When a group of women in the Gay Academic Union founded the Lesbian Herstory Archives in the mid-1970s, they did so in explicit recognition that lesbian herstory ‘was disappearing as quickly as it was being made.’ For over fifty years, through many major milestones in LGBTQ history, this entirely volunteer-run organisation has quite literally rescued history from the trash. These days, the LHA is a world-renowned archive, community centre and organising space, and the Brooklyn brownstone out of which it’s run is home to the world’s largest collection of materials by and about lesbians and their communities. Join us for a screening of The Archivettes, a documentary film that traces the extraordinary journey of the Lesbian Herstory Archives, as its co-founders plan for its future in uncertain times. This film screening will be followed by an open, collective discussion around documenting LGBTQ histories, the challenges faced by community and grassroots archives, and the longer archival legacies of queer and trans activism in the UK and elsewhere.

Thank you to Lucy Brownson for organising the screening.

Suggested but absolutely not essential readings from Lucy:

• A chapter from Cait McKinney’s brilliant book Information Activism: A Queer History of Lesbian Media Technologies (2019) – either the frsit chapter ‘The Internet That Lesbians Built: Newsletter Networks or the final chapter, ‘Doing Lesbian Feminism in an Age of Information Abundance

• ‘Archives as Queer Infrastructure by Zarin Tasnim https://www.societyandspace.org/articles/archives-as-queer-infrastructure