In the study of history, almost nothing can provide the kind of context and authenticity of a primary source – an original, firsthand account of a moment or a period in time. Known as “the raw materials of history,” primary sources include but are not limited to letters, newspapers, diaries, speeches, photographs, organization records and memoirs.
With October being the annual national observation of LGBT History Month, the University Libraries is placing a spotlight on primary sources that can provide first-person perspectives of people in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community or who are part of its history.
LGBT History Month is one of many themed periods locally and nationwide that build awareness of history, heritage, health and other topics not well known in a population. Often, they have been instituted in response to prior societal exclusion or marginalization. The Libraries’ recognition of these themed periods is consistent with the University of Dayton’s Catholic and Marianist values, which reflect the principles of Catholic social teaching — particularly the dignity of the human person; the call to family, community, and participation; the dignity of work and the rights of workers; a preferential option for the poor and marginalized; and care for creation.
Using primary sources in the study of history validates the dignity, agency and authorship of the people and cultures being studied.
Memoirs
A memoir provides a narrative and often reflective retelling of a person’s own life or a period or event in it. It presents a view of history through a single individual’s eyes. Here are some titles available in Roesch Library and through OhioLINK:
- They Called Us Enemy, by George Takei with coauthors Justin Eisinger and Steven Scott and artist Harmony Becker
- Gender Queer: A Memoir, by Maia Kobabe
- Indigiqueerness: A Conversation about Storytelling, by Joshua Whitehead with contributions from Angie Abdou
- Memories of a Gay Catholic Boyhood: Coming of Age in the Sixties, by LGBTQ+ historian John D'Emilio, a professor emeritus of history and gender and women’s studies at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC)
- All Boys Aren’t Blue: A Memoir-Manifesto, by George M. Johnson
Letters and Other Correspondence
Written correspondence can reveal personal experiences of a period or event in history as well as emotions, commentary, reflection and references to other people and events. The Libraries in August 2024 expanded UD’s subscription to the database Archives of Sexuality and Gender, including LGBTQ History and Culture Since 1940, Part I and Part II, which contain a host of correspondence. The following are available to people with a UD ID:
- Manuel boyFrank Papers: The “Correspondence” section of this collection contains 60 folders of letters to and from gay activist pioneers Henry Gerber and Frank McCourt, as well as government leaders, critics, advocates and organizations. Manuel boyFrank (1916-1984) was a military serviceman, a ONE Inc. board member, and a gay activist.
- Robert Rosenkrantz Letters: This includes the prison correspondence of Robert Rosenkrantz, who in 1985 shot and killed a schoolmate who bullied him for his homosexuality. The majority of the letters date from October through December 1986.
- Jim Kepner Papers: The “Correspondence” series in this collection contains 129 folders of letters. Jim Kepner (1923-1997) was a writer, historian and activist who founded the Western Gay Archives, later renamed the National Gay Archives and then the International Gay & Lesbian Archives.
- ACT UP: The AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power: The correspondence section (Series III) of the ACT UP archive includes gift acknowledgments, press releases, mailing and media lists, letters to the editor, and other types of organizational communication.
Newspapers
Also known as “the first draft of history,” newspapers provide objective coverage of events, government meetings, assemblies, trials, crime, and other news, along with birth and death announcements, among other types of information.
- LGBTQ Newspapers and Periodicals Collection from the Lesbian Herstory Archives: This includes digitized issues of dozens of mainstream and alternative publications; it’s available with a UD login.
- ONE magazine on the Internet Archive: ONE magazine was a nationally distributed publication put out by ONE Inc., providing news, essays, fiction, and more to gays and lesbians across the United States. More information about ONE Inc. is available at the ONE Archives at the University of Southern California.
- The Ladder: A Lesbian Review, 1956-1972: An Interpretation and Document Archive: Published by the Daughters of Bilitis organization, The Ladder was the first nationally distributed lesbian magazine in the United States; it’s available with a UD login.
Organizational Records
Items such as meeting agendas, minutes, proclamations, promotional brochures, outreach materials, recordings and other materials provide not only a history of an organization, but also the circumstances that brought it about. Here’s a sampling of organization records from the aforementioned databases (available with a UD login):
- ACT UP: The AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power
- ACT UP Los Angeles Records
- The Mattachine Society of New York Records, 1951–1976
- Gay Activists Alliance, 1970–1983
- Will Roscoe Papers and Gay American Indians Records
- Asian/Pacific AIDS Coalition (APAC) Records
Hidden History
In Stacie Brensilver Berman’s book LGBTQ+ History in High School Classes in the United States since 1990 (Bloomsbury Academic, 2021) — an open educational resource — historians Blanche Wiesen Cook and Robert Cohen share in the foreword a perspective that illustrates one of many reasons for LGBT History Month.
“One thing we both remember quite clearly is that in the history classes of our mid-twentieth-century high schools not a single moment was devoted to what we would today call LGBTQ+ history,” they wrote. “And our high schools were not at all unusual in this regard. Back then no matter how ‘good’ the school was, the history curriculum was heteronormative, and you could easily graduate from high school and then college, and even graduate school in history, as we did, without learning a thing about gays and lesbians. You would be led by the curriculum, in fact, to assume all Americans were heterosexual. Ignorance was part and parcel of the repressive world of Cold War America. History seeks to bury what it intends to reject.”
— Maureen Schlangen is the digital publishing and scholarly communication manager in the University Libraries.