Data Source

Archives

Part Of

Jearld Moldenhauer fonds

Description Level

Fonds

Material Type

Textual records

Date Range

1959- 2017

Creator

Jearld Moldenhauer

Fonds Number

F0057

Physical Description

2.83m of textual records ca. 6700 photographs: 4930 col.; 33 x 48cm or smaller.-1678 b&w; 34 x 37cm or smaller 1 t-shirt 1 banner 1 patch 16 posters: 240 x 304cm or smaller 3 videocassettes: betacam

Extent

2.83m of textual records

Physical Condition

Records are in good condition

History / Biographical

Jearld Frederick Moldenhauer was born on August 9, 1946 in Niagara Falls, New York. In May 1968, Moldenhauer founded the Cornell Homophile League, the second pre- Stonewall group in the United States. Moldenhauer served as the Cornell Homophile League’s Chairman. Graduating in 1969 with a Bachelor of Sciences in Biological Sciences, Moldenhauer moved to Toronto, where he worked as a research assistant in the Physiology Department at the University of Toronto. Modenhauer had been drafted, but was rejected by the army on the grounds of “homosexual tendenices”, receiving a 4-F classification. On October 15, 1969, Moldenhauer placed a personal advertisement in the University of Toronto’s student paper The Varsity seeking “those interested in discussing the establishment of a student homophile association”. A group of 8 students and members of the public met at Moldenhauer’s McCaul Street apartment for their first meeting. The University of Toronto Homophile Association held its first public gathering on November 4, 1969 at University College. Within a month the UTHA registered under the University of Toronto’s Student Administrative Council and became an official student organization. Shortly after, The Globe and Mail published a letter to the editor sent by a reader who attacked the group. Moldenhauer responded in defense of the UTHA which led to his dismissal from the Physiology Department. Moldenhauer was then hired by Toronto Western Hospital as an assistant to a University of Toronto medical researcher. In 1970, Moldenhauer moved to Germany. After a few months, he received news that his father had died. He flew back to Niagara Falls and he decided to stay in Toronto. In the early winter of 1970, Moldenhauer started Glad Day Bookshop. Following the events of Stonewall, new gay and lesbian literature began emerging, upon scouring Toronto bookstores, Moldenhauer discovered that these new titles were not readily available in the city. He phoned various publishers and realized that he could order books wholesale and sell them to people at meetings and events. Moldenhauer would carry a knapsack filled with books to CHAT, UTHA and TGA meetings and would sell them to meeting attendees. This marked the early days of Glad Day Bookshop Toronto. Shortly after, Moldenhauer put together a mail order catalogue which was advertised in Tab. The Glad Day Bookshop logo and name drew inspiration from William Blake’s 1796 watercolour, as it symbolized man liberated from slavery and imprisonment of his oppression and repression. Modenhauer was one of the founders of gay political activist group Toronto Gay Action, which grew out of the Community Homophile Association of Toronto. Originally the activist caucus of CHAT, TGA broke off as an independent group after tensions arose regarding CHAT’s focus on social services, rather than political action. TGA played an integral role in organizing the August 28, 1971 We Demand protest in Ottawa. Following the protest, Moldenhauer and TGA wrote an article for Guerilla on the rally, when the piece was published, they saw that it had been edited and altered, which led Moldenhauer’s proposal to start a gay paper. Moldenhauer soon put a fcall out to who were interested in the project, which was answered by about 2 dozen people, 15 of whom became a part of The Body Politic Collective. In 1972, Moldenhauer became the first gay liberation representative to address the political party conference in Canada when he addressed a session of the New Democratic Party. In 1971, Moldenhauer was living in a house in Kensington Market. Moldenhauer was selling books out of the unheated shed which doubled as The Body Politic office and a GATE meeting place. The following year, Gerald Hannon’s piece on intergenerational gay male relationships was published. This piece was met with media uproar. Moldenhauer’s landlords evicted him and John Scythes following this incident. Scythes and Moldenhauer purchased 139 Seaton Street for $39,000. This house served as the new headquarters for Glad Day Bookshop and The Body Politic, while also doubling as a gay male commune for up to 7 housemates. Glad Day Bookshop operated out of the living room, where customers would have to ring the doorbell to get into the building. The basement was the workroom for The Body Politic and also served as the location where seed material for the Canadian Gay Liberation Movement Archives (now The ArQuives) was filed and collected. In 1974, The Body Politic decided to move out of 139 Seaton Street and moved into a rented storefront on Carlton Street. The Body Politic collective voted against having Glad Day Bookshop housed at the new location, which led to Moldenhauer’s break from the collective. In 1974, the Toronto Star refused to print a Glad Day Bookshop advertisement, claiming that it attempted to “advocate for the homosexual movement”. Later the paper suggested that it would print the advertisement if the word gay was changed to homosexual. Moldenhauer refused and took the Toronto Star before the Ontario Press Council. The Ontario Press Council ruled that the Star’s refusal to print the advertisement was discriminatory. In 1977, The Globe and Mail refused to publish a Glad Day Bookshop advertisement, and Moldenhauer took The Globe before the Ontario Press Council, which ruled in Glad Day Bookshop’s favour. In 1977, Glad Day Bookshop moved to its first storefront, located on the second floor at the northeast corner of Collier and Yonge. In 1981, Glad Day Bookshop moved south to 648A Yonge Street closer to The Village. After the move, business quadrupled. In 1981, Glad Day relocated to 598A Yonge Street, where it remained until 2016. Glad Day Bookshop was the target of frequent seizures of so-called obscene material by police and by Canada Customs. Over the years, Moldenhauer and Glad Day Bookshop spent money, time, and energy resisting censorship, by Canada Customs, the police and the Film Review Board. Material was routinely seized en route to the store. Moldenhauer and Glad Day Bookshop have played a seminal role in the national fight against censorship of queer materials. Censorship intensified as a result of Prime Minister Brian Mulroney’s D9-1-1 Memorandum, as Glad Day Bookshop became a regular target for book seizures, and oftentimes receiving shipments of damaged merchandise. In the 1980s and 1990s, three of the Glad Day Bookshop staff were convicted of criminal obscenity for stocking queer material, including Kevin Orr, John Scythes, and Thomas Frank Ivison. On April 21, 1982, Glad Day employee Kevin Orr was charged with possession of obscene material of The Leatherman and Come Watch for the purpose of sale. In 1986, Canada Customs seized and detained The Joy of Gay Sex at the border, claiming that the title was obscene under Section 159(8) of the Criminal Code. Glad Day Bookshop endured 4 separate court cases challenging censorship by Canada Customs. The most famous of these was the 1987 court decision that overturned the banning of The Joy of Gay Sex. Canada Customs ruled that The Joy of Gay Sex was obscene and banned the book for over a year. The Canadian Committee Against Customs Censorship and Glad Day Bookshop appealed this decision and the District Court of Ontario Judge Bruce Hawkins overturned the Canada Customs ruling. The cost of bringing this case to court costed $15,000. Demonstrations in Toronto and Boston were organized to protest Glad Day Bookshop harassment in 1987. In September 1988, Canada Customs seizures began again. In 1979, Moldenhauer opened Glad Day Bookshop Boston. The bookshop was located at 22 Bromfield Street, which also housed Gay Community News and Fag Rag. On July 7, 1982, the shop was targeted by arsonists. Glad Day Bookshop Boston eventually moved to its third location in Copley Square. In 2000, Glad Day Bookshop Boston’s lease was up and the building was sold. After weeks of unsuccessfully trying to find a new location for the shop, Glad Day Bookshop Boston closed its doors. In 1991, Moldenhauer sold Glad Day Bookshop Toronto to his business partner John Scythes. An agreement was made where the shop would be exchanged for half of the 32 Beaty Avenue mansion. The 32 Beaty Avenue home was a large Victorian mansion which was home to Moldenhauer, Scythes and a number of different housemates over many years. The mansion was sold in 2016. Scythes owned the shop until 2011, at which time the Glad Day Bookshop Toronto was sold to a collective of 22 community members. The collective included Michael Erickson, Marcus McCann, Fatima Amarshi, Doug Kerr, Jill Andrew, Mike Went, El-Farouk Khaki, Troy Jackson. The shop was moved to 499 Church Street to increase accessibility and provide more room for a multifunctional space. The shop expanded to include a cafe, bar and events venue. In 2009, Glad Day Bookshop became the longest surviving LGBTQ bookstore and the oldest independent bookstore in Toronto.

