Established Archives

This listing of established archives is provided as a resource for individuals and organizations seeking an appropriate archival "home" for personal papers and organizational records of LGBT religious movements. The list is by no means exhaustive, but includes selected archives that have a strong track record and demonstrated interest in acquiring LGBT religious collections. Prospective donors are welcome to contact any of these archives directly through the Web links provided; additional information on listed repositories is also available from the LGBT-RAN staff.

Andover-Harvard Theological Library

Founded in 1910, the Andover-Harvard Theological Library of Harvard Divinity School serves as the official repository for records of the Unitarian-Universalist Association (UUA), and welcomes archival and manuscript materials documenting LGBT faith movements within the UUA tradition.

Web Site: www.hds.harvard.edu/library/

Archives Gaies du Quebec/Gay Archives of Quebec (Montreal, Canada)

This community-based archives has been in existence since 1985 and in its own quarters in Montreal since 1993. Its growing collections are maintained by a dozen volunteers. The archives is open two hours per week. Its homepage is bilingual; its online collection descriptions are in French. Catalog entries for each collection are also avaiable at the archives.

Web Site: www.agq.qc.ca/enf/car.html

Australian Lesbian & Gay Archives

This community-based archives was established in 1978. The collection includes approximately 400 linear metres of material, encompassing archival, library and museum material. Notable religious holdings include the papers of Catholic priest Fr Ken Sinclair (the Catholic Church and homosexuality/AIDS), Rev John Willis (Christ's Community Church), Margaret Bernasconi (founder of Acceptance, Melbourne), Bruce Belcher/Sr Barbarella Ars Erotica (Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence), Dino Hodge (research and interviews for 'The Fall Upwards: Spirituality in the Lives of Lesbian Women and Gay Men), the Records of the Uniting Network (Uniting Church of Australia LGBT network), Rainbow Sash Movement etc. Finding aids are available for selected archival collections. Notable published holdings cover Acceptance, Metropolitan Community Church (MCC), Uniting Church in Australia, Anglican Church in Australia.

Web Site: http://alga.org.au/

Central Connecticut State University Gender Equity Collection

Housed in the University's Elihu Burrit Library, the Gender Equity Collection was launched in 1993 and now includes over 200 linear feet of LGBT religious collections. Notable holdings include records of Catholic priest/activist Richard Cardarelli and the George W. Henry Foundation Collections, documenting LGBT ministry by the Greater Hartford Council of Churches.

Web Site: library.ccsu.edu/about/departments/spcoll/equity/index.html

Congregational Library and Archives, Boston

Established in 1853, the Congregational Library has total archival and manuscript holdings of approximately 1200 linear feet, and has recently mounted a concerted effort to collect such materials documenting LGBT movements in the Congregational Churches and the United Church of Christ.

Web Site: www.14beacon.org

Cornell University Human Sexuality Collection

Founded in 1988, the Human Sexuality Collection of the Cornell University Library is supervised by a full-time professional curator and is home to some 930 cubic feet of archival, manuscript, and print material on human sexuality. Notable LGBT faith-related holdings include personal papers of Brian McNaught and Gina Odgen, and additional personal papers and ephemera collections documenting topics such as same-sex union ceremonies and faith-based homosexuality "cures."

Web Site: rmc.library.cornell.edu/HSC/

Duke University Rare Book, Manuscript and Special Collections Library

This repository was founded in 1931 and currently holds over ten million manuscript items, including those of the divinity library of Duke University. It has been actively collecting LGBT materials for twenty years and welcomes new collections. Among items of LGBT interest are the papers of James T. Sears and the records of the Atlanta Lesbian Feminist Alliance. There are also personal papers, organizational records, rare print materials and ephemera. This repository also houses the Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History and Culture with interest in feminism and lesbian spirituality.

