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US History Free Primary Sources

This is a guide with links to digital primary sources, mainly archives and other organizational collections.

Organizational Archives & Records

 ACT UP Oral History Project

The ACT UP Oral History Project is an archive of 187 interviews with members of ACT UP, the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, New York.


Digital Transgender Archives

The purpose of the Digital Transgender Archive (DTA) is to increase the accessibility of transgender history by providing an online hub for digitized historical materials, born-digital materials, and information on archival holdings throughout the world.


The Empty Closet, 1971-2011

Archives of one of the oldest continuously published LGBT papers in the United States.


GLBT Historical Society Archives

Founded in 1985, the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender (GLBT) Historical Society is recognized internationally as a leader in the field of LGBTQ public history. Search thousands of photographs, audiovisual recordings, documents and periodicals in the Society's holdings.


NYC Trans Oral History Project

The New York City Trans Oral History Project is a community archive devoted to the collection, preservation and sharing of trans histories, organized in collaboration with the New York Public Library. 


ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives

Contains over 700 archival collections of personal papers from activists, artists, and ordinary citizens, as well as records from LGBTQ political, social, educational, and cultural organizations. Some collections are only available in person.

  

Miscellaneous

2013 Supreme Court Hearings on DOMA/Prop 8

News articles, blogs, organizational websites, and social media related to the 2013 Supreme Court hearings and subsequent rulings for the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and California's Proposition 8.


FBI Records on the Mattachine Society

Begun in 1950, the Mattachine Society was an early homosexual rights advocacy organization. It became the subject of an FBI internal security investigation between 1953 and 1956.