WASHINGTON

Center for Pacific Northwest Studies
Address: Western Washington University
MS (Mail Stop) 9123
Bellingham, WA 98225-9123 

Phone: (360) 650-7747 Fax: (360) 650-3323
Contact: Elizabeth Joffrion
E-mail: elizabeth.joffrion@wwu.edu
Internet: http://www.acadweb.wwu.edu/cpnws/
Hours: M-F 9-4:30
Wheelchair access: yes
History: Our glbt collections are a recent acquisition
Information about holdings:
We have approximately 9 cubic feet of glbt records ranging from fully processed to semi-processed to unprocessed. Many of the colelctions are made up of event flyers, and programs, advertisements, pamphlets, and other ephemera. There are some photographs, two videotapes, several audiotapes, and one business journal/notebook. We also house the organizational records of two local defunct glbt political and social groups.

Collections: The Robert Ashworth Collection - Robert Ashworth is a politically active member of the gay and lesbian community in Bellingham. Some of his work includes a compiled group of papers documenting the activities of the Sexual Minority Center, a student association at Western Washington University. The collection consists of the group's by-laws, posters, newsletter, press releases, correspondence, budget and financial records, an audiotape of a WWSC gay symposium on KMGI radio's Impact show, and memorabilia. This collection is a rich resource for the study of gender and sexuality and gay and lesbian political activity in the Pacific Northwest region in the 1970's. Gay and Lesbian Miscellaneous Manuscripts Collection - This collection consists of information about events and activities in the Bellingham and Whatcom County gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community. The collection currently contains several miscellaneous manuscripts (notes, minutes, and contact information) about a traveling women's coffeehouse, circa early 1990's, an incomplete run of a local lesbian publication called "The L Word"", circa early mid-1990's. There are also several Pacific Northwest Women's Music & Cultural Jamboree programs circa early-1990's. Hands off Washington Collection - The organization Hands off Washington (H.O.W.) was created to defeat Washington State initiatives 608 and 610 that threatened the civil rights of state and local public employees based on their actual or perceived sexual orientation. The collection consists of the organization's financial records, press releases, fundraising events, e-mails, office logs, pamphlets, newsletter and other printed materials, state level strategies, other like-minded groups, subject files relating to gay and lesbian issues, videotapes, audiotapes, opposition files and newspaper clippings, letters to the editor (for and against) the initiatives and gay and lesbian rights, workshop information, and speakers. The collection also includes copies of Washington State initiatives 608 and 610.
Collecting Interests: Collections focus on organizations and individuals in the Pacific Northwest including the band Motherlode, Hands off Washington, as well as Bellingham and WWU groups.



Northwest Lesbian and Gay History Museum Project
Address: 1122 East Pike St.
PMB #797
Seattle, WA 98122
Phone: (206) 903-9517
Contact: Ruth Pettis
Email: gayhistnw@aol.com
Internet address: http://home.earthlink.net/~ruthpett/lgbthistorynw/index.htm
Collecting areas: The Northwest Lesbian and Gay History Museum Project conducts oral histories with members of local/regional LGBT population and their supporters, collects images of venues, people, and events associated with local/regional LGBT history, and does limited collecting of flyers, posters, newsletters, and other documents.

Pacific Northwest Lesbian Archives, Seattle, Washington
Address:PO Box 27671
Seattle , WA 98165
Telephone: (206) 654-4477
Contact: Lisa Cohen
E-mail: lisa@pnwlesbianarchives.org
Internet Address: http://www.pnwlesbianarchives.org
History: Lisa Cohen founded this organization after completing training in the Archives and Records Management program at Western Washington University, in Bellingham, Washington in 2005.
Mission: The Pacific Northwest Lesbian Archives (PNLA) will focus regionally and exist as a repository; a physical safe space and a research facility of materials that document our lives. PNLA will actively seek out lesbian-related primary sources; preserve and conserve them while making materials accessible for education and research.
Our lives are important and deserve recognition and celebration as a surviving and thriving sexual minority community group. Currently there are no collecting repositories in the Pacific Northwest specifically dedicated to preserving our herstory. We have the right to know where we came from and where we are going within the context of the lesbian experience
Current Holdings: We are a brand new organization. Currently, we are in the process of soliciting the community for materials. At this point, we have only four cubic feet of lesbian materials. We have a complete run of newsletters from the Lesbian Resource Center of Seattle, circa 1977-1985, an incomplete run of “Matrix” newsletters from Olympia, circa 1980's, an incomplete run of zines called: “The Urban Hermitt”, circa 2000, and LPs of womyn's music, collected by a Seattle woman. The collection encompasses the dates: 1977 to 2003.
Collection Growth: We'd like very much and are planning to grow in terms of collection materials, providing resources and services. We would like to be a regional repository for lesbian materials that document the lives of lesbians in the Pacific Northwest. (Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Southwestern British Columbia)
The beginnings of our proposed collection policy:

