Primary Sources: LGBTQ+: Oral History

"The Activist Women Oral History Project was established in 2006, and forms part of the Archives for Research and Gender. This project is broad in scope, and the subject matter includes domestic violence, women's health and reproductive justice, politics, policy making and the law, child sex trafficking, philanthropy, community activism, art and culture, equality in the workplace, civil rights, and LGBTQ activism.

Early interviews were recorded on audio cassettes, and more recent interviews have been recorded using either a digital audio recorder or a video recorder, or a video recorder in conjunction with an audio recorder. In all instances, audio use copies are available on CD-roms, and some video interviews are available on DVDs.

This digital collection is a work in progess, as many of the interviews have not yet been fully processed. The collection will be updated on a regular basis. If you would like to access any of the interviews, please contact the Women and Gender Collections Archivist."

"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. "

"The Archives of Lesbian Oral Testimony presents online oral histories and testimony from same-sex and same-gender attracted women, inclusive of Two Spirit, queer, bisexual, and lesbian women, transmen, and others."

"The ArQuives works to preserve and make accessible Canadian LGBTQ2+ histories."

"In 2004, the Atlanta History Center began a lesbian and gay oral history project, funded in part by a grant from the Georgia Humanities Council. “Atlanta’s Unspoken Past,” the oral history project, focused on lesbian and gay history and culture in Atlanta prior to the explosion of gay rights movements that occurred in cities across the United States in the early 1970s, and provided the framework and foundation for a public exhibition in 2005, The Unspoken Past: Atlanta Lesbian and Gay History, 1940-1970."

"Funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, Brighton Trans*formed records, in their own words, the lives and experiences of Brighton & Hove’s Transgender community. Using writing, memories, oral histories and photography, the project offers a snapshot of the rich variety of Trans lives in Brighton & Hove at a moment of significant change in how the community connects and organises itself."

"Teens interview gay elders about coming out in the 1950s"

"The mission of The Dallas Way is to gather, organize, store, and present (in a variety of media) the complete GLBT history of Dallas, Texas. Founded in 2011, The Dallas Way has led the effort to gather and preserve the untold and under-told stories of the GLBT community of Dallas, through the collection and preservation of historical archives, the capturing of video and audio recordings of personal oral histories of individuals, the collecting and publishing of the written stories of Dallas-area GLBT organizations and members of the GLBT community, and the public speaking presentations of personal stories as told by individuals from within the GLBT community and by the many dedicated allies of our community. "

"Audio recordings of oral histories with figures related to the Dallas LGBTQ community. Eight interviews relate to the Cathedral of Hope's history."

"... is a collection of life histories of women who identify as lesbian, bisexual, woman-identified-woman, queer, or who prefer not to identify with sexuality categories. The project provides a complex and nuanced collective story of American lesbian history and experience. Interviews were conducted by Smith College students in Kelly Anderson's 'Documenting Lesbian Lives' course in the spring of 2010 and 2011. "
Transcripts available online

"The Gay and Lesbian Archives of the Pacific Northwest (GLAPN) was established in Portland, Oregon, by Tom Cook in the early 1990s. Since then the organization has collected archival materials and oral histories from organizations and individuals active in lesbian and gay issues in the Portland area and throughout the Pacific Northwest. Many of these oral histories were gathered by Portland State University students, from the late 90s to present. "

"We have been fortunate to partner with the University Studies Program at Portland State University, where a GLAPN member teaches our Queer History Capstone several times per year. GLAPN selects elders in the LGBTQ community, and sends students out in teams to interview them and capture their stories. Transcriptions of the interviews are archived permanently at Oregon Historical Society."

Collections available include: Bay Area Reporter Archive; Internet Archive selections; AIDS Legal Referral Panel (ALRP) Records; Marie Ueda Photographs; and Online Audio Collections

"There are several significant collections including the following: John Loughery, Richard Cardarelli, George W. Henry, Christine Pattee, The Connecticut Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Civil Rights, and the Connecticut Gay and Lesbian Film Festival.

The GLBTQ Archives is comprised of two major collections: The first is the ABLE Archives, a collection of books, videos, pamphlets, reports, and teaching aids that focus on gender equity and women's issues. The second is a collection of manuscripts, letters, photographs, books, buttons, T- shirts, videos, postcards, flyers, and periodicals by and about Gays, Lesbians, Bisexuals and Transgendered. The collection is particularly strong in materials by and about Connecticut's GLBT communities, and religion and the Gay Community. The finding aids for some of the GLBTQ collections can be accessed online."

"The oral histories and other recordings on this site bring to life the rich stories of some of the lesbians for whom we have audio cassettes and VHS tapes in our collection. Some materials were contributed as part of personal collections; others were interviews done by members of the Archives or our communities. Some were part of research projects and others were recorded at public events by individuals who donated them to the Archives. These oral histories represent only a small part of the material in our collection."

