Subject: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Materials in Special Collections
Written by: Anne E. Tracy
Draft date: January 2000

I. Purpose or scope of collection

A. Curricular/Research/Programmatic Needs

The purpose of collecting GLBT materials in the Michigan State University Libraries is to develop an in-depth resource of cross-disciplinary materials representing diverse or opposing viewpoints on the construction and development of gender and sexual identities, homosexuality, bisexuality, etc. Special attention has been focused on representing the cultural and political experiences of diverse and marginalized groups of people, including particular contributions from people of various sexual identities, and among them, especially those persons from minority cultures, races, classes, etc. In order to support curricular and research needs in these subject areas, Special Collections occasionally acquires, by purchase or donation, sexually explicit materials. When preserved and made accessible for research in an academic setting, these controversial artifacts of our culture become primary source material for documenting historical shifts in the social construction of sexual and gender identities. Collecting sexually explicit texts or pictures involves consideration also of the politics of pornography and issues of free speech. Therefore, special care is taken to represent views as diverse as possible, including anti-pornography feminists, free-speech advocates, gay rights advocates, ex-gay or reparative therapy movements, transgender activists, gay and lesbian Christians, anti-homosexual Christians, gay nudists, gay and lesbian parents, Marxist gays, Log Cabin Republicans, etc.

The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender (GLBT) collection of materials in Special Collections (SPC) supports the information, instruction, and research needs of MSU faculty, students, and staff, as well as visiting researchers and the general public. While no formal academic programs in gay, lesbian, queer or gender studies currently exist at MSU, the GLBT materials serve numerous University departments and programs whose faculty and students pursue research interests in human sexuality and gender. Foremost among these is Women’s Studies; others include American Thought and Language, History, English, Philosophy, Psychology, Sociology, Social Work, Anthropology, American Studies, Religion, etc.

Collecting of primary materials from the post Stonewall "Gay Liberation Movement" began in Special Collections in the early 1970’s, with the formation of a Gay Liberation Front student group on campus. At about that time, the Detroit Gay Liberator newspaper began to be published. Soon after, the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival began, and Everywoman Weekends were held on this campus, with lesbian workshops, speakers and performers. As posters, schedules, leaflets and other primary ephemeral materials related to these events became available, they were added, along with similar documents of other social movements of the 1970’s, to the American Radicalism Collection in Special Collections. In the 1980’s, increased attention was paid to issues of diversity at MSU, and in 1990, to assure that GLBT people were not overlooked in ongoing discussion and policy making, a task force was formed to examine the climate for GLBT faculty, students and staff at MSU. In 1992, upon publication of the University Wide Gay and Lesbian Task Force’s report, Moving Forward, and with the support of MSU’s Office of the Provost, the library responded with a commitment to build upon the existing strengths present in GLBT materials already in Special Collections, with the goal of improving holdings in primary resources for the study of GLBT political movements, but intending also to expand holdings of rare, popular culture and archival GLBT materials, and to move into non-print formats such as videorecordings, cassette tapes, compact discs, etc. GLBT materials in Special Collections are rich in a variety of formats, by now covering the decades from 1950, or the rise of the homophile movement, to the end of the twentieth century, and ranging from assorted magazines, newspapers and comic books, through literary works both rare and popular, to important archival donations.

Almost 900 serial titles represent magazines, entertainment guides, newspapers, newsletters, catalogs, and directories, in addition to travel and pride guides from all areas of the United States and from some other countries. Popular fiction from the 1950’s through the 1970’s, sometimes called "pulp fiction," is represented in significant amounts for both gay men and lesbians, with some titles featuring bisexual characters. The collection also includes popular transvestite and transsexual fiction from the 1980’s and 1990’s in a format particular to the genre, often sold by mail order. Gay and lesbian fiction post-Stonewall features titles from gay and lesbian small press publishers such as Alyson, Masquerade, Seal, Knights Press, Banned Books, Cleis, Spinsters/Aunt Lute, Firebrand, and Gay Sunshine Press. A variety of genres are represented in the fiction collections, including books for children of gay and lesbian parents, young adult fiction, science fiction, romance, westerns and detective/mystery fiction.

