Many of the books featured in our current exhibition LGBTQI Literature: Celebrated Classics and Contemporary Works have been adapted into acclaimed movies and TV miniseries. From eighties costume drama Brideshead Revisited to this spring’s HBO film The Normal Heart, the stories of people who identify as LGBTQI have made for compelling drama on the big and small screen.
With the dog days of summer upon us, we recommend that you come view the exhibition, stop off for lunch or dinner at Eric’s Restaurant on campus, and then unwind at home with one of the following:
Those who are suffering from Downton Abbey withdrawal might enjoy the British miniseries Brideshead Revisited (1981), the tale of a friendship that develops between two young men at Oxford in the decade following WWI. Based on the novel by Evelyn Waugh, Brideshead… made a star of Jeremy Irons.
Desert Hearts (1985), directed by Donna Deitch and based on the novel Desert of the Heart by Jane Rule, is considered a classic of lesbian film. It centers on the realistic romance between divorcing housewife Vivian and casino worker Cay in Reno, Nevada.
Steven Spielberg directed The Color Purple (1985), an adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Alice Walker. In it, main character Celie (played by Whoopi Goldberg) finds her life changed by an affair with the beautiful blues singer Shug.
Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City (1993) was the first of three miniseries based on the writer’s popular books about life in a San Francisco apartment building in the 1970s. It starred a less well-known Laura Linney as the naive new tenant Mary Ann, and Olympia Dukakis as landlady Mrs. Madrigal. Various straight and gay neighbors with their own stories rounded out the characters.
The script for the two-part HBO production of Angels in America (2003) was adapted by Tony Kushner from his play about the AIDS epidemic in Reagan’s America. Angels… won 11 Emmy Awards including acting nods for Al Pacino as closeted conservative attorney Roy Cohn, and Jeffrey Wright as the compassionate nurse Belize.
Brokeback Mountain (2005) started out as a story by Annie Proulx in her 1999 collection Close Range: Wyoming Stories. The tale of two ranch hands who fall in love was adapted into a full-length screenplay by Larry McMurtry and his writing partner Diana Ossana. The Ang Lee-directed film starred Jake Gyllenhaal and the late Heath Ledger as the star-crossed Western lovers.
In May 2014, miniseries The Normal Heart debuted on HBO. Based on Larry Kramer’s 1985 play about activism during the early years of the AIDS crisis, it starred Mark Ruffalo and Julia Roberts, and will be released on DVD later this month.
LGBTQI Literature: Celebrated Classics and Contemporary Works will be on view on the 1st floor of MD Anderson Library through Sept. 26, 2014.
a new rotating, mini-exhibition of publications and projects produced in conjunction with research from the University of Houston Special Collections is now on display
The University of Houston Special Collections has begun a rotating exhibition showcasing highlights of publications and projects produced in conjunction with research from our collections. Located in the exhibit space adjacent to the Special Collections front door, in the Aristotle J. Economon, Hanneke Faber & Andrew J. Economon Elevator Lobby, “From Our Collections… Publications & Projects Featuring Research from the UH Libraries’ Special Collections,” shines a light on the fruits of research gathered from the rare books and archival collections preserved, safeguarded, and made available for study at the University of Houston.
With more than 7,000 linear feet of archival collections and over 100,000 rare books, the UH Special Collections provides daily research assistance to authors, filmmakers, artists, and patrons of all varieties. What they produce and share with us, enlightens, often breaks new ground, and rarely fails to astound.
Works and research currently featured include:
In the Governor’s Shadow: The True Story of Ma and Pa Ferguson, Carol O’Keefe Wilson (2014); featuring research from the Claude Elliott Texana Collection.
Houston Baseball: The Early Years 1861-1961, Mike Vance, editor (2014); featuring research from the George Fuermann “Texas and Houston” Collection and Houstonian Yearbooks.
“‘For the Relief of the Texians’: A Theatrical Benefit to Aid the Texas Revolution,” Pat Bozeman (2012); from Southwestern Historical Quarterly, featuring research from the Governor James V. Allred Papers.
The Big New Yorker Book of Dogs, The New Yorker Magazine (2012); featuring the short story “Chablis” by Donald Barthelme and research from the Donald Barthelme Literary Papers.
In addition to this new mini-exhibit, we pass along a gentle reminder to catch “LGBTQI Literature: Celebrated Classics and Contemporary Works,” currently viewing on the first floor of the M.D. Anderson Library. We hope you enjoy both of these exhibitions and look forward to sharing more in the future.
a new exhibit, “LGBTQI Literature: Celebrated Classics and Contemporary Works,” is now on display on the first floor of the M.D. Anderson Library
A new exhibit has opened on the first floor of the M.D. Anderson Library. “LGBTQI Literature: Celebrated Classics and Contemporary Works,” curated by our own Julie Grob, features fiction, poetry, memoirs, and plays written by and about people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or intersex. Opening now to coincide with the annual Pride Houston celebrations, the exhibit serves as an excellent educational complement to the festivities marking historical milestones in the movement.
