Lesbian Herstory Archives

Tonight, we will be honoring our childhood, adolescent, and adult selves in an At-Home with Prof. Mary Mahoney!

Dr. Mahoney and moderator Colette Montoya will lead participants in exploring how pop culture helps understand ourselves. She will also lead a zine workshop & sign copies of her 2023 book, “Dolls of Our Lives: Why We Can’t Quit American Girl.”

Dr. Mahoneys book and doll-sized LHA shirts will be available for purchase at the event.

In-person tickets are sold out, but a few Zoom tickets remain:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/951196553497?aff=ebdsshios

Remembering Joan P. Gibbs, Civil Rights Attorney, Sista Warrior, Kind Friend. Join us in a Celebration of Her Life,
Saturday, June 8th, 2024 1:00 - 5:00 p.m.
at The Peoples Forum, 320 West 37th Street • New York, NY
(between 8th & 9th Avenues)
The Memorial Tribute will also be live streamed via Zoom at 1 p.m https://us02web.zoom.us/J/85240110186
Meeting ID: 852 4011 0186

Saturday June 8th, join us for Brooklyn Pride activities! From 12pm-5pm you can find us at 28th Annual Brooklyn Pride Multicultural Festival with our Merch "Sale"! Look for us on Fifth Ave between 1st and 2nd streets! We will be offering limited edition, screen-printed 50th anniversary merch on t-shirts, tote bags, prints, and buttons for a suggested donation.
At 6:45 we will be lining up for the twilight Parade, in front of 399-401 Douglas Street. The Parade is expected to take off after a moment of silence at 7 pm. Find us and come march with us! All are welcome!

Our Book "sale" and Open House, June 1!
Saturday June 1 is the day for our book "sale"! Please come and check it out! The 14th street block is having a block party that day, and to make our 50th anniversary stand out we will be serenaded by Fogo Azul, at 12:45. Right after that we will start our book sale, 1:15 till 4, and there will be house tours every hour from 11-4.
Besides books we will have magazines, t-shirts and tote bags for sale, and some other merchandise as well. Come and make buttons! Suggested donations for books are $2 for paperbacks and $3 for hardcovers, and for pulp novels we'd like to ask $5-$10
We are looking forward to seeing you there.

Abundant Rich Lives- Returning to the Le***an Herstory Archives slide show.
The LHA slideshow was an ongoing project of the Archives that provided countless moments of education, connection, and personal transformation. Join us for a conversation between Ariel Goldberg, and longtime activists Alexis Danzig and Deborah Edel. As Le***an Herstory Archives volunteers and community members, each worked closely with the slideshow in the late 1970s through the 1990s.

May 14, 2024 Doors at 6:30 pm, Program at 7pm
The Center for New Jewish Culture at the Union Temple House of CBE
17 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, NY 11238

This is a hybrid event. If it's accessible for you, we'd love to have you in person. All reserved tickets will receive a confirmation email including Zoom information for virtual attendance. Registration link is here:
https://cbebk.shulcloud.com/cnjc-abundant-rich-lives

photo: Saskia Scheffer, “Alexis Danzig on Her Motorcycle Before Going on Tour with the Le***an Herstory Archives Slideshow,” 1996

The Le***an Herstory Archives was founded by a small group of women in 1974. Many people have contributed, visited, archived, volunteered, donated, collected materials, and organized and helped and given us their love and their energy.

We are very happy and proud to celebrate our fiftieth birthday this year. For all of you who were there, whether it was decades ago or just a few months, we have created a guestbook for you to sign.
https://www.kudoboard.com/boards/jsaVUyBq/lha50
Please share your memories, your thoughts, your stories of the Archives and what LHA means to you. Feel free to add a picture or even a video.

We, again, are asking for your memories. Your words, your faces will become part of our 50 years anniversary celebration.

This Thursday, April 11 at 8 pm we are co-presenting with NewFest again! The theme this time is "Q***ring the Canon: Besties" and the movie is "Go Fish!". Join us for a Q&A with Troche and Turner following the screening at BAM.
Film Synopsis: The fête of le***an friendship and community are at the center of director Rose Troche’s landmark debut feature, a clever and s*xy matchmaking romance set in Chicago. As Max (co-writer Guinevere Turner) looks to end a 10-month s*xless drought, her friends may have a freshly single someone in mind. With lyrical interludes and black-and-white independent panache, Troche carves an indelible film for the unabashed le***an life of the 90s–and shows how enticing finger clipping foreplay can be. Please get your tickets here:
https://newfest.org/events/qtc-go-fish/

We are sad to share the news of Stacy Miller's sudden and unexpected death. Stacy was a brave fighter, surviving a complicated cancer history for many years. She was one of the driving forces behind the formation of Center Kids. She was a volunteer at LHA in the early days on 14th Street and marched proudly with the Archives at many Brooklyn Pride marches. Stacy was a talented science teacher at Mary McDowell Friends School She enjoyed spending time with close friends, her three grown children Kendra, Zhara and Doran, their partners and her three grandchildren. On top of all of this, she was a whiz at Scrabble and Words with Friends.
R.I.P. Stacy. You will be missed.

