A Passion to Preserve: Gay Men as Keepers of Culture

by Will Fellows

Overview

From large cities to rural communities, gay men have long been impassioned pioneers as keepers of culture: rescuing and restoring decrepit buildings, revitalizing blighted neighborhoods, saving artifacts and documents of historical significance. A Passion to Preserve explores this authentic and complex dimension of gay men’s lives by profiling early and contemporary preservationists from throughout the United States, highlighting contributions to the larger culture that gays are exceptionally inclined to make.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780299196844
Publisher:	University of Wisconsin Press
Publication date:	09/01/2005
Edition description:	1
Pages:	298
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Will Fellows is the author of Farm Boys, which was honored as a best book of 1996 by Esquire Magazine and the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award in 1997. He lives in Milwaukee.

Table of Contents

	Preface	ix
	Charlotte and Me: Preservation-Minded from Childhood	3
	In Search of Gay Preservationists	13
	What These Gay Men's Lives Reveal	25
	Saving Old New England	37
	Mark Doty	44
	Don Leavitt	50
	Mark Sammons	53
	Design-Minded in the Mid-Atlantic States	57
	Ken Lustbader	61
	James Nocito	65
	Dwight Young	69
	Greg Kinsman	73
	To the Rescue in the Atlantic South	79
	Allan Gurganus	84
	Myrick Howard	90
	John Anders	95
	Robert Barker	99
	Cranford Sutton	103
	Domophiles Out West	107
	Jay Yost	111
	Ken Miller	116
	Gilbert Millikan and David Richards	121
	Richard Jost and Charles Fuchs	125
	California Conservative	131
	Richard Reutlinger	138
	Gerry Takano	147
	Jeffrey Samudio	150
	Jim Wilke	156
	Generations of Gentlemen Keep Cooksville, Wisconsin	161
	William Wartmann	174
	Al Garland	182
	Larry Reed	186
	Singular Preservationists in the Midwest	191
	Dana Duppler	204
	Joe Johnson and Ron Markwell	211
	Robert Seger	214
	Cherishing Old New Orleans and Louisiana	217
	Curt Greska	230
	Lloyd Sensat	235
	Randy Plaisance	239
	Toward a Larger View of Gay Men	243
	Conclusion	259
	Acknowledgments	265
	Notes	267
	Index	283

Editorial Reviews

Compelling . . . stories and first-person accounts from gay men across the country . . . provide a colorful picture of a landscape that has not really been painted until now.”—The Advocate

“A concept at once original and yet so obvious it is surprising that no one has attempted it before.”—Library Journal

“A rich and detailed examination of an important and heretofore neglected aspect of our urban heritage.”—Richard Florida, author of The Rise of the Creative Class

"Anyone who shares a love of the past will undoubtedly find this book inspirational and moving. Will Fellows has done an excellent job of...recounting the exploits of past 'bachelor uncles' and 'temperamental men' who saved buildings from the wrecking ball of progress and urban renewal."—Bay Window

"Clearly Will Fellows has hit a nerve with many gay men, and many of them write about their collecting and preserving, from childhood on, often sacrificing friends, livelihoods, careers, and lovers to do so. As with his previous book, Farm Boys, Fellows presents the material in people's own voices as much as possible and the best of these essays (and there are many) are wonderfully readable capsule biographies and histories."—Darden A. Pyron, author of Liberace: An American Boy

From the Publisher