Digital Resources

Some of our collections have been digitized, allowing you to access selected materials from your computer. Our main collections pages offer summaries of what is contained in each collection and include links to any available digital collections. Below is a list summarizing which of those collections include digital components.

Metal shelves containing archival and file boxes.

Since 1979, the Lesbian Herstory Archives has collected personal papers and organizational records donated by Lesbian individuals and groups. The more than four hundred collections that compose the Archives’ Special Collections help document and preserve a diverse cross section of Lesbian herstory. You can now search an index of these collections.

Tall shelves filled with VHS tapes in the corner of a room.

Herstories: Audio/Visual Collections contains digitized copies of some of the 3,000 oral herstory cassettes in the Archives’ Spoken Word Collection and 950 videotapes in the Video Collection.

Pink t-shirt that reads

Our T-Shirt Collection has been catalogued, and this database can be searched by keyword in each field including the text, graphic, year, event, organization, city, state, country, focus (Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, Feminist, AIDS) and by two subject descriptions (e.g., political, AIDS). We code the style, the color of the shirt, the print and design and, if known, the designer, donor, and any information about the story behind the T-shirt.

The Archives’ Button Collection contains thousands of buttons and pins dating from 1973 to the present. This collection now has a searchable catalog including photographs of each button and the text written on each button (where applicable).

Our Periodicals Collection includes national, regional, and local publications by, for and/or about Lesbians. You can now access a searchable online catalog outlining our holdings by title.

Two Black dykes sitting on a motorcycle at a march with people waving rainbow flags in the background.

Our Photo Collection, which we have started to digitize, reflects the growth of the Archives since 1974. Much of the materials came to us from women who simply wanted their images saved and their lives remembered. The collection holds snapshots, professional photography, found images and everything in between. We have made a small sampling of images available online.

Side-by-side newsletter covers, one featuring a graphic of two Lesbians and one featuring a variety of pin-on buttons.

Our own LHA Newsletters are a wonderful source of information. They are published by us, and provide news, updates, information and all kinds of resources. Many of them contain bibliographies on specific Lesbian topics, letting the community know what is available for research, and all of them have been digitized.