GLBT Historical Society

The GLBT Historical Society (for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual Transgender Historical Society) maintains an extensive archival collection of materials relating to the history of LGBT people in the United States, with a focus on the LGBT communities of San Francisco and Northern California. The society also sponsors The GLBT History Museum, a stand-alone museum that has attracted international attention. The Swedish Exhibition Agency has cited the museum as one of just "three established museums dedicated to LGBTQ history in the world."

Referred to as San Francisco's "queer Smithsonian," the GLBT Historical Society is one of approximately 30 LGBT archives in the United States—and is among the handful of such organizations to benefit from a paid staff and to function as a full-fledged center for exhibitions, programming, research, and production of oral histories. It is recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as a tax-exempt 501(c)3 educational association and is registered with the State of California as a nonprofit corporation.

The archives, reading room and administrative offices of the GLBT Historical Society are located at 989 Market St., Lower Level, in San Francisco's Mid-Market district. The GLBT History Museum, which serves as a separate center for exhibitions and programs, is located at 4127 18th St. in the city's Castro neighborhood.

The roots of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society extend to the early 1980s, when Willie Walker and Greg Pennington met and discovered that they shared an interest in gay and lesbian history. They joined forces to pool their personal collections of gay and lesbian periodicals, dubbing the ad hoc initiative the San Francisco Gay Periodical Archive.

At the same time, Walker was involved in a private study group, the San Francisco Lesbian and Gay History Project; among its members were a number of individuals who would go on to make major cultural contributions, including historians Allan Bérubé and Estelle Freedman, independent scholar Jeffrey Escoffier, author and community organizer Amber Hollibaugh, and anthropologist and queer theorist Gayle Rubin.

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