Tracing critical and popular literature from those days prior to Stonewall, the years following the so-called riots, through the dark days of the AIDS crisis, and on into contemporary pieces produced at the turn of the new century, “LGBTQI Literature” pulls from a number of distinct libraries available for study and research at the University of Houston Special Collections as well as a handful of pieces on loan from private collections. Prominently featured throughout the exhibit are texts from the Norma J. Lee Collection and the Edward Lukasek Gay Studies Collection, as well as works found in the Library of Cynthia Macdonald and the Kanellos Latino Literary Movement Book Collection. A cursory glance of highlights will show the likes of a 1928 first edition of Virginia Woolf’s Orlando: A Biography, Tony Kushner’s ever-popular Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes, as well as an 1891 printing of Oscar Wilde’s, The Picture of Dorian Gray.
We invite you to come view the exhibit for yourself, explore the exhibit’s website for more information, or stop by the History Tent on June 28th at the Houston Pride Festival and Parade where our own Vince Lee, Archivist for Carey C. Shuart Women’s Archive and Research Collection, will be in attendance with more information and artifacts on display.
from the 1957 Houstonian yearbook and available for download in the Digital Library
As the heat and humidity crank up and students return to campus to begin the summer session, the changing of the season also marks the final days of the latest exhibition from the University of Houston Special Collections. “Frontier Fiesta: The Greatest College Show on Earth,” available for viewing on the first floor of the M.D. Anderson Library, ends its run on Friday, June 6th.
Every spring, give or take a few years, Frontier Fiesta sees students at the University of Houston turn a small part of our campus into a living and breathing ol’ western frontier town known as Fiesta City, complete with cook-offs, music, and themed performances. The annual event debuted in 1940 and WWII threatened to end the tradition before it even began. Following the war years, however, it resumed and grew into an event like no other. By the early 1950s it had been proclaimed by Life magazine to be the “Greatest College Show on Earth,” and its rising popularity served as a fundraising mechanism for the students, bringing in funds for a campus recreation center and swimming pool in its early years and later helping to provide scholarships.
Gov. Allan Shivers signs the Fiesta City charter making it an official township in the state of Texas (1952)
Through the years the event has grown, morphed, and has now further evolved for a new generation of Cougars and Houstonians. All the while, Frontier Fiesta has provided a subtle insight into the story of the University itself and its relationship with the City of Houston. Celebrating the history of one of the University’s most enduring and colorful traditions, “Frontier Fiesta: The Greatest College Show on Earth,” curated by University Archivist Mary Manning, tells that remarkable story with artifacts from the UH Frontier Fiesta Collection, items from other collections in the University Archives, as well as mementos and keepsakes generously shared by University and community partners.
We will miss our “Mini-Fiesta-City” that has become a fixture on the Library’s first floor, but as the seasons bring us something new so does our calendar of exhibits. Up next? Well, we won’t spoil the fun too much. However, Archivist Julie Grob is currently hard at work curating our next exhibit, pulling from the rich Contemporary Literature collections held here at the University of Houston. Look for the curtain to rise on this exhibit Friday, June 20th.
* Until then, don’t miss this last chance to catch the Greatest College Show on Earth–until spring 2015, that is. Another spring will see tomorrow’s UH students continue that tradition started back in 1940 and, once again, resurrect Fiesta City out of some dusty corner of campus.
From the exhibit: Shellac-coated metal record (sent to radio stations as promotional materials for Frontier Fiesta in its heyday) and “Tombstone” jacket
A new exhibition of the University of Houston’s history is now on display with last night’s grand opening of “Frontier Fiesta: The Greatest College Show on Earth” at the MD Anderson Library.
A University of Houston tradition, Frontier Fiesta began in 1940 as a mishmash of musical and theatrical performances, cook-offs, carnival booths, and concessions. Held in the spring, Fiesta volunteers transform a piece of land on campus into a western frontier-style town called Fiesta City. This year’s Fiesta will include variety shows, carnival booths, the always popular cook-off, and musical performances from a number of national acts, highlighted by the appearance of B.O.B. (see a full schedule of events here).
Last night’s opening festivities reinforced the theme of an event that unifies, as Cougars of all ages flocked to hear comments from a number of speakers including Frontier Fiesta Chairman Hunter Lewis and distinguished alumnus Welcome Wilson Sr. on the importance of the history of Frontier Fiesta to the narrative of the University of Houston.
The exhibit includes programs, jackets, photographs, and other ephemera documenting the three runs of what once known as the greatest college show on earth. Some artifacts for the exhibit have been loaned by generous individuals and organizations with ties to Frontier Fiesta while others come from our impressive University Archives and, specifically, the Frontier Fiesta Records available for study in the Special Collections Reading Room.
From the exhibit: Costume and Photograph from “Devil’s Dance,” Beta Chi Sorority, Silver Moon Saloon. 1954
At last night’s opening, exhibit curator Mary Manning provided guided tours of the exhibit which traces the Fiesta’s history from the humble origins in 1940, through its heyday of the post-World War II years, and on into its revival in the 1990s and beyond. The timeline weaves together what Richard “Racehorse” Haynes (UH Law, 1956) saw as an ambitious endeavor, “a lot of kids trying to make tradition, trying to make something that would bring the city into the university and the university into the city,” in the absence of any other long-established history and tradition for such a young university.
We encourage you to visit Fiesta City this weekend on the lovely University of Houston campus and invite you to indulge in the history of the exhibit, “Frontier Fiesta: The Greatest College Show on Earth,” on display now through June 6, 2014 on the first floor of the MD Anderson Library.