American LGBTQIA+ History

Collection of interviews with surviving members of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP), New York. From site: "The purpose of this project is to present comprehensive, complex, human, collective, and individual pictures of the people who have made up ACT UP/New York. These men and women of all races and classes have transformed entrenched cultural ideas about homosexuality, sexuality, illness, health care, civil rights, art, media, and the rights of patients. They have achieved concrete changes in medical and scientific research, insurance, law, health care delivery, graphic design, and introduced new and effective methods for political organizing. These interviews reveal what has motivated them to action and how they have organized complex endeavors." (a program of MIX—the New York Queer Experimental Film Festival, funded by several major public and private grants, including the New York State Council on the Arts)

Collects and makes available the oral histories of people who presently or at one time identified as lesbian. Material in the Archives includes oral history audio tapes, radio and television program tapes, as well as video and film produced by documentary filmmakers, and home video and film. (Simon Fraser Univ.)

"We are Canada's LGBTQ2+ Archive. We collect and maintain collections related to LGBTQ2+ life in Canada, including books, archival papers, artifacts, photographs, and art. Founded in 1973, we have grown to become the largest independent LGBTQ2+ archive in the world."

From site overview: "Online hub for digitized historical materials, born-digital materials, and information on archival holdings throughout the world. International collaboration among more than twenty colleges, universities, nonprofit organizations, and private collections, based at the College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts." "The DTA uses the term transgender to refer to a broad and inclusive range of non-normative gender practices...We collect materials from anywhere in the world with a focus on materials created before the year 2000."

The half-hour weekly, nation-wide cable tv show featured a five-minute news segment covering issues relevant to lesbian lives from a lesbian perspective; and in-depth stories including politics, popular culture, health, art, sports, and music. (Smith College)

One of the oldest continuously published LGBT papers in the United States. Begun at the University of Rochester by Bob Osborn and Larry Fine, the founders of the UR student group, Rochester Gay Liberation Front, and later transferred to the Gay Alliance of the Genesee Valley (GAGV). (University of Rochester)

Multimedia from the archive of the GLBT Historical Society.

Various collections include the Bay Area Reporter Archive, the ACT UP San Francisco Oral History Project, video and photograph collections, The Gay Life Radio Series, an LGBTQ art and artifacts collection, and more.

Digitized access to select video oral histories from the Lesbian Herstory Archive in Brooklyn. Digitized by students at the Pratt School of Information and Library Sciences.

The collection includes interview recordings with Houstonians who have made contributions to the LGBT community. (Center for the Study of Women, Gender, & Sexuality (SWGS) at Rice University)

Each exhibition explores a particular subject of LGBT religious history and includes diverse artifacts, such as photos, articles, correspondence, documents and audio or video clips, that have been found in archives.

Oral histories, visual materials, and documents. Caveat: This site combines historical materials and modern synthesis/interpretation, so consider each information source carefully to determine whether it is primary or secondary. (Jonathan Ned Katz, in collaboration with the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies at the City University of New York and John D’Emilio of the University of Illinois Chicago)

Provides state by state listings of collections, including those in Texas

The largest repository of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer (LGBTQ) materials in the world. University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA.

New York, NY

San Francisco, CA

Collections documenting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered history and culture, with a special emphasis on the San Francisco Bay Area.

The second largest (after San Francisco Public Library) gay and lesbian collection in a public library. Philadelphia, PA

World's largest collection of materials by and about lesbians and their communities. Brooklyn, NY

University of Minnesota Libraries

Founded in 1981 to be a depository for the records of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered (LGBT) individuals and organizations, and for other resources bearing upon their lives and experiences in American society. Chicago, IL

Fort Lauderdale, FL

West Hollywood, CA

San Diego, CA

If you are interested in the history of LGBT religious movements, this guide will identify relevant, publicly accessible archive collections. The LGBT Religious Archives Network (LGBT-RAN) is an innovative venture in preserving history and encouraging scholarly study of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) religious movements around the world.

Houston, TX. Includes local periodicals such as "Houston/Montrose Voice," "OutSmart," and others, photographs, costume pieces, pride memorabilia, and more.

LGBT History collections include personal papers, organizations records, and library collections that preserve and promote collective understanding of Houston’s and the region’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender communities and service organizations. Materials document the communities’ activist, cultural, social, and political activities, and the personal experiences of community members. Note: UH has now also acquired the Botts collection, which was previously housed independently in Houston.

Provides state by state listings of collections, including those in Texas