Guide to the Klondyke Kontact records
1977-2002
Collection number: HMC-1322.
Creator:
The 15%, Inc.
Alaska Women’s Cultural Center.
Radical Arts for Women.
Title: Klondyke Kontact records.
Dates: 1977-2002.
Volume of collection: 0.6 cubic feet.
Language of materials: Collection materials are in English.
Collection summary: Records relating to a lesbian newsletter published in Anchorage, Alaska.
Organizational history:
Klondyke Kontact was a newsletter for lesbians, published in Anchorage, Alaska beginning in 1976 or 1977. Though it began as an independent publication, the newsletter was sponsored or published by several different organizations over the years. Beginning in 1984, the newsletter was affiliated with the Alaska Lesbian-Feminist Alliance. The newsletter took a hiatus of three years between 1986 and 1989. Publication of Klondyke Kontact was taken over by the Alaska Women’s Cultural Center (AWCC) starting with the February 1990 issue, which contained an announcement that the AWCC had incorporated as a nonprofit. The newsletter changed sponsorship again in late 1995 or early 1996, when the AWCC, and its affiliated bookstore Bona Dea Alaska Women’s Bookstore, closed down. The 15%, Inc., which later changed its name to Radical Arts for Women (R.A.W.), took over sponsorship of Klondyke Kontact. The newsletter ceased publication in the early 2000s.
Collection description:
The collection contains newsletters dating from 1977 to 2002, including original copies of some issues; AWCC incorporation documents; staff meeting minutes; letters to the Klondyke Kontact editors; articles sent in to Klondyke Kontact; poetry; advertising payment records; advertisements; and graphics used in the newsletters. The newsletters include information about upcoming events, articles about issues facing lesbians, essays by women about their experiences, poetry, lists of organizations and resources for women and gay people, and word puzzles.
Arrangement: The collection is arranged by document type.
Digitized copies: This collection has not been digitized. For information about obtaining digital copies, please contact Archives and Special Collections.
Use restrictions: Per donor’s conditions, researchers who would like to quote or use the newsletters may not use the given names of those mentioned in them.
Rights note: Archives and Special Collections does not own copyright to the materials in the collection.
Preferred citation: Klondyke Kontact records, Archives and Special Collections, Consortium Library, University of Alaska Anchorage.
Separated materials:
The collection was removed from the Identity, Inc. records (HMC-1143).
Celebration of Change programs were added to the Celebration of Change programs ephemera collection (EPH-0170). Newsletters of the Alaska Women’s Bookstore were added to the Alaska Women’s bookstore flyers and newsletters ephemera collection (EPH-0261). Southeast Alaska Gay and Lesbian Alliance’s Perspective newsletter is now EPH-0422.
Selected published items were added the Consortium Library’s Rare Books collection.
Related materials: Visit our LGBT related collections topic guide for a list of collections related to the LGBT community in Alaska.
Acquisition note: The majority of the newsletters were donated to the Archives in 2013 and 2015 by Susan Klein and a deed of gift was signed at that time. The editorial records and additional newsletters were transferred to the Archives by Identity, Inc. in 2018, and a deed of gift was signed by Identity and Susan Klein in 2019.
Processing information: This collection was described by Gwen Higgins in 2019.