The first image shows Stacy (left) with her daughter Kendra (center) and a friend. The second image shows Stacy on the right with other LHA people at a Brooklyn Pride March.

This month also marks the passing of Amber Hollibaugh, high femme, activist, s*x worker, labor organizer, q***r.... An incredible presence in our communities, an inspiration to all. If some of you are not yet familiar with Amber, here is a link to her 2018 Kessler Lecture:"Hope and Power of Desire: Our Vision for Changing World."

"If you can imagine it, you can build it."
Your legacy will keep helping us imagine, and building.Thank you Amber. Rest in Power.

Kessler Lecture 2018 Amber Hollibaugh Amber Hollibaugh delivers 2018 Kessler Award Lecture entitled "Hope and Power of Desire: Our Vision for Changing World

Eva Kollisch, 1925-2023
Eva Kollisch was a writer, feminist, anti war activist, le***an rights activist and well known for co-founding the pioneering Women's Studies department at Sarah Lawrence College. In 1986 she met Naomi Replansky at a Gay Women's Alternative poetry reading and they were partners for the rest of their lives. In the 1980s they founded a support group for gay and straight women over 60 called The Older Women's Network, that met monthly in a community room in the West Village for over 20 years. Both Eva and Naomi were closely connected to the Archives. Eva died nine months after her partner and we honor both their lives with much gratitude and love. May their memory be for a blessing.

Le***an pulp fiction played a crucial role in the development of le***an identity in the 1950s and 60s, when media representations of le***ans remained very rare. Widespread distribution on cheap wood pulp paper made these books accessible, and the sensational covers hinting at their content were eye-catching. Many were written by men and subject to censorship restrictions requiring unhappy endings for their le***an characters. Despite this, le***an pulp fiction was a lifeline and one of the few ways that le***ans could see anyone like themselves in books, earning it the term “survival literature,” coined by Joan Nestle.
This post comes to you courtesy of Rebecca, who has been volunteering at LHA for a long time! Her latest project is the cataloging of the pulp novels.

It is 1981 and NOW, the National Organization for Women, is working hard on catching up with the le***ans! About ten years after the famous Lavender Menace Action this pamphlet makes the rounds, letting people know "we must be willing to risk the loss of heteros*xual privileges if we are to build a truly feminist society," and, "we "hope to answer some questions and clear up some misconceptions." Take a look and see what they wanted to share. Some of it is still quite to the point, some of it is not nearly radical enough. And I wonder how many committees this text had to be vetted by. But it was a step. A big one. For now.

Hive mind, we need your help! Are you familiar with le***an events in the late 70s?

Sometimes we have to do a lot of research in order to find out where a certain piece of our collection came from. We have many many t-shirts for instance, more than 1200, and not everyone of them came with information. Here for instance is a black and white or silver t-shirt with the letters NLF and three circles, with a woman in front of them. The date looks like 1978 and there is a name which looks like L. Dallan, no longer completely legible.
Here is what we think the two possibilities for the origin of this shirt are:
The National Le***an Feminist Organization describes a t-shirt in their 1979 newsletter as follows: "black french cut w/ silver design and letters NLFO". The small circle could be read as an O and this is a distinct possibility.
Another possibility:
If we interpret it just as NLF it could be the Northampton Le***an Festival. We do not have any information on whether there was a tshirt made by them but it is possible of course.

So, if you have any information about events in that time, and you recognize this shirt, please let us know so we can add it to the catalog record for the shirt. Thank you!

Jerre Kalbas (March 3, 1918-July 11, 2023)
Jerre Kalbas died this morning.
It is too early for words for me but I want to acknowledge Jerre with some photographs from the happy days of her life. She was an out le***an for most of her life and active in many of our communities. Here she is with her friends, one of her dogs, and even at the Archives! She donated her photographs to us and we will share more about her life in the near future. For now we offer just a glimpse, scenes with friends and places. How she loved them! The last photo is from just a month ago or so.
RIP Jerre. RIP Emma. Rest in peace with whichever name you choose. There is a link to an oral history on our linktree/profile page.

RIP Lilli Vincenz. Le***an activist, documentarian, filmmaker, hero. Thank you for your courage and your willingness to put yourself on the line. Visibility is Pride.

Gay and Proud: Lilli's Legacy Making History and Capturing It.

It is with a great sense of loss that we acknowledge the sudden passing of Minnie Bruce Pratt on July 2 2023.

