Research Guides: HIST/WGS 120b: Queer History in the United States: Home

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Subjects: Anthropology, Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Latin American, Caribbean and Latinx Studies, Sociology, Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

Featured Primary Source Databases

Brandeis Library subscribes to many databases of digital primary source materials-- letters, memos, photographs, images, documents, and more. Go to A-Z Databases to access our full list of our primary source databases.

Archives of Sexuality and Gender This link opens in a new window
Digitized primary sources for the historical study of sex, sexuality, and gender. Find a wide range of materials, such as: oral histories from the African Women's Life History Project; declassified FBI files detailing surveillance of gays and lesbians in the U.S. from 1950 to 1982; and erotica from the "Private Case" of the British Museum Library.
Our access includes: LGBTQ History and Culture Since 1940, Parts I and II; Sex and Sexuality, Sixteenth to Twentieth Century; International Perspectives on LGBTQ Activism and Culture; and Community and Identity in North America.
Independent Voices This link opens in a new window
Collection of alternative press publications 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.
LGBT Magazine Archive This link opens in a new window
Archival runs of some of the most influential, longest-running serial publications covering LGBT interests. Includes the pre-eminent US and UK titles – The Advocate and Gay Times, respectively. Chronicles more than six decades of the history and culture of the LGBT community. In addition to LGBT/gender/sexuality studies, this material also serves related disciplines such as sociology, political science, psychology, health, and the arts. Note: Some publications may contain explicit content.
Database available through at least May 31, 2025, as part of ProQuest's Evidence-Based Acquisition Program.
Queer Pasts This link opens in a new window
A collection of primary source exhibits for students and scholars of queer history and culture, curated by academic editors Marc Stein and Lisa Arellano. The database uses “queer” in its broadest and most inclusive sense, embracing LGBT topics as well as other sexual and gender formations that are queer. Particular focus is given to perspectives from people of color, trans people and people with disabilities.
Database available through at least May 31, 2025, as part of ProQuest's Evidence-Based Acquisition Program.
LGBTQ+ Rights (HeinOnline) This link opens in a new window
Explores the gay rights movement in America, including civil rights and law passage in the 20th and 21st centuries, as well as the inequalities that still exist today. Find legal and policy research on topics such as marriage and family, employment, military service, and health care.

Queer Archives & Digital Collections

There are many queer community archives, as well as archives at major institutions such as universities, that have posted digitized primary source materials in freely-accessible online exhibits or searchable databases. Here are a few.

ACT UP Oral History Project
Collection of interviews with surviving members of AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP), New York. Includes videos, bios, and interview transcripts.
Digital Transgender Archive
The Digital Transgender Archive (DTA) seeks to increase the accessibility of transgender history by providing an online hub for digitized historical materials, born-digital materials, and information on archival holdings throughout the world. Includes holdings from the ONE Archives, University of Victoria's Transgender Archives, Country Queer Oral History Project, etc.
GLBT Historical Society (San Francisco)
Digital collections include archival material, oral histories, audio collections, obituaries, and more.
The History Project (Boston, MA)
The History Project's mission is to document and preserve the history of New England's LGBTQ community, and to share that info with the public.
Lesbian Herstory Archives (Brooklyn)
World's largest collection about lesbians and their communities. Site includes digitized photos, oral histories, audio recordings, newsletters, and video. Recent digitization efforts include Audre Lorde's speeches, panel presentations, and readings.
LGBTQIA+ Periodical and Ephemera Collection | Princeton University Library
Magazines and other primary source materials from the LGBTQIA+ community. Materials that have been digitized so far date from the 1950s to 2000 and focus on the physique/muscle and drag/trans+ cultures.
LGBT Religious Archives Network
Includes oral histories, profiles, and digitized collections of LGBT religious history.
ONE Archives at the USC Libraries
The largest repository of LGBTQ materials in the world. Founded in 1952, ONE Archives houses millions of archival items including periodicals, books, films, videos, audio recordings, photographs, artworks, organizational records, and personal papers. ONE Archives has been a part of the University of Southern California Libraries since 2010.
Queer Zine Archive Project (QZAP)
QZAP was first launched in November 2003 in an effort to preserve queer zines and make them available to other queers, researchers, historians, punks, and anyone else who has an interest DIY publishing and underground queer communities.
NYC Trans Oral History Project
The New York City Trans Oral History Project is a community archive devoted to the collection, preservation and sharing of trans histories, organized in collaboration with the New York Public Library.

Finding Archives (Digital and Physical)

In addition to searching the web for queer archives, try some search engines designed specifically to help you find materials housed in institutional archives.

Archive Grid
Archive Grid searches thousands of repositories worldwide that hold unique collections relevant to your research and information about their holdings.
Digital Public Library of America (DPLA)
Digitized materials from libraries, archives and museums around the United States.
HathiTrust Digital Library
A digital library of 18+ million items from more than 60 academic and research libraries. Some materials will be visible in full, and some are still in copyright and thus are only searchable. Log in via Brandeis in order to download public domain (out-of-copyright) materials.

Secondary and Scholarly Sources

LGBTQ+ Source (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
Provides full-text access to scholarly journals, newspapers, books, and other materials on lesbian, bisexual, gay, and trans (LGBT) topics. Database includes a specialized LGBT Thesaurus containing over 6,400 terms.
America: History & Life (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
A comprehensive database of articles on the history and culture of the parts of North America that make up the present-day US and Canada.