Fred Karger Papers
name: label: Creator
content: Karger, Fred, 1950-
place: label: Place
content: California -- Motion pictures
topic: label: Topic
content: Gay activists
label: Topic
content: Homosexuality
label: Topic
content: Lesbian and gay experience
label: Topic
content: LGBT
label: Topic
content: Political activists
label: Topic
content: Political campaigns
label: Topic
content: Presidential campaigns
label: Topic
content: Presidential candidates
label: Topic
content: Protest
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Donated to the Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution by Fred Karger in November 2017.
creator: label: Creator
content: Karger, Fred, 1950-
setName: label: See more items in
content: Fred Karger Papers
abstract: label: Summary
content: Papers documenting Fred Karger's acting career, his activism for marriage equality, preservation of the Boom Boom Room (Laguna Beach, California) and other LGBT concerns, Karger's political consulting, and his candidacy for United States President, 2012, as the first openly gay candidate of a major political party.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Portions of this biography were supplied by the donor, Fred Karger.

Fred S. Karger was born on Januray 31, 1950 in Glencoe, Illinois, the son of Richard (1911-1998) and Jean Foreman Karger (1918-2003). He attended primary and secondary schools in Glencoe. In the mid-1970s Karger pursued an acting career in Los Angeles, California. He later pursued a career in political consulting.

"Fred Karger is an American political consultant, LGBTQ rights activist, author, political pundit, writer, public speaker, former actor and 2012 presidential candidate for the Republican nomination for President. Karger has worked on ten presidential campaigns and served as a senior consultant during the campaigns of President's Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush and Gerald Ford.

Karger was a partner in the Dolphin Group, a California based political consulting firm for 27 years. He retired in 2004 and has since worked as an LGBTQ activist. He began in 2006 trying to save a Laguna Beach, California landmark gay bar, the Boom Boom Room.

In 2008 he founded Californians Against Hate, now Rights Equal Rights and led boycotts of four of the biggest donors to California's Proposition 8. He successfully settled three of those boycotts. Immediately after Prop 8 passed, Fred called for the State of California to investigate The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormon Church) and later the states of Maine, Iowa, Hawaii and California to investigate the rabidly anti-gay National Organization for Marriage (NOM). In the summer of 2012, he launched the ongoing global Boycott of Amway after its owners, the DeVos family, contributed $750,000 to NOM. 

Fred's running for the Republican nomination for president in 2012 made him the first openly gay presidential candidate from a major political party in American history, helping to pave the way for Mayor Pete Buttigieg's run in 2020." [Fred Karger Biography, AC/NMAH Control File, AC1439]

During his presidential campaign Karger appeared on six ballots; New Hampshire, Michigan, Puerto Rico, Maryland, California, and Utah. He campaigned in over 30 states and received, "widespread praise for paving the way for future LGBT candidates." Karger has been interviewed on many local, national, and international television, radio, and webcast programs. His autobiography, Fred Who? was published in 2011.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 5 Cubic feet (15 boxes, 2 map folders)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1950-2015, undated
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.1439
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Brochures
label: Type
content: Magazines (periodicals)
label: Type
content: Newsletters
label: Type
content: Newspaper clippings
label: Type
content: Posters
label: Type
content: Television scripts
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: These papers are arranged into four series.

Series 1: Activism and Presidential Campaign, 1988-2014, undated

Series 2: Theatrical Scripts, 1971-1976

Series 3: Newspapers and Magazines, 1963-2025

Series 4: Photographs and Ephemera, 1950-2010, undated
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Processed by Franklin A. Robinson, Jr., archivist, 2022; assisted by Amelia Dolbeare and Sara Kunkemueller interns; supervised by Franklin A. Robinson, Jr., archivist.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Brochures
label: Genre/Form
content: Magazines (periodicals)
label: Genre/Form
content: Newsletters
label: Genre/Form
content: Newspaper clippings
label: Genre/Form
content: Posters
label: Genre/Form
content: Television scripts
scopecontent: label: Content Description
content: The Fred Karger Papers consist mostly of secondary materials, film scripts, newspapers, periodicals, and clippings documenting activist and former presidential candidate Fred Karger's brief film and television acting career, his activism for preservation of the Boom Boom Room (originally the South Seas) at the Coast Inn, "Save the Boom", and material from his candidacy for president in 2012. The papers contain material related to Karger's activism for marriage equality and other LGBT concerns.  

The collection includes material relating to his childhood education, such as school photographs; his acting career, scripts from television shows and motion pictures he appeared in; and brochures and flyers from his political activism, including boycotts of businesses supporting Proposition 8 (protecting "traditional marriage") in California. The bulk of material relates to Karger's efforts to save the Boom Boom Room (Laguna Beach, California) credited with being the oldest gay bar in West of the Mississippi. The collection includes protest posters, some hand made; columns, articles, clippings and magazines containing articles by and about Karger, some gay-oriented, others not. Material from his presidential campaign is also included such as yard signs, posters, and posters from the 2014 documentary, Fred. There is also a framed letter from Richard M. Nixon.

There are also vintage magazines and newspaper articles covering major events, such as President John F. Kennedy's assassination and the attack on 9/11.