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Multiple Danforth campus libraries will be closed and inaccessible to patrons from December 21 until January 2. Read on for more details. 

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Holobaugh in History

By Miranda Rectenwald

What’s in a Name?

At Washington University in St. Louis, a yearly ceremony honors “students, staff and faculty, and St. Louis community members who live and lead authentically and perform direct advocacy and service to LGBTQIA* communities.” This award is named the Holobaugh Honors in recognition of James M. Holobaugh (BS Engineering 1990), who faced discrimination by the ROTC when he revealed he was gay.

When I searched for more information about the history of this award, at first I found little new information. I eventually uncovered in the library catalog a short book by Jim Holobaugh titled Torn Allegiances: The Story of A Gay Cadet. The name and subject were so close, I had to check — and yes, this was the same person.

Memories and Memoir

Cover of James Holobaugh’s 1993 book, "Torn Allegiances: The Story of a Gay Cadet."
Cover of James Holobaugh’s 1993 book, “Torn Allegiances: The Story of a Gay Cadet.”

Reading Torn Allegiances, I was thrilled to discover a brief memoir of not only this young man’s time as a transfer ROTC student at WashU but also a reflection on his life growing up in rural southwest Missouri in the 1960s and 1970s.

Written from several perspectives, the dialogue is lightly edited by author Keith Hale. It mostly is told through interviews with Jim, his father, friends, and devoted partner, Brent.

Jim’s story offers a brief but detailed window into the life of a young gay man in St. Louis. The story is one of struggle, of wrestling with what it means to live authentically as oneself. Of how Jim came to understand his sexuality, how his family and friends back in rural Missouri reacted. Of how his life changed after entering college in the mid-1980s. And then changed again with discrimination by the ROTC program as he approached graduation (and commission in the U.S. Army).

Along the way there are challenges, heartbreak, and love. I won’t spoil the details for you but encourage you to read this story yourself. You can borrow a free ebook copy from the Internet Archive lending collection.

More

For more LGBTQ+ St. Louis history sources, see the LGBTQ History Archive Sources Libguide.

The Future

Yes, posting something every day (ok, nearly every day) is overly ambitious, but that’s my aim now that virtual is our main way to communicate. Follow all the posts in this series at . #ArchivesAtHome

If you have a question about this post or other topics related to St. Louis history, I can be reached at mrectenwald@wustl.edu or on Twitter @mrectenwald.

Stay safe and healthy everyone.