LGBTQ History - Archive Sources - LGBTQ History - Archive Sources - Research Guides at Washington University in St. Louis

Archival Collections @ WUSTL

This guide is an overview of sources for researching the history and culture of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) communities, at both Washington University and in the the larger St. Louis region. Image source: WikipediaCommons

Collections at Washington University Special Collections that are related to LGBTQ history:
Some are large collections, and further relevant items can be located by browsing the finding aids (linked from the title).

St. Louis LGBTQ+ Research Collection (WUA00438)
Includes local and national periodicals, conference and task force publications, buttons, t-shirts, photographs, and posters related to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer community of Greater St. Louis.
Tom Miles Papers
The St. Louis chapter of PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) is one of the oldest in the nation. These newsletters and others documenting LGBT legal and political topics were collected by PFLAG member and activist, Tom Miles.
Women's Resource Center (WRC) Records
Includes flyers related to the 1979 and 1980 St. Louis Pride events (Series 01, Box 01, "HerStory 1973-80, folder 2")
Collection also includes independent publications, such as 'Coming Out', 'Dykes, Disability and Stuff', 'Les Talk' and more (Series 03)

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Collection covers 1973 – 2002, and includes WRC events, WashU newsletters and course listings, and various publications.
Women's Studies Program Administrative Files
Precursor to the Women Gender and Sexuality Studies Department; includes administrative information including correspondence, planning documents, course descriptions and evaluations, curriculum changes, publications, event material, and more.
4th National Conference on Men and Masculinity Records
This collection documents the planning and promotion of the 1977 conference at Washington University. It includes audio recordings of various session and speakers at the conference, and related conference ephemera.
American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri (ACLU-EM) Records
Many topics including housing discrimination due to sexual orientation, privacy rights, and gay liberation. [Note: Researchers should contact the University Archivist for information regarding access restrictions in this collection.]
Office of Student Affairs (Student Activities) Records
Series 01, Box 01 for AIDS Awareness and Related Activism, 1988 - 1992; Series 01, Box 02 for flyers distributed on campus 1969 – 1972, including Women’s Movement and Gay Liberation; Series 05, Box 01 for Pride Alliance (formerly Spectrum Alliance), 2000 – 2005;
City of St. Louis, Office of the Mayor Files of James Conway
See Series 02, Box 44, “Parades, April 1977 –" for letters and flyers from the Magnolia Committee, about first Gay Pride Parade in St. Louis in 1980 (about 5 pages)
Also learn more about Mayor Conway's Records (1977-81)
Publications by Student Groups
Subject To Change Vol.2/No.3 Feb. 1976 included a "Special Section on Sexual Awareness" including an interview with Daniel Curzon when he visited campus; The publication X Mag circa 2004-2010, is focuses on topics of sex and sexuality.

Speaking Out: Writings About Women by WU Women's Programming Board, et al.
Call Number: HQ1154 .S58 1985, Spring (Archives)

See especially Hinckley's "A Letter Never Sent," Morgan's "Therapy with Lesbians," and Deutschman's "Harassment on the South-40"
Speaking Out: Writings About Women (2nd ed)
Call Number: HQ1154 .S58 1985b (Archive)

includes essays above, plus Hanlon's "Confronting Heterosexism"

Local History: Published Sources

Gay and Lesbian St. Louis by Steven Louis Brawley; St. Louis LGBT History Project
Call Number: HQ76.3.U52 S223 2016
Publication Date: 2016
In Her Place by K Corbett
Call Number: HQ1439.S87 C67 (Olin2)
Publication Date: 1999

See pages 180-181 for a brief biography of Lillie Rose Ernst (WU Class 1892), of St. Louis, who chose a life of "work, social reform and relationships with women" in the early 20th century.
Out of the Closets by Humphreys
Call Number: HQ76.8 U5 H84 (Olin2)
Publication Date: 1972

Chapter 2 includes events at Washington University, and the greater St. Louis community.
The tearoom trade : impersonal sex in public places (thesis) by Robert Allan Laud Humphreys
Call Number: LD5791.8 PhD68 H86
Publication Date: 1968

original thesis for PhD in sociology completed in 1968; published in 1970 under same title as non-academic book
A study of a public lesbian community (Thesis) by Ethel Sawyer
Call Number: LD5791.8 AM65 S38
Publication Date: 1965
The Story of a Life by Claude Hartland (pseudonym)
Call Number: RC558 .H36 1985 (Olin B)
Publication Date: reprint 1985

Autobiography from 1901 about his life as a gay man in St. Louis
'Performing the "Unnatural" Life: America's First Gay Autobiography' by Sonstegard
Call Number: FULL TEXT ONLINE
ISBN: 0912516925
Publication Date: Fall 2002

Review of The Story of a Life, by Hartland (Biography, Vol 25, No 4, pp. 545-568)
Reclaiming the Heartland: Lesbian and Gay Voices from the Midwest by Osborne & Spurlin
Call Number: PS508.G39 R43 1996 (Olin A)
Publication Date: 1996

Anthology of work by gay men and women who live or have spent a significant part of their lives in the Midwest. Includes some mentions of Missouri, and St. Louis.
Out in the South by Dews and Law
Call Number: HQ76.3.U52 S276 2001 (Olin 2)
Publication Date: 2001

Includes some references to Southern Missouri / Ozarks area.