One of the world’s finest collections of comic art includes significant amounts of the works of important gay and lesbian or bisexual artists such as, Howard Cruse, Tom of Finland, Alison Bechdel, Eric Orner, and Diane Dimassa. Among the American Radicalism collections in Special Collections are historic pamphlets, leaflets, manifestos, and other documents of the early gay and lesbian liberation movements. A growing and significant collection of transsexual, transvestite and other transgender movement materials is present in autobiographies, pamphlets, magazines, newsletters, and fiction from the 1960’s to the present. Some materials relevant to gay men are included in the Changing Men Collection, for example, files or newsletters on Prime Timers and the radical faery movements. Gay male photography collections by individual photographers present significant visual work by contemporary gay artists, for example, Robert Mapplethorpe, Roy Dean, and Tom Bianchi. These are supplemented by an interesting group of earlier gay physique or "muscle" magazines from the 1950’s through the 1970’s, and by contemporary popular photography magazines for gay men. A related example of an unusual archival collection includes selected examples of physique magazines together with a large private collection of separate photographs and related correspondence.

Since the 1970’s, the Special Collections department has documented social change movements and popular trends by developing a collection of over 2,000 vertical files filled with clippings, pamphlets and miscellanea. Many of these contain material devoted to the GLBT movements and communities. Especially strong subject areas include the Gay Liberation Movement, AIDS, Gay and Lesbian Marriage and Domestic Partnerships, Gay and Lesbian Civil Rights, Homophobia, Ex-Gay Movements, and Gay and Lesbian Military Personnel.

Archival collections, customarily donated by persons or organizations active in the local community, include papers of the [Michigan State] University Wide Task Force on Lesbian & Gay Issues, early papers from the MSU Gay Liberation Movement, documents from the MSU Gay and Lesbian Faculty Staff Association (GLFSA), and a large collection of newsletters, conference papers, etc., concerning Dignity, the gay Catholic organization.

The rare book collections include first editions of eminent gay, lesbian or bisexual writers such as Walt Whitman, Gertrude Stein, Langston Hughes and William Burroughs, as well as an excellent collection of small press poetry from the 1960’s and 1970’s, including key works of important gay and lesbian American poets.

II. Factors influencing collection policy

A. Anticipated Future Trends

Expanded emphasis on collecting materials on lesbianism and human sexuality to support curricular demands of an expanded Women’s Studies department into a graduate level degree program, with increased orientation toward gender studies topics, in other departments as well as within Women’s Studies.

B. Relationship with other resources.

1. On campus branch or format collections:

The GLBT holdings in Special Collections are supported by larger holdings in the Main circulating collection, which is primarily composed of scholarly monographs and serials, in addition to biographies and literary works by gay or lesbian authors. Given the occasionally controversial nature of erotic literature and works on homosexuality, and in view of the high rate of circulation of some of these titles, Special Collections holds a number of second copies to ensure preservation and availability of selected key resources in GLBT studies.

2. Regional or network resources:

The Joseph A. Labadie Collection of radical and social protest literature at the University of Michigan is an outstanding resource in Michigan for those interested in fields that pertain to GLBT history and culture, with superior strength in British and European gay periodicals.

The Gerber/Hart Library and Archives in Chicago, Ill., serves the midwestern region as library, cultural center and archive of midwestern , national , and international glbt publications and papers.

For additional resources in the midwest, refer to the LAGAR directory, Lavender Legacies: Guide to Sources in North America, which includes an entry on the Special Collections at MSU Libraries.

C. Relationships to resources treated in other policy statements:

Religion

History

Political Science

Ethnic Studies

Women’s Studies

Gender Studies

Psychology

Sociology

Literature

Russel B. Nye Popular Culture Collection

Comic Art Collection

American Radicalism Collection

Changing Men Collection

Rare Book Collection

A. Chronology of the subject: Emphasis/Restrictions

Primarily Twentieth-Century and current materials, but including 19^th century material on sexologists, sexual advice, friendship, Walt Whitman, Edward Carpenter, Oscar Wilde, etc.

B. Languages of resources collected

Primarily English language materials, but including some Mexican, South American and European publications in their original languages as well as in translation.

