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208 W 13 St
New York, NY 10011

Building Hours

Monday-Saturday
8 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Sunday
8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

ABOUT THE ARCHIVE

We’ve reopened for limited onsite research appointments; reach out to archive@gaycenter.org to learn more. For material available from home, check out the Remote Research Guide.

 

The LGBT Community Center National History Archive is a community-based archive that collects, preserves, and makes available to the public the documentation of LGBTQ lives and organizations centered in and around New York. Through our collections, we enable the stories and experiences of New York’s LGBTQ people to be told with historical depth and understanding.

Materials in the collections run from as early as 1878 to the present day, and are made up of a variety of media, including paper, scrapbooks, photographs, audio and video recordings, pamphlets and printed materials, posters and born-digital records. Holdings consist of personal papers created by individuals and records of organizations; periodicals (newspapers and magazines); organization files (printed matter created by organizations for their membership bases) and the organizational records of The Center.

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Search Archive Collections

The Jewel Box Revue featuring Stormé Delarverie (1957), photographer unknown, from the Visual Collection (#123)

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ARCHIVE ACCESS

The Center Archive is open to all researchers, by appointment. Please search our collections to focus your research needs. Appointments are currently scheduled Thursdays 12-5:45 p.m. To make an appointment, or for more information about archive resources and donating materials, email archive@gaycenter.org.

RIGHTS AND REPRODUCTIONS

The Center Archive is able to fulfill reproduction and licensing requests, depending on the collection and intended use. Click below to review policies and fee schedules, and to submit a request. If you’re not able to conduct onsite research to make selections, we recommend browsing digitized material on view at Google Arts & Culture.

Submit a Request

INTERACTIVE TIMELINE

The Center has played a tremendous role in the nurturing and growth of the LGBT community in NYC. View our interactive timeline to get a glimpse of how we have supported the happiness and health of our community since 1983.

View interactive timeline

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Archive Gallery


  • Untitled [Black Lives Matter at Stonewall] (2020) by Jonathan Ned Katz (he/him/his)

  • Untitled [Justice for Marsha P. Johnson] (2020) by Jonathan Ned Katz (he/him/his)

  • Plastics in the City (2020) by Timothy French (they/them/theirs)

  • Plastics in the City (2020) by Timothy French (they/them/theirs)

  • Plastics in the City (2020) by Timothy French (they/them/theirs)

  • A Walk Through Times Square Theater District, April 9, 2020 (2020) by Matt Schicker (he/him/his)

  • Park Slope (2020) by Gary Wickham (he/him/his)

  • Apartment Building in Park Slope (2020) by Gary Wickham (he/him/his)

  • Excerpt from answers to the Archive Project's questionnaire checking in with each contributor.

  • Love in the Time of COVID-19 (2020) by Peter Robinson (he/him/his)

  • Excerpt from answers to the Archive Project's questionnaire checking in with each contributor.

  • Untitled [Portrait in Isolation] (2020) by Lily Olsen (she/her)

  • Untitled [Portrait in Isolation] (2020) by Lily Olsen (she/her)

  • Untitled [Portrait in Isolation] (2020) by Lily Olsen (she/her)

  • Untitled [Portrait in Isolation] (2020) by Lily Olsen (she/her)

  • Excerpt from answers to the Archive Project's questionnaire checking in with each contributor.

  • Dante & Holly (2020) by Cailtin McCarthy (they/them)

  • Untitled [Dima & Sasha] (2020) by Alexander Kargaltsev

  • Untitled [Dima & Sasha] (2020) by Alexander Kargaltsev

  • WERK From Home (2020) by Barry Brown (he/him/his)

  • WERK From Home (2020) by Barry Brown (he/him/his)
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Queer Life In Quarantine

Queer Life in Quarantine highlights contributions to The LGBT Community Center National History Archive’s LGBTQuarantine Archive Project, an open call to collect stories, photographs, diary entries, artworks and more representing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and quarantine.

In response to the particularities of the COVID-19 health crisis, the nature of social interaction and the means through which we experience connection has shifted. Some stay connected with those they live with, some meet loved ones in socially-distanced settings, while others maintain or create relationships through digital means. In a period when physical distance becomes a necessity for public health, social lives are transformed. Nonetheless, connection among our communities continues to be a source of hope and strength for many.

Special thanks to Dante Hussein, Caitlin McCarthy and Avery Novitch—and all of the contributors to the project.

See a trio of exhibits showcasing the LGBTQuarantine project at our Google Arts & Culture page. The call for contributions is still open: gaycenter.org/lgbtquarantine

Veena Bobba,
Curator

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Support The Center

Your contributions make our work possible. From sunset events on the Hudson River to our annual gala, and from individual donations to corporate giving, The Center offers a variety of ways to give for each unique individual and organization. We thank you for being our partner in serving and supporting the LGBT community.

YOUR HELP PROVIDES

  • Resources for The Center to keep its doors open 365 days a year
  • Groups, activities and educational seminars to support LGBT families
  • HIV and AIDS prevention, support and testing
  • A community to foster healthy development for LGBTQ youth
  • The only New York State, OASAS-licensed outpatient substance abuse treatment program designed specifically for LGBT people
  • And so much more!




How you can help

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