"This is a collection of oral history interviews conducted by the Center for the Study of Women, Gender, & Sexuality (SWGS) at Rice University (2007-2015). The items in this collection are the result of a community research project, the work of Rice University students earning credit for the course SWGS 201, “Introduction to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies.” The collection includes interview recordings with Houstonians who have made contributions to the LGBT community. Each group of students spent a month researching their chosen individuals. When background reports were completed, they conducted interviews with these subjects and subsequently prepared written transcripts of the interviews. learn more about the project http://cswgs.rice.edu"

"IFD’s collection of more than 1,400 professionally-produced videos and user-submitted written oral histories are shared freely online – giving voice to and forging connections among often marginalized or silenced people, educating people about the joys and challenges, complexities and intersectionalities of LGBTQIA+ lives, and increasing empathy in IFD viewers."

"The Lesbians Making History (LMH) collective came together in the mid-1980s and was inspired by oral history projects of gay lives coming out of Buffalo, Boston and San Francisco. The collective interviewed 9 women about their experiences as ‘out’ lesbians in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s."

"This USF Libraries LGBTQ+ Oral History Project provides primary source material that emphasizes sexuality and gender identity-based cultures. The oral histories include first-hand experiences, everyday life, community, and common use terminologies.

This is an open collection that will continue to be added to over time."

"These oral histories represent a growing repository of interviews and event recordings that document the experiences and perspectives of members of the LGBTQ+ community who have spent at least portions of their lives at Oregon State University and/or in Benton County, Oregon."

"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.The links above and below right lead to video oral histories with activists and introductory essays about key issues and communities. The project also serves as a gateway to the LGBTQ Special Collections and Archival Resources of the University of Washington Libraries."

"Interviews about LGBTQ life, community, and activism in the South from 1969 to the present. Some topics include social organizing and events, HIV/AIDS advocacy, legislature, gay vernacular, and church. Some interviews are conducted by E. Patrick Johnson, performer and author of Sweet Tea: Black Gay Men of the South published in 2008 by University of North Carolina Press."

"Beginning in the fall of 2014, faculty and students in the Virginia Tech History Department, along with colleagues in the University Libraries’ Special Collections and campus partners including HokiePRIDE, the LGBT Faculty/Staff Caucus, and the Ex Lapide Society (the LGBTQ alumni network at VT) began collecting oral histories to document the history of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer life in the 20th century American South and specifically at Virginia Tech. This collection consists of oral history interviews with influential members of the LGBTQ community at Virginia Tech, both past and present. Interviews were conducted by Tamara Kennelly, University Archivist, and students of Professor David Cline's Oral History class."

"This Oral History collection provides in-depth interviews with a diverse group of early LGBT religious leaders. By selecting a person you can listen to that interview, read the transcript, view photographs and peruse biographical notes."

"The Making Gay History podcast mines Eric Marcus’s decades old audio archive of rare interviews — conducted for his award-winning oral history of the LGBTQ civil rights movement — to create intimate, personal portraits of both known and long-forgotten champions, heroes, and witnesses to history."

"Interviews with eight individuals concerning Milwaukee's transgender community and its history"

"The collection consists of 79 interviews conducted by Miriam Frank in 1994-2009. Possible alternate spellings of interviewee names and/or pseudonyms are noted in the Scope and Contents note of that interview. Summaries of content are also located in the Scope and Contents note for each tape. These summaries are based off the notes of Miriam Frank.

The interviews are both biographical and topical covering such themes as family and class identity, the influence of the institutions of the political left and/or the church, love, and death. Specific labor topics Frank sought to document were institutional policies and new bargaining issues with regard to lesbians and gays; the history of gay participation in unions, both hidden and "out"; resistance to gays and lesbians in some sectors of the labor movement; labor education and AIDS education; and the influence of community organizing. Through these interviews, Frank sought to expose individual situations of struggle and to create a detailed history of gay and lesbian activism in labor unions. "

"NYPL's Community Oral History Project is teaming up with the NYC Trans Oral History Project to collect, preserve, and share oral histories from our city's transgender and gender non-conforming communities. "

"A number of oral history collections at the British Library Sound Archive offer the opportunity to explore changing attitudes to sex, and sexual and reproductive health. A number of the collections contain interviews with those in worlds rarely documented, such as prostitution, and explore themes such as changing attitudes towards homosexuality and birth control."

"Interviews conducted by members of the Milwaukee LGBT History Project from 2003 to 2007."

"Ray Hill was born in Galena Park in 1940. He grew up in a blue collar household, and became involved with the NAACP at an early age. After travelling around the country, he returned to Houston and is prosecuted for burglary. Upon leaving jail, he becomes involved in the LGBT scene and movements in Houston including the founding of Pride, the Montrose Center, and through HIV/AIDS advocacy. Mr. Hill also led the prosecution of the Paul Broussard case in 1991. In 1980, he began the Prison Show and has continued to be involved in radio shows and media ventures since. "

"...find all the oral histories and other events that have been recorded by or for OSQA. These collections document the experiences and perspectives of members of the LGBTQ+ community who have spent at least portions of their lives at Oregon State University and/or in Benton County, Oregon."

