Attendees included (from left) Brandon Baker, USC associate senior vice president of university advancement; donor Edward McKitrick; Joseph Hawkins, who is retiring after 25 years as ONE Archives’ director; and donors Stephen Reis and Paul D. Lerner. (Photo/Nicolette Jackson-Pownall)
ONE Archives at the USC Libraries receives $4.2 million in gifts endowing curator, director positions
The donations will bolster the future growth of world’s largest repository of LGBTQ+ materials.
At a reception in the cactus garden of ONE Archives at the USC Libraries, Edward McKitrick was thinking of his courageous mother who very much wanted people to know she was the proud parent of two gay sons.
It was the memory of the love and support of his late mother, L. Frances McCaulley-McKitrick, that inspired the Los Angeles resident to donate $1.7 million to endow the curator position at the world’s largest repository of LGBTQ+ materials in her name.
“I just felt like this was something that I wanted to do,” McKitrick, a retired language and speech teacher, said in an interview at the June 14 event. “I’ve been so pleased that I could contribute something.”
McKitrick’s gift came at a time when married couple Paul D. Lerner and Stephen Reis announced a $2.5 million donation endowing the director position at ONE Archives that is being vacated this week by Joseph Hawkins, who is retiring after 25 years in the job.
“One of the biggest reasons we wanted to make this donation and to support ONE Archives is because we feel that quite often LGBTQ history and people in [those] communities have been silenced or even erased,” Lerner said during his remarks at the garden party.
The event, which drew more than 150 guests, celebrated Hawkins’ visionary leadership, the two financial gifts totaling $4.2 million and the opening of the exhibitions The Space We Take: Portraits from the Archive and Fairy Prince by Halo Starling, which will run through Sept. 13.
Investing in future of ‘transformed’ archives
While Lerner was completing a master’s degree at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism in 1992, he was asked to give a talk at ONE Archives about his research on LGBTQ+ media. He has been a supporter of the collections ever since.
“There have been a lot of people who have contributed to this archive over the decades now, but Joseph has done an amazing job,” Lerner said. “His leadership has really transformed this place.”
USC Associate Senior Vice President of University Advancement Brandon Baker said the couple’s belief in the role of archives in social justice, public scholarship and memory preservation is “inspiring and deeply appreciated.”
Positioning ONE Archives for future growth
ONE Archives has come to be a place where generations of LGBTQ+ people can find themselves reflected in the record. It houses millions of items, including more than 13,000 periodicals, 21,000 videos, 30,000 books and monographs, 4,000 artworks and various ephemera. It was founded in 1952 and has been part of USC Libraries since 2010.
Baker said the gifts are helping ONE Archives to grow its endowment, expand exhibitions and programming, and support faculty, emerging scholars and students doing LGBTQ+ research.
“It’s very easy to take for granted the spaces that we now have to celebrate, to remember and to be fully seen,” he said during a toast to Hawkins. “These spaces didn’t just appear. They were built carefully, intentionally and often quietly by people like Joseph Hawkins.”
Dean of USC Libraries Melissa Just told attendees that the financial support could not come at a better time or be more impactful.
“Gifts like these make such a huge difference and are so important in these historical times,” Just said. “History is bigger than us, individually or collectively. It demands to be protected and shared so that it can be remembered, understood and passed on to the next generation.”
Honoring a heroic mom
McKitrick’s mother was a founding member of her local Ohio chapter of PFLAG, the national organization that provides support, education and advocacy for LGBTQ+ people, their families and allies.
McKitrick remembered how profound it was to hear his mother say at a PFLAG meeting that she was the proud parent of two gay sons, whom she saw as “gifts.” Because of this attitude, he said he and his brother, Chuck, grew up feeling loved and supported.
McKitrick’s story is “powerful, rooted in love and remembrance,” Baker told attendees. “His generosity ensures that this vital archive continues to grow, adapt and tell stories that might otherwise be lost.”
