Collective Effort: Archiving LGBT Moving Images

Queer moving image materials, to paraphrase the old gay rights slogan, are everywhere. Three kinds of archives collect them: LGBT¹ archives, non-LGBT mixed media archives, and moving image archives. These repositories collectively hold thousands of films and tapes with queer content, made by queer filmmakers, and/or perceived as queer by audiences. In addition, studio libraries hold many of the original elements of LGBT theatrical releases and television programs. A new model for queer audiovisual archiving is the Outfest Legacy Collection at the UCLA Film and Television Archive, founded in 2005, which brings together the complementary resources of a major LGBT film organization and a premiere moving image repository.

Being "everywhere" creates both opportunities and challenges for preservation and access. In one respect, queer films and tapes are too scattered for their own good: LGBT independent and amateur productions are typically stored in media-unfriendly conditions in filmmakers' homes rather than in archives. For decades LGBT people have shot and appeared in home movies and home videos, documented the activities of queer organizations, and filmed queer events; the surge of independent queer filmmaking that began in the 1980s has increased in subsequent years. Since mainstream cinema and television have consistently marginalized LGBT people, a large percentage of all queer moving images are found in independent and amateur works. These films and tapes contain the great majority of moving images that have a queer point of view, portray LGBT people as complex individuals rather than stereotypes, offer a diversity of race, age, ethnic background, politics, gender identification, and other qualities, and show LGBT people in the context of our relationships, families, and communities. Because amateur and independent productions are rarely widely distributed, typically only a few elements exist of each title. If these elements remain in filmmakers' closets and basements, they will eventually deteriorate, suffer damage, or be discarded or lost. In the meantime, usually only the filmmaker has access to the materials. To make these images viewable now and in the future, archival outreach is essential.

Archives house LGBT moving images dating from the very early days of cinema to the most recent releases. Queer archival holdings include features and short subjects; fiction, documentary, experimental, animated, and educational films; newsreels, screen tests, outtakes, trailers, behind-the-scenes footage, home movies, and interviews; and broadcast, cable, and public access television programs. Elements range from original negatives and video masters to DVDs.

Most archival repositories share the same mission: to gather materials that fall within their collecting mandate; protect their holdings from harm and damage; identify, organize, and catalogue materials; preserve deteriorated items; and make their collections publicly accessible. Achieving these goals with queer moving image materials requires sufficient staff, climate-controlled storage, specialized equipment, expertise in film and tape handling and care, knowledge and appreciation of moving image history and LGBT culture, and money.

LGBT archives came into being through the remarkable efforts of queer people who took action to safeguard queer cultural heritage from being ignored, misrepresented, censored, lost, and destroyed. During the twentieth century, LGBT individuals and groups around the globe collected books, periodicals, newsletters, organizational records, correspondence, diaries, photographs, films, videotapes, audiotapes, and artifacts relating to the queer experience. These passionate, mostly amateur, archivists gathered and shared an impressive amount of LGBT material. Some of the private collections eventually became the basis for public LGBT archives; others later formed distinct LGBT collections within archives with more general collecting policies; and many of the collections created after the rise of the gay rights movement were founded as public collections.² While most LGBT archives focus on paper materials, the majority also hold some moving image materials, usually home movies, amateur documentation of queer organizations and events, cable access television shows, homemade compilations of clips from TV programs with queer content, and/or VHS tapes and DVDs of television shows and theatrical films. LGBT archives can deal fairly easily with most access media, which enrich their collections and do not require the special care that one-of-a-kind materials need. However, unique films and tapes are often at risk of deterioration or damage.

Most LGBT...