• Business records : Meeting minutes, agendas, financial/budget info, reports, correspondence, project files, and other documentary materials from lesbian organizations, groups, and businesses — past and present.

• Personal papers/manuscripts : Diaries, journals, and unpublished or preliminary notes, drafts, and papers that document lesbian lives.

• Audio and visual materials: Photographs, negatives, films, videos, DVDs, records, audio tapes, CDs.

• Printed materials: Periodicals, newsletters, pamphlets, brochures, graphics, posters, flyers advertising events, etc.

• Ephemera: Clothing, art, religious or spiritual objects, protest signs, banners, bumper stickers, buttons/pins, etc., that relate to specific events or time periods.

Materials must be related to the Pacific Northwest (Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Alaska and south-western BC). We will accept materials relating to national/international groups if directly applicable to lesbians in the Pacific Northwest .

Access and Use: We currently do not have requirements for using the organization's materials. Upon receit of collections, PNLA makes decisions based on donor's wishes and the institution's well being and will keep these stipulations on file.
Hours: Currently we operate by appointment only. When we get a pubic space, it will be wheelchair accessible.
Services: Currently, we are operating out of a private home. Will have a full suite of user services in the future. Right now, we are capable of p2007-03-03web.
Indices/Finding Aids: None at this time. But we place a high priority to this aspect of providing access.
Updating Collection Descriptions: Nothing in place yet, but this is a primary focus for our organization so researchers will be kept informed of new collections and goings on at the Archives as they happen via on-line newsletter/web updates, e-mail, annual report.

University of Washington Libraries,
Manuscripts, Special Collections, University Archives
Address: Box 352900
Seattle, WA 98195
Phone: (206) 543-1929
Contact: John Paul Deley, jpdeley@uwashington.edu (University Archivist); Karyl Winn, kwinn@uwashington.edu (Curator of Manuscripts); Nicolette Bromberg (Curator of Photographs and Graphics).
Email: mssarch@u.washington.edu
Internet address:  http://www.lib.washington.edu/SpecialColl/
Hours: Mon-Fri: 9 am - 5 pm; shorter hours during academic quarter breaks.
Wheelchair Access: yes
History
No formal founding, but gay and lesbian material has been a collecting focus since ca.1993. Associated with Northwest Lesbian and Gay History Museum Project.
Information about holdings
Manuscripts: 28 cubic ft.
Organizational records: 1 cubic ft.
Clippings/vertical files: yes
Film/Video/Sound: sound: yes
Photographs: yes
Other holdings/notes: Oral histories.

Time periods/geographical regions documented:
Bulk: 1960s-1995; primarily Western Washington, especially the Seattle area.

Significant People/organizations/subjects documented:
Gay and lesbian (and anti-gay) political activity, Seattle Gay Alliance, Dorian Group, Mattachine Society of Los Angeles, John M. Eccles, Jody Aliesan literary manuscripts, Hands Off Washington Campaign (1994), and the Hidden History project.
Collecting interests
Late 20th-century papers, records, and photographs of and about sexual minorities in the Greater Seattle area, Western Washington, and at the University of Washington; photographs also cover early 20th-century subjects.
Use requirements
Varies depending on donor instructions. Public access to bulk of LBGT records.
Services
Research space, copying, audiovisual facilities, reference assistance on site, telephone reference, Internet reference (email/web), and loan agreements for exhibits.
Indices, finding aids, collection descriptions
Inventory/guides to larger accessions. MARC records in currently non-public database with expectation of future OCLC records.
News about collections
Accession reports to Easy Access, the newsletter of Northwest Archivists. Personal contact with Northwest Lesbian and Gay History Museum Project.

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