The Newberry has acquired a scrapbook featuring an intimate chronicle of a married interracial gay couple during the height of the AIDS epidemic. The scrapbook of Chicago residents Kenneth Martin and John Dooley includes 300 photos as well as dozens of pieces of ephemera related to theater and travels to Acapulco, Amsterdam, London, Paris, Madrid, and several places in the United States. There are also photos of the couple at the 1986 Chicago Pride Parade and passes to a Halloween Ball hosted by Dudcrest, a local LGBTQ+ group. Several photos and keepsakes in the album relate to AIDS activism. Scattered throughout the volume are loving messages between Ken and John on Valentine’s Days, birthday cards, anniversary cards, as well as romantic keepsakes like sentimental cartoons, candy, and gum wrappers and mementos of dates and parties.
Ken and John had a wedding ceremony in 1987, twenty-six years before same-sex marriage was legalized in Illinois. Ken was a high school teacher, theater director, and AIDS activist. After earning his bachelor's degree and teaching certificate in 1985, he taught at two different Chicago high schools, where he also served as the theater director. After testing positive for HIV, Martin became interim executive director of Test Positive Aware Network in 1989. He also worked in AIDS education and outreach for Better Existence with HIV in Evanston, Illinois. Kenneth Martin died at the age of 29 in 1991 after living with AIDS for thirty-eight months. Included in the scrapbook are clippings of Ken’s obituary alongside his portrait.
Less is known about John Dooley, who was believed to be born in 1961 and was a physical therapist. John died in 1995, and no cause of death was given. His obituary requested “in lieu of flowers, memorials to St. Joseph’s Hospital AIDS unit.”
The scrapbook, purchased from a book dealer, fits into the Newberry’s collection strength around Chicago and local history while documenting theater history and the LGBTQ community. The Newberry seeks primary and secondary local history sources of marginalized, BIPOC, and LGBTQ communities as part of its emphasis on diversity and inclusivity across all of its collecting areas.
“The scrapbook is in pristine condition, it had been really cared for over thirty years,” said Matt Rutherford, Curator of Genealogy and Local History at the Newberry. “It’s an item that will further the study of local history, LGBTQ history, and alternate families. We are thrilled to add the scrapbook to our collections and share Ken and John’s story.”
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