Welcome to the
Houston ARCH Wiki!
The Houston Area Rainbow Collective History ("Houston ARCH") was formed to support the collection and preservation of the local LGBT community history, and to expand digital access to related historical materials.
In many communities, the local LGBT history has remained largely inaccessible to researchers, educators, 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 of memory are often times not recognized for 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.
Learn more about Houston ARCH's mission.
Download the Houston ARCH brochure.
Due to the screening of "Out of the Silence"
at Rice University at 7pm on October 28, 2009,
the Houston ARCH Public Meeting has been postponed.
Please check back for updated meeting information.
Interested in reading about the NEH Grant discussed at the August 2009 meeting?
Click HERE!
Heard about Houston ARCH recently in OutSmart, or on
KPFT's "Queer Voices" or "After Hours" radio shows?
CLICK HERE to see the list of websites referred to in the June 2009 Pride issue of OutSmart articles (see below links):
"Preserving Houston's LGBT History" (p. 48) and "Houston's Transgender Archive" (p. 110)
To listen to the May 18, 2009 Queer Voices radio program click HERE. (NOTE: this is a large file and may take a few minutes to download)
To listen to the July 26, 2009 After Hours radio program click HERE. (NOTE: this is a large file and may take a few minutes to download)
ACCESSING LOCAL COLLECTIONS & CREATING COMMUNITY MEMORIES
Please continue to check here for updates, as new collections & subjects will be added or expanded on an ongoing basis.
Local GLBT Collections
Community History Subject Areas
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LGBT Interactive History Timeline- Explore our interactive timeline that documents local LGBT events and history and compares them to national and global events occurring at the same time. User input in STRONGLY encouraged!!
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The Bars - Local watering holes have played an important part in every "gayborhood" as both a meeting place and community focal point.
- LGBT Publications - We plan to assist in indexing local publications so our community history will be easily accessible to researchers.
- Oral History Interviews - It is critical that we gather word of mouth histories of what went on in Houston. Students of Rice University's "Introduction to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Studies" class have already made a small beginning. (See the Outsmart article from June 2007.) Houston ARCH plans to organize a team of interested individuals to continue capturing our quickly disappearing history and life stories from important figures and pillars of the Houston area LGBT Community. Please contact us if you are interested in getting involved.
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Internal Project Pages - Feel free to browse our internal working project pages if you're interested in learning more about the behind the scenes project work, including technical issues, funding opportunities, outreach, etc.
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All Houston ARCH Wiki Pages - Many of the current pages on the Houston ARCH wiki have not yet been organized into folders and may only be accessible by viewing the complete list of all current Houston ARCH wiki pages.
Have ideas for a new page to add? Want to share your old LGBT community photos or historical records?
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QUESTIONS? COMMENTS? IDEAS? CONTACT US!
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