ONE Inc. was founded in the last months of 1952, employed W. Dorr Legg as business manager in June 1953, and was officially incorporated by October 1953. The articles of incorporation declared that ONE Inc.'s primary goal was "to publish and disseminate a magazine dealing primarily with homosexuality from a scientific, historical and critical point of view, and to aid in the social integration and rehabilitation of the sexual variant." The publication of ONE Magazine, first released in January 1953, was the initial focus of the nascent corporation; however, the "General Purposes" section of the articles of incorporation listed the additional goals of education, research, and promoting integration. By the first available annual report in 1957, these purposes had developed into the major divisions of ONE Inc.: Publications, Education, Research, and Social Service. In 1968 the Commercial Division, also known as ONE Enterprises, was added to improve fundraising capacity, and in 1969 the Library Division. Although this organizational structure had largely disintegrated by the late 1970s, the functions of publishing, education, library services, and to a lesser degree research and social service, were maintained.
Departments that provided administrative services at various times across ONE Inc.'s history include the Bureau of Public Information, the House and Hospitality Committee, Business and Accounting, and Public Relations. Other departments that briefly emerged from other division services include the Book Service and News Service. The ONE World Travel Club, although never designated as a department or division, nonetheless provided a consistent travel service for ONE Inc. for over twenty years. The Institute for the Study of Human Resources (ISHR) was established in 1964 largely to funnel tax-deductible funds to ONE Inc. activities. Satellite offices were established between 1965-1978 as an outreach service of ONE Inc. in Chicago, Detroit, Long Beach, New York, and Phoenix.
Upon W. Dorr Legg's death in July 1994, the function of the organization shifted from an educational to an archives and library orientation. ONE Inc. and the International Gay and Lesbian Archives merged by the end of the year under the title of ONE Institute (since retitled the ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives). Although some services such as lectures, the newsletter, and library services were maintained after the merger, a significant enough break had occurred to collocate the records into two chapters of a long history. The records documented here refer to that first chapter, 1952-1994.
