The San Francisco of today is a haven for queer folks of all kinds, a very progressive place to live. But the San Francisco of the Telegraph Club was an evolving, immigrant-rich and politically complicated city. Find out more about San Francisco during that time through the newspaper and history collections below.
Here is a selection of ebooks related to queer history, Chinese immigration, and other topics in San Francisco during and after the time of Lily's formative years, and those of her older relatives. The Simmons Community has access to all of these by clicking on their titles.
Wide-Open Town by
Wide-Open Town traces the history of gay men and lesbians in San Francisco from the turn of the century, when queer bars emerged in San Francisco's tourist districts, to 1965, when a raid on a drag ball changed the course of queer history. Bringing to life the striking personalities and vibrant milieu that fueled this era, Nan Alamilla Boyd examines the culture that developed around the bar scene and homophile activism.
Erotic City by
Since the 1960s, San Francisco has been America's capital of sexual libertinism and a potent symbol in its culture wars. In this highly original book, Josh Sides explains how this happened, unearthing long-forgotten stories of the city's sexual revolutionaries, as well as the legions of longtime San Franciscans who tried to protect their vision of a moral metropolis.
The Children of Chinatown by
Revealing the untold stories of a pioneer generation of young Chinese Americans, this book places the children and families of early Chinatown in the middle of efforts to combat American policies of exclusion and segregation.
The Meaning of Gay by
Homosexual men in San Francisco had started the 1960s interacting mostly in private, informal groups, meeting in bars and house parties. But by 1972, the city had a 'gay community' and 'gay pride,' all celebrated with a parade. Through numerous organizations and publications, gay men created a counter-publicity to fight against their domination and subordination, and had begun to try to build a community that would foster deeper, more meaningful relationships with each other.
City for Sale by
San Francisco is perhaps the most exhilarating of all American cities--its beauty, cultural and political avant-gardism, and history are legendary, while its idiosyncrasies make front-page news. In this revised edition of his highly regarded study of San Francisco's economic and political development since the mid-1950s, Chester Hartman gives a detailed account of how the city has been transformed by the expansion--outward and upward--of its downtown.
Picturing Chinatown by
This visually and intellectually exciting book brings the history of San Francisco's Chinatown alive by taking a close look at images of the quarter created during its first hundred years, from 1850 to 1950.
A lesbian pulp fiction novel transforms Lily's life in Last Night at the Telegraph Club. Here are some links to explore the history of this popular and affordable medium, which was mostly geared toward men and heterosexual audiences.
Drag is a form of expression that allows performers and audience members to play with and interrogate gender roles. In the book, Lily befriends a drag king who performs at the Telegraph Club, and their relationship helps her to come to terms with her own identity. Today, most drag performers portray women, but there is a growing awareness of male performers on television and in the media.
Representing the Rainbow in Young Adult Literature by 
Reflections on Female and Trans* Masculinities and Other Queer Crossings by 
