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Creator
Katz, Jonathan, 1938-
Call number
MssCol 1621
Physical description
59.3 linear feet (140 boxes, 2 bundles, 6 tubes)
Preferred Citation

Jonathan Ned Katz Papers, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library.

Repository
Manuscripts and Archives Division
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.Restrictions apply

The Jonathan Ned Katz Papers include correspondence, writings, research notes, audiotapes, moving picture films, and textile designs. They reflect Katz's personal life and career as author, playwright, gay rights activist, teacher, textile designer, and as chronicler and historian of the gay, lesbian and African-American experience in the United States.

Biographical/historical information

Jonathan Ned Katz (1938 - ), author, playwright, historian, teacher, gay rights advocate, and textile designer, was born in New York City, the son of Bernard Katz (1902-1970), an advertising executive, and Phyllis Brownstone Katz, a magazine editor. His grandfather on his mother's side, Abraham Brownstone, had emigrated to Canada in 1888 at age fifteen from his native Bessarabia (Russia).

Raised in New York City in Lower Manhattan at his parents' residence on 81 Jane Street, Jonathan Katz was graduated in 1956 from the High School of Music and Art. During his senior year he directed a musical revue and variety show ("Going...Going...Gone") which was staged by members of the graduating class. After high school Katz attended Antioch College (1956-1957), the College of the City of New York (1957-1960) and the New School (1961-1962) although without taking an academic degree.

During the 1960s Katz was employed in New York City as a free-lance textile designer at the Prince Studio (1960-1965), New Group, Inc. (1965-1970) and at Henry Glass, Inc. (1970-1972, 1976). In later years he has held positions in development and publications at Scholastic, Inc. (1982-1984), the Center for Constitutional Rights (1984-1986), and the American Civil Liberties Union (1989-1990).

His writing career began in earnest in 1967 with the production of two documentary plays about fugitive slaves (Inquest at Christiana; and The Dispute over the Ownership of Anthony Burns) both of which were broadcast over radio station WBAI-FM (N.Y.). This initial preoccupation with Black history was most likely due to the influence of his father who was a noted authority on Negro jazz, and a devoted collector of jazz recordings. Continuing the documentary approach to historical writing which he was to employ throughout most of his writing career, Katz published two additional works in the field of Black studies: Black Woman: A Fictionalized Biography of Lucy Terry Prince (Pantheon, 1973) which he co-authored with his father although it was published after the latter's death; and Resistance at Christiana: The Fugitive Slave Rebellion, Christiana, Pennsylvania, 1851 (T.Y. Crowell, 1974).

A staunch advocate of gay rights, Katz turned his attention in the mid-1970s to the plight of another beleaguered minority, that of gay men and lesbians. Taking up the cause he became a founding member of the Gay Academic Union and with the publication in rapid succession of three books of historical documentation and analysis, he brought to the issue of gay and lesbian rights an historical depth, perspective, and understanding which had heretofore been lacking. His books Coming Out! A Documentary Play About Gay Life and Liberation (Arno Press, 1975), Gay American History: Lesbians and Gay Men in the U.S.A. (T. Y. Crowell, 1976), and Gay/Lesbian Almanac: A New Documentary (Harper & Row, 1983) also established his reputation as one of America's leading authorities on homosexuality and on gay and lesbian history. Katz is also the author of The Invention of Heterosexuality (Dutton, 1995) and Love Stories: Sex Between Men Before Homosexuality (University of Chicago Press, 2001).

In addition to his major publications Katz has contributed papers at conferences and published articles, reviews and essays on the subject of homosexuality, heterosexuality, and gay and lesbian issues. In 1975 he was general editor of the Arno Press-New York Times reprint series on homosexuality. He has also been guest lecturer on gay American history at several colleges and universities including Yale, Princeton, and the University of Chicago, and has taught courses on the gay and lesbian history at New York University and at the New School for Social Research (1991).

During his writing career Katz has been the recipient of several grants from philanthropic foundations including the Writer-in-Residence Grant from the New York State Council on the Arts (1984 and 1985), the Louis M. Rabinowitz Foundation, and from the Pennsylvania Humanities Council for the purpose of producing, in collaboration with the Philadelphia Lesbian and Gay Task Force, an educational documentary entitled "Words" which explored the changing terminology's and concepts in the field of gay and lesbian history.

