Out of Our Closets…Into Our History: Preserving Georgia’s LGBTQ Past

About Us

Our Mission and Purpose

We are a group of archivists, librarians, and community volunteers dedicated to preserving Georgia’s LGBTQ+ history. Personal collections held by community members are some of the most historically valuable and most at-risk collections. We are committed to raising awareness among LGBTQ+ Georgians of the historic value of their photo albums, private letters, papers, computer hard drives, protest signs , t-shirts, flyers, photographs, diaries, publications, ephemera, costumes, oral histories etc. and empowering people to ensure stewardship and preservation of these resources for the future.

Georgia is host to several local LGBTQ+ archives; therefore, another goal of ours is to promote use and accessibility to these holdings. There is great interest from these institutions in becoming stewards of YOUR items! Our project facilitates the preservation of your historical items through personal archiving and/or donation. Additionally, as we all live more of our lives digitally and online. Many of these repositories also facilitate digitization and donation of born digital materials as well as physical materials. We can help you find the right steward for your items when you are ready.

Many people choose to hold onto their personal collections for their lifetime but fail to plan for the stewardship of these collections after their death. This has led to many historically valuable resources being lost. As we like to say, ‘No fame required’!

Please reach out if you have any questions, we look forward to helping you preserve and share your personal part of history.

We would like to say a special thank you to Ann Edmonds, retired Ponce de Leon branch of the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library librarian, who’s inspiration to connect the LGBTQ Community with Atlanta collecting institutions resulted in the creation of this group. The work we have accomplished in the last 10 years would not have been possible without her dedication and perseverance.

Our History

Archivists and members of the LGBTQ+ community founded the LGBTQ Archives Project, later renamed the Georgia LGBTQ History Project, in 2011. It all started when Ann Edmonds, a librarian at the Ponce de Leon branch of the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library, attended a Services and Advocacy for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Elders (SAGE) meeting at the Rush Center where members discussed what to do with the stuff they had accumulated about LGBTQ Atlanta. Many didn’t think their collections had research value and didn’t realize many local institutions wanted to document their history.

Recognizing a need to connect the community with local collecting institutions, Edmonds contacted Georgia State University, Emory University, the Atlanta History Center, Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System’s Auburn Avenue Research Library and Ponce de Leon Branch, as well as oral history projects Touching UP Our Roots, StoryCorps, SAGE Oral History Project, and Trans Tell Your Story Project. The first board included Ann as Secretary, Hillery Rink as President, Cal Gough as Treasurer, and Morna Gerrard as Vice President.

After holding initial meetings at the Ponce de Leon Branch library, the Georgia LGBTQ History Project started meeting monthly at the Rush Center to review group business and to plan programs as well as providing an opportunity for institutions to update members on new collections and processing projects. Later meetings were held at different locations around metro Atlanta and at various times to accommodate more members. And to better inform members, the group created an email list and a Facebook page, both of which remain active. Not only did the Facebook page alert viewers to upcoming events, it allowed potential donors to connect with institutions and for community members to teach and learn from each other.

The project has organized programming such as “Out of Our Closets and Into Our History” at The Rush Center in 2012. Some of the other presentations we’ve done over the years include a presentation at Atlanta Prime Timers and at the Atlanta Gay Men’s Chorus retreat in 2014, a presentation at The THEA+ Conference in 2015, a table talk at a Metro Atlanta Association of Professionals (MAAP) meeting at Burkharts in 2015, an LGBT Archives Roadshow at Burkharts in 2017, a Group Processing day at GSU in 2019, and a presentation about the project at the Invisible Histories Project Conference in 2019. Topics of discussions have included institutions discussing donation procedures and the importance of documenting LGBTQ history, an overview of different collecting institutions and their collections, and donors speaking about their own experience with the process.

The group has also given “Archives 101” talks at the Ponce de Leon Library in 2019, and virtually to Southern Fried Queer Pride and Atlanta Emerging Museum Professionals in 2020. At all events the Project has always emphasized that “no fame is required” for someone’s collection to contribute to the historical record; rather, it is everyday items that tell an accurate story about the past.

In 2020 the project voted to change its name to the Georgia LGBTQ History Project because the board and members believed it was a more inclusive term.

You can learn more about the Georgia LGBTQ History Project by visting the Georgia State University Special Collections and viewing our records. Or, you can read several articles published by Georgia Voice about us.