CAGE, Ken (AM 2908)
Papers, videocassettes, photographs; 1999 to 2001; 1 box; inventory available
Biographical note.
Ken Cage has a masters degree in sociolinguistics from Rand Afrikaans University and is the author of the book Gayle: The Language of Kinks and Queens (2001).
Scope and content.
Collection includes Cage's thesis on gay language usage in South Africa (1999). Also sundry press clippings on a range of gay and lesbian related subjects (1999 and 2001). 2 videocassettes, and some photographs of the 1998 Gay and Lesbian Pride march in Johannesburg.
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CAMERON, Edwin (AM 2629)
Papers; 1968 to 1995; 8 boxes
Click here to read the full-length inventory: Inventory - CAMERON, Edwin.doc.
Brief historical background.
Edwin Cameron (b. 1953) is a respected South African advocate of human rights and labour rights. As professor of Law at the University of the Witwatersrand he helped to establish the AIDS Law Project within the Centre for Applied Legal Studies, was founding convenor of the non-government national AIDS Consortium in 1993, and a leading figure in the national AIDS Convention. He helped draft a Charter of Rights on HIV/ AIDS, and was influential in the drafting of the 1994 South African constitution's Bill of Rights, and the inclusion of sexuality in its equality clause. He is also the co-editor, with Mark Gevisser, of Defiant Desire, an anthology of gay and lesbian writing in South Africa. Cameron was appointed Judge of the High Court, Witwatersrand Local Division, in 1995. He was elected Chair of the Council of the University of the Witwatersrand in 1998. In 1999, prior to his appointment to the Constitutional Court, Cameron publicly disclosed that he was living with AIDS. (Adapted from, Who’s Who in Contemporary Gay and Lesbian History from World War II to the Present Day, Routledge, London, 2001.)
Scope and content.
The collection includes material pertaining to the history of the HIV/ AIDS epidemic in South Africa. The material reflects the leading role Cameron played over the years in, amongst others, the AIDS Law Project, the non-government national AIDS Consortium, the national AIDS Convention, as well as the drafting of draft a Charter of Rights on HIV/ AIDS. The bulk of the material is grouped according to organisation, but, in instances where it is not clear to which organisation the material might belong, it has been grouped according to the type of material (press clippings, academic articles, etc.). These are listed alphabetically. The collection also includes documents on the 1985 President’s Council enquiry into the Immorality Act, the 1985 GASA National Convention, as well as letters, memoranda, reports and other organisational material. There are two boxes of material on legal issues relating to homosexuality in South Africa. It includes the Police Board of Enquiry that found Lt TL van Heerden guilty of conducting herself in a manner “unbecoming to her rank” because of her lesbian relationship with a subordinate in 1984. It also includes the State versus J. D. B. Lamprecht, the 1989 prosecution of a well-known actor and radio personality for under-age sex with boys. There are also two boxes of material on Defiant Desire, a book on gay and lesbian life in South Africa co-edited by Mark Gevisser. This material includes letters and manuscripts that Cameron received from the individuals who were asked to contribute essays to the volume (see container list for names), his correspondence with his co-editor, letters from Ravan Press and other publishers, publication ephemera, business correspondence and financial reports, reviews of the book, congratulatory letters received after publication, and notes. The letters and manuscripts are arranged alphabetically according to name. A number of the draft manuscripts submitted by contributors are filed with their letters.
The collection also includes correspondence and organisational material documenting Cameron’s activities on behalf of gay and lesbian rights in South Africa. The letters in the local and the international correspondence sections, written between 1988 and 1994, and 1992 and 1994, respectively, are arranged alphabetically according to name. Letters on corporate letterhead are filed by the name of the organisation (unless the person is not writing on behalf of the organisation). There are also notes, drafts and complete texts for a number of lectures and speeches given by Cameron on the subject of gay and lesbian and human rights, covering the period 1986 to 1994.
Notes on the collection.
