Call Number:

AC465

Repository:

Princeton University Library: University Archives

Extent:

163 gb

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Princeton Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning, Intersex, Asexual (LGBTQIA) Oral History Project, Folder and File Name, Princeton University Archives, Special Collections, Princeton University Library.

Date:

2017-2019 (inclusive)

Creator:

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) Center and Princeton University

Form:

Oral history.

Abstract:

The LGBT Center supports and empowers lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex, and asexual (LGBTQIA) students and employees by providing community-building, education, events and initiatives. During the summer, undergraduate and graduate students interview LGBTQIA alumni and current and former LGBTQIA staff and faculty to learn about their lives, particularly their experiences being LGBTQIA (out and not out) at Princeton, and their perceptions of the climate for LGBTQIA people at Princeton at different points in time.

The Princeton LGBT Center grew from the worked conducted by graduate students in the offices of the Dean of the Chapel and the Dean of Student Life beginning in 1989. In the early 2000s, Princeton professionalized the coordination of LGBT student activities by creating a LGBT Student Services Coordinator position. In 2006, the LGBT Center opened its doors and continues to supports and empowers lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex, and asexual students and employees by providing community-building, education, events and initiatives.

The Princeton LGBT Center grew from the worked conducted by graduate students in the offices of the Dean of the Chapel and the Dean of Student Life beginning in 1989. In the early 2000s, Princeton professionalized the coordination of LGBT student activities by creating a LGBT Student Services Coordinator position. In 2006, the LGBT Center opened its doors and continues to supports and empowers lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex, and asexual students and employees by providing community-building, education, events and initiatives.

The College of New Jersey was initially chartered in 1746. The first classes were held in Elizabeth, New Jersey, in the parsonage of the president, the Reverend Jonathan Dickinson. Upon his death, the College moved to Newark, New Jersey, and was headed by the Reverend Aaron Burr, Sr. Since 1756, the College has been located in Princeton, New Jersey. For the first fifty years, nearly all College operations took place within Nassau Hall. Fires, fundraising difficulties, low student enrollment, and the Civil War challenged the vitality of the College in the early and middle nineteenth century, but the College grew vigorously under the leadership of President James McCosh, and it was renamed Princeton University in 1896. The Graduate School was established in 1900, although a limited graduate program had existed since the 1870s. Princeton enthusiastically supported the country (living up to its informal motto, "Princeton in the Nation's Service") during the First and Second World Wars, offering the expertise of faculty and campus space for training, as well as facilitating the early graduation of students so they could enlist. The post-World War II years brought dramatic changes to Princeton. The size and strength of the University's facilities and academic programs—especially for the applied sciences and public policy—were increased dramatically. Under President Robert Goheen, Princeton began to admit minority students in greater numbers in the 1960s and admitted women undergraduates in 1969. Today, Princeton is widely regarded as one of the top universities in the world.

The Princeton LGBTQIA Oral History Project launched in the summer of 2017 and is a partnership between by the LGBT Center, Princeton Bisexual Transgender Gay and Lesbian Alumni/Fund for Reunion (BTGALA/FFR), Community-Based Learning Initiative, the Program in Gender and Sexuality Studies, and the University Archives, with support from the Provost's Office's Princeton Histories Fund.

During the summer, undergraduate and graduate students interview lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual (LGBTQIA) alumni and current and former LGBTQIA staff and faculty to learn about their lives, particularly their experiences being LGBTQIA (out and not out) at Princeton, and their perceptions of the climate for LGBTQIA people at Princeton at different points in time. Student interviewers participate in extensive oral history methods training as a requirement for participating in the project and are paid research assistants.

The project is coordinated by the LGBT Center and the Princeton LGBTQIA Oral History Project Advisory Board, whose members are: Suman Chakraborty '97 (Board Co-Chair), Christina Chica '15, Gill Frank (Visiting Fellow at P's Center for the Study of Religion), Howard Gertler '96, Lelabari Giwa-Ojuri '14, Robert Gleason '87, Judy Jarvis (LGBT Center Director, Board Co-Chair), Karen Krahulik '91, Tobias Rodriguez '11 and Ruby Nell Sales *75.

In addition to this collection, oral histories of LGBTQ Princetonians were collected as part of the 2013 Every Voice Conference which can be found here.

This collection is arranged alphabetically by last name.