LESBIAN HERSTORY ARCHIVES

The Lesbian Herstory Archives in New York City is the world's largest and oldest lesbian archive. It originated in 1973, emerging out of a lesbian consciousness-raising group formed by members of the Gay Academic Union—a post-Stonewall organization consisting mostly of City University of New York graduate students.

Cofounders Deborah Edel and Joan Nestle believed that mainstream institutions, including libraries and archives, did not care about lesbian culture. To ensure the preservation of lesbian culture and history, they established their own archive, run by lesbians.

Planning began in 1974 and in 1976 the Lesbian Herstory Archives opened in the cofounders' Upper West Side apartment in Manhattan. The collection began with the donation of Nestle's and Edel's personal papers and books. Soon others began contributing materials. The Archives has consistently adhered to the principle of being a grassroots, all-volunteer organization dependent on community members.

In 1975 the Archives published its first newsletter, containing the statement of purpose that continues to guide the Archives today. This statement declares that the Archives exists to "gather and preserve records of lesbian lives and activities so that future generations will have ready access to materials relevant to their lives. The process of gathering this material will also serve to uncover and collect our 'herstory' denied to us previously by patriarchal historians in the interests of the culture that they serve." Lesbians, using these materials, can then examine and reassess the lesbian experience. The statement expressed the commitment to preserve materials, regardless of format or dimension, related to the lives and experiences of lesbians.

In the first years of the twenty-first century, the Archives houses a huge range of material, including over 20,000 volumes; 2,000 photographs; 300 special collections; 600 periodical titles; 1,300 organizational and subject files; thousands of feet of film and video footage; art and artifacts; musical recordings; posters and T-shirts; memorabilia; and objects from bars, bookstores, and protests.

By 1978 the collection occupied most of the space in the apartment where it was housed and a campaign was underway to help spread the word about the Archives through a traveling slide show. The coordinators took it to all homes and public places where they were asked to speak. It built a feeling of pride in LGBT people and communities and—according to the statement of purpose—"helped …to remove the stigma of formality and exclusivity from the concept of an 'archive'."

Many of the Archives' principles are a radical departure from conventional archiving practices. They are inclusive and informal and reveal the Archives' commitment to living history, to housing the present along with the past. The Archives has become a mixture of library, museum, and family album. It is a sacred, open, inviting place cultivated and cared for by lesbians. No lesbian or non-lesbian woman is excluded (men are allowed in by special arrangement), and the goal is to represent every lesbian life. Consequently, the collection reflects the experiences of women, regardless of race and class, who have the courage to touch other women. It includes material from passing women; transgender individuals; femmes and butches; lesbians who have been married; and women who are bisexual, celibate, or polyamorous. The principles insist that a lesbian life is a valuable life and that treasuring lesbian lives is a political act. They take seriously the dangers of homophobia and reject the divisive agenda of oppressive thinkers who put pressure on lesbians to accommodate themselves to cultural norms. Government funding is refused because it might facilitate the seizing of material deemed in violation of federal obscenity laws: the choice of an individual to deposit her truth in diaries, photos, letters, and recordings is viewed as too precious to run the risk of confiscation. By turning down offers of purchase from academic or traditional research institutions (which often require certain forms of identification or credentials to gain entry) the Archives maintains its independence and accessibility. By not policing the content of collections from or about lesbians it maintains its inclusivity. It is a home not just for intellectuals, but for all.

The Archives was incorporated as the Lesbian Herstory Educational Foundation Inc., a not-for-profit foundation. In the mid-1980s the internal structure was revamped to create a volunteer coordinating committee that augments the leadership of the Archives' veteran coordinators. In addition to attending to specific areas of responsibility, coordinators perform the everyday functions needed to keep the Archives in operation. In 1992 the Archives relocated to a home of its own in the Park Slope section of Brooklyn. The location was selected for the large population of lesbians living in the community, for accessibility by public transportation, and for space considerations.

Lesbian culture is inseparable from the legacy of social activism and the social change and justice that activism has achieved. The collection of the Archives demonstrates that where there have been social movements, there have been lesbians. For thirty years the Archives has continued to serve as a living example of the kind of collective organizing that makes conviction an invitation and community inevitable.

Bibliography

Nestle, Joan. "Radical Archiving: A Lesbian Feminist Perspective." Gay Insurgent, nos. 4–5 (spring 1979): 10–12.

Schwartz, Judith. "The Archivist's Balancing Act: Helping Researchers while Protecting Individual Privacy." Journal of American History 79 (1992): 179–189.

Thistlethwaite, Polly. "The Lesbian and Gay Past: An Interpretive Battleground." Gay Community News, winter 1995, pp. 10, 24.

Amy Beth

see alsohampton, mabel; history; history projects, libraries, and archives.