Dr. Lee Arnold was the Library Director from 1992 and later additionally the Chief Operating Officer of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Since 2022 he is now Librarian Emeritus. While working on his library degree in Milwaukee in the 1980s, Lee was a volunteer at an LGBT crisis line. After relocating to Philadelphia, be began volunteering at the AIDS Library of Philadelphia, eventually helping to facilitate their Food For Thought outreach lecture series. Later he was named to the board of the AIDS Information Network and was there when AIN merged with Philadelphia FIGHT. In between, he participated in the Day Without Art marches through the city every December 1st—with everyone marching in silence carrying black umbrellas memorializing the toll AIDS had taken on the artistic communities. He also participated in a few annual AIDS Walks—in truth he never actually walked, and his cat Pepper was his only “sponsor,” but it was his small way of contributing. Lee is a historian and writer and was a regular reviewer of AIDS publications for Library Journal. He was a member of the National Book Critics Circle and is a member of the Association of Philadelphia Tour Guides. He participates in LGBT history endeavours in both Philadelphia and Harrisburg (including the Philadelphia AIDS Oral History Project).
