PLEASE NOTE: This Wiki is largely inactive now. J.D. Doyle
has duplicated my timeline and is expanding on it:
http://www.houstonlgbthistory.org/timeline.html
In many communities, local LGBT history has remained largely inaccessible to researchers, educators, and the general public--and even the LGBT community itself because documentation of the "queer" experience in general is often fragmentary and scattered. However, our history DOES exist...be it in old photo albums or scrapbooks, letters and journals, boxes of memorabilia and keepsakes left behind by others, or the tall tales and stories held in the collective community memory. These personal treasures often go unrecognized despite the important community history they inevitably contain. While the Houston ARCH project will have many facets, the overarching goal will be to uncover and preserve the collective community memory so our story can be told.
To help put things in perspective, we have been developing a timeline of events.
have played an important part in every gayborhood by serving as a meeting place and community focal point.
I am using mapbuilder.net to map the locations of all the old bars in Houston as well as other places of interest to the LGBT community of our town.
The Publications
The newsletters, periodicals, and "bar rags" that have circulated
throughout Houston at different times are an integral source of
information. I hope to see the start of a project to index the earliest publications
which would make the history of our community more accessible.
Click here to see my list as it stands right now.
Oral histories are essential for documenting any minority community. Over time historians develope "master narratives" that people draw on for their understanding of, and beliefs regarding, our past.
Oral history interviews are the single most powerful way of challenging the absolute veracity of the timelines and stories that have come to be regarded as the truth.
We plan to develope a database listing the people that have been interviewed, those we wish to interview, and where we are in the process regarding each interview...
Click HERE to read a bit more about what Oral History projects are and the purpose they serve.
ORAL HISTORY LINKS:
Oral History Collections/Projects
Community Research Project of Rice University's "Introduction to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Studies".
HOW-TO GUIDES FOR CONDUCTING ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEWS
Baylor Oral History Workshop Materials.zip
DoingOralHistory.org Resources.zip
Capturing the Living Past - An Oral History Primer.doc
LSU Oral History Center Resources.zip