Social justice activist, poet, essayist, and educator Minnie-Bruce was born in Selma Alabama in 1946. She was a friend and mentor to many others during her lifetime. Her prolific writings on race. class, gender and social theory leave important sign posts for those struggling to understand our world and to make a way forward.

We offer our condolences to her children, her family members and all who loved her.

ID 1: At the Night of Thousand Legends, April 13, 1995 Photo by Morgan Gwenwald

ID 2: Minnie Bruce Pratt and her partner Leslie Feinberg at a book party for S/He, April 14, 1995. Photo by Morgan Gwenwald

Click on this post to enjoy it fully on Instagram. Deb will tell you wonderful things about our collections. And yes, happy birthday Deb!

Le***an Elders Speak! Deborah Edel is one of the cofounders of the Archives. She has an incredible memory of events that happened, collections we acquired, objects we received and herstories we have been lucky enough to add to our holdings. Here she is in 6 one-minute videos, describing a small exhibit in the hallway of our building in Brooklyn. We are incredibly grateful to her for sharing her wisdom, experience and understanding. Thank you Deb... and yes, happy birthday! Please scroll through and enjoy! The videos are captioned in full. ID 1: Deb holding one of Morgan Gwenwald's iconic photographs. ID 2: Deb talks about a musical duo's jacket: Casselberry-Duprée. ID 3: Over to Maxine Feldman's blue satin jacket. ID 4: More information about Casselberry-Duprée. ID 5: Mary Jo Hinton's jacket, a le***an army medic who was stationed in Vietnam. ID 6 and 7: Deborah talks about her own jacket and how it relates to two other archives' coordinators: Morgan Gwenwald and Polly Thistlethwaite. #le***anelders #le***aneldersspeak

From the first NYC D**e march and on, a few b&w images from the early days, and for good measure a video from last year! Please join us and thousands of others at the next D**e March, Saturday June 24, taking off at 5 pm at Bryant Park and 42nd street. Be there! Be heard! Be seen! Rain or Shine! ID 1: the First Annual NYC D**e Pride March. 1993 (All images by Saskia Scheffer.) ID 2: The International March, 1994. Among the marchers here is Marilyn Hacker. ID 3: 1995: Sn**ch The Power! ID 4: 1996, after the March, gathering in Washington Square Park. ID 5: 1997: Dare to be D**es... we recruit! ID 6: 1998: Marching past Bryant Park ID 7: 1999: Marshalls protecting all, allways, whether from police or traffic or whatever came in our way. ID 8: 2000: D2K. One of my all time favorites. Just pure D**e March joy. And the video is from 2022. Enjoy!

Join us at the NYC D**e March, and also, be sure to update our email address in your contacts and on any websites or social profiles where you mention us. More info at the link below.

Join us at the D**e March & Our New Email Address

Please join us Saturday, June 10th, for Brooklyn Pride! And yes, by popular demand: we are doing the booksale again! For your convenience, we are tabling on Fifth avenue between 1st and second street. The prices are modest! Rumor has it there's even a very good painting in the offerings. Bring your friends!
And after the booksale we will get ready for Brooklyn's Pride March. The pre-march ceremonies start at 7 and the March starts on time at 7:30. You can find the LHA contingent in front of 135 Fifth avenue , close to St. Johns Place and Douglass Street. We are so looking forward to seeing you there!

Don't forget, tomorrow, June 4: NewFest shows “Jewelle, a Just Vision.” And the Le***an Herstory Archives is co-presenting it!

This personal and moving documentary illuminates the decades-spanning work of author & activist Jewelle Gomez and her contributions to LGBTQ+ women of color communities. Q and A with filmmaker Madeleine Lim afterwards. When you book your ticket (hurry!) use code LHA23 for a $5 discount.

The Le***an Herstory Archives does not tolerate hate speech (including discriminatory comments) on our social media accounts.

Out of respect and solidarity with the many intersecting communities and individuals whom we serve, as well as their safety, user comments may be removed.

Last week while we were reorganizing a few areas we came across these posters that had not yet been cataloged. We are cleaning and fixing them up a bit, and they will become part of our cataloged graphics collection. Here they are as we saw them last week, we haven't done the research yet but we'll share the little bit that we know. They do speak for themselves!
In order of appearance, all held up by intern

1. Differently Gendered Lives: from a GLTB Programs Office (? no further info here) event in 1995
2. Yes I Am! Melissa Etheridge, 1993. She rocks! She does!
3. Audre Lorde, poster from 2012.
4. Celebrating 50 years of the Le***an novel. 5th Annual Le***an Writers Conference, 1978
5. Many Strong and Beautiful Women, by Kiki (Mundo) 1990. On the top, in her handwriting:Muchas Mujeres fuertes y bellas, and her signature.
6.Difference Enriches Us All: A Proud Parent of Le***ans. Not dated but probably carried in a (few) demonstration(s).
7. Deaf Communications. The hands likely indicate there will be an interpreter present.
8. Advertisement: The W4Wbuzz poster from DisMagazine. Gorgeous haircuts! Printed in small print at the bottom, maybe hard to read in a small Instagram image, but here we quote a few words used to sing this buzzer’s praise:
“…because of the seemingly limitless possibilities, age isn’t a factor, nor is hair texture, gender or orientation. Whether you’re male or female, trans or sans, these conveniently priced hairstyle solutions are simple and easy to meme.”
Got a favorite?

