page_title: Lesbian Herstory Archives
section_title: Organization and exhibitions
hierarchical_section_title: Lesbian Herstory Archives / Organization and exhibitions
caption_attribution_description: English: Womyn holding a banner for the Lesbian Herstory Archives during the 2007 LGBT Pride March in New York
context_page_description: The Lesbian Herstory Archives is a New York City-based archive, community center, and museum dedicated to preserving lesbian history, located in Park Slope, Brooklyn. The Archives contain the world's largest collection of materials by and about lesbians.
  The Archives were founded in 1974 by lesbian members of the Gay Academic Union who had organized a group to discuss sexism within that organization. Co-founders Joan Nestle, Deborah Edel, Sahli Cavallo, Pamela Oline, and Julia Penelope Stanley wanted to ensure that the stories of the lesbian community were protected for future generations. Until the 1990s, the Archives were housed in Nestle's Upper West Side, Manhattan apartment. The collection eventually outgrew the space and was moved to a brownstone that the group had purchased in Brooklyn's Park Slope neighborhood. The Archives hold all manner of historical artifacts relating to lesbians and lesbian organizations and have grown to include some 11,000 books and 1,300 periodical titles, as well as an unknown number of photographs.
context_section_description: The Lesbian Herstory Archives are run by a coordinating committee who determine which items are accepted into the archives. The Archives are entirely staffed by volunteers and interns. LHA hosts events in its space, including courses, speakers, marathon poetry readings, and an annual Valentine's Day event. Archivists from LHA regularly march in the New York City Dyke March and until 2014 in the LGBT Pride March.
  In the early years of the Lesbian Herstory Archives, samples of materials from the Archives were brought to speaking engagements. In order to preserve them, a traveling slide show was developed. LHA also sponsors traveling exhibits organized around various themes. Its "Keepin' On" exhibit features African American lesbians.
caption: Women marching in the 2007 New York City LGBT Pride March hold a banner for the Lesbian Herstory Archives with the byline "In memory of the voices we have lost".
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