Session 1. This oral history interview with Abdi Nazemian was conducted by Sankar Raman and Nancy E. Dollahite on November 8, 2019. The interview was recorded for The Immigrant Story, an organization that documents and archives the stories of immigrants and refugees in the United States.

In this interview, Nazemian discusses his family background and early life in Paris, France; Toronto, Canada; and New York City. He shares the reasons his family left Iran for France, then Canada; talks about his experience growing up multilingual and about raising his own children to also be multilingual; and about adjusting to life in the United States. He discusses his cultural and ethnic identity, and his identity as a gay man, and talks about how those identities inform his writing. He speaks about his experiences and education at a boarding school in New York, talks about coming out to his family in his twenties, and describes his early career as a screenwriter in Los Angeles, California. He speaks at length about writing books telling queer Iranian stories, and about his writing process. He closes the interview by talking about how the AIDS pandemic affected him, by describing the themes of his novels, and by discussing public reception of his novels.

Tape 1, Side 1. This oral history interview with Cherie Hiser was conducted by Jim Morris on December 6, 1981. The interview was conducted as research for an article in an unidentified publication. In this interview, Hiser discusses her work as a photographer and talks about her technique. She speaks at length about her photography projects at the time of the interview, including portraits of gay men and tattooed people. She also discusses her self-portrait photography, and about her plans for future photography projects. She talks about learning to fly, about decorating her home, and about the health of her parents. She also discusses using photography as therapy. She describes taking her first photography class from Minor White; discusses her early photography work, including working as a newspaper photographer; and talks about her marriage to David Hiser, as well as some of her other relationships.

Tape 1, Side 2. This oral history interview with Cherie Hiser was conducted by Jim Morris on December 6, 1981. The interview was conducted as research for an article in an unidentified publication. In this interview, Hiser discusses her work as a photographer and talks about her technique. She speaks at length about her photography projects at the time of the interview, including portraits of gay men and tattooed people. She also discusses her self-portrait photography, and about her plans for future photography projects. She talks about learning to fly, about decorating her home, and about the health of her parents. She also discusses using photography as therapy. She describes taking her first photography class from Minor White; discusses her early photography work, including working as a newspaper photographer; and talks about her marriage to David Hiser, as well as some of her other relationships.