Library and Information Science Commons^™

An Exploration Into Archival Descriptions Of Lgbtq Materials, Erin Baucom

Mansfield Library Faculty Publications

While traditional archives have successfully diversified collecting scopes to include materials from marginalized communities, archivists have yet to examine whether the descriptions of these materials appropriately represent the communities of origin. In an effort to determine how discoverable LGBTQ collections are and if the terms used to describe LGBTQ individuals might be inaccurate and possibly harmful to the LGBTQ community, this article compares terms used by LGBTQ history project Web sites to describe gender and sexual identities to terms used in traditional archives to portray those same identities. This comparison reveals that the terms in finding aids are general and …