Guide to the Walter S. Albano Papers

Content Description

Papers consist of educational and employment records, journals, correspondence, calendars, magazines, and ephemera relating to the LGBT community and the personal, educational, and professional life of Walter S. Albano and his life within the LGBT community.

Scope and Contents

These papers consist of educational and employment records, journals, correspondence, wall calendars, magazines, and ephemera documenting and collected by Walter S. Albano. The journals are complete and document Albano's life both in his personal and professional spheres. They are detailed and give a first hand account of the activities and places frequented by gay men in the mid-1970s to the present time. They are an open window into the post-Stonewall era in Washington, DC. The wall calendars provide a brief day-to-day listing of Albano's activities. While not all calendars are as robust in their detail as others, they nonetheless provide a window into the daily life of a person actively involved within their city and community, and after circa-1984 a man living with HIV/AIDS. Correspondence from family and friends is extensive and consists of letters as well as postcards, and cards. Magazines and ephemera provide additional context to Albano's life and interests.

Arrangement

The papers are arranged in four series.

Series 1, Education and Employment, 1959-2005, undated

Series 2, Journals and Diaries, 1974-1989

Series 3, Correspondence, 1970-2018, undated

Series 4, Wall Calendars, Magazines, and Ephemera, 1983-2014

Biographical / Historical

This biography/history was supplied by the donor, Walter S. Albano, February 2024.

"I was born in Jacksonville, Florida, to Mario and Anna (Combes) Albano on January 27, 1951, and there I attended Christ the King Catholic School (grades 1 through 8) and graduated class valedictorian from Bishop Kenny High School. I left Jacksonville in 1969 to attend Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., graduating magna cum laude in 1973 with B.A. degrees in English and History. I entered Georgetown Law School in fall of 1973, took a leave of absence after completing the first year of classes, and did not return.

In May 1974 I began work as a paralegal in the Congressional Research Service (CRS), Library of Congress (LC). While working, I attended graduate school at the University of Maryland, College Park, and received an M.L.S. (library and information science) and an M.A. (history). I became a research librarian in the Congressional Research Service (CRS) in 1982 and worked there as a librarian and manager until retiring in January 2006.

After college I lived in the Washington, D.C., neighborhoods of Capitol Hill, Dupont Circle, and West End. Having long contemplated keeping a personal journal, I made my first entry on October 2, 1974, with an entry that included the statement, "My thoughts keep daring me to write the word which has been a bugaboo for the past six years…homosexuality." With very few exceptions I have made an entry in my journal at least once a week and have recorded nearly everything I did with others or by myself, along with describing my thoughts and feelings. Although for a long time I thought I might be gay, I came out to myself and others unequivocally in February 1977. I wrote about my life as a gay man in Washington: coming out; dating; boyfriends and lovers; living with HIV since at least 1984 and AIDS in the 1990s.

I enrolled and have continued to participate in the Study to Help the AIDS Research Effort (SHARE), a longitudinal study, begun in 1984, of men with HIV/AIDS in the Baltimore/Washington area. Along with my other day-to-day activities, I participated in gay men's groups (such as Adventuring, D.C. Front Runners, and Bookmen) and in gay social and political events around the city. After retiring, I made long-term commitments as a volunteer at the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Institution's National Portrait Gallery, Rock Creek Park, and historic house museums. My outlook on life has been that I will try almost anything once and, if I like it, do it again."