Scope and Content

The fonds contains records from Jearld Moldenhauer’s personal life, his involvement in the gay liberation movement and the records of Glad Day Bookshops Toronto and Boston. The fonds is composed of records that reflect Moldenhauer’s time at Cornell University, his life in Toronto, his travels, and photography. Also included in the fonds are the records of Glad Day Bookshops Toronto and Boston. It includes Glad Day Bookshop Toronto and Boston’s general administrative and operational records, and records relating to the censorship battles with the Canadian government, The Toronto Star and The Globe & Mail. The fonds is broken down into the following series: Personal Life, Glad Day Bookshop, Gay Liberation Movement, Correspondence, Resources and Photographs. It includes correspondence, press releases, flyers, mail orders, catalogues, news clippings, newsletters, photographs, and published material. Contains series: 1- Personal Life 2- Glad Day Bookshop 3- Gay Liberation Movement 4- Correspondence 5- Resources 6- Photographs

Storage Location

/18, /3, /5, /6, /4: 7.6.6 /20, /9: 7.6.7 /1: 7.7.5 /2: 7.7.6 /35: 6.3 /33: S.07.00 /23, /24, /27, /31, /32/, /36: S.07.03 /25, /28: S.07.04 /26, /27, /29, /30, /34, /37, /38:S.07.05 /39: D.04.03

Access Restrictions

The collection is open to researchers.

Reproduction Restrictions

Researchers wishing to publish materials must obtain permission in writing from The ArQuives as the physical owner. Researchers must also obtain clearance from the holders of any copyrights in the materials. Note that The ArQuives can grant copyright clearance only for those materials for which we hold the copyright. It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain copyright clearance for all other materials directly from the copyright holders.

Conservation

The majority of staples and paper clips have been removed from records. Records have been rehoused into acid-free file folders. Archival clips and paper separators were added where determined necessary.

Arrangement

Original order was kept when possible. Mixed correspondence and news clippings were organized chronologically. Order was imposed on the Photographs series, as the records came in no discernible order. Some of the photographs may be incorrectly organized. Order was imposed by the archivist in some other instances to facilitate ease of use for research purposes.

Accession Number

1994-088, 2004-011, 2006-092, 2009 -038, 2011-093, 2013-112, 2015-102, 2016-084, 2017-026

Less detail