Archives & History Resources

View our list of external resources that may be useful when researching LGBTQIA+ history and topics.


Organization Description Location
ACT UP Archived Website  

ACT UP's archived website.

NY
Bi Pan Library  

The Bi Pan Library is a physical archive and online directory of media created by and about bi, pan, and m-spec people.

Committee on Lesbian and Gay History  

The Committee on Lesbian and Gay History was founded in 1979 to promote the study of homosexuality in the past and present by facilitating communication among scholars in a variety of disciplines working on a variety of cultures. The name of the committee was changed to Committee on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender History in January 2009. Since 1982, the Committee has been officially recognized as an affiliate of the American Historical Association and meets annually in conjunction with the AHA conference, where we sponsor sessions on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer history. One need not be a member of the AHA to join the Committee.

Digital Transgender Archive  

The purpose of the Digital Transgender Archive (DTA) is to increase the accessibility of transgender history by providing an online hub for digitized historical materials, born-digital materials, and information on archival holdings throughout the world. Based in Boston, Massachusetts at Northeastern University, the DTA is an international collaboration among more than sixty colleges, universities, nonprofit organizations, public libraries, and private collections. 

FBI Files on LGBTQ Americans   |   Penn State University

Professor Charles is an historian of the United States (broadly speaking) who researches and publishes on the history of the FBI.  He has focused on its intersections with gay and lesbian history, political surveillance, British intelligence, obscenity regulation, and American politics and diplomacy.

Gay & Lesbian History   |   New York Public Library

Digital Collections: Gay & Lesbian History

NY
Gay Center | LGBTQ National History Archives  

The LGBT Community Center National History Archive is a community-based archive that collects, preserves, and makes available to the public the documentation of LGBTQ+ lives and organizations centered in and around New York. Through our collections, we enable the stories and experiences of New York’s LGBTQ+ people to be told with historical depth and understanding. 

GLBT Historical Society  

Founded in 1985, the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender (GLBT) Historical Society is recognized internationally as a leader in the field of LGBTQ public history. Our operations are centered around two sites: our GLBT Historical Society Museum, located since 2011 in the heart of San Francisco’s Castro neighborhood; and our Dr. John P. De Cecco Archives and Research Center, open to researchers in the Mid-Market district.

Invisible Histories Project  

 The Invisible Histories Project locates, preserves, researches, and creates for local communities an accessible collection of the rich and diverse history of LGBTQ life in the US South. Currently, IHP collects in Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia. IHP acts as an intermediary between the Queer community and various institutions like universities, museums, archives, and libraries in order to preserve Southern LGBTQ histories. 

John J. Wilcox, Jr. Archives   |   William Way LGBT Community Center

The John J. Wilcox, Jr. Archives is Philadelphia's most extensive collection of personal papers, organizations records, periodicals, audiovisual material and ephemera documenting the rich history of our LGBTQ community.

PA
June Mazer Lesbian Archives  

We are a vital Lesbian and feminist community resource committed to sharing our history across generations, ethnicity, race, and personal belief systems by collecting, preserving and making available unique memorabilia in a safe and welcoming environment.

Lambda Archives of San Diego  

Jess Jessop incorporated Lesbian and Gay Archives of San Diego (later Lesbian and Gay Historical Society of San Diego, now Lambda Archives of San Diego) in 1987, starting the collection with materials that he and Doug Moore had gathered earlier. Lambda Archives of San Diego is now one of the best-maintained collections of LGBTQ+ history in the country, It houses the Fritz Klein Bisexual Archives and a tremendous Pride collection.

CA
Leather Archives & Museum  

The Leather Archives & Museum was founded by Chuck Renslow and Tony DeBlase in 1991 as a community archives, library, and museum of leather, kink, fetish, and BDSM history and culture.

IL
Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Resources: LGBTQ in MI   |   Grand Valley State University

Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Resources: LGBTQ in MI

MI
Lesbian Herstory Archives  

The Lesbian Herstory Archives exists to gather, preserve and provide access to records of Lesbian lives and activities. Doing this also serves to uncover and document our herstory previously denied to us by patriarchal historians in the interests of the culture that they served. The existence of the Archives will thus enable current and future generations to analyze and reevaluate the Lesbian experience.

NY
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Pride Month   |   Library of Congress

The legacy of LGBTQ individuals is being discovered by interested readers and seasoned researchers perusing unparalleled global collections. The acquisition of historic material and the ongoing program of copyright deposits will continue to enrich the Library’s holdings of LGBTQ materials.

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Archive   |   Nothern Texas University

The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) Archive at UNT is a collaborative project to document the history and culture of the LGBTQ communities in the South and the Southwest.

TX
LGBT History Research Collection   |   University of Houston

The LGBT History Research Collection includes personal papers, organizational records, publications, and library collections that preserve and promote the collective understanding of Houston’s and the region’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender communities and service organizations.

TX
LGBT Magazine Archive   |   New York Public Library

LGBT Magazine Archive offers digital access to the backfiles of many of the most influential, long-running periodicals devoted to LGBT interests, including The Advocate, Gay News, and The Pink Paper. This collection offers primary source insights into myriad aspects of LGBT history and culture, from the 1950s to recent times. 

NY
LGBT+ Archives Project of Louisiana  

Our mission is promoting and encouraging the protection and preservation of materials that chronicle the culture and history of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender community in Louisiana. Our main purpose is educating the community on the importance of archiving LGBT+ historical materials and making them available for future generations to access, research, and study.

