The Lesbian Herstory Archives
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Tucked away in an unassuming three-story brownstone on a quiet,
tree-lined street in
Brooklyn, the Lesbian Herstory Archives is a shining example of just how
far our
community has come. Founded in 1973 by Joan Nestle
and Deb Edel, it is the oldest and largest lesbian archives in the
world.
The Archives began in the tiny pantry of Joan Nestle's Upper West Side
apartment, where, she recalls, the
first bookshelves were held together with coffee cans.
Over the years, the Archives have grown tremendously. They are what
Joan calls "a 25-year-old miracle of grassroots envisioning."
Set upon creating a queer history for the lesbian community, Joan and
Deb put the
Archives on the map through word of mouth and a traveling slide show.
As they made
their way from living room to community center, they collected personal
papers,
poetry, and photographs from women across the country. The result, 25
years later, is over a dozen collections, hundreds of files
and papers, and an environment that makes you feel like you've come
home.
For nearly 20 years, when you visited the Archives, you really did go
home -- to Joan's
home, that is. "Well, they had to be here," she says. "I had the largest
apartment!" But when Joan turned 50, she decided
it was time for the Archives to move. So, in LHA tradition, the 20-plus
volunteer "co-coordinators" who run the Archives on a yearly basis went
to the
community for support. In no time at all, through fundraisers and
gatherings, the
Archives raised enough for a down payment on its new home.
When you enter the Archives today the first thing you will notice is the
foyer full
of photographs. Here you can see Audre Lorde as a young girl, an
unidentified couple
on a New York City beach in the 1950s, and a woman named Annie Lee
Grant, who lived and passed as
a man for 15 years. These are only a few of the women -- famous and not
so famous -- who line the walls.
Redesigned by lesbian carpenters and architects, the first floor is
dedicated to
the reference, book & monographs, audiovisual, and graphic/poster
collections. If you
work your way up the stairs to the second floor you'll find the special
collections, which
house everything from newsletters from around the world to diary entries
to unpublished and personal papers. Here you will also find the
periodical, newsletter, and
international collection. But a true must-see, and a great place to
commune with the past, is the button and clothing collection.
In grassroots tradition, the Archives do not accept grants from the
federal
government. Joy Rich, the volunteer co-coordinator who led me through
the Archives,
says, "We're grassroots and we feel that we're a safe place for people
to send their
papers and memories." This is in reaction to the universities
and libraries which would once have deemed it unthinkable to house gay
and lesbian collections but now seek them out.
For Joan, that change is a source of both pain and redemption. As a
high school student,
she went to the New York City Public Library at 42nd Street to attempt
to write a
research paper on homosexuality. What she found in the card catalog was
so shocking
that she never wrote it. Under "Homosexuality," it read, "see
Deviancy," and
"Pathology," with further references to mental institutions. So it's
ironic that when the New York City Public Library opened its first gay
and lesbian exhibit a few years ago, it called upon the Archives for
contributions. If you flip
through the subject files on the first floor of the Archives and happen
to come upon "Deviancy," you will now find "see History."
To contact the Archives:
The Lesbian Herstory Archives
LHEF, Inc.
P.O. Box 1258
New York, NY 10116
To visit the Archives by appointment or to find out hours, call:
(718) 768-DYKE (3953)
Fax: (718) 768-4663
www.datalounge.net/lha
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