Archive
The Archive page features primary source material from Nashville’s LGBTQ+ history. You can search through photographs, newspapers, and oral histories from regional archival institutions. You can also learn about ways to contribute your own items to the archive, either by donating to a regional institution or by preserving your own materials with some helpful tips.
All archival resources come from institutions across the United States, particularly the South. Check out the Bibliography page for more information on primary and secondary sources.
Historic Photos
Look through the Albert Gore Research Center’s Flickr account to see nearly 400 images from Nashville Pride parades, ally churches, LGBTQ+ organizations, buildings, and more. If you join Flickr for free, you can add your own information and memories to the comment section of each photo.
Newspapers
Read over 1,300 digitized pages from queer newspapers published in Nashville and the South, covering the 1970s to 1990s.
Oral Histories
Oral history interviews are crucial to documenting marginalized narratives. Listen to stories from LGBTQ+ people who loved, protested, danced, and made a life in Middle Tennessee.
Contribute
Do you have a story to tell? Did you keep photographs, scrapbooks, diaries, t-shirts, and more that represent your experiences in the LGBTQ+ community? Do you want to help current and future generations learn about the power of past trials and triumphs? Find out how you can donate your items to an archival institution, or how you can preserve your own archive.
“History isn’t something you look back at and say it was inevitable. It happens because people make decisions that are sometimes very impulsive and of the moment, but those moments are cumulative realities.”
MARHSA P. JOHNSON
