The papers include materials related to the Show Me St. Louis Classic Invitational Bowling Tournament and conference materials from “Making the Leap,” hosted by the Brown School of Social Work at Washington University. The papers are arranged alphabetically by topic and date from 1985 to 2019. The bulk of the materials date from 1989 to 2007.

Most of the collection relates to the Show Me St. Louis Classic Invitational Bowling Tournament (the Classic). There are many tournament programs which often include: a schedule of events, the previous year’s winners; the Classic board/committee member list; lists of service and religious organizations and hotlines; advertisements for bars, restaurants, bowling alleys/leagues, and businesses; advertisements for Miss Gay Missouri, St. Louis Effort for AIDS, and Food Outreach; and a welcome letter from the mayor. The last page of the 1985 program is entitled “Reduce your risk of AIDS by Playing Safe” and lists explicit safe and unsafe acts. The programs date from 1985 to 2019 with the following gaps: 1986-1987, 1994, 1998, 2002-2005, 2008-2014, and 2016-2017.

The 1990 revision of the Classic’s bylaws reveal a two-fold objective: (1) to organize an annual handicap bowling tournament to take place on Labor Day weekend and, (2) to distribute the proceeds from the event to 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations. Programs from 1997 through 2001 list the charities to which donations were made, including Food Outreach, Challenge Metro, and The Names Project. It also included a $1 donation for each registered bowler to the International Gay Bowling Organization (IGBO).

Vince Andrzejewski was the Classic’s executive director in 1991. There are planning files for 1990 which includes expenditures and profits for fundraising events. The 1991 planning file includes marketing and newspaper articles relating to the fundraisers and also financial statements dated September 1991, with a one-year comparison of 1990 and 1991. There are scattered blank registration forms for the classic (1989, 1997, 1999-2000, 2006-2007) and packets of tournament results (1997, 1999).

The only files completely unrelated to the Show Me St. Louis Classic Invitational Bowling Tournament are from the “Making the Leap: Providing Services for Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Youth” conference sponsored by the George Warren Brown School of Social Work of Washington University held on October 14, 1994. Conference sponsors in addition to the Brown School were The Center, PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays), and PRIDE (Washington University student group). The files include the conference program, list of speakers, brochures from organizations such as PREP (Privacy Rights Education Project), and a St. Louis LGBT+ resource guide. There are also various academic papers, articles, and bibliographies.