The Sexual Minorities Archives is one of the longest continually operating archives of LGBT material in the United States,[1][disputed – discuss] which holds the Leslie Feinberg Library,[2] a collection of the late writer's personal research materials. The physical archive is located in a large converted Victorian home in Holyoke, Massachusetts, as of 2017.[3] It was located in the home of curator Ben Power in Northampton, Massachusetts, from 1979 to 2017. It was founded in Chicago in 1974 by a lesbian-feminist organization known as the New Alexandria Lesbian Library.[4]
 | |
| Location | Holyoke, Massachusetts, U.S. |
|---|---|
| Type | Archives |
Collection
editThe archive includes three types of materials related to literature, history, and art. The Literature collection "spans more than a century and includes LGBTQI books (fiction and non-fiction), pulp paperbacks, reference books, over 1,000 periodical titles with 17,000 individual issues, and more."[5] The History collection "ranges from the mid-19th century and ... includes subject files, multimedia, personal papers, organizational collections, speeches, correspondence, ephemera, political and sociocultural buttons, and more."[5] The Art collection "includes original LGBTQI paintings and drawings, posters, banners, photography, sculpture, textiles, and music."[5]
As of 2017, collection materials can be freely searched and viewed online through the Digital Transgender Archive, the largest digital archive of transgender materials in the world.[6]
References
edit- ^ Rawson, K J (2010). Archiving transgender: Affects, logic, and the power of queer history. (Dissertation) Syracuse University.
- ^ "Sexual Minorities Archive reopens with Leslie Feinberg Library". Workers World. 2017-06-08. Retrieved 2018-10-13.
- ^ "Sexual Minorities Archives Celebrate Grand re-Opening at New Home in Holyoke". The Rainbow Times | New England's Largest LGBTQ Newspaper | Boston. 2017-07-07. Retrieved 2018-10-13.
- ^ Rawson, KJ (May 2015). "Archival Justice: An Interview with Ben Power Alwin". Radical History Review. 122: 177–187. doi:10.1215/01636545-2849603.
- ^ a b c "The Collections". Sexual Minorities Archives. 2015-06-29. Retrieved 2018-10-13.
- ^ Enke, Finn (June 2017). "Digital Transgender Archive". Journal of American History. 104 (1): 315–316. doi:10.1093/jahist/jax165. ISSN 0021-8723.