Florida LGBTQ+ Collection
Scope and Content
The Florida LGBTQ+ Collection contains newspapers, journals, newsletters, magazines, and other periodicals related to the LGBTQ+ community in Florida. It includes titles such as The Weekly News (TWN), which was the longest-running gay newspaper in Florida at the time of its final issue, and Mama Raga, a lesbian magazine published in Gainesville.
The collection has grown to include documents and ephemera. The greatest concentration of this material focuses on the Gainesville LGBTQ+ community. It also includes subject files that cover topics related to the entire state, such as material on a late 1970s boycott of Florida citrus, and 1981’s Trask-Bush Amendment.
The Florida LGBTQ+ Collection also contains material from outside the state of Florida that has been arranged into a separate series. It consists of LGBTQ+ publications, such as ONE, the first pro-gay magazine in the country, and RFD, a reader-written periodical focused on country living. This series also includes LGBTQ+ documents and ephemera, such as chapbooks by lesbian poet Jean Sirius and guides to the March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay rights in 1987. While the content of this series is mainly national in focus, many of the materials, particularly the publications, do have information related to the state of Florida.
Dates
- 1960 - 2021
- Majority of material found within 1970 - 2000
Access
The magainze Lesbian Connection in boxes 14-17 is temporarily restricted while work is done to remove some personally identifiable information contained within. Please ask archivist if you would like to view them.
Otherwise the collection is open for research.
Extent
9.64 Linear Feet (27 boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
The Florida LGBTQ+ Collection contains newspapers, journals, newsletters, magazines, and other periodicals related to the LGBTQ+ community in Florida. It includes titles such as The Weekly News (TWN), which was the longest-running gay newspaper in Florida at the time of its final issue, and Mama Raga, a lesbian magazine published in Gainesville.
Arrangement
Materials in the Florida LGBTQ Collection are arranged into two series. Series 1 consists of materials about the LGBTQ community in Florida. The first part of the series includes journals, newsletters, and other serial publications. Documents, ephemera, and other materials are arranged by city, followed by state-level issues that are grouped into subject files. Series 2 consists of items produced outside of Florida. Publications are grouped together, followed by documents and ephemera that are arranged alphabetically.
Location
University of Florida Smathers Library Building
Acquisition Information
ONE Magazine donated in memory of Alma Ebert by Carle Elkins and Patrick Ellis. Several issues of Kindred Sisters were donated by Gregory Allen. Other materials donated by Sue "Rainbow" Williams and the Pride Community Center of North Central Florida.
- Title
- A Guide to the Florida LGBTQ+ Collection
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Finding aid created by Bridget Bihm-Manuel
- Date
- June 2023
- Description rules
- Finding Aid Prepared Using Dacs
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Description is written in English.
Repository Details
Part of the Special and Area Studies Collections, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida Repository
George A. Smathers Libraries
PO Box 117005
Gainesville Florida 32611-7005 United States of America
352-273-2755
special@uflib.ufl.edu