Australian Lesbian and Gay Archives

The Australian Lesbian and Gay Archives (ALGA) is a non-profit organisation committed to the collection, preservation and celebration of material reflecting the lives and experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex LGBTI Australians. It is located in South Yarra. The Archives was established as an initiative of the 4th National Homosexual Conference, Sydney, August 1978, drawing on the previous work of founding President Graham Carbery. Since its establishment the collection has grown to over 150,000 items (450 shelf metres), constituting the largest and most significant collection of material relating to LGBT Australians and the largest collection of LGBT material in Australia, and the most prominent research centre for gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans* and intersex history in Australia.

ALGA's collection includes a broad range of library, archive, museum and gallery material, including personal papers and organisational records, periodicals, books, posters, photographs, audio-visual (betamax, VHS, 8mm film, DVD etc.), sound recordings (oral history, radio programs, conference speeches events etc.), newspaper clippings, theses, articles and pamphlets, ephemera (e.g. flyers, circulars, invitations, cards, calendars etc.), badges, T-shirts, banners, objects, born digital objects etc.

The collection is strongest in holdings relating to the early gay liberation movement in Australian onwards (i.e. 1970-); however, the collection also includes earlier items such as a book of love poetry between two men from World War 1 and Monte Punshon's scrapbooks from the 1920s-1930s.

ALGA has also built up extensive collections relating to key aspects of LGBTI life in Australia, in particular pride festivals such as Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, Midsumma and Feast Festival, as well as HIV/AIDS and the various state AIDS action and support organisations, and lesser known aspects such as queer Christian organisations and queer sporting organisations and events.

ALGA also holds the largest collection of non-Australian LGBTI material in Australia, including material from the United States, England, Japan, China, Thailand, Indonesia, Vanuatu, Denmark, Sweden and New Zealand.

The Archives' collection of over 200 archival collections includes many notable holdings, including the organisational records of the Daughters of Bilitis/Australasian Lesbian Movement (the first LGBT rights organisation in Australia); the Records of Society Five (Melbourne’s first ongoing gay rights organisation); the Records of the National Homosexual Conferences of the 1970s and 1980s; the Records of the Homosexual Law Reform Coalition (1975-1980); the records of publishers such as Sydney Star Observer, Wicked Women, OutRage, Gay Community News, Gayzette, BlackWattle Press, Sydney Gay Writers Collective etc.; the records of religious groups such as Christ's Community Church, Uniting Network, Metropolitan Community Church, Acceptance etc.

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