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As you move around the archives, one of the lives that will reach out to you is that of Bobbi Prebis. She is seen in the slide show images of the blue star women, working class Buffalo Butches who tattooed a blue star on their wrists under their watches so they could find each other. Bobbi is on the right, and her friend Butch Pat (PAT Bullard) is seen on the left, and Bobby Bailey is in the center. Now we have permission to use their names, but in the 50s, 60s and 70s and on le***ans were often very careful with whom they shared their lives and identities.
On the next image you can see Bobbi's hard hat with the Lambda gay liberation sticker on it and we just rediscovered her hobnail boots given to us at the same time in the 1980s. Bobbi, a working class Butch, drove forklift tractors in the old Bethlehem Steel mills in Buffalo, New York and these were her working gear. A memorial to all the le***ans who worked at hard physical jobs in factories, mills, warehouses, around America and never entered the statistics of this country. Deborah Edel and Joan Nestle met Bobbi Prebis and her long time partner Liz Kennedy, one of the authors of Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold, in the early days of the Archives along with another Buffalo icon , Madeline Davis. All le***an and gay activists, they hosted the Archives many times, as we showed their community the LHA slide show. Bobbie and Liz are both in their 80s, and Deb and Teddy still visit with them every summer.

It was a wonderful and inspiring day just to be together with some of the Archives generations and friends -some who were first timers at Bloodroot and also to talk with Selma Miriam and Noel Furie . With 49 years of the Le***an Herstory Archives and 43 years of Bloodroot there are lot of herstories around the table always.

This is a group of women from the Le***an Herstory Archives who travelled to Bloodroot for lunch on Saturday, all the way from Brooklyn! We were delighted with their visit and hope they can make the journey here again soon!

Transgender visibility.
Community.
Empowerment.

Always.

A sampling of images from D**e and Drag Marches, NYC, from recent years.

Please join us at:
Morgan Gwenwald and Ariel Goldberg in conversation.
Thursday, March 30, 2023 6:00 PM -8:00 PM
Magnum Foundation 59 East 4th St., NY NY 10003.
Registration required, the event is free. Link on our profile page. ZOOM registration as well.

This conversation between curator Ariel Goldberg and photographer Morgan Gwenwald is in conjunction with the exhibit Images on which to build, 1970s-1990s (on view at the Leslie-Lohman Museumtill 07/30/2023).
Morgan Gwenwald will speak about her wide-ranging documentation of le***an and q***r grassroots organizing in New York City in the 1970s-1990s.
She will share rarely before seen materials, including documentation of the 1982 Barnard S*x Conference and portraits of influential and beloved community members. Attendees will hear about Gwenwald’s practice, which includes publishing, exhibition making, constructing darkrooms, and building analogue networks for le***an photographers to share skills and resources.
Morgan Gwenwald has been a volunteer and a coordinator at the Le***an Herstory Archives since 1979.

ID 1: Morgan Gwenwald and Ariel Goldberg in preparation for this conversation.Photo by Saskia Scheffer, 2023
ID 2: Leslie Feinberg interviewing Quentin Crisp, backstage at Night of 1,000 Legends, Club 58, NYC. April 13, 1995. Photo by Morgan Gwenwald.
ID 3: Le***an Herstory Archives, after Barnard’s Toward a Politics of S*xuality Conference, (l-r) Madeline Davis, Frances Doughty, Gayle Rubin, Pat Califia, Sabrina Williams (on floor) April 24,1982. Photo by Morgan Gwenwald.
ID 4: Deborah Edel, 8th Street, New York City, April 25, 1982. Published as “Evolution of an Image” 1984. Photo by Morgan Gwenwald.
ID 5: Joan Nestle (l) and Mabel Hampton waiting to address NYC Gay Pride Rally, June 24, 1984. Photo by Morgan Gwenwald.
ID 6: A Persistent Desire, edited by Joan Nestle, cover photograph by Morgan Gwenwald ca 1991
ID 7: A tearsheet from On Our Backs, Fall 1984, featuring Lace Bo***ge (1983) and Lace Hankie (1982), both by Morgan Gwenwald.
ID 8: Curator Goldberg and photographer Gwenwald going to great heights to prepare for their conversation. Photo by Saskia Scheffer.