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Exhibitions For LGBTQ+ History Month and New LGBTQ+ Archival Collections

An update from UNO’s Queer Omaha Archives during October, which is LGBTQ+ History Month and American Archives Month.

UNO Libraries is home to Nebraska’s largest LGBTQIA2S+ archive and it continues to grow with support from community members and organizations. Recent donations include records from River City Gender Alliance, Heartland Gay Rodeo Association, Scott Winkler, an addition to the Lavender Couch collection as well as smaller gifts of photos, posters, books, and ephemera from other supporters. Thank you to all of the donors who put their trust in UNO Libraries to preserve this unique regional history.

UNO Libraries’ Archives and Special Collections is often fortunate to host graduate student interns from other universities who are completing their master’s degrees in archives and library science. Intern projects with the Queer Omaha Archives over the last year included the physical and intellectual arrangement and description of the records of the Heartland Gay Rodeo Association and the Metropolitan Community Church of Omaha. This semester’s intern is also processing the papers of UNO professor emeritus Meredith Bacon. The result of these students’ work is greatly expanded and detailed finding aids, or inventories, for each collection available in UNO Libraries’ database and international databases. It is critical to be able to make these collections easier to use for community members from UNO and greater Omaha as well as researchers from across the country.

The exhibit “We’re Not Going Back!” about the 1987 March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights and some of the Omahans who attended continues through December 22, 2022. The display is available on the first floor/lower level whenever the library is open. Archivists continue to offer tours and pop-up displays for community groups, employee resource groups, and interested individuals.

Contact acschindler@unomaha.edu or 402-554-6046 to schedule a tour or discuss a potential donation to the archives.

Missouri high School history teacher Rodney Wilson was the first to celebrate LGBTQ+ History Month in October 1994 after he came out to his class when teaching about the Holocaust during which he could have been killed for being gay. October was chosen because the anniversaries of the first and second Marches on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights were held in October 1979 and 1987 and National Coming Out Day is October 11.

About the University of Nebraska at Omaha Libraries

UNO Libraries fulfill the UNO mission through dynamic services, highly qualified and adaptive personnel, unique and extensive collections, and accessible learning spaces and environments. With its two locations, Dr. C.C. and Mabel L. Criss Library on UNO’s Dodge Campus and in KANEKO-UNO Library located in Omaha’s Old Market, UNO Libraries provides UNO students, faculty and staff, and the Omaha community with the resources and materials needed to excel academically and professionally.

About the Queer Omaha Archives

The Queer Omaha Archives collects and preserves unique and rare documents, photographs, videos, and other historical materials about the LGBTQIA+ history of Omaha and Nebraska as part of UNO Libraries’ Archives and Special Collections. Through donations from dozens of community members, the Queer Omaha Archives shares the stories of individuals, organizations, and the communities they create. We welcome opportunities to share LGBTQIA+ historical material already in the archives with individuals and organizations and are actively seeking additional material to preserve as part of the archives. Contact archivists to arrange a tour or presentation, discuss donating material, make a financial contribution.