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Alexander Gumby
(1885 - 1961) U.S.A.

Alexander Gumby

Postal clerk and Harlem salon host

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Alexander Gumby was a book collector who ran a salon in Harlem known as The Gumby Book Studio because of the hundreds of books that lined the walls. The salon, a rented large studio on 5th Avenue between 131st and 132nd streets, attracted many theatrical and artistic luminaries.

Gumby started his scrapbook collection in 1901 at the age of sixteen. After moving to New York Gumby began to seriously collect the materials which makes up his collection. In 1910 he started the process of gathering the material he had assembled into scrapbooks. In 1950 he presented his collection to the Columbia University Libraries.

Harlem's homosexual haunts were varied bars like the Yeahman and the Garden of Joy catered to mixed crowds; "pansy entertainment" spots such as The Ubangi featured a sepia-toned female impersonator called Gloria Swanson, who belted out "Hot Nuts, get 'em from the peanut man!"; buffet flats such as Hazel Valentine's Daisy Chain offered sexual tableaux-both hetero and homo- staged in apartment chambers; homosexual house parties like those hosted by Casca Bonds and Alexander Gumby.

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