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Daniel R. Sivil was active in the gay and lesbian civil rights and advocacy movement of the 1980s. b He was a founding member of the Michigan Organization for Human Rights and president of the Association of Suburban People, a gay-lesbian organization devoted to social and political activity. Files relating to organizational and advocacy efforts; correspondence with Henry Messer and other activists; and photographs.

The papers of Daniel Ross Sivil provide insight into the gay and lesbian civil rights and advocacy movement of the early 1980s on both a personal and professional level. Sivil's writings and correspondence with peers demonstrates the joys and difficulties of presiding over a grassroots gay and lesbian organization (including fundraising, attracting members, and competing with similar organizations) and lobbying for gay rights in general. The papers have been divided into three series; Activities, Correspondence, and Photographs.

The collection is a combination of the personal papers of James W. Toy and the records of the university office (originally named Human Sexuality Office, then Lesbian-Gay Male Programs Office, and later Lesbian-Gay Male-Bisexual Programs Office) where he worked for twenty-three years.

The James Toy Papers covering the period from the late 1960s to 1995 have been arranged into three series: Lesbian Gale Male Bisexual Office, Topical Files, and Correspondence. These groupings were created by the processing archivists as there was no apparent order to the materials as they were received. In 2008, two series-Spectrum Center 1998-2004 and The Peninsula Group were added.

The Office of Equity and Diversity series contains materials from Toy's work with that section of the Office of Human Resources and Affirmative Action. Materials include meeting agendas and minutes, project files, and notes.