Madeline Davis

Madeline Davis was born in Buffalo, New York, on July 7, 1940, to a factory worker at Ford Motor plant and a homemaker, Harriet, who had attended nursing school. She had an early love of books and libraries, fascinated with University at Buffalo's Lockwood Memorial Library, and at 16 got a job at the North Jefferson branch of the public library. She graduated from Bennett High School in 1958 and earned a college scholarship, where she got a job working as a page at Lockwood. In the 1960s Davis graduated with a degree in English and a master's in library science from the University at Buffalo. Around this time, Davis also became a regular at Buffalo's beatnik coffeehouses and began singing in them. ==Politics and research==

Davis was a founder of the Mattachine Society of the Niagara Frontier in 1970 and eventually became president of the organization. In the 1970s, Davis organized "Legislative Night", at which local candidates for public office, for the first time in Buffalo political history, answered questions and sought endorsements. to the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Miami, Florida. At the DNC, Davis was the first lesbian to urge the party to include gay rights as part of the 1972 platform of the Democratic Party, speaking late into the night with a call to recognize "basic civil rights". Davis became a member of the Democratic Committee, and worked within the party for the acceptance of gays and lesbians. In 1988, she addressed the American Library Association's 95th Conference on AIDS in the Workplace. Based on oral histories of 45 women, The archives were moved to the E. H. Butler Library at Buffalo State College in 2009 and called the Dr. Madeline Davis LGBTQ Archive of Western New York. The archives house the largest collection of LGBTQ+ documents in the region. Retired in 1995 from her day job as a chief conservator and head of preservation in the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library System, In 2009, Davis was the subject of the documentary film Swimming with Lesbians, directed by David B. Marshall. The documentary outlined her work with the archives as well as her personal life and that of her close friends. The film won the Mary Elizabeth Knight Award (Jury Award for Best Local Film) at the 2009 ImageOUT film festival in Rochester, New York, and both Marshall and Davis were present at the screening at the George Eastman House's Dryden Theatre. In 2012, Davis was named as an inductee of The Advocate magazine's Hall of Fame. Davis was the inductee representing 1972, the year she became the first openly gay delegate to a major party's national convention. Davis continued to be involved in politics, and served as the vice president for community liaison for Stonewall Democrats. ==Music==

Following her 1971 speech at the gay rights march in Albany, Davis wrote a poem titled, "From the Steps of the Capitol, 1971" as well as a song "Stonewall Nation" on the way home, inspired by the protest crowd. and ultimately became the first gay liberation record. Davis continued to perform womyn's music throughout the 1970s and 1980s. In 1983, Davis produced a tape of original lesbian music titled "Daughter of All Women" which included the songs "Stonewall Nation" and "Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold," which would later form both the title and the epigraph of the history book she co-wrote with Elizabeth Lapovsky Kennedy. She also organized and performed benefit concerts for the gay community in Buffalo. Over the course of her career, she composed over 45 songs, most with gay and lesbian themes. Additionally, in 1994, Davis co-founded Black Triangle Women's Percussion Ensemble. In the early 2000s, she continued to perform on djembe, conga, and other Afro-Caribbean instruments with the percussion group, Drawing Down the Moon. ==Theater==

In 1971 Davis wrote, directed and produced Liberella, a feminist comedy reimagining Cinderella ran away with the fairy godmother. She was a founding member of HAG Theatre, the first all lesbian theater company in the U.S. In 1988, she became a member of Buffalo United Artists. In 1993, she received an Artie Award nomination for her portrayal of Typhoid Mary in the one-woman drama, ''Cookin' With Typhoid Mary'' by Carolyn Gage, directed by Margaret Smith. ==Personal life==

In her twenties, Davis became aware of her sexual orientation as a lesbian but married a man because of social pressure. He knew of her relationships with women but they ultimately divorced after a year and a half for other reasons. In 1990, Davis moved to Kenmore, New York, to care for her aging mother. In 1995, Davis and Wendy Smiley married at Temple Beth Zion in the first same-sex marriage performed in the Buffalo Jewish Community. Davis and Smiley first met in 1974 when Smiley heard Davis perform in a coffeehouse. The couple renewed their vows several times, including in 2011 after New York State recognized same-sex marriages. Davis was a reiki master, with a specialty in animal healing. With Smiley, she began work on breed rescue for Keeshond dogs. Davis was also an avid quilter and gardener. After undergoing gastric bypass surgery (GBS) in 2000 out of concern for her health, Davis founded a GBS support group that became a network of 13 GBS support groups in four counties. Davis moved to Amherst, New York, in 2006. She suffered a stroke in January 2021 and died on April 28, 2021, in her home in Amherst. She is survived by her wife. ==Awards==

• David DeMarie Entertainer of the Year Award – 1988 ::Jessie Bernard Award, American Sociological Association, 1995 ::Ruth Benedict Prize, American Anthropological Association, 1993 • Owen Augspurger Award - Buffalo History Museum, 2013 • Hon.D. - SUNY Buffalo State College, 2016 ==Publications==