OHIO Archives

Ohio University Libraries Archives & Special Collections

New Collection Alert! The Ohio University and Athens LGBTQ+ Collection

By Bill Kimok, University Archivist and Records Manager

Smack dab in the middle of Pride Month 2022, the Ohio University Archives is excited to announce the recent acquisition of our first major LGBTQ+-related University Archives collection. Donated this past spring by OHIO alum Rebecca Chmielewski (MFA, 2018) and the University’s LGBT Center, the new collection presents a comprehensive study of LGBTQ+ history, life, and culture on the OHIO campus and in Athens in general.

Image of a gray flyer with black text reading "It's a G.A.L.A. Affair! Gay and Lesbian Assoc. 10th Anniversary Celebration" with event details below.
Gay and Lesbian Association (GALA) 10th Anniversary Flyer, Ohio University, October 22-24, 1982.
Image of a handmade poster with rainbow-colored bands and black text reading "SOD dyke Mafia"
Swarm of Dykes (SOD) rainbow poster, Ohio University, 1996-2007.
Image of a green flyer with the title "Open Doors. Ohio University's Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual Student Union" with a list of events for April, May, and June 1995.
Open Doors LGBTQ+ events flyer, Ohio University, Spring 1995.

The collection includes documentation in newspaper clippings, correspondence, and copies of important University and city governmental papers related to the early struggles for recognition and fairness for OHIO’s gay and lesbian students, faculty, and staff and gay and lesbian Athenians. Events posters, informative brochures, and other materials from the various LGBTQ+ organizations that began and evolved locally from the 1970s through the 2010s, demonstrate evidence of a vigorous, active, dedicated movement that has continued throughout this time to advocate for the concerns of the local LGBTQ+ community.

Although most of these materials had been held by the LGBT Center, it was through the efforts of Ms. Chmielewski, who collected, organized, and inventoried the materials for her own thesis art project titled the “Athens LGBTQ Legacy Project,” that this collection ended up coming to the University Archives for permanent housing, preservation, and unrestricted public access. The University Archives, the Mahn Center for Archives and Special Collections, and the Ohio University Libraries appreciate those efforts by Ms. Chmielewski and the generosity of LGBT Center Director Micah McCary in allowing the archives to take ownership of these valuable, historical records. We look forward to working with the Center in continuing to add more materials to the collection in the near future and beyond.

Image of the cover of a pamphlet in grayscale titled "Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, & Transgender Student Needs Taskforce Report"
Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender Student Needs Task Force report, Ohio University, March 1998.

You can see examples of material in the Ohio University and Athens LGBTQ+ Collection as they are added to the Digital Archives. Or contact University Archivist Bill Kimok to find out when you can see the collection in person at the Mahn Center for Archives and Special Collections.

Greta Suiter

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