Research Guides: Women and Gender Studies: Archives and primary sources

feminists and women's rights

16 Black feminist archival projects you need to know about By Jaimee A. Swift Black women and gender non-conforming and non-binary people’s histories, productions, leadership, and activism has often been overlooked, forgotten, and ignored in the United States and beyond. Here are 16 Black and Brown women-led archival projects that are reclaiming and restoring what white heteronormative patriarchal revisionist history tried to destroy and take from us.
American Women: A Guide to Women's History Resources at the Library of Congress Scholarship in women’s history, gender history, women’s studies, and related fields is essential to how we understand American history. This recently revised and updated American Women guide highlights new collection materials and research tools and makes these resources more easily discoverable by researchers. We hope that this guide continues to inspire researchers of all levels in making new discoveries and charting new perspectives on American women. Carla D. Hayden, Librarian of Congress
Digital feminist archives at Barnard Center for Research on Women This archive offers a snapshot of feminist history in the 1960s and 1970s, the institutionalization of women’s centers and women’s studies as an academic discipline, and feminist struggles taking place at colleges and universities, in healthcare and social service centers, in political organizations and neighborhood meetings across the country.
Hearing bell hooks at Berea College view video recordings of bell hooks presenting at Berea College events
Rise Up! a digital archive of feminist activism Rise Up! is a digital archive of feminist activism in Canada from the 1970s to the 1990s. We were part of a worldwide wave of liberation and anti-oppression movements that won some victories, changed some attitudes, and radically altered the gendered and political landscape. This site is dedicated to documenting and sharing these histories.
Women Working, 1800-1930 An exploration of women's impact on the economic life of the United States between 1800 and the Great Depression. The result is a unique digital collection comprising over 650,000 individual pages from more than 3,100 books and trade catalogs, 900 archives and manuscript items, and 1,400 photographs. The collection is an exploration of women's impact on the economic life of the United States between 1800 and the Great Depression. Working conditions, workplace regulations, home life, costs of living, commerce, recreation, health and hygiene, and social issues are among the issues documented.

LGBTQ+

Digital archives

ACT UP Oral History Project Collection of interviews with surviving members of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, New York
Designing Liberation: Printing Queer Latinx Activism in the 1970s Zine and user guide by Erica Quinones that explores Latinx involvement in the 1970s gay liberation movement by examining the story of Third World Gay Revolution (TWGR)
Digital Transgender Archive The purpose of the Digital Transgender Archive (DTA) is to increase the accessibility of transgender history by providing an online hub for digitized historical materials, born-digital materials, and information on archival holdings throughout the world.
Gay Peoples Union Collection The Gay Peoples Union (GPU) was the most important gay and lesbian rights organization in Milwaukee during the 1970s. Beginning as a student organization at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, the group gradually became a resource for the entire Milwaukee community.
Lesbian Herstory Archives The Lesbian Herstory Archives exists to gather and preserve records of Lesbian lives and activities. This ensures future generations will have ready access to materials relevant to their lives. The Lesbian Herstory Archives is home to the world’s largest collection of materials by and about Lesbians and their communities.
LGBTQ Activism at the Library of Congress presentation and sources from U.S. History Primary Source Timeline
New York Public Library - Gay and Lesbian History small set of collected, digitized materials from the New York Public Library
Pittsburgh Queer History Project online repository showcases digitally available items from the ever-growing archive
Serving in Silence: LGBTQ+ Veterans While military service oftentimes demands sacrifices from those in uniform, historically, LGBTQ+ veterans have faced a unique set of challenges. For many of these veterans, following a call to serve meant keeping their private lives entirely private, for fear that exclusionary policies would hold them back or end their careers altogether. Here, we present stories of LGBTQ+ veterans who served from the WWII era to the present, that illustrate these veterans’ bravery, honesty, and unwavering dedication to their country.
Stonewall: Riot, rebellion, activism and identity This project sets out to open a window onto the past through oral histories, personal stories, images, texts and memories concerning the Stonewall Rebellion of 1969 and its aftermath. This singularly important event was the catalyst for a worldwide LGBT rights movement. In collecting and presenting the documents on this site, the goal is to develop insight into the way culture constructs historical narrative; in this case, through the radical counterculture of the late 1960's. My hope is that this resource will offer members of the community a greater appreciation of the diversity, complexity and uniqueness of LGBT experiences.
GLBT Historical Society Digital Collections Large and searchable collection from the GLBT Historical Society Museum and Archives

Spotify playlists

HOUSE OF LOVE: Songs that Soundtracked the AIDS Epidemic of the 80s and 90s
louie's mixtape
When House Music was Black and Gay
louie's mixtape

Selected Pride archives

Pride at 50: From Stonewall to Today
Blog post by Megan Metcalf, Women’s, Gender and LGBTQ+ Studies librarian and chair of LC-GLOBE, the official Library organization for LGBTQ+ employees and allies.
Watch the The Second Largest Minority
Footage of one of the earliest Gay Pride demonstration marches, "Reminder Day Picket," held at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on July 4, 1968.

The first Pride March in New York City was held on June 28, 1970, on the one year anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising.

Watch video of one of the earliest Gay Pride demonstration marches, the first Christopher Street Liberation Day Parade, held in New York City, New York, on June 28, 1970, to commemorate the first anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. - Credits: Photography and editing, Clifton R. Witt, Lilli M. Vincenz. Gay and Proud. [Video] Library of Congress.

image search

Library of Congress image search

“Gay is angry, gay revolution networker,” protest poster, 1971. Artist: Juan Carlos y Nestor. Prints and Photographs. Library of Congress.

West Virginia History Center image search

West Virginia archives

Resources available online and locally in the West Virginia and Regional History Center

The Center is located in the Wise Library within the Downtown Library and they will be happy to assist you.
Hours and Directions | Reference, Research, and Appointments

LGBTQ+ (West Virginia Center)
Women (West Virginia Center)
Zines and Queer Appalachian Dreams Elliott Stewart of Huntington, WV, provides this representation for not only teens, but anyone who lives or has grown up queer in Appalachia, an area notoriously difficult to identify as LGBTQ+ in. WVU Libraries News post by Dee Elliott. January 15, 2024.