The SC LGBTQ+ Collection began in 2018 with an initial $200,000 grant from the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation to shed light on the state’s underrepresented LGBTQ+ population by collecting archival materials and recording oral histories. It is the first project of its kind in the Lowcountry and among the first in South Carolina. Today, the SC LGBTQ+ Collection features 50-plus recorded interviews and nearly 20 archival collections available to everyone.
Now a permanent, institutionally supported endeavor, the SC LGBTQ+ Collection endeavors to identify, preserve and elevate the stories and history of the LGBTQ+ community in South Carolina. We are committed to an intersectional perspective that recognizes how LGBTQ+ lives are shaped by race, ethnicity, religion, nationality, gender, age, ability and other aspects of identity. Our faculty and staff are sensitive to the use of language and aware that not everyone agrees about best terms. Throughout our work we alternate usages between “Queer” and “LGBTQ+”. Our intention is always to be inclusive and respectful.
Efforts to support and expand the SC LGBTQ+ Collection are ongoing. We record oral history interviews and collect documentary evidence such as letters, photographs, manuscripts, ephemera and other materials that document the lives and contributions of LGBTQ+ people in our region and state. We connect these resources with students, faculty and members of our community through on-site and online access.
The SC LGBTQ+ Collection documents and makes accessible LGBTQ+ materials and stories ranging across South Carolina’s nearly 250 year history. The SC LGBTQ+ Collection stewards materials documenting a possible intersex individual who lived in Charleston before the Civil War; the papers of important LGBTQ+ cultural leaders, including some who lived on what is now the College of Charleston campus; as well as materials documenting out men and women who ran for statewide and national political office, and those who helped shape the national discourse on LGBTQ+ rights. We are also documenting such active organizations as the Alliance for Full Acceptance and We Are Family. We are also documenting defunct organizations like the Lowcountry Gay and Lesbian Alliance. To learn about additional collections and resources, please visit our LibGuide.
Written records and oral histories are equally vital to all communities. For years, LGBTQ+ individuals were silenced, censored and written out of history. The SC LGBTQ+ Collection records, transcribes and posts interviews on the Lowcountry Digital Library. To listen to the interviews, view our oral history collection on the Lowcountry Digital Library.
When scholars wish to document the local, regional and state-wide LGBTQ+ rights movement in South Carolina, we can help. If a struggling teen needs to believe that LGBTQ+ people can live here happily and proudly—and not just in faraway urban areas—we are here. Our visible and vocal presence on our campus—where more than 18% of our students self-identify as LGBTQ+ and gender expansive—has worked to help make history, and not just preserve it.
In summer 2024, the SC LGBTQ+ Collection received a grant that expands its ability to collect and steward archival materials in non-traditional, community-centered ways. With support from The Mellon Foundation, the SC LGBTQ+ Collection is working to engage more students, faculty, staff and members of the community as stewards, users and stakeholders in this work. We are developing primary source sets for classroom use and convening a community advisory board to inform current and future directions of the SC LGBTQ+ Collection.
The first phase of the SC LGBTQ+ Collection project revolved around building an impressive collection of materials documenting the experiences of LGBTQ+ and gender expansive individuals and organizations in our region. The Mellon Foundation grant supports our efforts to embark on the next phase of the SC LGBTQ+ Collection centered around outreach and access. The College of Charleston’s Special Collections is one of only a handful of institutions nation-wide chosen to join this pioneering cohort of academic libraries working to build meaningful partnerships in their communities. All funds will go directly to College of Charleston students or LGBTQ+ community organizations.