Scope and arrangement

The Jonathan Ned Katz Papers reflect his life and career as an author, historian, teacher, gay rights advocate and textile designer. Included are correspondence, writings, topical files, research notes, papers relating to grant proposals and to the teaching of gay history, personal miscellany, printed matter, sound recordings, films, and samples of Katz's textile designs on cloth and paper. About 40% of the papers consist of typescript drafts (with collateral papers) of Katz's published books; and miscellaneous essays, lectures, reviews and other writings. About 20% of the papers consists of correspondence with historians, scholars, publishers, gay and lesbian rights advocates, and others including Katz family members. The remainder (40%) of the papers consist chiefly of topical files.

The Jonathan Ned Katz papers are arranged in ten series:

  • Series I. Correspondence
  • Series II. Topical Files

    Series II consists of a topical file of miscellaneous papers including correspondence, notes, minutes, and memoranda, relating to Mr. Katz's professional interests and activities as gay activist and historian of gay history. Included are papers relative to a proposal to establish an Institute for the Study of Sex in Society to serve as a focal point for research on sexuality from a social, historical and public policy perspective.

    Files related to exhibits, include material related to exhibits that Katz organized and was involved with include Gay and Lesbian History, 1998; "100 Years of the Homosexual Rights Movement", Berlin and "The Pink and the Blue: Lesbian and Gay Life at Yale and in Connecticut, 1642-2004". There are research materials, photographs, correspondence and programs.

    The grant files document Mr. Katz's requests for financial aid from philanthropic and other institutions to support the research and writing of his historical documentaries including his book on gay and lesbian history; a proposed documentary play based upon the life and writings of Walt Whitman; a book on the political economy of sex; a study of the history and origins of the state sodomy laws; and a book-length version of his article "The Invention of Heterosexuality" (Socialist Review, Feb. 1990).

  • Series III. Writings

    The writings consist of typescript drafts with corrections and emendations and with a few page proofs and galleys of Mr. Katz's historical documentaries: Coming Out! A Documentary Play about Gay Life and Liberation (Arno Press, c1975); Gay American History: Lesbians and Gay Men in the U.S.A. (T. Y. Crowell, 1976); Gay/Lesbian Almanac: A New Documentary (Harper & Row, 1983); and a typescript (incomplete) of "Resistance at Christiana: The Fugitive Slave Rebellion, Christiana, Pennsylvania, 1851" (T. Y. Crowell, 1974). Included also are multiple drafts of his book T he Invention of Heterosexuality (Dutton, 1995).

    Following the typescripts of each work are topical files of collateral papers including correspondence (with publishers and others), permissions, promotion and publicity materials, copies of published reviews, and other miscellany.

    Included also are typescripts, arranged by title, of Mr. Katz's other writings: essays, lectures, and reviews on various subjects including American painting, American film, fugitive slaves, Marxism, sodomy in colonial America, and transsexualism.

    Later additions include material concerning the book Love Stories: Sex Between Men Before Homosexuality (University of Chicago Press, 2001) and an unpublished book, "Showing Our Faces" which was re-imagined as a calendar.

    Research files contain photocopies of scholarly articles, along with correspondence pertaining to the article.

  • Series IV. Papers as Teacher of Gay History

    Contains papers (1984-1996) relating to academic courses on sexuality and heterosexuality given by Mr. Katz at the Eugene Lang College of the New School for Social Research and at New York University. Included are administrative papers, course outlines, evaluations of students' classroom performance, students' papers corrected and graded and a few photocopies of texts of reading assignments. Included also is a press release announcing a course on gay American history to be given by Mr. Katz in fulfillment of a writer-in-residence grant awarded by the New York State Council on the Arts.

    Katz and Lisa Duggan taught a 12-session course called "Lesbian and Gay American History", 1984; the material does not reflect where the course took place. The Yale class was taught in 2003.

