Lesbian Herstory Archives AudioVisual Collections

Buffalo Women's Oral History Project

Part-ethnography and part-history, Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold by Madeline Davis and Elizabeth Kennedy is an intimate history of a lesbian community in Buffalo, New York. It combines the ethnographic method of a rigorous study of a single community’s culture and identity, along with the historian’s urge to analyze the specific forces that shape these communities over time. In terms of primary sources, this historical analysis relied on the Buffalo Women’s Oral History Project. This extensive oral history project began in 1978 and extended through the next 13 years. Interview subjects were working-class lesbian women from Buffalo, New York who described their experiences during the period from the mid-1930s to the early 1960s.

These recordings of interviews with working-class lesbians are rich with wisdom, insight and emotion. Interviews discuss a wide range of topics including butch/femme roles, gendered sexuality, relationships, family dynamics, the bar scene, religion, realization of homosexuality, coming out, lesbian mothers, oppression, police brutality, race, gay rights movements, women in the military, youth, and identity. They offer dynamic first-person perspectives of the place and time before the emergence of the gay and lesbian liberation movements. From these stories surface the personal struggles and triumphs of the lesbian community during an intensely oppressive time.

These interviews were donated to the archives by Madeline Davis and Elizabeth Kennedy and were subsequently digitized by students from the Pratt Institute, Projects in Digital Archives class, LIS-665.

Windsor, Tape 1, July 31, 1980
SIDE A Windsor discusses femme and butch roles in several lesbian relationships, and Skip’s opinion on these role changes.

Bobbi (Tape 1)
The interview discusses what coming out was like for the interviewee and the reactions of her family members.

Annie, 1985 July 10 (Tape 1)
A woman talks about her time married to a man as compared to her time in a relationship with a woman, and the pros and cons of both.

Interview: Terry, May 12, 1980 (Tape 1)
Terry talks about her experience, coming of age as a woman and specifically as a lesbian; and how she sought comfort first in alcohol and then within the lesbian community.

Ann II, October 23, 1980 (Tape 2 of 2)
Ann describes what she looked for in a women. Discusses the clothing change among lesbian women. Explains some of her relationship experience with women.

Stella Stone, April, 1978 (Tape 1)
Stella describes growing up in a broken home, and having to take on a lot of responsibilities. Explains her curiosity in women as she got older. Later, she discusses how her bisexuality made her feel different than everyone.

Sara Brown, 1978, (Tape 1)
Sara Brown discusses her experiences with her previous female partners. She talks about her childhood and the influence that her family and Catholic School had on her life as she was growing up.

Charlie, January 7, 1989 (Tape 1)
Charlie talks about her life as a lesbian after twice being married to men.

Bonnie, June 9, 1984 (Tape 2)
Bonnie discusses rules of conduct within the lesbian community, including domestic violence, beginning and ending relationships, identifying as butch or femme, and domestic roles.

Andy, April 20, 1982
Andy further discusses how she came to construct her butch image.

Debra, February 20, 1980 (Tape 2)
Discusses her child, a son. He was the product of her one-day marriage.

Judy, January 6 [year unknown] (Tape 2)
Judy talks about her relationships with three different women and the role they each played in the relationship.

Debra, February 20, 1980 (Tape 1)
Debra discusses her experiences as a lesbian.

Cheryl, October 4, 1978 (Tape 1)
Side A: Cheryl discusses her experiences and the stereotypes that were associated with lesbians in college when she first first came out.

DJ, January 6, 1980 (Tape 3)
Side A: DJ continues her interview from tape SPW513.

Lou + Jane, November 8, 1981 (Tape 3)
The interviewee discusses the time she considered getting a sex change.

Andy, April 28, 1982 (Tape 4)
At the start of the interview, Andy talks about the first time someone asked her about sex.

DJ, January 6, 1980
DJ discusses the time she went to the hospital and was diagnosed as a homosexual.

Bonnie, June 9, 1984 (Tape 1)
Bonnie discusses the lesbian community in which she came out and lived during the 1960s.

Judy, [year unknown], February 5
Judy describes her experiences over the past thirty years up to the point of the interview.

Windsor, July 17, 1980
Windsor talks about what it was like coming out and her relationships, the death of her partner and how that affected her.

Anita, undated (Tape 2)
Anita talks about being in an interracial relationship with a white woman, and the roles of butch and fem.

Anita, November 16, 1978 (Tape 1)
Anita talks about her first encounters with a relationship with a woman.

Shane, undated (Tape 3)
Shane talks about the different lives she led during her youth.

Shane, undated (Tape 2)
Shane talks about running away from home with two girls after her father forced her to leave home.

Shane, undated (Tape 1)
Shane talks about getting into trouble during her teenage years and how her father kept sending her to all-girls schools thinking it would straighten her out.

Portia, September 24, 1978 (Tape 1)
The gay movement has taken the lesbian community out of the bars or the "gay underworld," as compared to when she came out in the late 1960s, about 10 years prior to the interview.

Marge, June 4, 1980
Marge speaks of the bars in Buffalo, NY in the 1950s, specifically Bingo's, Chesterfield, Dugan's, Mardi Gras, and Carousel, which had more of an established lesbian clientele.

Bobbie, June 30, 1984 (Tape 2)
Bobbie speaks on the nature of her various relationships, including patterns of sex and co-habitation, being confused about her significant other identifying as a man in public, and more.

Bobbie, June 30, 1984 (Tape 1)
She thinks people have the wrong opinion of lesbians, she says she feels alone in the bars, in role playing it was important that someone should be the more aggressive person in a relationship.

Carol, October 17, 1978
Bad sound quality. Discusses that she doesn't think of her community of a lesbian community, though she can contribute to the lesbian community.

