What People Are Saying

What other city has Gay Carnival and Southern Decadence, and the Up Stairs Lounge fire, not to mention all the colorful characters and interesting bars that have come and gone? Our LGBT+ history is fascinating and needs to be preserved. Thankfully, the Archives Project is doing just that.

The mission of the LGBT+ Archives Project of Louisiana is not just a set of goals. It is a calling shared by its members, many of whom have seen the personal archives of their own friends lost or deliberately discarded. This calling directly led to the creation of this essential organization that has already stepped in to save numerous invaluable collections that will serve historians and researchers for generations to come.

The LGBT+ Archives Project of Louisiana is doing a lot of important work that others are not doing. Future generations, including scholars and artists, will certainly benefit from the history the Archives Project is preserving.

Researchers a hundred years from now will thank their lucky stars for the work the Archives Project is doing today.

Louisiana has a diverse population and storied history. I’m impressed not only with the organization’s mission but also its commitment to inclusion in the execution of that mission. The Archives Project is dedicated to shining a humane light on the numerous LGBTQ+ communities and experiences in our state.

The LGBT+ Archives Project ensures the preservation of collections by connecting donors with repositories eager to care for their materials. The Archives Project also helps to defray the costs of their ongoing care through grants which have subsidized processing, and in some cases digitization.

The organization not only seeks out subjects to interview and to record their histories for future generations, but it also provides invaluable training to both undergraduate and graduate students in Louisiana and Mississippi in the methodology of oral history and research.

As part of our mission, we have had the honor of working with the Archives Project in multiple instances to document, commemorate, recognize, and celebrate Louisiana’s LGBT history. The Archives Project has positioned itself as a leader in this area, from assisting individuals considering the placement of their personal papers with area archives to rich public programming to its own grant support for various projects documenting the state’s queer history.