Gay and Lesbian Miscellaneous Manuscript Collection, 1972-2012

The Gay and Lesbian Miscellaneous Manuscripts Collection documents some of the history of the LGBTQ+ community of Bellingham and Whatcom County, Washington. The collection spans the period circa 1972-2012, with the bulk of material from 1972-2002.

Manuscript materials include fliers, posters, journals and a small number of photographs documenting events and activities in the Bellingham and the surrounding area, clippings and articles, as well as information about local LGBTQ+ resources. These materials include incomplete runs of local women's publication the "Women's Network Newsletter", and a local lesbian publication called "The L Word". Manuscripts also include a journal, posters and fliers pertaining to a traveling women's coffeehouse in the early 1990s, and several programs from the Pacific Northwest Women's Music & Cultural Jamboree (held at Western Washington University in the early 1990s). Information about gay and lesbian community resources in Bellingham include histories of the Womencare Shelter (founded in 1979 as a safe house for victims of domestic violence) and the Elizabeth Blackwell Women's Clinic. Manuscripts also include a 1972 photograph of a local gay bar in downtown Bellingham, ephemera documenting LGBTQ+ events held at Western Washington University, and programs from the Imperial Sovereign Court of the Evergreen Empire's drag ball show in Bellingham. The collection contains one folder of records reflecting the concerns and actions of women at the Puget Sound Women's Peace Camp circa 1983-1984. Posters and fliers document anti-nuclear protests at the Boeing Cruise Missile Plant in Kent, Washington, and include the 1985 publication We Are Ordinary Women: A Chronicle of the Puget Sound Women's Peace Camp.

Audio recordings include copies of Chris Pastorino's lesbian radio show, produced by Western Washington University's KUGS station from the early 1980s through 1993. The collection also contains several oral history interviews conducted in conjunction with the Gay and Lesbian Archives project in 2001-2002.