  • Series V. Research Notes and Papers

    This series consists of a topical file of Mr. Katz's notes and papers relating to his research on gay and lesbian history. The bulk of the files consists of photocopies of source materials from various repositories accumulated by Katz during the course of his research on gay and lesbian history. Some files contain handwritten notes, drafts of articles, correspondence with scholars, historians, librarians, and archivists. Included are photocopies of papers relating to Henry Gerber, Harry Hay and of Jim Kepner which were accumulated by Katz during the course of his research on gay American history.

    The papers relating to Henry Gerber, who was a founder of the Chicago Society for Human Rights, consist of photocopies of Gerber's correspondence (1940-57) mainly to Manuel Boyfrank, and of photocopies of his writings on homosexuality some of which were published (1934) in Chanticleer.

    The papers relating to Harry Hay consist of a typed typescript copy of an interview conducted by Katz on March 31, 1974 [an audiotape of this interview can be found in the Sound Recordings seres]; and miscellaneous documents (some original) with accompanying annotations by Hay relating to the Mattachine Society of California and to Hay's personal career as a gay activist.

    The papers relating to Jim Kepner consist of photocopies of Kepner's letters (1943-44) to Wally Jordan.

    There are several separate alphabetical runs which reflect materials donated to the library at different times.

    Additional research notes may be found in the series Topical Files and Writings.

  • Series VI. Personal Miscellaneous Papers

    This series consists of a topical file of miscellaneous papers relating to Katz's personal life and career. Included are personal diary and journal notes (1967-68, 1973-75) and a log (1978) of his daily activities; papers relating to his job searches; financial papers including royalty statements; copies of personal notes and memoranda; proposals for books and articles, proposals for meetings of independent scholars and gay and lesbian researchers, and a proposal to aid the 3 Dollar Bill Theater; papers relating to his speaking engagements; high school yearbook and variety show papers; and college notes and papers kept at Antioch College, Hunter College and the New School. Included also are papers relative to the Gay Academic Union, the Gay Socialist Action project, a Gay Socialist Study Group, and a national Gay Archives Committee; and Katz's C.I.A. and F.B.I. files obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

    Separate alphabetical and chronological runs reflect material donated at different times.

  • Series VII. Printed matter

    The printed matter consists of a file of miscellaneous ephemera including flyers, newsletters, press releases, announcements, programs, and pamphlets arranged alphabetically by author, by corporate title, or by subject. There is a separate file of unsorted press and magazine clippings; and three oversized posters relating to the homophile movement in Toronto.

  • Series VIII. Textile Designs

    The textile designs consist of samples of designs on cloth and on paper of Katz's work as a free lance textile designer. Many of the designs on paper have been rolled and placed in bundles and tubes. Included is a cloth flag used in the 1972 production of the play Coming Out!

  • Series IX. Sound recordings

    The sound recordings, which consist of some 77 audiotapes and three phonodiscs are described in the Checklist of Sound Recordings of this inventory. The bulk of the recordings consists of audiocassettes of interviews conducted by Katz with gay men and with persons prominent or active in the gay liberation movement. There are also a few recordings of Katz being interviewed by other persons; a few recordings of classes taught by Katz at the School for Marxist Studies.

  • Series X. Films and Video

    The moving picture films which consist of some 43 reels of 16mm film and 1 videocassette. The bulk of the identified films consist of home movies made by Katz during his youth. Twenty-seven of the films are unidentified. None of the films are available until duplicated.

Administrative information

Custodial history

Mr. Katz's first donation to the the library was in 1993. He has made additional donations to the collection in 1995, 1997, 2004 and 2006. In 1988 the Library received from the International Gay Information Center, Inc. some personal papers (2.8 linear ft.) of Mr. Katz. These papers, which were formerly part of the International Gay Information Center Archives, have been removed from that collection and integrated into the Jonathan Ned Katz Papers.

Source of acquisition

Donated by Jonathan Ned Katz, 1993-

Processing information

Processed by John D. Stinson; revised by Leslie Reyman.

Using the collection

Location

Manuscripts and Archives Division
Stephen A. Schwarzman Building
Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street, New York, NY 10018-2788
Brooke Russell Astor Reading Room, Third Floor, Room 328

Conditions Governing Use

Jonathan Ned Katz reserves title to all copyrights and literary rights to his papers.

Access restrictions

Selected materials are restricted until the year 2055.