Buff, September 23, 1979
Talks about dating a prostitute, lesbian prostitutes, lesbians and butches having sex with men, lesbian pregnancy, and clothing styles.

Buff, October, 1978
Talks about community tattoos, race, being butch, the challanges of identity and expectations.

Buff, December 27, 1979 (Tape 1)
Buff discusses the impact of the Metropolitan Community church on her life and the gay-rights movement.

Reggie, September 21, 1980 (Tape 1)
Discusses growing up in Buffalo, when she realized she was first gay at a young age, and going to clubs.

Elaine, June 28, 1982 (Tape 2)
Discussion on early childhood, being Canadian but growing up on an Indian Reservation near Syracuse.

Elaine, April 17, 1980 (Tape 1)
Discussion centers on bars in Buffalo in the late 1950s and into the 1960s, in particular Bingo.

Enit, October 3, 1978 (Tape 2)
Enit discusses how her perception of Lesbian oppression has changed over time.

Enit, October 3, 1978 (Tape 1)
Enit discusses facing her sexuality at the age of 12 and coming out to her family despite her frustration at their lack of acceptance.

Pat, June 6, 1978 (Tape 1)
Side A: Pat discusses her definition of lesbianism and her attitude towards “radical lesbians.”

Dorothy, October 26, 1981 (Tape 1)
Dorothy discusses lesbians in the military during World War II with regard to her friend Betty, a lesbian marine who feared her phone was tapped.

Phil, January 9, 1980 (Tape 2)
Side 3: Phil begins the interview by discussing the dynamics of living with her lover and husband under the same roof, as well her lack of shame or guilt in being gay. She then talks about guilt among other lesbians she knew.

Joe, April 18, 1979 (Tape 2)
Joe offers suggestions for local history sources, research materials, and other interview subjects. He also shares anecdotes of his travels to San Francisco.

Judy T., 1978 (Tape 2)
Judy discusses butch and femme identities, social interactions, and role play within relationships.

Phil, January 18, 1980
Phil talks about being in a relationship with another woman and how she provided for her.

Dorothy, October 26, 1981 (Tape 2)
Dorothy discusses how women met one another, sexuality, and her various relationships.

Dorothy, October 2, 1981 (Tape 2)
Dorothy talks generally of leisure activities, relationships, and sexual relations.

Dorothy, October 26, 1981 (Tape 3)
Dorothy discusses her lifelong identity as lesbian and her uncharacteristic history in adopting both the butch and femme roles in prior relationships.

Judy T., 1979 (Tape 2)
Judy discusses her views of gay men, including her belief that all so-called gay men are in fact bisexual.

Judy T., 1979 (Tape 1)
Side A: Judy discusses some of the bars she used to frequent, and her changing views of sex.

Joan with Donna and Doris, April, 1978
Joan talks about how she went to jail and her experiences while she was held there.

Mary T., July 7, 1978 (Tape 1)
Side A: Mary briefly describes her childhood and family dynamics.

Cindy and Joan
Cindy or Joan (speaker unclear) discusses her experience of growing up in a working class family.

Linda, November 19, 1978 (Tape 2)
Linda discusses work and how her coworkers knew that she is a lesbian, which did not bother them.

Joan, September 11, 1978 (Tape 2)
Joan discusses permanent relationships and other lesbians' relationships, dating process, how she and others approach lesbians they are interested in, and terminologies in dating.

Pat G., May 21, 19?? (Tape 2)
Pat shows family photos. She says several of her family members were gay, including her mother and brother. She talks about bars, the 557 and 217, with racially mixed clientele.

Dorothy, October 2, 1981 (Tape 1)
Side A: Dorothy discusses her personal life and how she came to discover that she was a lesbian.

Pat G., May 21, 19?? (Tape 1)
Side A: Pat discusses her experiences as an African American lesbian.

Paula, January 18, 1990 (Tape 2)
Paula describes the absence of love and romance in her relationships with women, but later in the interviews describes a relationship after her divorce.

Pat and DJ, November 11, 1986 (Tape 3)
Side A: Pat and DJ discuss the characteristics of femme identity.

Mary K., December 12, 1981 (Tape 1)
Side A: Mary discusses her experiences in the gay community in Buffalo in the 1950s.

Mary Ann, October 15, 1988 (Tape 2)
Mary Ann talks about posing as a prostitute for men in a straight bar.

Pat and DJ, November 11, 1986 (Tape 2)
Side A: Pat and DJ continue the discussion of relationships during the 1950s from tape cassette SPW457.

Mary T., July 7, 1978 (Tape 2)
Mary describes the bar scene, parties, fashion, music, bar layouts, and fights at Bingo's and Carousel bars.

Paula, January 18, 1990 (Tape 1)
Side A: Paula describes various locations where gay men and women would meet each other, like Kleinman's Corner and bars such as Ralph Martin's.

Pat, June 6, 1978 (Tape 2)
Side A: Pat talks about her childhood in North Port, N.Y., her relationship with her parents and siblings.

Pat and DJ, November 11, 1986 (Tape 1)
Side A: Liz and Madeline ask Pat and DJ for feedback on a draft of "Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold."

Mary Ann, October 15, 1988 (Tape 1)
Side A: Mary Ann discusses her experiences going out in public with her girlfriends, and the treatment they receive at restaurants, bars, and on the street.

Joan, September 11, 1978 (Tape 1)
Side A: Joan discusses the distinction between butch and femme lesbians, the differences between the white and black gay communities, the Buffalo lesbian bar scene, and coming out in the 1960s.

Linda, November 19, 1978 (Tape 1)
Linda talks about her relationships and the idea there are no longer clearly defined lesbian roles (i.e. butch and femme) in relationships.

Joe, April 18, 1979 (Tape 1)
Side A: Joe talks about the social atmosphere in the 1920s through the 1940s.