Web Site: scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/

Episcopal Church Archives

The Archives of the Episcopal Church, founded in 1835, has been located since 1960 on the campus of the Episcopal Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, Texas. It currently holds about 300 cubic feet of LGBT-related material including records of Integrity, Inc., the Episcopal Church LGBT concerns organization; records of the Committee to Survey the Church on the Issue of Human Sexuality; and records of the Church's National AIDS Memorial. The Archives is actively seeking additional materials documenting LGBT movements in the Episcopal Church.

Web Site: www.episcopalarchives.org

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Archives

Founded in 1987, the national archives of the ELCA is located in suburban Chicago and currently holds materials including correspondence and subject files on homosexuality from the office of Bishop Herbert Chilstrom, and documentation of sexuality studies by the church's Division for Church in Society. The repository actively seeks additional materials documenting LGBT movements in the ELCA and its predecessor churches.

Web Site: www.elca.org/archives

Gerber/Hart Library, Chicago

Gerber/Hart Library was founded in 1981 and is now the largest independent LGBT library and archives in the Midwest. Its archives holdings include official records of Lutherans Concerned/North America and approximately 100 additional collections totaling about 400 linear feet. In addition to archival and manuscript materials, the Library also collects newsletters, pamphlets, clippings, ephemera, and other historical materials on LGBT religious movements.

Web Site: www.gerberhart.org

GLBT Historical Society, San Francisco

Established in 1985, the Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgender Historical Society's archival collections now include approximately 150 linear feet of LGBT religion-related material. Among them are records of the Council for Religion and the Homosexual, the Jewish Feminist Conference, and Sadie Sadie the Rabbi Lady, as well as extensive holdings of newsletters from LGBT religious groups.

Web Site: www.glbthistory.org

Graduate Theological Union Archives

Founded in 1989, the Archives of the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California actively collects archival and manuscript materials concerning LGBT faith movements, and has recently entered a cooperative relationship as "host repository" for the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry of the Pacific School of Religion. Notable current holdings include the papers of Roman Catholic priest/activist John J. McNeill and Roy Birchard of the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches.

Web Site: gtu.edu/library/information/special-collections

Hall-Carpenter Archives

The Hall-Carpenter Archives were founded in 1982 and transferred to the London School of Economics in 1989. The collection includes paper of lesbian and gay organizations and activists, journals from the UK and overseas, and a series of ephemera relating to lesbian and gay events and organisations. The collection is approximately 700 linear feet. The online catalogue can be accessed at www.archives.lse.ac.uk. To see material relating to the Hall Carpenter archives, enter HCA in the RefNo field of the catalog interface. The archives is actively collecting. materials.

Web Site: www.library.lse.ac.uk/archive

Hormel Center, San Francisco Public Library

Established in 1996, the James C. Hormel Gay & Lesbian Center of the San Francisco Public Library is now home to over 1100 cubic feet of LGBT archival and manuscript collections. Outstanding LGBT faith-related materials include the Nomenus/Faerie Archives and the papers of gay-rights pioneer and Radical Faerie patriarch Harry Hay.

Web Site: sfpl4.sfpl.org

Lesbian and Gay Archives of New Zealand (LAGANZ)

LAGANZ grew from the Lesbian and Gay Rights Resource Centre collections. After a 1986 arson attack, the LGRRC made an agreement with the Alexander Turnbull Library of the National Library at Wellington to house its archival collections. Three curators oversee the collections at the Library, which is open five days a week. Information about collections can be found by contacting staff or through the New Register of Archives and Manuscript online catalog at http://www.nram.org.nz/.

Web Site: www.laganz.org.nz/

Lesbian Herstory Archives

Founded in 1974, this notable community-based, all-volunteer repository is located in New York City and holds periodicals, clippings, unpublished papers, ephemera, and other materials relating to both organized religious groups and independent women's spirituality movements.

