Exhibiting Regional LGBTQ History in Dallas, Texas Page: 79
This article is part of the collection entitled: UNT Scholarly Works and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the UNT Libraries Special Collections.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
Founding of the LGBT Archive of the University of North Texas
Special Collections
University of North Texas Special Collections initiated a major collection
development project to collect and preserve LGBTQhistory in 2012 with
the acquisition of the Resource Center Collection. At over 600 linear feet
of materials, the Resource Center Collection documents social services
outreach activities and health services for the LGBTQ community of
Dallas. Additionally, the collection includes a wide variety of personal
and organizational materials donated to the Resource Center over
time. The Resource Center Collection began in the 1960s as PhilJohnson, a
local gay activist and archivist dedicated himself to preserving the history of
the Dallas gay community as it was unfolding. PhilJohnson was a member
of almost every gay organization in Dallas, from the first he helped create in
1965, Circle of Friends, to charity and athletic organizations in the 1990s.
He dedicated himself to personally collecting materials to document this
history. Along with documentation regarding organizations, Johnson
collected ephemera for all types of gay and lesbian organizations and events
in north Texas, as well as publications from across the country related to
gay and lesbian culture. As the collection grew, the PhilJohnson Historic
Archives, as it was now called, were transferred to the Resource Center,
a community-based organization originally founded to assist the Dallas
gay community during the AIDS crisis in the 1980s. The Resource Center
was, and continues to be a major hub of healthcare information for the
Dallas LGBTQcommunity, with the primary mission of improving the
lives of LGBTQpeople and those affected by HIV/AIDS through health
and wellness (Resource Center n.d.).
The Resource Center opened the PhilJohnson Library with this collection
in 1995, allowing community members access to view and check out
materials like books, periodicals, and VHS tapes. The Resource Centerfound that caring for such a large collection and making it accessible to the
public was too great of an obligation which did not fit into their primary
mission of providing health and social services to the LGBTQcommunity,
and so began searching for a new repository for the collection in the early
2010s. Resource Center eventually selected UNT Special Collections to
be the new repository for this massive collection after years of relationship
building.
Since Special Collections acquired the Resource Center Collection, the
LGBTQArchive has continued to growwith individuals and organizations
donating their collections. Additionally, Special Collections formed
a partnership with The Dallas Way, a non-profit community archives
organization focused on collecting the LGBTQhistory of Dallas. The
Dallas Way has supported Special Collections by facilitating the acquisition
of significant collections, fundraising for digitization efforts and by working
closely with archivists to accurately describe LGBTQcollections.
Shortly after acquiring the Resource Center Collection, Special Collections
created an exhibit from those materials, highlighting major themes, people,
and events in the Dallas LGBTQCommunity. This exhibit was on display
in the Special Collections Reading Room on the UNT campus and was
recreated in a digital surrogate (University of North Texas 2014). The
materials utilized for this exhibit were digitized, but the expanse of the
Resource Center Collection, over 640 boxes of materials, has made full
digitization impossible for the time being.
Over the past eight years, Special Collections has prioritized major efforts
to collect, digitize and preserve other LGBTQ collections. In addition
to personal papers and organizational records, Special Collections
was able to acquire a full run of the Dallas Voice newspaper, a weekly
LGBTQnewspaperbased in Dallas, founded in 1984 and still in publication
today. A grant funded project to digitize the Dallas Voice newspaper was
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This article can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Article.
Parker, Jaimi & Gieringer, Morgan Davis. Exhibiting Regional LGBTQ History in Dallas, Texas, article, January 9, 2021; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1923506/m1/2/: accessed June 2, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.