Human Rights Campaign donates historical records to CU Library

Cornell University Library's noted Human Sexuality Collection has just became home to the Human Rights Campaign's (HRC) historical records. The acquisition is a boon to researchers and underscores Cornell Library's reputation as a primary resource for the study of human rights history in its many forms.

Marston

"We are proud to be entrusted with HRC's historical legacy," said Brenda Marston, curator of the noted Human Sexuality Collection, the most extensive university collection of its kind. "These records have tremendous research value."

Marston is unpacking and sorting through the first shipments from HRC, and the library plans to have HRC materials online within a year, thanks to the support of Cornell Provost Biddy Martin.

Founded in 1980, HRC is the largest national organization working for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights. The nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, with more than 460,000 members and a staff of over 100, works to advance equality based on sexual orientation and gender expression and identity.

Kim I. Mills, HRC's education director, said that after extensive research, "which included interviewing many of the leading historians of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender movement, we concluded that Cornell's renowned Human Sexuality Collection was the best repository for HRC's historic records."

Cornell Library's Human Sexuality Collection was established in 1988 with a broad mandate to record and preserve the cultural and political aspects of sexuality. The collection has become the main repository for the records of national gay rights organizations, including PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays), the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, GLAAD (Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation), the National Lesbian and Gay Health Association, the Society for the Psychological Study of Lesbian and Gay Issues, and the Gay Media Task Force.

"Having HRC's records makes Cornell the pre-eminent archive in the United States for the study of the national lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender movement," said John D'Emilio, director of the Gender and Women's Studies Program at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and a noted historian of sexuality. "The Human Rights Campaign has played a vital role in shaping the national political dialogue on sexual identity. Having their papers available alongside those of other important national organizations will be like one-stop shopping for researchers."

The documentation of modern sexual politics is but one facet of Cornell's commitment to chronicling history and culture. For example, the library's extensive human rights research holdings include materials on the American Civil War and the Abolitionism movement as well as the French Revolution, the Reformation and the 15th- to 17th-century witchcraft persecutions in Europe.

"All our collections enable future generations to explore vivid, behind-the-scenes accounts of important cultural and political changes," said University Librarian Sarah Thomas.

"This is a remarkable coup for Cornell," said Ritch Savin-Williams, Cornell professor of human development and chair of the university's Department of Human Development. "This material from one of the leading gay rights organizations in the country will prove invaluable to generations of students."

More than 180 online guides to Cornell's Human Sexuality Collection are now accessible at http://rmc.library.cornell.edu/EAD/browselists/humsx.html.

For more information about Cornell Library's Human Sexuality Collection, contact Brenda Marston at 255-3530 or by e-mail at bjm4@cornell.edu. For more information on the Human Rights Campaign, contact Kim Mills, HRC education director, at (202) 216-1534, or by e-mail at Kim.Mills@hrc.org.