USC Releases 60 years of LGBTQ Posters

ONE Archives at the University of South Carolina have recently announced the completion of their project to catalog and digitize a large collection of over 60 years of LGBTQ visual history. The catalog includes over 4200 images of visual media such as posters and demonstration signs, many of which are being made available to the public for the first time.

The images span from the 1950s to the early 2010s and document a variety of topics, including Pride celebrations, AIDS/HIV education, LGBTQ rights, the women’s movement, nightlife, leather communities and so much more. The collection highlights hundreds of Pride parade posters from around the world from places like New York, LA, San Francisco, as well as, Mexico, Chile, England, France, and Germany.

The history of the LGBTQ movements is easily traceable within this collection, as many of the earliest posters come from the homophile era (the 1940s to 1969) and document organizations such as the International Committee for Sexual Equality and the East Coast Homophile Organization.

Women’s movement posters feature female artists and posters from festivals as well as International Women’s Day. Posters created by the LA Gay Liberation front document the group’s various activities such as “touch-ins” held at bars along Santa Monica Blvd. and “gay-ins” held at Griffith Park.

The digital collection includes documentation of LGBTQ social life and cultural organizations such as choirs, drag shows, rodeos, and festivals. Included also are hundreds of posters advertising gay nightclubs, bars, and discos, many of which are no longer operating. These posters not only highlight the fashion trends of their time but also the network of gay, erotic artists as well as the development of safer sex messaging.

This project was made possible thanks to the Council on Library and Information Resources which contributed a generous grant to ONE Archives. The materials digitized in this collection provides a look into the hidden histories of the LGBTQ+ community and reveal a wide array of contributions from queer artists and entertainers.

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