Archives West Finding Aid

These records contain documents relating to the Hands Off Washington (HOW) campaign in Whatcom County. These records span from 1988 to 1996. However, the bulk of the material ranges from 1994 to 1995. Contained in these records are administrative and financial records as well as a large amount of subject and reference material relating to gay and lesbian issues, but not specifically limited to either Whatcom County or Washington State. The campaigns against anti-gay rights initiatives such as 608 and 610 as well as 167 and 166 are very well documented in these records. They, however, contain less information concerning later issues such as HOW's gay rights initiative and the organization's dissolution.

The administrative records document both the coordination of meetings and committees of this organization and the financial, such as donations and expenditures. The meeting minutes include both steering committee agendas as well as executive council minutes. They deal with topics such as newsletter information, youth, campus and rural outreach, fundraising, local media monitoring, volunteer coordination, retreats, and events. These records also contain forms that HOW used for potential financial donors, members and general information gathering.

The newsletters, while not a complete run, nevertheless document the official position and news of this HOW branch. They span from July of 1994 to June 1996. Missing issues include July and November of 1995 and April of 1996. Also included in this series are a few other newsletters from other HOW county coalitions.

Speaker and workshop files record the training of both organizational members and educational speakers. Speaker training packets constitute the majority of this series; they contain question and answer sections, samples speeches, newspaper articles, speaking techniques and advice, and other resources pertinent for the training of HOW educational speakers. These files illustrate one method by which HOW ensured that discriminatory initiatives, such as 608 and 610, did not make it on the ballot. With the assistance of public speaking engagements along with public events, and education, they successfully prohibited these initiatives.

The most extensive of the HOW, Whatcom County Coalition Council records are the subject files. Subjects cover a wide spectrum of gay and lesbian issues from HIV/AIDS and sexual orientation research to supportive religious statements and other like minded organizations. HOW also amassed a wide variety of materials pertaining to oppositional organizations. These materials consist of both local and national organizations from conservative groups like Focus on the Family, Lynden Youth Action Coalition, Colorado for Family Values and Paul Cameron to Newt Gingrich, Militias, and other hate groups. Formats in this series include articles, pamphlets, newspaper and magazine clippings, emails, press releases, activity fliers, and other printed material. Subject files were maintained in the order that HOW originally utilized them. They are coded in parentheses from 100 to 1000 and arranged by subject.

The reference files are mostly articles, organized by title. They contain many of the same themes contained within the subject files. Articles such as “Ideas for Handling Distress Patterns and Attacks” and “Dealing with Homophobia” are found in these files. Similar to the subject files, the reference files contain information from and about conservative oppositional organizations. Opposition materials, such as “Violence and the Far Right” and “The Right’s Agenda,” make up the majority of the reference files. Also included in these files are various reports, workshop information, and newspaper clippings about gay and lesbian issues.

There is also ephemera which contain banners, buttons and stickers relating to HOW and their public outreach campaign. The audio visual material contains video tapes and audio cassettes of programs pertaining to gay and lesbian issues.