In order to protect the privacy of individual boys and young men connected with the Lamprecht case, researchers wishing to access this material must first sign a declaration provided by the GALA undertaking to respect the confidentiality of the information, and not to disclose any names or other identifying information of persons without first obtaining written authorisation to do so from the head of the GALA.
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CAPE Organisation of Gay Sport (COGS), The (AM 2797)
Papers; 1990 to 1999; 1 box; inventory available
The Cape Organisation of Gay Sport (COGS), as its name implies, is a sports organisation catering to gay and lesbian people in Cape Town and surrounding areas. The collection consists of the COGS newsletters, from 1990 to 1999, various mail-outs, and other material documenting the activities of the organisation.
CHARLTON, Sue (AM 2968)
Photographs, audiocassette; 1994 to 2002; 68 photographs
Note on collection.
Sue Charlton is a photographer and musician. Her collection consists of photographs of the Johannesburg Gay and Lesbian Pride March, 2002; Ian McKellen, Anthony Sher and friends at the Johannesburg Gay and Lesbian Pride March, 1994; and Ian McKellen at private party to meet South African gay and lesbian activists, also 1994. Copyright of the photographs is vested with Sue Charlton, who can be contacted through GALA. Her collection also includes an audio cassette of music from the InSisters, a South African female rock band from the 1980s to which Sue Charlton belonged.
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CILLIERS, Pieter (AM 2707)
Papers; 1997; 3 items; inventory available
Scope and content.
This collection consists of the working manuscript for the book ’n Kas is vir Klere, an autobiographical story which describes Pieter Cilliers’ struggle to come to terms with his sexuality, while working as a minister in the Nederduitse Hervormeerde Kerk. The book includes a description of his attempts to change his sexual orientation through aversion therapy. The book formed the basis of a documentary programme on the story of Pieter Cilliers which was broadcast on Focus on SABC in September 1997. Pieter Cilliers has been asked to appear at many speaking engagements, often in small towns, to discuss the book. He has also received numerous letters from reader’s throughout South Africa. (Refer to the Media Collection (AM 2704) for a copy of the video.)
COHEN, Steven (AM 2698)
Banners, papers, videos; 1990s; 1 file, 2 banners, 2 videos
Biographical note.
Born in Johannesburg in 1962, Cohen was conscripted into the army where he spent much of his time in the 'mad house'. He studied arts at the University of the Witwatersrand, and became a collage silk-screen print artist, focusing on controversial images of apartheid, childhood, anatomy and sexuality, his fabrics used in fashion and furnishing. He has had many exhibitions in South Africa, Germany and Luxembourg. From 1996 he became a leading and often controversial performance artist in South Africa, addressing cruelty to animals and hatred of marginalised people: homosexuals, Jews, drug users and ugly girls. In 1998 he won the First National Bank Vita National Art Award, South Africa's leading art prize. Cohen lives with his lover, Elu, a choreographer and dancer, in Troyeville, Johannesburg. (Source, Who’s Who in Contemporary Gay and Lesbian History from World War II to the Present Day, Routledge, London, 2001.)
Scope and content.
The collection consists of records of exhibitions and performances, including two videocassette recordings. It also includes two Johannesburg Gay and Lesbian Pride Parade banners.
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COLMAN, Robert (AM 2806)
Audiovisual material; 1 video cassette, 1 audio cassette, 1 file
Biographical note.
Robert Colman has worked in professional theatre since 1986. He is a founder of the Market Theatre laboratory Improvisation Company and has taught at the Market Laboratory School since it was established in 1990. He has worked extensively in commercial and community theatre. He has written, directed and acted in AIDS education cabarets aimed at sex workers and the gay community. In 1998 Colman work-shopped and directed the play “After Nines!” which explored lesbian and gay history from an African perspective.
Scope and content.
The collection consists of an oral history interview with Charles Wiley, and a recording of the theatre production "Draggage".
COLLISON, Carl (AM 2835)
Photographs, records; 1997 to 2004; 18 large photographs printed on cardboard and 1 portfolio case; inventory available
Note on the collection.
