. Hancock Papers, Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society, San Francisco, California Series 1 Correspondence 1961-1992 Physical Description: 199 folders Series Description 1961-1992 This series contains letters sent and received by Crawford Barton. Finding aid of the Crawford 1993-11 3 Barton Papers Series 1Correspondence 1961-1992 Subseries 1.1Personal Correspondence 1961-1992 Box : Folder 154 Subseries 1.1 Personal Correspondence 1961-1992 folders Series Description 1961-1992 This subseries is the largest in the series. It contains letters, notes, postcards and greeting cards from Barton’s friends and family members. The majority of the correspondence is from the 1960s and 1980s. Within his correspondence Barton had a box labeled "Postcards to Moi." All postcards that came from this box have been noted in the folder title. Also included in the subseries are photographs of Barton in his early twenties in folder 415. Third-party correspondence is placed at the end of the series. This subseries is arranged alphabetically. Letters from correspondents not listed individually may be found in "letter" general of each subseries. Box : Folder 1: 1 1966-1967, undated Box : Folder 1: 2 circa 1970-circa 1980s Box : Folder 1: 3 1963-1964 Box : Folder 1: 4 1968, circa 1980s Box : Folder 1: 5 circa 1980s Box : Folder 1: 6 circa 1960-circa 1980s Box : Folder 1: 7 circa 1970s-1981 Box : Folder 1: 8 1961-1963 Box : Folder 1: 9 1964-1965 Box : Folder 1: 10 1966-1968 Box : Folder 1: 11 1976-1983 Box : Folder 1: 12 1985-1989 Box : Folder 1: 13 1966-1967 Box : Folder 1: 14 1987-1989 Box : Folder 1: 15 1986-1988 Box : Folder 1: 16 1985-1989 Box : Folder 1: 17 1975-1976 Box : Folder 2: 1 circa 1960-circa 1980s Box : Folder 2: 2 circa 1970-circa 1980s Box : Folder 2: 3 1981-1982 Box : Folder 2: 4 1964-1965 Box : Folder 2: 5 1976-1988 Box : Folder 2: 6 circa 1980s Box : Folder 2: 7 circa 1970s Box : Folder 2: 8 1965-1988 Box : Folder 2: 9 circa 1960-1991 Box : Folder 2: 10 1970s-1984 Box : Folder 2: 11 circa 1980s Box : Folder 2: 12 1984-1985 Box : Folder 2: 13 1980s Box : Folder 2: 14 1962-1964 Box : Folder 2: 15 1965-1989 Box : Folder 2: 16 circa 1960s Box : Folder 2: 17 circa 1980 Box : Folder 2: 18 1975-1989 Box : Folder 2: 19 1962-circa 1989 Box : Folder 2: 20 circa 1960s Box : Folder 2: 21 1988-1991 Box : Folder 2: 22 1961, 1982 Box : Folder 2: 23 circa 1980s Box : Folder 3: 1 1970s Box : Folder 3: 2 1961-1989 Box : Folder 3: 3 1970s-1980s Box : Folder 3: 4 circa 1968 Box : Folder 3: 5 1984-1985 Finding aid of the Crawford 1993-11 4 Barton Papers Series 1Correspondence 1961-1992 Subseries 1.1Personal Correspondence 1961-1992 Box : Folder 3: 6 1975-1977 Box : Folder 3: 7-8 1964-1967 Box : Folder 3: 9 1961-1992 Box : Folder 3: 10 1980s Box : Folder 3: 11 1976-1985 Box : Folder 3: 12 1978-1992 Box : Folder 3: 1972-1991 13-18 Box : Folder 3: 19 1982-1983 Box : Folder 3: 20 1987-1988 Box : Folder 3: 21 circa 1970-circa 1980s Box : Folder 22: 1 1970s Box : Folder 4: 1-5 1965-1989 Box : Folder 4: 6 1980s Box : Folder 4: 7 1962-circa 1980s Box : Folder 4: 8 1970s-1982 Box : Folder 4: 9 1968 Box : Folder 4: 10 1962-1991 Box : Folder 4: 11 1979 Box : Folder 4: 1983-1988 12-13 Box : Folder 4: 14 1980s Box : Folder 4: 15 1961-1992 Box : Folder 4: 16 1975 Box : Folder 4: 17 1974-1984 Box : Folder 4: 1962-1989 18-20 Box : Folder 5: 1 circa 1978-1984 Box : Folder 5: 2 1965-1966 Box : Folder 5: 3-4 1975-1977 Box : Folder 5: 5 1970s-1984 Box : Folder 5: 6 1984-1988 Box : Folder 5: 7 circa 1960-circa 1980s Box : Folder 5: 8 1977-1984 Box : Folder 5: 9 1987-1990 Box : Folder 5: 10 1983-1984 Box : Folder 5: 11 1969 Box : Folder 5: 12 1966-1967 Box : Folder 5: 13 1980 Box : Folder 5: 14 1975-1977 Box : Folder 5: 15 circa 1970s Box : Folder 5: 16 circa 1975 Box : Folder 5: 17 1980s Box : Folder 5: 18 1961, 1984 Box : Folder 5: 1964-1991 19-20 Box : Folder 5: 21 1967-1989