LibGuides: The LGBTQ+ Resource Guide: Archives & Heritage

LGBTQ+ Archives & Heritage

The archives listed below focus specifically on LGBTQ+ history.

Jump to:

- International LGBTQ+ Archives

- UK LGBTQ+ Archives

- Local (Brighton) LGBTQ+ Archives

- LGBTQ+ Newspaper and Magazine Archives

International LGBTQ+ Archives

Archives of Sexuality & Gender: LGBTQ History and Culture since 1940

A vast archive of material drawn from hundreds of international and local organizations, documenting important aspects of LGBTQ life from 1940 onwards. Documents include: records and materials produced by LGBTQ rights groups, government briefings, reports and policy statements, surveys and election questionnaires, international news and magazine articles, photographs, interviews and more.
LGBT Thought and Culture

An online collection of primary sources documenting the political, social, and cultural history of LGBT life from the late 19th century to the present. Includes books, periodicals, personal papers, speeches, interviews, and ephemera. Covers global perspectives with a focus on North America and Europe.
Sex and Sexuality

Explores evolving attitudes toward gender, sexuality, and sexual behavior from the 19th century to the present. Includes research papers, correspondence, personal writings, media, and activist materials from institutions like the Kinsey Institute, ONE Archives, and The National Archives (UK). Topics include sexology, LGBTQ+ history, criminalization, HIV/AIDS, and community identity.

Digital Transgender Archive
Brings together digitized transgender collections from archives and libraries across the globe. Collections include the Transgender Archives of the University of Victoria, the CLGA, the Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection of the University of Minnesota and more.
GLBT Historical Society Online Collections
Based in San Francisco (California), the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender (GLBT) Historical Society has digitized a selection of its collections and made them freely accessible online. The collections include personal papers, organizational records, periodicals, oral histories, photographs, audio-visual recordings, ephemera, artefacts and works of art.
Kvir Archiv
The 'Kvir' or 'Queer' Archive initiative documents and makes visible the personal stories, her/histories and actions of LGBTQ+ people in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This is realized through series of personal writings, interviews, photographs, and audio and video recordings.
LGBT Center of Central Pennsylvania and the Dickinson College Archive
The LGBT Center of Central PA and the Dickinson College Archives and Special Collections have partnered to document the stories and history of LGBT life and activism in the greater Central Pennsylvania region. This site contains oral histories that have been recorded for the LGBT History Project, as well as fully accessible digital versions of documents, images, and artefacts that have been donated to the project.
The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender Community Center
The LGBT Community Center National History Archive is a community-based archive documenting LGBTQ lives and organizations centered in and around New York. Dating back as early as 1878, holdings consist of personal papers and organisational records, as well as periodicals, scrapbooks, photographs, audio and video recordings, pamphlets and printed materials, posters and born-digital materials.
The Lesbian Herstory Archives
Founded in the 1970s, the Lesbian Herstory Archives gathers, preserves and provide access to records of Lesbian lives and activities in the US and abroad. Includes books, unpublished papers, conference proceedings, newsletters, photographs, periodicals, AV material, objects, art, manuscripts and organisational records.

UK LGBTQ+ Archives

Bishopsgate Institute LGBTQ+ Archives
The Bishopsgate Institute’s Special Collections and Archives hold extensive collections documenting LGBTQ+ history, politics and culture in the UK from the late nineteenth century onward. It consists of both individual’s records and materials from organisations like Stonewall, Switchboard and The Gay Men’s Health Charity.
The collection also features the Lesbian and Gay Newsmedia Archive (LAGNA), the LGBTQ+ Pamphlet Collection and the UK Leather and Fetish Archives.
FAYS Archive
The Feminist Approaches to Youth Sexualities archive is a collaboration between academics, archivists and activists which brings together multiple collections on youth sexuality. Key collections include the Women, Risk and Aids Project (1989-90), which consists of over 150 interviews with young women in Manchester and London, and the Reanimating Data Project (2018-2022), a live collection where users can contribute their own material.
Hall-Carpenter Archives (London School of Economics)
The London School of Economics' LGBTQ+ collection, also known as the Hall-Carpenter Archives, contains primary source material predominantly related to gay and lesbian rights, with a focus on campaigning from the late 1950s to the 1990s.
Museum of Transology
The Museum of Transology (MoT) is a growing collection of objects representing trans, non-binary and intersex people’s lives, containing over 5000 objects from over 15 regions across the UK.
rukus! Black, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans (BLGBT) cultural archive
The archives of rukus! Federation Limited, housed at the London Metropolitan Archives. The collection consists of diaries, letters, minutes and related papers, magazines, pamphlets, posters, journals, books, photographs, prints, audio-visual material, memorabilia and ephemera. Records relate to both individuals (including activists, DJs, club promoters, writers, artists and magazine publishers) and community organisations. Topics include sexual heath, black lesbians and women in night clubs.

Local LGBTQ+ Archives

Brighton Trans*formed
Brighton Trans*formed records the lives and experiences of Brighton & Hove’s Transgender community. This collection of testimonies, writings, memories, oral histories and photographs, provided by a variety of contributors aged 18 - 81, offers a snapshot of the rich variety of Trans lives in Brighton & Hove at a moment of significant change.
Into the Outside
Into the Outside is a queer youth project creating a new digital archive that shares and celebrates stories from LGBTQ+ young people in Brighton & Hove and beyond.
Queer Heritage South
Queer Heritage South / Queer in Brighton is a digital community archiving project, celebrating and promoting the rich cultural life of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Intersex, Transgender and Queer (LGBTIQ+) community in Brighton & Hove and the South.

LGBTQ+ Magazine and Newspaper Archives

Independent Voices

A digital archive of alternative press publications produced in the United States during the 20th century. Provides full-text access to magazines, newspapers, and journals created by feminist, LGBTQ+, African American, Native American, Lationo, GI, Campus Underground, Right-Wing and other activist and independent communities.
LGBT Magazine Archive

Digital archive of 26 prominent US and UK LGBT publications from the 1950s to 2015, including The Advocate (from 1967) and Gay Times. Includes full-colour, cover-to-cover issues with searchable text. Covers topics such as activism, politics, health, lifestyle, and the arts, offering insight into LGBTQ+ history, culture, and social change.