Photographs and posters by the Johannesburg-based photographer Carl Collison. Includes ‘Nine Lives’, a series of photographs of HIV positive people accompanied by the subjects own writings about their lives and their HIV status (2004). The collection also includes photographs and a review from Collison’s ‘Whore d’Oeuvres’ exhibition (1997) which addressed issues around gay male identity. Also paraphernalia from other exhibitions, and Collison’s creative writing.
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CONGRESS of Pink Democrats (CPD) (AM 2626)
Papers; 1987 to 1988; 1 box; inventory available
Brief historical background.
The Congress of Pink Democrats, April 1987 to May 1988, was an alliance of progressive lesbian and gay organisations established at a founding conference held in Cape Town on the 4th to 6th of April 1987 under the aegis of the Lesbian and Gay Organisation (LAGO) and the Rand Gay Organisation (RGO). The CDP aligned itself with the struggle for a democratic South Africa. At the time of its establishment the CDP comprised LAGO, RGO, the Guguletu based African Gay Association (AGA) and the UCT Gay and Lesbian Association (GALA). The founding conference was also attended by representatives of GASA (Johannesburg) and Impact (Johannesburg), but neither organisation decided to join. The CDP did not last long: its second conference held in Johannesburg on the 9th to 11th of October 1987 was its final one, although the CPD continued to exist in name until 1988 when a scheduled conference failed to take place.
Scope and content.
Organisational records of the CPD. See also the LAGO / OLGA Collection (AM2801)
CONWAY, Daniel (AM 2976)
Papers; 2003; 1 file
Note on collection.
Daniel Conway is a Ph.D. candidate at Rhodes University. His collection consists of original research material for his Ph.D. thesis on ‘Masculinities, citizenship and political objection to compulsory military service in the SADF: 1978 – 1990’. Access to the collection is restricted until 2005 unless written permission is granted by Daniel Conway. Researchers can contact him through GALA.
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CRAIG, Colleen (AM 2660)
Papers; 1989 to 1997; 1 box; inventory available
Biographical note.
Colleen Craig is a playwright who lived in South Africa during the period 1982 to 1990. She currently lives in Toronto, Canada.
Scope and content.
The collection consists of two plays, namely Apart and Crossing the Line. Apart was written in South Africa and produced twice in Toronto. Apart is set in Cape Town and focuses on a lesbian relationship between a black and white woman. Crossing the Line was produced at the Baxter Theatre, Cape Town, in 1989. In the play a young activist struggles to come to terms with her lesbianism.
CURRY, Bill (AM 2788)
Papers, scrapbook; 1946 to 1990; 11 boxes; inventory available
Biographical note.
Bill Curry was born in Cape Town. His first stage appearance was a "walk-on" role in The Tempest in 1946. He became a teacher and was active in local amateur theatre, appearing in musicals and light comedy. In 1956 he went to London to study at the Central School for Speech and Drama. He returned to South Africa in 1962 and danced in David Poole's ballet, The Square, and played Archibald in Genet's The Blacks. In 1965 he won his first Three Leaf Award for the best supporting player in JB. He then studied at the University of Cape town and received a BA (English Literature). He later joined the Space Theatre and received good notices in the title role of Horowitz's "The Indian wants the Bronx". Curry was kept busy performing, directing and running the printing press at the Space Theatre. He has been highly acclaimed for his many performances in theatre productions that include The Maids, The Caretaker, Of Mice and Men, Endgame, Exit the King, The Gin Game, A Lesson from Aloes and many other. He has also acted in films and television. His lifelong partner was the newspaper critic, Denis Hatfield Bullough.
Scope and content.
The collection includes extensive correspondence between Curry and his partner Denis Hatfield Bullough, as well as correspondence from friends and colleagues. Also included is Curry’s personal scrapbook, press clippings relating to his acting career and other subjects, theatrical paraphernalia, including newsletters, posters, programs and other items, photographs and personal memorabilia (including a typewriter).
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