Collins Memorial Library: GQS 494: Gender Research Seminar: Primary Sources

Primary Sources

Primary sources for your thesis will vary depending on your topic and your approach. The examples and collections listed below are just a sampling; ask Katy for help in identifying additional primary sources.

Examples in the humanities:

a novel
a painting
a theatre performance

Examples in the social sciences:

a political, social, or economic theory
a dataset
the results of an experiment published in a peer-reviewed journal

Example in the sciences:

the results of an experiment published in a peer-reviewed journal

Subject Collections

Gender Issues and Sexuality by Adrienne Wilmoth Lerner (Editor)
Call Number: Click on the title above for online access.
Publication Date: 2006
A focus on leading social issues of the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. This title contains approximately 175 full or excerpted documents---speeches, legislation, magazine and newspaper articles, essays, memoirs, letters, interviews, novels, songs, and works of art---as well as overview information that places each document in context.
Family in Society by K. Lee Lerner (Editor)
Call Number: Click on the title above for online access.
Publication Date: 2006
This volume of primary source documents focuses on the role of the family in society. It contains approximately 175 full and excerpted documents--speeches, legislation, magazine and newspaper articles, essays, memoirs, letters, interviews, novels, songs, and works of art--as well as overview information that places each document in context.
Defining Documents in American History - LGBTQ+ (1923-2017) by Michael Shally-Jensen (Editor)
Call Number: KF4754.5 .L495 2018 v.1-2 Reference
ISBN: 9781682178942
Publication Date: 2018
Provides important analyses of over 80 documents significant to LGBTQ rights. The material is organized under three historical groupings,and each document is supported by critical essay. Includes a glossary, chronology, suggestions for further reading and web resources.
Feminist Manifestos: a global documentary reader by Penny A. Weiss (Editor)
Call Number: HQ1150 .F457 2018 Print Books
ISBN: 9781479837304
Publication Date: 2018
An unprecedented collection of 150 documents from feminist organizations and gatherings in over 50 countries over the course of three centuries. An introduction to each individual document contextualizes and enhances our understanding of it.

Digital Collections

Archives of Sexuality & Gender
Primary source material that explores the many facets of LGBTQ history. Users will find page images of a mixture of activist groups’ organizational papers, flyers and pamphlets, NGO and Governmental reports, periodicals, newsletters, personal papers, legal documents and more.
LGBT Thought and Culture
An online resource hosting books, periodicals, and archival materials documenting LGBT political, social and cultural movements throughout the twentieth century and into the present day. The collection illuminates the lives of lesbians, gays, transgender, and bisexual individuals and the community.
Black Studies Center
Includes scholarly essays, recent periodicals, historical newspaper articles, reference books, and much more. Including The Schomburg Studies on the Black Experience, Index to Black Periodicals Full Text, Black Literature Index, and the Chicago Defender historical newspaper from 1912-1975.

Independent Voices
An open access digital collection of alternative press newspapers, magazines and journals, drawn from the special collections of participating libraries. Search by title or visit the “Series” tab to choose LGBT.

American Prison Newspapers, 1800-2020: Voices from the Inside
Brings together hundreds of newspapers published within prisons by incarcerated people over the past 200 years. When complete, the collection will contain newspapers from prisons in every state, representing penal institutions of all kinds, including women-only institutions.
Student Activism
Serves as a scholarly bridge from the extensive history of student protest in the United States to the study of today's vibrant, continually unfolding actions. The collection captures the voices of students across the great range of protest, political actions, and equal-rights advocacy from the 20th and early 21st century United States.

Data & Statistics

Social Explorer
A research tool designed to provide access to historical census data and demographic information. It creates maps and reports to help users visually analyze and understand demography and social change throughout history.
Sage Data This link opens in a new window
Simplifies data analysis by providing an all-in-one resource for researchers and students to access statistics relevant to their areas of study.

Gender Data Portal
The World Bank's Gender Data Portal makes the latest gender statistics accessible through compelling narratives and data visualizations to improve the understanding of gender data and facilitate analyses that inform policy choices.
LGBT Data
This site serves as a no-cost, open-access clearinghouse for the collection of sexual orientation & gender identity data and measures.

Selected Primary Sources Online

The ACT UP Oral History Project
A collection of interviews with surviving members of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, New York. Includes transcripts and streaming video clips of each interview.
Digital Transgender Archive
An online hub for digital and archival collections throughout the world. Includes magazine, posters, flyers, and other material.
GLBT Historical Society
Based in San Francisco, the GLBT Historical Society is both a museum and an archive. Selected material from their collections has been digitized and made available online.
LGBTQ+ Studies Research Guide (Library of Congress)
An introduction into the excellent collection of LGBTQ+ resources available at the Library of Congress.
LGBTQ History Digital Collaboratory: Oral History Hub
Connects scholars, activists, and archives across Canada and the U.S. to produce a collaborative, digital history hub for gay, lesbian, queer, and trans* oral histories.
LGBT Religious Archives Network
Oral History collection provides interviews with a diverse group of early LGBT religious leaders. Transcripts, photographs, and other materials included.
Queer Zine Archive Project (QZAP)
Digital archive of zines made by LGBTQ folks.

Digital Public Library of America This link opens in a new window
An all-digital library that aggregates information about, thumbnails for, and links to millions of photographs, manuscripts, books, sounds, moving images, and more from libraries, archives, and museums around the United States.

Internet Archive
Non-profit library of millions of books, images, and other files. Internet Archive can help you find media resources; it also offers the Wayback Machine which can help you find webpages that no longer are in existence.