Lesbian Herstory Archives

The Lesbian Herstory Archives is the world's largest collection of materials by and about lesbians. It was founded in 1974 by Joan Nestle, Deborah Edel, Julia Penelope, and Sahli Cavallaro out of Nestle's Upper West Side apartment, in reaction to what its founders saw as the systematic destruction of lesbian records by mainstream and gay male archives alike. Its holdings now exceed 12,000 books, 20,000 photographs, 300 special collections, and thousands of newsletters, tapes and personal papers. Since 1993 the Archives has occupied a four-storey Victorian brownstone at 484 14th Street in Park Slope, purchased with grassroots donations of $1 apiece and up. The building is itself a heritage site — the collection is run entirely by volunteers, and the domestic scale of the setting (kitchen, reading rooms with couches, a garden) is a deliberate rejection of the institutional-archive model. Researchers browse folders on the coffee table. Anyone can visit. The Archives asks visitors to email for an appointment for archival research, but drop-in visitors during opening hours (Thursday afternoons + first Saturday of the month, plus most Pride weekends) are welcome for a tour and to browse the reading rooms. Admission is free; donations at the door fund the operation. Highlights of the collection: Audre Lorde's papers, Mabel Hampton's photographs, the complete run of *Sinister Wisdom*, Alix Dobkin's music archive, Susan Sontag correspondence, and the largest known collection of lesbian pulp fiction — displayed openly on shelves. Take the F train to 7th Avenue; brownstone is two blocks east.