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FILE — Box: 3, Folder: 41 Identifier: HTC 1

Tawny 'Lisa' Tann : advertising flyer, 1971

Scope and Contents

Inscribed by Tann: To Cassandra, may God watch over & protect you & make all your dreams come true, Love, Tawny Lisa Tann.

Dates

  • Creation: 1971

Language of Materials

English, French, German, Dutch, Italian

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research; access restrictions are noted with the item where they exist.

Extent

4.4 linear feet (3 boxes and 94 folders)

Biographical / Historical

Tawny 'Lisa' Tann was the stage persona of Don Edmundson (or Edmondson)(1935-1990), one of San Diego’s premier female impersonators. The fledgling San Diego LGBT community formed the Imperial Court de San Diego in 1973; as the first African American Empress of the Imperial Court system, crowned Empress I Tawny Tann, Mr. Edmundson was well known throughout California as a performer and popular emcee for charity fundraisers. (source: Find a Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/107512966/don-edmundson, accessed 2022 May 9)

Custodial History

Formerly in the collection of Cassandra Peterson (whose stage persona is Elvira Mistress of the Night). Peterson met Tann when the latter was performing at The Purple Cow in Colorado Springs (Colo.), the first drag club Peterson ever attended as a teenager.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

2022MT-85. Purchased from Camp Books with the Maryette Charlton Harvard Theatre Collection Fund, 2022 March 31.

Repository Details

Part of the Houghton Library Repository

Houghton Library is Harvard College's principal repository for rare books and manuscripts, archives, and more. Houghton Library's collections represent the scope of human experience from ancient Egypt to twenty-first century Cambridge. With strengths primarily in North American and European history, literature, and culture, collections range in media from printed books and handwritten manuscripts to maps, drawings and paintings, prints, posters, photographs, film and audio recordings, and digital media, as well as costumes, theater props, and a wide range of other objects. Houghton Library has historically focused on collecting the written record of European and Eurocentric North American culture, yet it holds a large and diverse number of primary sources valuable for research on the languages, culture and history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.

Houghton Library’s Reading Room is free and open to all who wish to use the library’s collections.

Contact:
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