LA
LGBTQ Activism in Seattle History Project   |   University of Washington

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer people have been visible and politically active in Seattle for generations. Their activism has yielded pioneering civil rights victories. This special section explores the history of the LGBTQ activism in Seattle and western Washington.

WA
LGBTQ Archival Resources at CUNY   |   City of New York University (CUNY)

Find periodicals, journals, databases, archives, museums, libraries about lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer topics.

NY
LGBTQ History Month   |   Seattle Public Library

Titles for ALL ages, that celebrate LGBTQ+ history.

WA
LGBTQ St. Louis History - Archive Sources   |   Washington University in St. Louis

Primary and secondary sources about LGBTQ history at Washington University and in the St. Louis region.

MO
LGBTQ+ Politics and Political Candidates Web Archive   |   Library of Congress

The LGBTQ+ Politics and Political Candidates Web Archive captures digital content related to LBGTQ+ political candidates and political issues and topics at various levels of government, with a focus on lesser-known local and state politics. This archive preserves a representative sample of what is being called "The Rainbow Wave," which refers to the previously unprecedented number of LGBTQ+ identified candidates openly running for office.

LGBTQ+ Studies Web Archive   |   Library of Congress

The LGBTQ+ Studies Web Archive collects and preserves online content which documents LGBTQ+ history, scholarship, and culture in the United States and around the world. Sites include domestic and international non-profit organizations, journalism and news external link, creative works and expressions, historical records, and more. 

LGBTQIA+ Issues in Records at the National Archives   |   National Archives

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) engages, educates, and inspires multiple audiences to discover and explore the records of the American people.  Its collection documents the experience of the full range of our diverse society, with records that constitute a rich documentary history of the experience of LGBTQIA+ individuals.

Monterey County LGBTQ History   |   California State University of Monterey Bay

Browse the Monterey County LGBTQ History Collections

CA
Nashville Queer History  

Nashville Queer History is a community organization and digital portal whose mission is to research and share the LGBTQ+ history of Nashville and Middle Tennessee in hopes of inspiring local activism, education, and inclusion. 

TN
NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project  

Our groundbreaking work documents historic places connected to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in New York City and tells the often untold story of their influence on American history and culture. 

NY
NYC Trans Oral History Project   |   New York Public Library

Our archive documents transgender resistance and resilience in New York City. We work to confront the erasure of trans lives and to record diverse histories of gender as intersecting with race and racism, poverty, dis/ability, aging, housing migration, sexism, and the AIDS crisis. We privilege the insights of vulnerable trans communities fighting the structural dismantling of public benefits, housing insecurity and homelessness, policing, and surveillance. 

NY
ONE Archives   |   University of Southern California

ONE Archives at the USC Libraries is the largest repository of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer (LGBTQ) materials in the world. Founded in 1952, ONE Archives houses millions of archival items including periodicals, books, films, videos, audio recordings, photographs, artworks, organizational records, and personal papers. ONE Archives has been a part of the University of Southern California Libraries since 2010.

CA
OSU Queer Archives: LGBTQ+ ARCHIVAL REPOSITORIES   |   Oregon State University

Archival collections and materials that document LGBTQ+ histories at Oregon State University, Corvallis, and Benton County.

OR
Stonewall National Museum and Archives  

Stonewall National Museum, Archives, & Library is a safe, welcoming place that inspires and promotes understanding through collecting, preserving, and sharing the proud culture of LGBTQIA+ people of all stories, and their significant role in American society. 

The American LGBTQ+ Museum  

The American LGBTQ+ Museum preserves, investigates, and celebrates the dynamic histories and cultures of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people, as well as those of the emergent and adjacent identities among our communities.

NY
The California Legislative LGBTQ Caucus  

In 2002, six trailblazing state legislators began a new chapter of history when they organized to become the California Legislative LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender) Caucus, the very first official state caucus dedicated to the LGBTQ community in the United States. Assembly Members Sheila Kuehl, Carole Migden, Christine Kehoe, Jackie Goldberg, Mark Leno, and John Laird formed the Caucus to advance legislation for the rights and needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals in California. 

CA
The History Project  

The History Project is focused exclusively on documenting and preserving the history of New England’s LGBTQ communities and sharing that history with LGBTQ individuals, organizations, allies, and the public.

MA
The Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection in Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Studies   |   University of Minnesota

The Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection in Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Studies is the largest LGBTQ-specific archival repository in the upper Midwest.

MN
The Kinsey Institute   |   Indiana University

The Kinsey Institute Collections encompass print materials, film and video, fine art, artifacts, photography, and archives. The Institute has collected publications, objects, art, and data from six continents. Its holding span more than 2,000 years of human history, and run the gamut of technologies—from ink on paper, to microforms and CD-ROMs.

IN
The Legacy Project  

The Legacy Project illuminates and affirms the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people to honor their experiences and accomplishments; to collect and preserve their contributions to world history and culture; to educate and inspire the public and young people; and to assure an inclusive and equitable future.

IL
The Leslie Lohman Museum  

The Leslie-Lohman Museum is a dynamic and safe space where the LGBTQIA+ community and its allies engage in meaningful and authentic art experiences that foster empowerment and community building.

NY
Tuscon Gay Museum  

A website tracks the history of how the gay community has responded to the political and social environment of Southern Arizona, and welcomes contributions of stories and artifacts.

AZ
Wikipedia Portal:LGBT   |   Wikipedia

Wikipedia's LGBT Portal

Wisconsin LGBT History Project  

Wisconsin Gay History

WI