C. Geography of the subject

International, but with primary emphasis on United States and Canada, as well as Great Britain, Europe and other nations in the Western hemisphere.

D. Format of the resources collected and treatment of the subject

Printed materials: serials, monographs and ephemeral publications Some videorecordings; most are sent to the audiovisual library. Most sound recordings are sent to the Vincent Voice or Fine Arts libraries.

E. Date of publication of resources collected

Primarily 1850-present; see remarks under chronology of subject matter, III-A.

IV. Levels of collecting intensity

A. Serials/Periodical Collection

Continue to collect through subscriptions, out of print purchases, solicitation of complimentary copies, and donations, serial publications which reflect the broad spectrum of GLBT political, social, sexual, economic, cultural and ethnic thought and experience. (Level 3)

B. Popular Fiction

Continue to collect by current and out of print purchases, and through donations, all areas of GLBT popular fiction with special emphasis on gay and lesbian "pulp paperbacks" from the 1950’s-1970’s, and gay and lesbian small press fiction of the 1980’s and 1990’s. (Level 3)

C. Comic Art

Continue to collect by purchase and donation comic art by GLBT artists, and comic art with GLBT subject matter, including AIDS and safe sex educational comics. (Level 4)

D. GLBT American Radicalism (Homophile movements, Gay and Lesbian Liberation Movements, and GLBT/AIDS social and political activism)

Continue to collect by purchase and by donations materials in various formats (pamphlets, newsletters, books, leaflets, posters) which document GLBT political activism and social change movements. (Level 3)

Continue to collect through purchase and donation a wide spectrum of representation of gay male artists and photographers, including early and contemporary artistic erotic photography books, physique or "muscle" magazines from the 1950’s-1970’s, and contemporary popular gay male photography magazines, with special emphasis on items where nude representations or sexual explicitness would put them at risk in the circulating collections or the Fine Arts library. (Level 3)

F. GLBT Vertical Files

Continue to develop and maintain, through staff efforts and with the addition of occasional purchased or donated materials, the Popular Culture and American Radicalism vertical files of pamphlets, newsletters, clippings (photocopied for preservation), internet and email news releases, organizational mailings and other miscellanea devoted to GLBT activism and culture. (Level 3)

G. Manuscripts and Archival Collections

Continue to collect through solicitation and donation the papers of GLBT individuals and organizations active locally and/or within the MSU community. Continue to serve as the primary depository of archival records and papers of all MSU GLBT organizations, for example, the Alliance of LGBT Students, the University Wide Task Force, and GLFSA. (Level 2)

H. Rare Book Collection

Continue to collect primarily through current or out of print purchases, with occasional donations, first edition copies of the most significant titles by eminent GLBT writers, especially works by the expatriate writers of the twenties, or milestone titles published in England or the United States before 1980, or editions published by fine presses in limited editions. (Level 2)

IV. Collection management issues: Circulation, Patron Use, and Preservation Policies

Special Collections materials are noncirculating, with use limited to a staff-supervised reading room, where book cradles or gloves may be supplied as needed for particularly valuable or fragile materials. Interlibrary loan requests are supplied when possible by photocopy, but are otherwise refused as "noncirculating". Preservation photocopies are made for patron use when originals are excessively fragile. Both radical and popular culture printed materials often have been printed with an expectation of disposability, on newsprint or other highly acidic papers, and unbound or cheaply bound, as in the case of posters, leaflets, newspapers, and mass market or "pulp" paperbacks. Such items in Special Collections are given protection when possible by the use of acid-free envelopes, folders or boxes, or mylar envelopes or sleeves.

When GLBT materials in the circulating collections (main library) are lost or mutilated, the decision whether to replace them, if contents were demonstrably controversial or explicitly erotic, may involve sending the replacement copy to Special Collections in order to avoid repeated damage or loss.

Staff who handle rare or fragile Special Collections materials are expected to use good preservation practices. Reading room rules have been designed to protect materials, and staff persons encourage careful handling of Special Collections titles by the public. Patrons may need to be reassured that their privacy will be protected, when they are asked to fill out request forms for GLBT materials. Staff dealing with patron requests may need to verify that they are dealing with someone of appropriate age and/or with a legitimate research topic in the case of some unusually explicit materials.