Answer: The Janus Society

In the 1960s, a group of local gay men and women sought to form a Philadelphia chapter of the Mattachine Society, a national homophile organization that was founded in California in 1950. Unsuccessful in this venture, the group banded together under the name Janus Society of the Delaware Valley. A few years later, it became the Janus Society of America. For its first two years, Mae Polakoff served as its president (1962-1964). Her militant and outspoken successor, Clark Polak, saw the organization through to its end in 1969, which occurred, in part, because Polak was arrested on federal obscenity charges.

During its short existence, the Janus Society was an influential gay rights organization that became more aggressive in its politics under Polak. He started Drum magazine in 1964, with its first issue coming out in October of that year. Drum featured news, fiction, photography, and humor directed specifically at gay men. Its popularity grew rapidly, and it became one of the most successful homophile publications in the nation.

In HSP's collections is a copy of the first issue of Drum magazine from October 1964. The library also contains numerous publications on the Philadelphia's and the nation's LGBTQ histories, such as City of Sisterly and Brotherly Loves by Marc Stein (UPA/Ph HQ 76.3.U52 P57 2000) and Outstanding Lives: Profiles of Lesbians and Gay Men (REF HQ 75.3 .O97 1997), among many others.