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Research Guides

LGBTQ+ Related Materials at the Hoover Institution Library & Archives

Introduction to the Collections

The Militant photographic collection

The situation and history of LGBTQ+ individuals and communities have not been a priority in our 100+ years of collecting materials on "war, revolution, and peace" at the Hoover Institution Library & Archives. Nonetheless, you can find in our collections materials that may be valuable for the study of various aspects of LGBTQ+ history. The majority of them concern issues related to male homosexuality and gay men. Examples of represented themes include:

  • public and published discourse on homosexuality,
  • hostility towards homosexuals among various political and religious groups,
  • protest and activism of gay and LGBTQ+ groups,
  • discussions about the AIDS crisis, especially in the United States.

Below, you can find examples of a variety of materials in the collections of the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

Please note that tens of thousands of materials and sources on LGBTQ+ themes can be found in the collections of Stanford University Libraries. Two useful online guides facilitate your access to LGBTQ+ resources at Stanford:

Collections Highlight

Select Archival Collections and Library Materials

William T. Poole collection - William T. Poole was a research analyst on the House Un-American Activities Committee from the mid 1960s until the Committee’s dissolution. His collection consists largely of materials gathered by the United States House Committee on Un-American Activities/House Committee on Internal Security on organizations, publications, individuals and a few broader categories suspected of un-American activities. Relevant materials include flyers and serial issues published by LGBTQ+ organizations.

Kenneth Gibson Fuller collection - The Kenneth Gibson Fuller collection records the significant issues that preoccupied the New Left and the protest movements of the 1960s and 1970s: the Vietnam War, above all else; black militancy, especially that exemplified by the Black Panther Party; political trials and prisoners' rights; the women's and gay liberation movements; and the condition of the American working class.

Charles Patrick Carroll papers - The collection of American Episcopal priest Charles Patrick Carrol contains correspondence, notes, conference papers, and printed matter, relating to medical ethics, and to medical, legal, moral and theological aspects of euthanasia, sterilization, abortion, assisted suicide, and related issues. The bulk of the papers consists of research materials Carroll collected from 1972-2002 on German medicine, euthanasia, and the Holocaust. Relevant materials include those regarding the Episcopal church’s view on homosexuality.

Gasper (Jo Ann) papers - The collection documents the political activities of Jo Ann Gasper from 1977 to 1993. The collection is focused on her time as the editor and publisher of "The Right Woman" newsletter, as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Population Affairs for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and as the Policy Advisor to the Under Secretary for the U.S. Department of Education. It is composed of research materials gathered during time in office regarding family planning, education, pro-choice materials, abortion, pornography, domestic violence, sex education, homosexuality, religion, Family Protection Act, Title X, child welfare, social security, and IRS exemptions.

Rector, F. (1981). The Nazi extermination of homosexuals. Scarborough House.

New Left collection - The New Left Collection largely relates to radical movements for political and social change in the United States during the 1960s and 1970s. It is the largest resource in the archives devoted to this turbulent period in American history. Topics covered in the collection include the movement against the Vietnam War; student radicalism; the civil rights movement and black militancy; revolutionary organizations; the women's liberation movement; and the counterculture.

Select Photographic Collections

Militant photographic collection - The Militant photographic collection consists of pictorial material created or collected by the staff of The Militant for possible publication in the newspaper. Subjects represented in this collection include photographs, drawings, and printed reproductions of illustrations depicting activities of anti-war, civil rights, labor, racial justice, women's rights, and other protest movements in the United States and other countries, mainly from the 1960s through the 1990s.