Pride Stories: the Library offers a new collection about the LGBT movement

To mark International LGBT Pride Day, which commemorates the Stonewall riots in New York (USA) every 28 June, the Library presents the "LGBT Thought and Culture" collection, which focuses on LGBT political and social movements from the 20th century to the present day.

This collection, which contains more than 150,000 pages from archives and key works, encompasses a wide range of materials, including letters, magazines, speeches, biographies, and interviews with leaders of the movement. It also includes some of the first works of fiction to focus on the experiences of people from the LGBT community. 

The sources include international organizations and archives such as ONE National Gay and Lesbian in the United States, one of the world's most extensive archives in the field. There are also commercial and academic publishers specializing in LGBT issues, including the now defunct Alyson Books, as well as Firebrand Books and Cleis Press, which continue to publish.

There is extensive documentation from the United States, as well as publications from Europe and Latin America. One of the strengths of "LGBT Thought and Culture" is its expert curation, undertaken by an editorial team made up of leading authorities on the subject at various universities and institutions.

Documents for reconstructing stories about the LGBT movement

Here are some examples of the content available in the Library's new collection:

• The Magnus Hirschfeld Collection: the lost archive of Magnus Hirschfeld (1868–1935), a sexologist and pioneer in the fight for the rights of homosexual and transgender people. He founded the Institute for Sexual Science in Berlin, which was shut down by the Nazi regime. Hirschfeld died in exile shortly afterwards, and it was many years before his personal archive was rediscovered almost by chance. This discovery led to the recovery of professional correspondence, publications, confidential reports, news clippings, legal documents and other material.
• Tracy Baim Editorial Files: Tracy Baim is an American journalist who began reporting on feminist and LGBT issues in the 1980s. Her archive includes press releases, photographs, and files from the newspapers she has worked for, as well as the newspaper which she co-founded and owns, the Windy City Times. She is also the author and editor of numerous books, many of which examine how the media treat and cover the LGBT movement.
• The Damron Guides: Bob Damron published Damron's Address Book in 1964, which was the inspiration for a series of travel guides designed for people in the gay community who were looking for safe spaces, such as restaurants, bars, and hotels, where they could socialize and stay. The archive includes the annual guides, from the first edition until 1980.
• Books that have won Stonewall Awards and Lambda Literary Awards: works of literature, many of which are now out of print. An example is Black Like Us: A Century of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual African American Fiction, an anthology with excerpts from works of fiction written by LGBT African-American authors spanning a hundred years.

Find out about and explore the history of the LGBT movement with this new collection. We also offer a selection of books, documentaries and guides for International LGBT Pride Day, to help you learn about and promote respect for all sexual and gender identities.