A&M-SA Research Guides: June 2024 Hours and Events: Digitized Primary Source Collections

Digital Primary Source Collections

Below are links to various digital collections that contain a variety of primary sources such as images, literature, oral histories,government documents, newspapers and other historical documents. This is just a sample of collections that are available to researchers.

LGBTQ+ Rights (HeinOnline) This link opens in a new window
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HeinOnline's LGBTQ+ Rights database charts the gay rights movement in America, showing the civil rights codified into law in the 20th and 21st centuries, as well as the inequalities that still exist today. All titles in this collection have been assigned one or more title-level subjects relating to their scope, and are further divided into six subcollections, whose areas of focus constitute Marriage and Family, Employment Discrimination, Military Service, AIDS and Health Care, and Public Spaces and Accommodations, and Historical Attitudes and Analysis.

This collection is rounded out by a curated list of Scholarly Articles selected by Hein editors, as well as a Bibliography of titles to launch your research outside of HeinOnline. Finally, an interactive timeline, incorporating documents from HeinOnline with other media from around the internet, plots out an overview of LGBTQ rights in America from 1950 to the present day, helping to demonstrate the relevancy of the content within the database to the real-world events to which they are connected.

ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives
Founded in 1952, ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives is one of the largest repository of LGBTQ materials in the world. The digital collection is a sample of the archives holdings, and includes resources in a wide-variety of formats.
NYPL LGBT+ Digital Collections
Includes items in a variety of formats. Notable collections include Barbara Gittings and Kay Tobin Lahusen Gay History Papers and Photographs, Particular Voices: Portraits of Gay and Lesbian Writers, and The Emilio Sanchez Private Sketches.
Act Up Oral History Interviews
A collection of interviews with surviving members of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, New York. The interviews are listed in chronological order. Each interview has a corresponding transcript available to download as a PDF.
Digital Transgender Archive
The Digital Transgender Archive offers a wide-ranging collection of trans-related materials. You can take advantage of the advanced search features, or browse by collection.
GLBT Historical Society
Search through the digital audio collections to find recordings from the Randy Alfred The Gay Life radio series (1973–1984) and the Kevin Burke Fruit Punch recordings (1975–1979). While many of their archival materials aren't available online, you can still search their catalog to determine what materials they have available. They also offer research guides to various collections, such as Butch and Femme Identities, The Radical Faeries, and the East Bay.
Lesbian Herstory Archives
Founded in the 1970s, the Lesbian Herstory Archives is home to the world's largest collection of materials by and about lesbians and their communities.
Archives of Lesbian Oral Testimony
The Archives of Lesbian Oral Testimony collects and makes available the oral histories of people who presently or at one time identified as same-sex and same-gender attracted women.
Veterans History Project, Speaking Out: LGBT Veterans.
A curated selection of oral histories from LGBT veterans and service members.
Queer Zine Archive Project
Through the self-publication of zines, LGBTQ+ identified individuals and communities have found an alternative mode of knowledge production and information sharing. These publications provide uncensored first hand narratives, and as such, constitute unique and invaluable research tools. Take a look at this phenomenal collection of digitized LGBTQ+, feminist, and social justice related zines. Dowloading options available.
Rainbow History Online Archive
This local DC group preserves and shares the rich history of LGBTQ+ individuals and communities in the greater metropolitian area of Washington, D.C. Some collection highlights include Friends Radio Program Records, the Barbara Gittings and Kay Tobin Lahusen Papers, Black & White Men Together, , and the Gay Businesses and Venues Collection.
American Archive of Public Broadcasting, The Homosexual in Our Society (Part 1 of 2)
This recording from 1958 – The earliest known radio recording to overtly discuss homosexuality - features Public Affairs Director of KPFA Elsa Knight Thompson interviewing Hal Call, the editor of the Mattachine Review; Dr. Blanche Baker, a psychologist noted for her then-rarely-shared belief that homosexuality was not an abnormality nor an illness; and Leah Gailey, the mother of a gay man.
American Archive of Public Broadcasting, The Homosexual in Our Society (Part 2 of 2)
Elsa Knight Thompson moderates a second panel discussion focusing on laws regarding homosexuals, civil rights of homosexuals, identification of homosexuals, gender identification in society, possible causes of sexual choice, i.e. heredity versus environmental causes, and how society can constructively deal with these issues.

Independent Voices (JSTOR) This link opens in a new window
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Independent Voices is an open access 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.