February is LGBT+ History Month – a time to celebrate, remember and learn about our diverse and often hidden histories. What better way to do that than to take a dive into a few of the most exciting boxes held in the Lesbian Archive at the Glasgow Women’s Library (GWL)?
The library is the only accredited museum, library and archive in the UK dedicated to the lives of women and non-binary people. What’s more, it is home to the only lesbian archive of the UK. The collection started its life in 1984 in London, but when funding was cut by its local council during Thatcher’s oppressive Section 28, it found its new home in Glasgow in 1995. The collection spans from the 1920s to present day and holds a range of materials that embody otherwise invisible slices of lesbian history.The archive at the GWL has just as important a role in recording, recovering, remembering and recontextualising lesbian histories today as it did 40 years ago. Highlights of the collection include: