University of Houston Libraries Special Collections, in collaboration with institutional partners, has co-curated an exhibit featuring materials from regional LGBTQIA+ history collections.

Coming Out Together to Share our History: LGBTQIA+ Collections in College Station, Houston, and Beyond will be hosted at Texas A&M Cushing Library from July 12 through December 16, 2021.

Exhibit graphics courtesy of Texas A&M Libraries Cushing Memorial Library and Archives

Among the posters, photos, books, magazines, and newsletters that will be on display, notable materials from partner collections include selections from The Banner Project, a bar top and a decorated chair commemorating the community and history of Mary’s… Naturally in Houston, and memorabilia from the 1993 March on Washington. UH Special Collections, in addition to contributing materials from the LGBT History Research Collection, facilitated oral histories with exhibit partners. The recorded interviews will be shown on a monitor in the second-floor exhibition gallery of the Cushing Memorial Library and Archives.

Dr. Francesca Marini, programming and outreach librarian of the Cushing Memorial Library and Archives, noted the exhibit’s impact on scholarship and research. “It shows how rich and complex LGBTQIA+ history is, both in the College Station/Houston area and in the country as a whole,” Marini said. “It shows how communities have archived their own history to make sure it is documented and passed on to future generations.”

Viewers of the exhibit will enjoy an immersive experience through the stories told by the archives about the communities they represent, “stories of art, life, community, activism, fighting against the AIDS crisis, and, most of all, sharing love and understanding,” Marini added.

The exhibit was created through collaboration between Texas A&M University Libraries Cushing Memorial Library and Archives, UH Libraries LGBT History Research Collection, Charles Law Community Archive at The African American Library at the Gregory School/Houston Public Library, The Banner Project, Gulf Coast Archive and Museum of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender History, Inc. (GCAM), Nick Vaughan & Jake Margolin, The JD Doyle Archives, Rice University Fondren Library Woodson Research Center, and The Botts Collection of LGBT History.