Northeastern is proud to house numerous collections illustrating a diverse range of individuals, activism, and networks in the Boston LGBTQA community from the 1970s onwards.
The collections in part detail the response to the AIDS crisis in Boston with the formation and activities of organizations including the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power Boston chapter (ACT UP / Boston), AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts, Inc., and other activist groups in the 1980s and 90s. The history of LGBTQA political and labor organizing in Boston is reflected in the collections, alongside histories of the creation of community groups such as the Fenway Community Health Center and Men of All Colors Together Boston. The collections also include the records on the establishment of LGBTQA youth and students groups in Boston, notably the Boston Alliance of Gay and Lesbian Youth, Inc. (BAGLY), the first and longest-running youth-led LGBTQA group in Boston. The Bromfield Street Education Foundation, originally established as the Gay Community News in 1973, offers an extensive collection of records on the publication of the Boston-based progressive newspaper as well as the organization’s initiatives on prison justice and amplifying the voices of gay and lesbian writers through local events and annual conferences. LGBTQA arts and theater organizations in the Boston area are also represented in the collections, including records from The Theater Offensive, a queer, progressive theater troupe. Other unprocessed collections, including the Boston Gay Men’s Chorus records, are also available for research.