Blanche M. Baker Memorial Library

Few activists were so universally loved within the West Coast homophile movement as San Francisco psychologist Blanche M. Baker.

Dr. Baker frequently journeyed to Los Angles to consult with the administrators of ONE, Incorporated, and participate in ONE’s annual meetings. ONE’s library was dedicated as The Blanche M. Baker Memorial Library on January 15, 1965. Three months later, on April 18, ONE was to forever fracture, with the library and half of ONE’s board members settling in a new location across from Universal City in the San Fernando Valley and incorporating in 1967 as the Homosexual Information Center (HIC).

At the time of the schism, the Blanche M. Baker Memorial Library had come to amass over 2100 items. This section of the website seeks to reconstruct the library as it was at the time of the split. This database privides us with a rare glimpse into the mindsets of the administrators of ONE, Inc., and the publishing of ONE Magazine and ONE Institute Quarterly. These sources provide a unique glimpse into the pre-gay era and the age of homophile activism.

Don Slater and Jack Gibson were the first curators of the library, which began when ONE was created in 1953. Jim Kepner, who had started collecting homosexual-themed materials in the 1940s, contributed many of his books when he joined the organization in 1954. Other significant contributors to this archives include Vern Bullough, Joseph Hansen, Dr. Harry Benjamin, Blanche M. Baker, and Charles Hamer.

Where possible, the item’s current location is indicated. HIC refers to the Homosexual Information Center. Books at the Vern and Bonnie Bullough on Human Sexuality (CSUN) are or will soon be available to the public through the Vern and Bonnie Bullough Collection on Human Sexuality in Oviatt Library at CSUN.

The over 2,102 known objects in the Baker Library at the time of ONE's division are listed in tables of 250 items per table and may be browsed through the following links.

Titles 1-250	Titles 251-500	Titles 501-750
Titles 751-1000	Titles 1001-1250	Titles 1251-1500
Titles 1501-1750	Titles 1751-2000	Titles 2001-2102

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It has taken many years to assemble and edit this information. The HIC expresses gratitude to C. Todd White, Layla Arnold, Megan R. Geier, Joan Rivard, John Richards,Jim Schneider, and David Reinhard for helping to glean, validate, and edit this information.

This entry is part of the featured exhibit The Pre-Gay Era in the USA curated by C. Todd White. As it is content created by a named author, editor, or curator, it is not open to editing by the general public. But we strongly encourage you to discuss the content or propose edits on the discussion page, and the author, editor, or curator will make any changes that improve the entry or its content. Thanks.