Document Type

Article

Publication Title

The American Archivist

Publication Date

Spring 2018

Volume

81

Issue

1

Disciplines

Library and Information Science

Abstract

While traditional archives have successfully diversified collecting scopes to include materials from marginalized communities, archivists have yet to examine whether the descriptions of these materials appropriately represent the communities of origin. In an effort to determine how discoverable LGBTQ collections are and if the terms used to describe LGBTQ individuals might be inaccurate and possibly harmful to the LGBTQ community, this article compares terms used by LGBTQ history project Web sites to describe gender and sexual identities to terms used in traditional archives to portray those same identities. This comparison reveals that the terms in finding aids are general and in some cases outdated versus the diverse and modern language that appears on LGBTQ history project Web sites. The article ends with recommendations to explore collaborations with the LGBTQ community through personal relationships, creating subject guides, and providing an avenue for those viewing finding aids to suggest improvements to reconcile those differences.

Keywords

Archival description, LGBTQIA+, Community archives, Access, Finding aids, Minority stress, Identity and language

Rights

© 2018 Erin Baucom

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 License

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