"The Out Down South oral history collection includes audio and video histories of older lesbian and gay Floridians who either come from Florida or have chosen to make it their home. The oral histories were collected by graduate students in anthropology at the University of South Florida; Dr. Tara Deubel and Mr. Mark Canavera supported and supervised the graduate students as they collected these oral histories. Most of the individuals who shared their stories lived in the greater Tampa area at the time the first set of oral histories were collected in spring 2017."

"To access the complete interview transcript of a specific individual, please select a name below. Some of these interviews also are available in full audio and transcript on the University of California's Escholarship site https://escholarship.org/ To access them type the name of the narrator into the Escholarship search box. The audio is accessed through the "Supporting Material" tab on the bottom left of the page."

"The goal of OUTSpoken: Oral History from LGBTQ Pioneers is to preserve essential history through collecting, archiving, and making widely available first-hand oral histories of LGBTQ pioneers. The activist pioneers who gave birth to the modern LGBTQ movement in the years immediately following New York’s 1969 Stonewall Rebellion are vanishing yearly, so it is with a sense of urgency that this project proceeds. Once many hundreds strong, the courageous women and men of the Stonewall generation seized the moment to create an altogether new type of radical LGBTQ political activism that was sharply distinct from the homophile movement that preceded it. It is our belief that stories of those active during this germinal period will be of particular interest to historians, students and LGBTQ people for years to come."

"Initiated by the Pembroke Center Advisory Council in 1982, the Pembroke Center Oral History Project records the experiences of cis and trans women and non-binary members of Brown University and Pembroke College – the women’s college in Brown University until 1971. This website features digitized interviews, transcripts, biographies, and photographs by and about students, alums, faculty, and staff who studied and worked at Brown as early as 1907."

"The Queer Appalachia Oral History Project captures the diverse stories of gay, lesbian, transgender, bisexual, and questioning individuals who grew up, and/or currently live in the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) designated Central Appalachian Region, especially Eastern Kentucky. The stories collected depict the conditions of growing up queer in Appalachia, starting with the 1960s onward. Interviews include a diverse group of subjects, including medical doctors, accomplished authors, journalists, hair dressers, public health professionals and artists. Topics covered include violence and discrimination, religion, rural to urban migration, health (including HIV/AIDS, drug abuse, mental health), sexual activity, education/carrer choices, public health, and art and humanities."

"This website offers clips from some interviews we’ve already collected, a look at some of the primary-source documents we’ve archived, as well as a repository of published work on LGBTQ Newark by academic researchers and community members."

"... has been documenting the history of the Central Coast of California and the institutional history of UC Santa Cruz since 1963, through oral history. This web site includes the complete catalog of our collection, oral history resources, and links to other oral history sites on the Internet. All of the oral histories are available in full text (PDF). "

"In the November 2006 general election, Wisconsin voters passed a resolution to amend the state constitution to make it unconstitutional for the state to recognize or perform same-sex marriages and civil unions. In response, Will Fellows collaborated with photographer Jeff Pearcy to create Shall Not Be Recognized, an exhibit of photographic and verbal portraits of thirty same-sex couples in long-term, committed relationships. The name of the exhibit was taken from the amendment itself. Fellows conducted interviews with the couples, all residents of the Milwaukee area, and created the text for the exhibit. Pearcy conducted photo sessions with the couples and created the images for the exhibit. This digital collection brings together the photographs and oral history interviews from the project."

"StoryCorps OutLoud launched in 2014 on the 45th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising. Dedicated to documenting and sharing stories from lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people from across the United States, OutLoud is an extension of our longstanding commitment to preserving LGBTQ stories in a time of profound change in social attitudes about sexuality and gender identity in our country."

"...is part of the Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies at the University of Minnesota Libraries. Transgender voices and experiences are often missing in contemporary documentation and the historic record. The goal of this Project is to empower individuals to tell their story, while providing students, historians, and the public with a richer foundation of primary source material about the Transgender community. Materials are housed within the Tretter Collection." A selection of videos and transcripts is available online.

"At the core of the program are brief audio interviews with individuals who bore witness to or helped to shape LGBT history in some way. Each interview is accompanied by a backgrounder with discussion questions and activities for educators, and a student reading with biographical information about the interview subject and historical background on the era."

"The Vassar LGBTQ Oral History Project is a partnership between the LGBTQ Center, the Women's Studies Program and the Vassar College Archives that began in the fall of 2012. The goal of the project is to capture the experiences, stories, and reflections of LGBTQ and ally alumnae/i as well as former and current LGBTQA staff members. "

"The Voices Out Loud Project collects, preserves, and shares East Tennessee’s LGBTQ+ history and culture. This collection of oral history interviews offers first-hand accounts of LGBTQ+ people who live or have lived in East Tennessee."