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Humanities and Social Sciences Library > Collections > Manuscripts > Finding Aids Lawrence Mass Papers, 1966-1995ContentsSummaryTitle: Lawrence Mass Papers, 1966-1995; bulk dates (1983-1993) Size: 14 linear feet (23 AB, 2 cassette boxes, 2 videotape boxes, 1 oversize flat box) Restrictions: none Source: Gift of Lawrence Mass, 1996 Finding Aid: Compiled by Melanie A. Yolles, October 1996 Biographical Note: Lawrence David Mass (b. 1946) is a physician and writer living in New York City. A co-founder of the Gay Men's Health Crisis, he was the first writer to cover the AIDS epidemic, and the first physician to write regularly for the gay press. In addition to numerous essays and reviews on topics related to gay men, sexuality, and music, he is the author of Dialogues of the Sexual Revolution, a collection of interviews with writers, artists, and scientists about homosexuality, and the autobiographical work, Confessions of a Jewish Wagnerite. Description: Personal and professional correspondence, 1966-1995, notes, drafts, outlines, and published copies of his books, essays, and reviews, topical files, personal press clippings, photographs, audio and videotapes, and ephemera reflecting Mass's work as a writer and gay activist. Files created in preparation of his book, Dialogues of the Sexual Revolution, include additional correspondence, questionnaires, and transcripts of interviews with leading writers, artists, and scholars from the gay community and others studying homosexuality. Special formats: Photographs, audio cassettes, videocassette,
posters, buttons, other artifacts. Biographical SketchLawrence D. Mass, physician and writer, was born in Macon, Georgia in 1946. He graduated from the University of California at Berkeley in 1969 and received his M.D. from the University of Illinois in 1973. Following his residency in anesthesiology at the Massachusetts General Hospital , he moved to New York City in 1979. That same year saw the publication of "Coming To Grips With Sado-masochism," in the Advocate. This became the first of many articles, effectively making Mass the first physician to write regularly for the gay press. When the first reports began to circulate about a rare cancer striking gay men he began regular coverage of what became the AIDS epidemic in the New York Native. Beyond writing, Mass helped organize New York Physicians for Human Rights and co-founded Gay Men's Health Crisis. A grant to GMHC from the NYC Department of Health enabled him to write Medical Answers About AIDS, an informational booklet that has been regularly revised and distributed internationally. He is currently (1996) a medical director of substance abuse treatment programs at Greenwich House in New York City. Aside from his career as a physician, Mass maintains an active vocation
as a writer on topics relating to gay men, sexuality, music, opera,
and anti-Semitism. In addition to numerous articles, reviews, and essays
he is the author of Confessions of a Mask, based on the confessional
memoir of Yukio Mishima, Dialogues of the Sexual Revolution, a
collection of interviews with writers, artists, and scientists on many
aspects of homosexuality, and the autobiographical work Confessions
of a Jewish Wagnerite. Scope and content noteThe collection reflects Mass's activities as a gay physician, writer, and activist, chiefly in New York City during the 1980s. Nearly all of the materials in the collection have some connection to Mass's interest in gay men's health and sexuality, their treatment by health professionals, the depiction of homosexuality in the media and the oppression and/or invisibility of gays in the music world and American society in general. The papers include personal, professional, and family correspondence, 1966-1995; subject files; copies of his published and unpublished writings in the form of notes, typescripts, proofs and published copies; audio tapes of interviews, videotapes of public affairs television programming and documentaries; and some personal materials, including clippings of articles about Mass and his work, photographs, and ephemera and from gay pride celebrations and fund-raising activities. The collection contains little material documenting his career as a physician (other than medical writing), and little of his writing on music. His correspondents include fellow gay writers and critics, with members
of the public writing to comment on his work, medical colleagues, psychiatrists,
and friends. Correspondence re publication of his writing. His letters
to the editor. Family correspondence chiefly cards and letters from
his family along with a handful of letters to his parents written during
his college years. Series DescriptionsSeries I. CorrespondenceThe correspondence contains letters to and from gay writers, editors and publishers, physicians, psychologists, personal friends and family. The chiefly incoming letters are filed alphabetically for those correspondents represented by more than one letter, or to whose letter was attached additional materials. The remainder of the letters, as well as Mass's letters written for publication are filed by year. The correspondence is not extensive and there are rarely more than a few letters from any single correspondent. The exceptions are the letters from Nathan Fain, his close friend and co-founder of the GMHC, who wrote to Mass frequently from Texas in 1982 about his research and investigative writing on the AIDS crisis. Smaller number of personal letters from 1983-87 including three snapshots of Fain performing in a drag show. Other correspondents include Dennis Altman, Robert Chesley, Martin Duberman, John Cavendish (Mass's first lover), and single letters from Randy Shilts, Virginia Apuzzo, Ed Koch, Quentin Crisp, Terrence McNally, and Ned Rorem. Complete list can be found in the container list. Along with the correspondence are filed typescripts, clippings, reprints, and other printed material by and about the correspondent. The family correspondence contains several letters from Mass written while an undergraduate at UC Berkeley, 1966-68, and two written during the 1980s. The remainder are letters and greeting cards from his mother, step-father, sister, and nephew during the 80s and 