Abstract

The Saint was a gay superclub in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York, open between 1980 and 1988. The club was owned by Bruce Mailman, an entrepreneur who also owned the New St. Marks Baths in the East Village, and designed by architect Charles Terrell. The Saint was initially a private membership nightclub, eventually allowing non-members to attend on certain nights. After the club closed in 1988, it continued as The Saint At Large, holding events at other nightclubs in Manhattan. The Tim Smith Collection on The Saint contains material collected by Smith during his time as a member (1981-1988) and throughout the existence of The Saint At Large. The collection contains print ephemera housed in scrapbooks, digitized ephemera, photographs, and writings, as well as almost 1000 sound recordings on disc.

Historical Note

The Saint was a gay superclub in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York, open between 1980 and 1988. The club was owned by Bruce Mailman, an entrepreneur who also owned the New St. Marks Baths in the East Village, and was designed by architect Charles Terrell. During its first five years, The Saint was a private membership nightclub and was open seasonally, from Labor Day to mid-June. In its sixth year, it was open year round and held events open to non-members. In addition to the regular Saturday and Sunday dance nights, there were themed and holiday events, including the annual Black Party.

The Saint was a multi-level superclub, known primarily for its 4800 square foot, circular dance floor which was topped with an aluminum dome, 1500 lights, a Graebar sound system, and a Spitz Space System that shone stars and constellations onto the dome. Mailman would change the decor of the club each year and would hold weekly themed events which required extensive decoration of the entire club. There was a core group of DJs and lighting designers and operators, with occasional guests. The regular DJs included Shaun Buchanan, George Cadenas, Michael Fierman, Michael Jorba, Robbie Leslie, Howard Merritt, Chuck Parsons, Terry Sherman, and Sharon White; lighting designers and operators included Mark Ackerman and Richard Tucker. The staff and members were almost entirely white men, with a handful of women holding memberships.

As the club opened in the early days of the AIDS crisis and was open during its height, many of its staff and members were affected. In attempts to keep the club a financial success, Mailman opened the once private club to non-members, opened year round rather than seasonally, and opened extra nights during the week, in addition to Saturday and Sunday nights. Despite these changes, The Saint could not sustain its initial level of success and Mailman decided to sell the building in 1988. After the closing of The Saint in the East Village, Mailman continued to hold events at other nightclubs in Manhattan under the name The Saint At Large.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged in alphabetical order by format of material. The sound recordings on disc are arranged in the order in which they were received, in rough alphabetical order by artist.

Scope and Contents

The Tim Smith Collection on The Saint contains print ephemera housed in scrapbooks, digital ephemera, photographs, subject files, and writings about the club, as well as sound recordings of music played at the club. The collection contains material collected by Smith during his time as a member (1981-1988) and throughout the existence of The Saint At Large (1988-ongoing). The print material includes scrapbooks arranged by season containing newsletters, membership cards, fliers, receipts for dues, and Smith's correspondence with club management, as well as posters. Other material includes locker tags and matchbooks from The Saint, and turntables and a DJ mixer acquired by Smith in the 1990s. The fliers include club rules and membership and event information. The posters document events at The Saint and The Saint At Large, including the annual Black Party, Halloween and Christmas parties at The Saint, and special guests. The collection also contains clippings from print and online sources, full periodicals with articles on The Saint, and the club's newsletter, Stardust. Digital materials include subject files compiled by Smith with digitized and born-digital photographs of events at The Saint and The Saint At Large, Saint members and DJs, and the Spitz Space System used at The Saint; lists of music played at The Saint and The Saint At Large; writings about the club by former members and staff; and ephemera from The Saint, the New St. Marks Baths, and the Trippin' On The Moon dance parties inspired by The Saint. The sound recordings include compilations of crowd favorites on CD and a collection of almost 1000 sound recordings on disc. The latter were compiled by Smith and include singles and complete albums of music played at The Saint and The Saint At Large, including disco, pop, dance, and R&B.

Subjects

Organizations

The Saint (New York, N.Y.)

Genres

Sound recordings; Phonograph records.; Record covers.; Posters.; Photographs.

Topics

Disco music.; Gay discotheques -- New York (State) -- New York.; Popular music -- 1971-1980.; Popular music -- 1981-1990.; Gay business enterprises -- New York (State) -- New York; Gay men -- United States -- Social life and customs.; Nightclubs -- New York (State) -- New York.; New wave music.; Popular music -- 1991-2000.

Conditions Governing Access

The sound recordings on disc are not available for playback. Researchers may view an item's original container. The print and digitized materials are open without restrictions.

Conditions Governing Use

Because of the assembled nature of this collection, copyright status varies across the collection. Copyright is assumed to be held by the original creator of individual items in the collection; these items are expected to pass into the public domain 120 years after their creation. The Fales Library & Special Collections is not authorized to grant permission to publish or reproduce materials from this collection.

Preferred Citation

Identification of item, date; Tim Smith Collection on The Saint; MSS 418; box number; folder number; Fales Library & Special Collections, New York University.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Donated by Timothy Hartley Smith, 2014. The accession number associated with this gift is 2014.418.

Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements

Advance notice is required for the use of computer records. Original physical digital media is restricted. An access terminal for born-digital materials in the collection is available by appointment for reading room viewing and listening only. Researchers may view an item's original container and/or carrier, but the physical carriers themselves are not available for use because of preservation concerns.

Appraisal

MP3 versions of the music and digital scans of the print material in the collection were deaccessioned as they were duplicative.

Collection processed by

Megan O'Shea

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2024-02-06 14:24:09 -0500.

Using Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Language: Finding aid written in English

Processing Information

The intellectual order in which the collection was received from the donor was maintained. The sound recordings on disc were housed in archival boxes in the order in which they were received from the donor. The print material was housed in archival folders and boxes, with like items housed together. Digitized material from one hard drive was forensically imaged and mounted to local storage.

New York University Libraries follows professional standards and best practices when imaging, ingesting, and processing born-digital material in order to maintain the integrity of the content.

Repository

Fales Library and Special Collections

View Inventory

Locker tags, 1984-1986, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 3 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Matchbooks, Undated, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 3 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Music equipment, 1990-1999, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 1 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Box: 23 (Material Type: Realia)

Box: 24 (Material Type: Realia)

Box: 25 (Material Type: Realia)

Posters, 1980-2006, inclusive

Box: Shared Fales 001, Folder: 9 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Box: Shared Fales 004, Folder: 1-4 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Flat-File-Folder: 2 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Flat-File-Folder: 5 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Scrapbooks, 1980-2014, inclusive

Box: 2 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Box: 3 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Box: 4 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Box: Shared Fales 001, Folder: 8 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

26.1 Megabytes in 55 graphics files

Subject files -- Trippin' on the Moon, 2009-2014, inclusive

Box: Electronic records, object: FA_MSS_418_ER_9 (Material Type: electronic records)

Extent

1.68 Megabytes in 8 graphics files

Subject files -- William Pilkington's Last Party photographs, 2013

Box: Electronic records, object: FA_MSS_418_ER_10 (Material Type: electronic records)

Extent

3.36 Megabytes in 33 graphics files