Sharon Raphael & Mina Meyer, Old Lesbians Organizing for Change Collection
Scope and Contents
The OLOC Collection consists of personal, professional, and academic papers of Sharon Raphael and Mina Meyer, administrative records of Old Lesbians Organizing for Change, with which Sharon and Mina both organized and event and conference materials, administrative materials, and publications reflecting the many organizations and task forces related to aging, feminism and LGBT advocacy with which Sharon and Mina were involved. Collection includes Mina’s pioneering thesis “The Older Lesbian” (Raphael and Robinson, 1979), the first social science thesis on lesbian aging; Administrative and programmatic records from OLOC, a majority of which relates to OLOC’s 2008 National Gathering; and VHS tapes including commercial scripted films, educational videos, and documentaries are also in the collection.
Dates
- Creation: 1978-2010
Conditions Governing Access
There are no restrictions on the collection. The collection is open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
Property rights to this collection belong to the June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives. All other rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or heir for permission to publish where the June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives do not hold the copyright.
Biographical Note
Sharon Raphael and Mina Kay Meyer
Sharon Raphael was born in 1941 in Cleveland, Ohio. She was a sociology professor, a cofounder of the National Association of Lesbian and Gay Gerontologists and an active member of Old Lesbians for Change.
Sharon was involved in the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s and was part of the March on Washington in 1963. In 1970 at age 29, Sharon moved to California and joined the Gay Liberation Movement. She attended consciousness-raising groups at the Gay Women’s Service Center, a pioneering social service organization in Echo Park, attended rallies, and spoke at public events and universities as an out-lesbian. Simultaneously, Sharon taught sociology at California State University Dominguez Hills (CSUDH). Though she could have lost her job for being an out-Lesbian, instead Sharon was promoted and became a tenured sociology professor, specializing in gerontology and LGBTQ aging. She taught at CSUDH for 40 years.
Mina Kay Meyer was born in 1940 in Sewickley, PA and grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. She was a lesbian feminist activist and pioneer in the Gay Rights Movement.Mina Kay Meyer was born in 1940 in Sewickley, PA and grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. She was a lesbian feminist activist and pioneer in the Gay Rights Movement.
Mina moved to Los Angeles in 1973 where she became involved in gay rights organizing. Mina worked with the Gay Women’s Service Center from 1971-1972. Soon after, she served on the Board of the Gay Community Services Center and started the first women's clinic that provided pap smears and artificial insemination for lesbians in Los Angeles, a first and much needed service. Mina worked at the famous and now closed Feminist Bookstore Sisterhood Bookstore for 16 years in the 1980s,1990s and early 2000s.
Sharon and Mina first met as children in Cleveland and reconnected in 1971 in Hermosa Beach, California. They were partnered for thirty-seven years before legally marrying in 2008. Together, Mina and Sharon worked on many activist lesbian projects including founding the first LGBT synagogue in Los Angeles, CA, Beth Chayim Chadashim. They also assumed leadership of the Gay Women’s Service Center in 1972 and were part of the core organizing group of what became the Los Angeles LGBT Center. Mina and Sharon became AIDS activists in 1987 and, with Michael Weinstein and others, formed the AIDS Hospice Committee (now the AIDS HealthCare Foundation), organized protests, and formed a commission to highlight the needs of people with AIDS. Sharon and Mina also helped set up an AIDS hospice, the Chris Brownlie Hospice, a pioneering hospice on the Barlow Respiratory Hospital campus.
Mina and Sharon published many articles on lesbian and gay aging. Mina received a Master's in Sociology at CSUDH and wrote the first social science thesis on lesbian aging, “The Older Lesbian” (Raphael and Robinson, 1979). One of their articles, “Lesbians and Gay Men in Later Life,” appeared in the Fall 1981 issues of Generations journal.
Along with Lisa Hamburger, Richard Southern, and Don Catalano, Sharon and Mina formed the National Association of Lesbian and Gay Gerontology (NALGG) at an American Society on Aging (ASA) conference, which later became ASA’s LGBT Aging Issues Network (LAIN).
Mina also served as Co-Chair of the Steering Committee of OLOC (Old Lesbians Organizing for Change). Together Mina and Sharon created a local OLOC chapter and Lez Chat in Long Beach, a brunch group for lesbians who identified as older. According to Sharon, OLOC helped her “counter negative stereotypes associated with [her] personal journey as an old woman and as an old lesbian.”
Mina died on July 29, 2016.
At age 76, Sharon fell in love with Jenny Wren. Sharon attributes her ability to form a new meaningful connection at age 76 to “the confidence [she] had gained from [her] positive and supportive spouse, coping skills acquired from [her] life in the movement, and [her] knowledge as a gerontologist that being old can be a reawakening rather than a winding down.”
Sources:
“Mina Kay Meyer 1940-2016,” Los Angeles Times, August 7, 2016,
Sharon Raphael, “How the Lesbian Feminist Movement: Transformed My Life” Generations: Journal of the American Society on Aging 41, no. 4, Gender and Age: A Focus on Women (Winter 2017–2018): 137-139,
Extent
3.34 Linear Feet (8 boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
Sharon Raphael and Mina Kay Meyer were advocates for old lesbians and organizers with the Gay Rights Movement in Los Angeles in the 1970s-2000s. Sharon worked as a sociology professor at CSUDH for 40 years specializing in gerontology and LGBTQ aging and Mina Meyer wrote the first social science thesis on lesbian aging, “The Older Lesbian.” They co-founded the first LGBT synagogue in Los Angeles, CA, Beth Chayim Chadashim, the AIDS Hospice Committee, and the National Association of Lesbian and Gay Gerontologists. They also organized with Old Lesbians for Change, (OLOC). Established in 1989, OLOC is an international community of lesbian elders combating ageism through education and advocacy. The collection contains papers relating to Sharon Raphael and Mina Meyer’s personal and professional lives. The collection also contains OLOC administrative records. A large portion of materials in the collection relate to the planning of OLOC’s 2008 National Gathering.
Arrangement
Series I: Personal and professional papers
Series II: VHS tapes
Series III: OLOC records
Series IV: LGBT, Aging, and Feminist organizations
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Donated to the June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives by Sharon Raphael and Jenny Wren in 2018.
Processing Information
Two additional boxes of material were integrated into the collection in October 2023. As much as possible the donor’s original folder names and filing order has been maintained, although the processing archivist rearranged some materials to group related subjects together. The imposed order was developed for ease of navigating the collection and locating likened material as well as preservation concerns in the case of the AV material. Editions of Maize Magazine from 2010- 2011 and 2013 have been removed from the collection and integrated into the Mazer’s Periodicals Collection.
- Title
- Sharon Raphael & Mina Meyer, Old Lesbians Organizing for Change Collection
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Vera Tykulsker
- Date
- 2023
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives Repository