The Botts Collection of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender History is open to the public by appointment.

Begun under the aegis of the Resurrection Metropolitan Community Church as the Charles Botts Memorial Archives and Library, the Botts Collection established an independent 501c3 status with the IRS in 2012, and is now housed at Grace Lutheran Church. 

The curator, Larry Criscione, may reached at 713-256-7392.

We are also now happy to offer access to the working inventory detailing the contents of the Botts Collection!

As the collection now exists, there are approximately 10,000 books including biographies, directories, published studies, and novels written for the LGBT community. The book collection includes books signed by people such as Truman Capote, Alan Ginsberg, and Barbara Jordan.

The periodicals include a full run of TWiT (This Week in Texas), Outsmart, and the Houston Voice as well as partial runs of earlier Houston publications such as Nuntius, Pointblank Times, Montrose Star, and LXIX. There are also many periodicals from outside of Texas represented such as The Ladder, Drum, RFD, and Gay Sunshine. The entirety of the periodical collection measures in at about 700 linear feet.

The organizational and the personal papers section measures in at about 215 linear feet. And includes the papers of local activists, such as Gary VanOttingham who, on August 01, 1975, went before the Harris County Commissioners’ Court to speak out about gay rights, as well as come out publicly about his own homosexuality, an act that cost him his job as the county comptroller.

The collection also contains a great deal of ephemera - posters, buttons, trophies, fliers, scrapbooks, etc.