Letter from the Director

Starting PNLA is a dream come true! When I saw the women of the June Mazer Lesbian Archives in Los Angeles and the Ohio Lesbian Archives in Cincinnati present a workshop in the middle of a field in rural Michigan (the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival) called something like: “Start your own lesbian archives” about 13 years ago! I returned to Seattle a new woman intent on saving lesbian herstory in my community by collecting the materials of organizations and individuals in the Pacific Northwest, providing a safe space for them and by making the materials accessible to the community and to interested researchers.

It took a few years to get into grad school and to go through training in archival theory and practice. Along the way I’ve been very lucky to have some “archives angels” to keep me on track, encourage me and remind me that this work is important and needs to be done.

One of these angels was Yolanda Retter (now deceased.) Yolanda was a radical Chicana Lesbian activist and archivist who started the Lesbian Legacy Project at the One Institute in LA, where she noticed their collections were predominantly gay male focused. She gave voice to lesbian culture and herstory. She was also a founding PNLA Board member (2005-2007) and always encouraged me to keep going no matter what.

No institution can or should try to document the whole world, but if we work together, our collections will compliment one another—no matter where they are housed– in community based grassroots archives, or ivy league repositories, museums or special collections. We won’t be able to collect every object a lesbian touched or every thing she ever did but we will chip away at what we do gather, put the word out there, make it available to researchers and support one another and our communities.

There are so many fascinating people involved in this work! I have made amazing connections with donors, volunteers, community members, archivists and curators in different cities throughout the Pacific Northwest and Southwestern Canada.

I want this and future generations of lesbians to know that we treasure and celebrate our endeavors, our gatherings, our love for each other, and our stories.