Gene Elder papers

This collection documents the life and career of Gene Elder, a San Antonio artist and gay rights advocate. His papers include correspondence, exhibition announcements and invitations, catalogs, and other printed items on the arts and gay rights in San Antonio. As an advocate for the arts, Elder was the driving force behind the transformation of a collection of old warehouse buildings into the city's arts district. Materials include articles regarding the Blue Star Arts complex in San Antonio, copies of Elder's resume; copies of his letters to newspaper editors ranging on issues from homosexuality to urban problems; a xerographic copy of a hearing held in July 1973 by the South and Southeast Texas Forces Disciplinary Control Board, Fort Sam Houston, Texas concerned with the clientele of Elder's nightclub, San Antonio Country, and related correspondence. a xerographic copy of Elder's oral deposition which took place on January 4, 1984, in conjunction with the legal case of Gene Wesley Elder v. Dianna A. Kincaid and Artists's Alliance of San Antonio, Inc.; correspondence and general information on the Happy Foundation, for which Elder served as Director. Additional materials include newspaper clippings on his exhibitions, his mayoral dandidacy, and a 90-minute audiotape entitled "Gene Elder Reads Letters to the Editor about Painted Flags."