Guides: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer+ Studies: Primary Sources

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How Do I Find Primary Sources?

Searching for Primary Sources - Questions to Ask
Types of primary sources and how to search for them.
Finding Primary Sources in the Library Using MIDCAT
Examples of subject headings to use and more search examples.

See Other Sections Too!

Don't forget that magazines, literary & art journals, film, books and more can be primary sources too (see tutorial for explanation). Use those resources as well.

Books can be primary sources either directly (example, memoirs, creative works) or by reprinting primary sources (collections of letters, documents, etc.).

Secondary Sources may list primary sources in the bibliography. If published, you may be able to borrow the item.

Newspaper Articles

Find a specific newspaper
Search by title.

Newspaper Research Guide
Detailed assistance finding current and historical newspaper resources.

Archival Collections

Archives of sexuality and gender: LGBTQ History and Culture Since 1940, Parts I & 2 This link opens in a new window
Archives of Sexuality & Gender: LGBTQ History and Culture Since 1940,
Part I contains primary sources on social, political, health, and legal issues impacting LGBTQ communities around the world. Rare and unique content from newsletters, papers, government documents, manuscripts, pamphlets, and other types of primary sources sheds light on the gay rights movement, activism, the HIV/AIDS crisis, and more. It features documents published in more than 35 countries, and 15 languages.
Part II provides coverage of underrepresented communities through access to key publications. It highlights often-excluded groups—even within the LGBTQ community—and enables users to draw new connections across the development of LGBTQ culture and activism.
LGBT Magazine Archive This link opens in a new window
The archives of 26 leading but previously hard-to-find magazines. The complete backfile of The Advocate is made available digitally. The oldest surviving continuously published US title of its type (having launched in 1967), it is the periodical of record for information about the LGBT community; it has charted the key developments in LGBT history and culture for over 50 years. As one of the very few LGBT titles to pre-date the 1969 Stonewall riots, it spans the history of the gay rights movement. LGBT Magazine Archive also includes the principal UK titles, notably Gay News and its successor publication Gay Times.
Sex and sexuality This link opens in a new window
Module 2 Only. It is focused upon the experiences of individuals from across the spectrum of human sexuality, including heterosexual and LGBTQI+ experiences, from the nineteenth century to the present day. It also covers the criminalization of sexuality, both in terms of sex work and the prosecution and persecution of primarily men for "homosexual acts." Includes information on the Stonewall riots and the resulting movements for change, the beginning of the Pride parades, and the HIV/AIDs crisis. Module 2 also includes collections from the Kinsey institute, the ONE Archives at the USC Libraries, and The National Archives, UK, plus the Edward Carpenter Papers, the Norman Haire Collection, the National Lesbian and Gay Survey, and the Anne Lister Diaries.
Politics, Social Activism and Community Support: Selected Gay and Lesbian Periodicals and Newsletters This link opens in a new window
Carefully selected for rarity from the thousands of titles in the GLBT Historical Society archives, the collection features more than 200 newsletter and periodical titles totaling nearly 8,000 issues. This product is strong in newsletters from organizations that began their work during the formative years of the gay and lesbian movement

Gay & Lesbian History Digital Collections (NYPL)
Digital collections from the New York Public Library (NYPL).
Digital Transgender Archive
"Online hub for digitized historical materials, born-digital materials, and information on archival holdings throughout the world." It is an "international collaboration among more than twenty colleges, universities, nonprofit organizations, and private collections."
LGBT Collection (Independent Voices)
"The LGBT collection contains 25 publications that chronicle the birth of the Gay and Lesbian movements in the United States." Part of the Independent Voices open access collection of publications on JSTOR.
LGBTQ+ Rights
Free online collection from Hein Online. "This collection 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."
Bay Area Reporter Archives
"The Bay Area Reporter is the oldest continuously published lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer weekly newspaper in the United States and is the highest circulation publication serving the LGBTQ communities of the San Francisco Bay Area." From Internet Archive.

Primary Sources on the Web

HathiTrust Digital Library
Search the digital collections (including scanned books) from major research university libraries. View full-text available only for items no longer in copyright. Also check Internet Archive and/or Digital Public Library of America (Similar coverage. Allows downloading of full documents no longer in copyright).
Internet Archive (Archive.org)
This website includes not only a way to search for websites that are no longer visible, but also a number of digital texts and other materials. Search by title or author, and choose a genre from the menu tab on the right.

Digital Public Library of America dpla This link opens in a new window
The DPLA contains over 2.5 million records for photographs, manuscripts, books, sounds, moving images, and more from libraries, archives, and museums around the United States. Each record links to the original object on the content provider’s website.

Europeana
Multi-lingual online collection of digitized items from European museums, libraries, archives and multi-media collections.

Primary vs. Secondary Sources

Primary sources were created at the time of an event or period. They are often the product of an eyewitness or an original creator. They might be original reports of an event, artifacts from an event or time period, or creative works, and include:

memoirs
letters
interviews
pottery
novels
poems

Secondary sources interpret, analyze, or contextualize primary sources. They are second-hand interpretations. They might include:

documentaries
biographies
textbooks
research articles