Web Site: www.lesbianherstoryarchives.org

Minnesota Historical Society

Founded in 1849, the Minnesota Historical Society has been collecting LGBT historical materials since the early 1970s. Current holdings include records of Lutherans Concerned/Twin Cities, the Lesbian/Gay Interfaith Council of Minnesota, and Lutherans Concerned Co-Chair Leo Treadway.

Web Site: www.mnhs.org

National Archive of LGBT History, LGBT Community Center, New York City

Founded in 1983, New York's LGBT Community Center opened its Archives in 1990. The Archives is home to the records of New York's Congregation Beth Simchat Torah LGBT synagogue and over eighty additional organizational collections including several congregations of the Metropolitan Community Church.

Web Site: www.gaycenter.org/community/archive

New York Public Library Manuscript & Archives Division

Established in 1895, the Manuscripts and Archives Division of the New York Public Library now holds approximately 35,000 linear feet of manuscript and archival collections. Notable among these are records of the Old Catholic Church and ephemera files on various religious organizations in the International Gay Information Center Archives.

Web Site: legacy.www.nypl.org/research/chss/spe/rbk/mss.html

Northern Illinois University

In operation since 1977, the Rare Books and Special Collections Department of NIU's Founders Memorial Library holds the papers of Gregory Dell, pioneering activist minister of Chicago's Broadway United Methodist Church, and actively seeks additional LGBT religious archival materials.

Web Site: www.ulib.niu.edu/rarebooks/index.cfm

Rutgers University

The Rutgers University Library Special Collections and University Archives, established in 1938, is home to the New Jersey Lesbian and Gay Archives. The collections include the national records of More Light Presbyterians (formerly Presbyterians for Lesbian & Gay Concerns), and the repository welcomes additional materials documenting LGBT faith movements in the New Jersey area.

Web Site: www.libraries.rutgers.edu/rul/libs/scua/scua.shtml

Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute

The Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University, was established in 1943 and now holds 12,000 linear feet of archival and manuscipt materials, including papers of lesbian religious leaders such as Charlotte Bunch, Irene Monroe, and Winnifred Wygal.

Web Site: www.radcliffe.edu/schles

Stonewall Library & Archives, Ft. Lauderdale

Founded in 1973, the Stonewall Library & Archives moved into a newly renovated state-of-the-art facility in 2002. Its current holdings include 400 or more linear feet of LGBT religious archival material; notable examples are service bulletins and newsletters of Florida MCC (Metropolitan Community Church) congregations, and a heavily used clipping file on the activities of fundamentalist anti-gay activist Anita Bryant.

Web Site: www.stonewall-library.org

United Methodist Archives and History Center, Drew University

In operation since the early 1960s, Drew University's United Methodist Archives and History Center is home to some 11,000 cubic feet of archival and manuscript materials. LGBT-related holdings include organizational records of Affirmation and the Reconciling Congregations program, and personal papers of activist pastor Paul Abels. The Archives actively seeks additional collections documenting LGBT movements in the United Methodist Church and its predecessor churches.

Web Site: www.drew.edu/depts/library.aspx?id=2106

University of Louisville/Williams-Nichols Library and Archive

Founded in 1968, the Special Collections Department of the University of Louisville's Ekstrom Library became a major center for LGBT historical research with the acquisition of the Kentucky Gay and Lesbian Archives in 2001. Now known as the Williams-Nichols Library and Archive for Gay and Lesbian Studies, the collection includes materials related to Integrity/Louisville and the Metropolitan Community Church of Louisville.

Web Site: special.library.louisville.edu

Virginia Commonwealth University

The Virginia Commonwealth University Library Special Collections Department has been operating since 1970. It is open five days a week, with 2,600 linear feet of archival holdings. Four professional staff process new collections, answer reference queries, and provide access in the Reading Room and via the website. Finding aids for collections are available in the Archive and about one third of the finding aids are also available online through VIVA, Virginia Heritage online catalog at http://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaead/cgi-bin/eadform.pl

Web Site: www.library.vcu.edu/jbc/speccoll/speccoll.html