Archival Collections @ other local libraries & archives

Please contact each listed organization for more info:

Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Collection Descriptions (MO State Historical Society-St. Louis )
Collections can be requested for use on the campus of University of Missouri -St. Louis. Contact stlouis@shsmo.org / Phone: 314.516.5143

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Collections include:
Gay News-Telegraph, Records, 1981-1986, (S0445)
Lesbian Alliance Of St. Louis, Missouri, 1972- , Records, 1973-1980, (S0129)
Metropolitan Community Church Of Greater St. Louis MCC (1973- ) (S0543)
Mid-Continent Life Services Corporation Records, 1975-1978, (S0050)
St. Louis Lesbian And Gay Archives Collection, 1972-1992, (S0545) and (SA0972)
St. Louis Lesbian & Gay Pride Celebration Committee Records, 1983-1992, (S0544)
and many others.
Lesbian and Gay News Telegraph Collection, 1969-1993. #A0893 (Missouri History Musuem Library & Archive)
Contact: Missouri History Museum Library & Research Center, 225 S. Skinker (across from Forest Park), St. Louis, Missouri, (314) 746-4500

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Collection consists of newspapers, press releases, newsletters, fliers and brochures, books
and other printed matter, generated mostly by organizations concerned with issues related to or
effecting the homosexual community throughout the United States and other countries, used by
the editor and staff of the Lesbian and Gay News Telegraph in the production of its monthly
newspaper. Collection also includes the newspaper's working files, consisting of bills and receipts, layout sheets, and correspondence. Some portions, namely letters to the editor, of the collection are restricted pending resolution of questions relating to confidentiality. Finding aid available.
Saint Louis Gay and Lesbian Community Collection, 1988-2000 #A1422 (Missouri History Musuem Library & Research Center
Contact: Missouri History Museum Library & Research Center, 225 S. Skinker (across from Forest Park), St. Louis, Missouri, (314) 746-4500

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Collection includes minutes and newsletters from various St. Louis organizations involved with gay and lesbian issues
Slawin, Michael S. Collection, 1989-1995. #A1519 (Missouri History Musuem Library & Research Center)
Contact: Missouri History Museum Library & Research Center, 225 S. Skinker (across from Forest Park), St. Louis, Missouri, (314) 746-4500
Saint Louis Effort For AIDS (Saint Louis, Missouri). Newsletters, 1988-1991. #A1417 (Missouri History Musuem Library & Archive)
Contact: Missouri History Museum Library & Research Center, 225 S. Skinker (across from Forest Park), St. Louis, Missouri, (314) 746-4500

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Collection consists of consists of an incomplete run of monthly newsletters produced by Saint Louis
Effort for AIDS and distributed to its members. The newsletter is titled Frontline . Also includes items mailed to members of the organization regarding legislative concerns, fund-raisers, etc.

Collections in the Midwest / national

GLAMA Gay & Lesbian Archives of Mid-America
documents and artifacts that reflect the history of the gay and lesbian community of the Kansas City region

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Located at the University of Missouri - Kansas City
Lavendar Legacies
Online guide to primary source material relating to the history and culture of lesbian, bisexual, gay, and transgendered (LBGT) people held by repositories in North America.

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Published by Society of American Archivists' Lesbian and Gay Archives Roundtable (LAGAR)
LGBT Publications via "Independent Voices"
Independent Voices is a digital collection of alternative press newspapers, magazines and journals, drawn from the special collections of participating libraries. These periodicals were produced by feminists, dissident GIs, campus radicals, Native Americans, anti-war activists, Black Power advocates, Hispanics, LGBT activists, the extreme right-wing press and alternative literary magazines during the latter half of the 20th century.
Digital Transgender Archive
an online hub for digitized historical materials, born-digital materials, and information on archival holdings throughout the world

Published Sources on LGBTQ History (general)

A Queer History of the United States by Michael Bronski
ISBN: 0807044393
Publication Date: 2011
My Desire for History by Allan Berube
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Call Number: full-text online
ISBN: 0807877980
Publication Date: 2011
Bodies of Evidence by Nan Alamilla Boyd (Editor); Horacio N. Roque Ramírez (Editor)
ISBN: 9780199890668
Publication Date: 2012
Toward Stonewall by Nicholas C. Edsall
ISBN: 0813922119
Publication Date: 2003
Queer America by Vicki L. Eaklor
ISBN: 9780313337499
Publication Date: 2008
Gay Rights and Moral Panic by Fred Fejes
ISBN: 9781403980694
Publication Date: 2008

Links to more resources

LGBTQIA+ Organizations, Events, and Resources at WUSTL
a resource for the LGBTQIA+ community with links to organizations and events in the St. Louis metropolitan area and nationwide
WU Library Resouces, Gender Studies
Links to books, articles, and databases from the WU Libraries
St. Louis LGBT History Project
Links, suggested readings, and more
GLTB History in St. Louis 1977-1980
A work in progress to document local history; by retired SIUE Professor Jim Andris
Comics at the Modern Graphic History Library
The Center for the Humanities Comics Collection (1970 - 2000) contains a particularly strong selection of titles featuring female superheroes, and also includes important underground feminist comix, such as FemForce. Also includes self-published comics & magazines, such as Black Gay Boy Fantasy.
LGBT Student Involvement and Leadership @ WU
Online clearinghouse providing information about events, resources, programs, and volunteer opportunities designed for WU's LGBTQ community
OutHistory.org
a freely accessible, community created, educational, non-profit website on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and heterosexual history

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hosted by University of Illinois, Chicago
People with a History: An Online Guide to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Trans* History
Links to various online sources

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hosted by Fordham University