The ONE Archives Foundation is a left-of-center nonprofit organization that supports the ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives at the University of Southern California (USC) Libraries as an independent community partner. The USC ONE Archive is described as the “largest repository of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer (LGBTQ) materials in the world,” and the ONE Archives Foundation is the oldest active LGBT organization in United States.

The foundation was founded in 1952 as the publisher of ONE Magazine, which focused on gay and lesbian issues. The organization is involved in creating public-school curriculum concerning LGBT history taught in various California K-12 schools. ^{1 2}

Early History

The ONE Archives Foundation was founded in 1952 as ONE Inc. by Jim Kepner and W. Dorr Legg around the idea of “creating a magazine for homosexuals” and in January 1953 published ONE Magazine, which “would become the first widely distributed publication for homosexuals in the United States.” The founders also founded the ONE Institute as an educational arm of the organization that conducted seminars and published a journal. ONE Magazine ceased publication in 1967 while the institute merged with ONE Inc. and continued to “advocate and educate, eventually issuing advanced degrees in ‘Homophile Studies.’” ³

Archives

Kepner, who had “obsessively collected materials related to LGBTQ topics, issues, and individuals” since the 1940s, eventually renamed his collection the ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives and donated it to the ONE Institute, which took on the same name. In 2010, the archives became housed at the University of Southern California Libraries, and in 2014, the organization was renamed the ONE Archives Foundation. ⁴

Education and Lesson Plans

The ONE Archives Foundation develops lesson plans on LGBTQ History for K-12 students in California schools. The organization is a stakeholder in the FAIR Education Act Implementation Coalition, and states that it ensures that “LGBTQ history is visible and accessible to K-12 students and educators through free and low-cost resources.” ⁵

The FAIR Education Act is a 2011 California law that “added LGBT people and people with disabilities to the list of groups that must be represented in history and social science texts.” The Fair Education Act Implementation Coalition states that lesson examples include “public debate that led to the 1993 passage of the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy, where people were not allowed to serve in the U.S. military if they were openly gay or lesbian,” the “repeal of this policy in 2011,” and that “Hitler targeted and killed people simply because they were gay or lesbian, or Romani, or had disabilities, or because of their beliefs, such as being a Communist or a Jehovah’s Witness.” ⁶

People

Tony Valenzuela is the executive director of the ONE Archives Foundation. He previously served as the executive director of the Foundation for the AIDS Monument and Lambda Literary. He has also worked for Gay and Lesbian Adolescent Social Services (GLASS) and the San Diego LGBT Community Center. ⁷

Funders

The ONE Archives Foundation is funded in part by the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture, the City of West Hollywood, the Getty Foundation, California Arts Council, LA Arts Recovery Fund, California Humanities, and City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs. ⁸

1. “About.” ONE Archives Foundation. Accessed May 23, 2023. https://www.onearchives.org/about/
2. “About the FAIR Education Act.” FAIR Education Act Implementation Coalition.  Accessed May 23, 2023. https://lgbtqhistory.org/about-fair-education-act/
3. “About.” ONE Archives Foundation. Accessed May 23, 2023. https://www.onearchives.org/about/
4. “About.” ONE Archives Foundation. Accessed May 23, 2023. https://www.onearchives.org/about/
5. “Education.” ONE Archives Foundation. Accessed May 23, 2023. https://www.onearchives.org/education/
6. “About the FAIR Education Act.” FAIR Education Act Implementation Coalition.  Accessed May 23, 2023. https://lgbtqhistory.org/about-fair-education-act/
7. “Tony Valenzuela.” LinkedIn Profile. Accessed May 23, 2023. https://www.linkedin.com/in/tovalenzuela/details/experience/
8. “About.” ONE Archives Foundation. Accessed May 23, 2023. https://www.onearchives.org/about/