90s. Series II. Subject Files Subject files material collected while researching various topics, most connected with gay men's sexuality and health. The subject files contain Clippings and typescripts, journal articles printed materials collected by Mass on topics that interested him and/or on which he planned to write. There are files on homosexuality as it relates to issues of health, psychiatry, and sexual practices as well as writings by and about prominent figures in the gay community and their opponents. In addition, there are files for newsletters and other mailings from human rights and medical organizations such as Gay Caucus of the American Psychiatric Association, Gay Psychiatrists of New York, East End Gay Organization for Human Rights, Physicians for Social Responsibility, and New York Physicians for Human Rights. Also present are two files related to a planned study of singers' health to be undertaken by Mass and Conrad L. Osborne. Series III. Personal Papers This series two boxes of personal miscellany including press clippings and other printed material mentioning Mass, poetry, essay fragments and other writing dating chiefly from his student years, as well as clippings, telephone messages, and business cards that he saved. In addition, these papers contain an address book and several snapshots of Mass, his life partner Arnie Kantrowitz, and their friends. Series IV. Writings Mass's writings are arranged in three sections: Writings on AIDS, Essays and Reviews, and Books. The section on AIDS contains a copy of his first report on the epidemic, which appeared in the New York Native in 1981, and several editions of the booklet, Medical Answers About AIDS, and its predecessors, which he wrote for the GMHC in 1984 and regularly updated. There are also copies of other articles he wrote for the Native, a book manuscript Chronicles of Violaceous Death which was to contain his articles on AIDS and some other health-related topics, and printed matter and clippings which he collected about the epidemic. The essays and reviews section contains drafts, typescripts, and published copies of his shorter writings, most of which appeared in the gay press. There is a typescript of his unproduced screenplay, Confessions of a Mask, about author Yukio Mishima. Book related materials include notes, proposals, synopses, drafts, typescripts, author's proofs, and uncorrected book proofs of his autobiographical work Confessions of a Jewish Wagnerite (originally titled Synchronicities). Also present are drafts and published copies of the chapters as they appeared in Christopher Street. Finally, the series contains materials about his two-volume collection of interviews conducted between 1979 and 1989, Dialogues of the Sexual Revolution. These include drafts of Mass's introduction to the book, comments about the manuscript by Martin Duberman and Jeffrey Escoffier, correspondence with the publisher, Haworth Press, copies of Haworth's catalogs, publicity materials and advertisements for the book, and clippings of the reviews and notices it received. Following these materials are files for sixteen of the interviews Mass conducted for the book, including one with Terry Stein that was not published. The files, which vary in size and completeness, include transcripts of the interview, correspondence with the interviewees, lists of the questions to be asked, responses by interviewees who received the questions in advance, copies of their publications or clippings about them, and Mass's notes on them and their work. Audiotapes of the interviews with Martin Duberman, John Boswell, Rosa von Praunheim, Paul Schrader, Richard Plant, John d'Emilio and Estelle Freedman, Ned Rorem, and George Heymont can be found in Series V. Series V. Writings By Others This series contains typescripts and page proofs of literary work sent to Mass for criticism, comment, or review. Of these items only Ned Rorem's Knowing When To Stop, Benjamin Britten by Humphrey Carpenter, and the poem "I Ate Borscht" by Michael Moshe Gans are annotated by Mass. Series VI. Artifacts and Audio-Visual Materials The artifacts in this series consist of buttons, a small flag and a matchbook with symbols or slogans promoting the gay liberation movement or advertising events and businesses associated with the gay community. The audiotapes relate almost entirely to gay issues. The majority of the recordings are interviews Mass conducted for his book Dialogues of the Sexual Revolution during the middle to late 1980s (see series IV). There are three radio interviews with Mass about his books, and additional interviews he conducted, all relating to music, especially in relation to gays in the music world and anti-Semitism. The latter include interviews with John Corigliano and William Hoffman, creators of the opera, The Ghosts of Versailles, with Gottfried Wagner, great-grandson of composer Richard Wagner, with author Joseph Horowitz, producer Don Boyd, and with critics Tim Page and Bruce-Michael Gelbert. The videotapes in the collection contain copies of broadcast and cable
television programs in which discussion focused on gay issues. Included
are excerpts from programs on the Gay Cable Network, CNN, episodes
of Crossfire, Phil Donahue Show, McNeil-Lehrer News Hour, 60 Minutes, and
various documentaries. Mass appears in at least three of the tapes,
one of which, "The Gay Epidemic," may have been the first television
show devoted to the AIDS epidemic. Container ListSeries I. CorrespondenceBox 1
Letters to the Editor, 1985-1996 Chronological correspondence, 1968-1990 Box 4 Chronological correspondence, 1991-1995 Box 5 Family correspondence, 1966-1995 Series II. Subject Files Box 6
Box 12 personal press clippings, poetry, printed matter
telephone messages, business cards, address book Series IV. Writings AIDSBox 14
Essays and Reviews
Confessions of a Mask [screenplay], 1980 Books
Confessions of a Jewish Wagnerite
Dialogues of the Sexual Revolution
Box 32 Apparition by Lloyd Schwartz. Typescript
Knowing When To Stop by Ned Rorem. Uncorrected reader's proof.
Box 34 Buttons, miniature flag, etc.
Audiotapes (not available until duplicated -- consult archivist on duty) Tape #
Videotapes (not available until duplicated--consult archivist on duty) Tape #
revised February, 1999 |