ABOUT THE COLLECTION

The materials in Community and Identity in North America are mainly unique and unpublished personal papers, providing a more individualised historical perspective instead of focusing on organisational papers and large periodical collections. This collection represents the diversity of individuals within various North American communities, helping researchers get to know the people involved and their experiences. This archive provides 28 collections, with content from The ArQuives, Canada’s LGBTQ2+ Archives; the GLBT Historical Society; the GLBTQ Archives, Elihu Burritt Library, Central Connecticut State University; and Colegio de México, representing Canada, the United States, and Mexico.

VALUE OF THE ARCHIVE

• Award-Winning Series: Examine the timeline and history of sexual norms with more than 8 Million pages of material from the Archives of Sexuality and Gender series that won a Platinum Award at the 2023 Modern Language Awards.
• Relevant to Today’s Issues: This expansive series sheds light on topics relevant to the sociopolitical discourse and climate surrounding sexuality and gender today, such as transgender rights, the development of sex education, the rise of sexology, changing gender roles, LGBTQ+  culture, social movements and activism, erotica, and more.
• Greater Perspective and Representation: The collection provides unique coverage of individual perspectives, many previously unpublished, representing diversity within various communities and ethnic groups.
• Extensive Coverage: With a direct focus on North America, the scope of this collection incorporates perspectives from Canada, Mexico, and the United States.

COLLECTIONS INCLUDE

The ArQuives – Canada’s LGBTQ2+ Archives (Toronto) Vertical Files – Canada, Monograph Collection.

The Monograph Collection from The ArQuives is full of nearly 4,000 ephemeral pamphlets, monographs, and gray literature covering a wide array of subjects in sexuality and gender studies across all walks of life. The Canadian Vertical Files provide a huge collection of material from across Canada, representing activism, politics, art and literature, public health, and more. Indian residential schools and Two-Spirit people are well represented. 

GLBT Historical Society (San Francisco) Various collections covering Queer history, disabilities, race, and ethnicity.

The GLBT Historical Society holds more than 900 archival collections and is an international leader in LGBTQ+ history. Based in San Francisco, their collections provide coverage not only of the locally based Queer community but also communities from across the United States. Twenty-two collections cover many aspects of society, including people with disabilities, diverse ethnic communities, sex workers, Queer communities, and transgender people. One highlight and valuable addition to any collection will be the diaries of Louis Graydon Sullivan, a gay and transgender activist; Gale is applying its HTR technology to his handwritten diaries to facilitate research. 

Biblioteca Daniel Cosío Villegas, Colegio de México (Mexico City) Revista Interdisciplinaria de Estudios de Género; other periodicals and books covering gender, sexuality, and society in Mexico.

The Daniel Cosío Villegas Library of the Colegio de México (ColMex) is a leader in Mexico and Latin America for the richness of its collections, the quality of its bibliographic processes, and the offering of specialized services to the national and international academic community. ColMex publishes a variety of periodicals covering Mexican and Latin American social history, including gender and sexuality studies. The Interdisciplinary Review of Gender Studies of the College of Mexico is just one of four relevant periodicals in the collection. Also included from ColMex are a range of books on gender studies in Mexico and beyond, many with a particular focus on women’s rights and roles in society. 

Elihu Burritt Library (Central Connecticut State University) Collections covering Queer history, and the interactions between religion and sexuality.

Opened in 1972 ,the Elihu Burritt Library provides a wealth of information in a variety of formats.  Their GLBTQ Archives are particularly strong in materials by and about Connecticut's GLBT communities, and religion and the Gay Community. 

Canon Clinton Jones Collection - Canon Clinton Jones, an Episcopal priest in Connecticut, spearheaded one of the first major LGBTQ+ advocacy organizations and mental health supports in the state. He revolutionized community care and support and inspired generations to come. During his lifetime, Canon Clinton Jones was a central figure in Connecticut’s LGBTQ+ community and a pioneer for compassionate care,  queer visibility, and gender affirmation in the mid-20th century. 

The John Loughery Collection, 1934-2021 consists of materials assembled in writing The Other Side of Silence, Men's Lives and Gay Identities, A Twentieth Century History, New York, Holt, 1999. Some of the collection's highlights: Transcriptions of interviews with gay activists as well as "coming out stories" | Posters | An extensive collection of playbills for gay themed plays or plays with a gay character performed between the 1950s and 1999 | Articles from periodicals and newspapers | Gay Comics | Typescripts | Photographs The collection also contains extensive material relating to Mr. Loughery's other book: John Sloan: Painter and Rebel, New York, Holt, 1995.

SAMPLE CONTENT

• Materials from the Canadian Organization for the Rights of Prostitutes, including articles, speeches, pamphlets, and a press release about a mass arrest of sex workers in the 1980s.
• Activist and historian Eric Garber, who wrote extensively about LGBTQ+ people in the Harlem Renaissance, with notes and research from his presentation T’Ain’t Nobody’s Bizness: Homosexuality in Harlem in the 1920s.
• FTM (Female-to-Male) International Records, which is the largest and oldest continuously running organization serving the transmasculine community and their allies.
• Sexualidad, derechos humanos y ciudadanía. Diálogos sobre un proyecto en construcción (translates to Sexuality, Human Rights and Citizenship: Dialogues about a Project under Construction), which is a collection of essays published by the Colegio de México that discusses sexuality and human rights from a Latin American perspective.
• Anthropologist and Sexologist Clark Taylor who documented the gay community in Mexico in the 1970s; his field notes include rich interviews with Mexican gay men.
• The papers of advocate, activist, and former sex worker Tamara Ching, a transgender activist who managed a support group for Asian and Pacific Islander trans people.