In 2015, two friends, Joshua Burford and Maigen Sullivan, who had professional and educational experience in LGBTQ history began wondering why the Queer South was so underrepresented in mainstream and national narratives around LGBTQ history. Was this due to a lack of historical people, events and places? Is the South, as we are so often told, truly 20 years behind? Or was something more complicated at hand? Was there in fact, a rich and diverse history of the Queer and Trans South that was simply hidden and desperately in need of research and preservation? It was quickly decided that this history was alive, numerous in measure, and suffered from a lack of resources and investment not a lack of supply. 

This conversation led to the Invisible Histories Project (IHP) which began officially collecting LGBTQ archival materials in February 2018 throughout Alabama. IHP is a 501(c)3 nonprofit based in Birmingham, AL. IHP is an intermediary organization that connects resourced institutions like libraries, museums, and universities to LGBTQ people and organizations. IHP is a conduit of information and access. We work with individuals to locate and collect archival materials; transfer those materials to permanent housing in local libraries and archives; and work with students, faculty, and community scholars to ensure that materials are researched and made accessible to the communities with whom they matter most. 

In April 2019, IHP received a generous grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. This grant allowed IHP to expand from Alabama into Mississippi and Georgia. IHP kicked off our Georgia expansion on March 5th of this year, right before the COVID-19 outbreak shut things down.  Not a great time to start a new venture but with the help of our site at the University of West Georgia in Carrollton, we have been able to continue to collect new materials related to LGBTQ Georgia and our research for new collections is well under way. 

We are working with Dr. Stephanie Chalifoux in the Department of History at UWG to give students a chance to work with donors and collections.  This past Spring and Fall the students in her class worked with our first donors, the Gourd Girls.  The Gourd Girls are an amazing pair of lesbian artists from North Georgia whose collections go back to the 1970s.  

We are hoping to reach out to communities across the state of Georgia in smaller cities, towns, and rural areas whose history is often overlooked.  If you are part of the LGBTQ community in Georgia then we want to talk with you about how we can preserve and make your collections accessible.  Not sure if you have collections?  Well the truth is that everyone has materials that are an important part of the story of LGBTQ Georiga.  If you visit our website at www.invisiblehistory.org and click on “Archiving from Home” you will be able to read about how the process works and see a description of the types of materials that we are looking for.  Once you have located materials simply reach out to email hidden; JavaScript is required and get the process started. If you do not have materials, but would like to support the preservation of LGBTQ Southern history, you can donate here: https://invisiblehistory.org/donations/donate-to-ihp/. To stay up-to-date with IHP, follow us on Facebook and Instagram at Invisible Histories Project.