Skip to main content

Lou Chibbaro Washington Blade senior reporter files (Lou Chibbaro donation)

 Collection
Identifier: MS2395

Scope and Contents

This collection contains reporter's notes (in the form of notebooks, notepads, and subject files); audio cassettes; video cassettes; reel to reel film; reporter badges; professional Rolodex; miscellaneous publications; and newsclippings. The materials date from 1976-2020, with the bulk of the material from 1990-2019.

This collection does not contain physical copies of The Blade newspaper or the administrative records of the publishing operation.

Dates

  • 1976-2020
  • Majority of material found within 1990-2019

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research.

Series 1: Staff undertook a review of the materials and separated interviews with the notation of "off the record" for 50 years from date of interview. For interviews with the notation of "Not for Attribution" staff redacted the name of the interviewee and separated the original document containing the interviewee name for 50 years from date of interview.

Series 2: Due to fragility the SCRC policy is to only provide audiovisual materials following digitization. Therefore, the audiovisual materials in this collection must be digitized before researcher use. The items in the subseries may contain off the record and not for attribution interviews, which are subject to restriction. After being digitized, SCRC staff must review them for restricted content. Please contact Special Collections for more information.

Conditions Governing Use

To the extent that he/she owns copyright, the donor has licensed his/her materials to be used according to the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license. Copyright in other items in this collection may be held by their respective creators. For activities that the researcher determines fall under fair use as defined under U. S. Copyright Law, no permission to cite or publish is required. For re-use of materials in the collection not created by the donor, researchers are responsible for determining who may hold materials' copyrights, determining if the intended re-use falls under fair use, and obtaining approval from the copyright holder if the intended use does not fall under fair use. Researchers do not need anything further from The George Washington University Special Collections Research Center. Please contact Special Collections if the copyright status of the materials you wish to reuse is unclear. Staff will provide additional information.

Biographical / Historical

Lou Chibbaro, Jr. officially joined the staff of the Blade as a full-time news reporter in 1984, but he had been writing for the Washington Blade as a freelance writer since 1977. He has covered many beats for the Blade including the federal agencies, elections, the Supreme Court, Congress and the White House. His reporting has focused on gay civil rights, and gay rights legislation. He has also written about crime and criminal trials involving anti-gay violence and hate crimes.

First published in 1969, The Washington Blade has grown becoming the weekly news source for Washington’s large and visible Gay community. The Blade has been recognized by The Society of Professional Journalists, The American Bar Association, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The D.C. Metropolitan Police Department and others, as a highly professional news organization.

(Note adapted from MS2245, Lou Chibbaro Washington Blade senior reporter files (Washington Blade donation)

Extent

145 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

Lou Chibbaro, Jr. is a reporter for The Washington Blade. After starting out as a freelance writer in 1976, he joined the Blade staff full-time in 1984. He has covered many beats for the Blade including the federal agencies, elections, the Supreme Court, Congress and the White House. His reporting has focused on gay civil rights, and gay rights legislation. He has also written about crime and criminal trials involving anti-gay violence and hate crimes.

This collection contains reporter's notes (in the form of notebooks, notepads, and subject files); audio cassettes; video cassettes; reel to reel film; reporter badges; professional Rolodex; publications; and newsclippings. The materials date from 1976-2020, with the bulk of the material from 1990-2019.

Arrangement

Organized into three series: Subject folders, reporters notebooks, and legal pads; Audiovisual materials; and Personal materials.

Physical Location

Materials may be stored off-site, and may require additional retrieval time. Please contact the Special Collections Research Center for more information.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of Lou Chibbaro, 2021 January 11 (2021.003). An additiona 16 boxes were added in January 2022.

Related Materials

Special Collections also holds a second collection of Lou Chibbaro's Washington Blade reporter files, which were donated by The Washington Blade in 2008. That collection is MS2245, Lou Chibbaro Washington Blade senior reporter files (Washington Blade donation). The dates and topics included in this collection may also appear within MS23245--researchers should consult both collections, especially if they are looking for a specific date range or news story.

External Related Collections: At the DC Public Library, The People's Archive: Researchers can access digitized versions of The Blade through DCPL's online resources. Not all years are available online, but some maybe available in physical versions. Washington Blade

At the Library of Congress: Lilli Vincenz papers finding aid . In 1969 along with Nancy Tucker created the independent newspaper, the Gay Blade, which later became the Washington Blade.

Processing Information

The title of this collection was originally "Lou Chibbaro Washington Blade reporter files" but was changed to "Lou Chibbaro Washington Blade senior reporter files (Lou Chibbaro donation)" in April-May 2022. This was done to standardize collection titles across the two Lou Chibbaro/Washington Blade collections and to avoid confusion over the two collections, since they have different donors. The original collection (MS2245) will change from "Washington Blade Lou Chibbaro senior reporter files" to "Lou Chibbaro Washington Blade senior reporter files (Washington Blade donation)."

Processing Information

During processing, box number 26 was skipped and not used. Box 27 comes after Box 25 in Series 1. There is no missing Box 26.

Title
Guide to the Lou Chibbaro Washington Blade senior reporter files (Lou Chibbaro donation), 1976-2020
Status
Completed
Author
Special Collections Research Center, The George Washington University
Date
2022
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Finding aid written in English
Sponsor
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by The Mattachine Society of Washington, D.C.

Repository Details

Part of the Special Collections Research Center, The George Washington University Repository

Contact:
2130 H Street NW
Washington 20052 United States of America