Overview
Schlesinger collections document the lived realities and activism of women, as well as changing societal ideas and laws around sexuality and gender. Since its earliest days the library has actively collected papers documenting lesbian lives, from 19th century diaries of erotically charged female friendships to lesbian political activism and community building in the late 20th century. More recently our collecting focus has encompassed the many expressions of sexuality and gender within the LGBTQ+ communities. In light of this, we want to evaluate and reassess our descriptive practices – both historically and currently -- in order to ensure that how we identify and describe the LGBTQ+ individuals and communities in our collections is both respectful and accurate.
Definitions and background
LGBTQ+ = lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning. The plus refers to other identities/terminologies which fall under the wide umbrella of gender and sexual expressions (e.g. intersex, asexual, genderqueer; nonbinary; genderfluid; pansexual, etc.)
What is the difference between gender identity and sexual identity? Gender identity relates to one’s personal sense of having a particular gender, whether that falls under the traditionally understood binary of men and women or within a broader spectrum. Sexual identity relates specifically to who one is romantically and sexually attracted to.
Gender and sexual identities can be nuanced, unique, and fluid – sometimes changing for individuals over time. This can be reflected in terminology.
Words related to queer and trans identities especially constitute continuous battlegrounds as terms are created, discarded, reclaimed, disputed, etc. The accepted terms today may be offensive tomorrow (in fact, some might contest them now). Digital Transgender Archive Style Guide
Issues and examples
Below are a selection of descriptive concerns that are relevant to some Schlesinger Library collections. Archivists should be aware of these issues when working with LGBTQ+ collections.
Balancing self-description with controlled vocabulary
When determining how to describe creators what’s at stake are two main things – ensuring that we accurately and respectfully describe how collection creators identify and understand their lives, AND that collections documenting queer lives and activism can be findable to our users. Applying standardized vocabularies like Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) to catalog records or finding aids is one important way for users to find and access materials. However, for LGBTQ+ individuals there can be a big difference between how a person self identifies and the LCSH term that is available to them. LCSH has many limitations and is often slow to update outdated terminology; because of this we cannot rely on it entirely.
Below are two examples where the archivists chose different approaches related to the application of LCSH in finding aids. These approaches were partly influenced by how the archivists’ understood the creators’ wishes and their knowledge of the collections.
EXAMPLE 1: Jean Elizabeth Wolfe
In the example of the Papers of Jean Wolfe we used the preferred terminology of the creator as well as the terminology available to us via LCSH in the collections finding aid.
Jean Wolfe was a physical education teacher and medical illustrator, who was sexually attracted to women but did not want to be identified as a lesbian. She self-identified instead as a “mid-century gentleman butch.” In this particular case the archivist who processed her papers put her preferred term in the description and also added lesbians as an LCSH in order to help researchers who would be interested in Wolfe’s sexuality find the collection through a subject term search. Potentially it is problematic to use the LCSH term lesbian in this case since Wolfe did not refer to herself as lesbian. If Wolfe was alive when the collection was processed she would have been consulted about this decision. The archivist’s decision was informed entirely by her knowledge of the collection and of Wolfe’s life.
EXAMPLE 2: Mark Ethan Smith
For the Mark Ethan Smith Papers finding aid the archivist chose to align the LCSH terms with the creator’s identity in order provide accurate representation of Smith’s identity in the finding aid. She then found other ways to ensure visibility of the collection to researchers interested in LGBTQ+ subject area.
Mark Ethan Smith was born Marcia Ellen Bazer in 1940 and changed his name to Mark Ethan Smith in 1981. He describes himself as a biological female who lives as a person without regard to sex. In his writings about himself he specifically denies that he is a transsexual, transvestite, or lesbian and he does not describe himself as transgender. On one site online he calls himself a non-traditional, heterosexual older female liberated from gender roles. He also has written that he presents as a man in order to ensure survival in a sexist, oppressive world (and does not indicate that he feels his gender identity does not align with his birth sex).
Because of his self-description the archivist did not add transgender as a subject heading in the finding aid even though many researchers would expect that term. The collection's catalog record was added to the library's LGBTQ+ research guide in order to ensure an LGBTQ+ access point to the collection. The archivist could have also considered adding an "archivist’s note” in the finding aid which delves more into Smith’s self-description so researchers can understand why certain decisions were made.
Understanding that a person’s identity may be unspoken or their identity may have changed over time
Schlesinger Library staff may not have adequately described a creator’s gender or sexual identity in the finding aid if the creator did not clearly self-identify. Below are multiple examples that fall within this category of unclear or unspoken identity.
EXAMPLE 1: Pauli Murray
The Civil Rights lawyer and Episcopal priest Pauli Murray (1910-1985) was gender non-conforming and favored a masculine presentation. Some scholars have defined Murray's gender identity as transgender although many acknowledge that it can be problematic to apply a contemporary term to an historical figure if it was not available to them. Other scholars openly identify Murray as transgender in that they believe Murray would have probably embraced the term. From what we know from the collection, Murray did not self-identify. While we should try not to make assumptions about identity we can still explore descriptive options to help researchers better understand creators and their collections.
The Pauli Murray Papers were originally processed in 1992, and the finding aid did not address Murray’s gender nonconformity or Murray's early experiences with gender identity. In November 2022, archivists updated the finding aid by adding language surrounding her identity. For example, the Biography now includes the sentence:
Throughout her life Pauli Murray was gender non-conforming and favored a masculine presentation. While there is evidence that she questioned her sexuality and gender, she did not publicly self-identify.
And the Scope and Content note for Series I includes this explanatory text:
This series also includes materials related to Murray’s questioning of and thoughts surrounding her gender and sexuality. Folder #71 includes Murray’s notes and correspondence describing her feelings of gender dysphoria, her efforts to seek medical help, and her attempts at psychological self-analysis. While some scholars of Murray’s life and work have defined her gender identity as transgender and some have applied male or gender-neutral pronouns when referring to Murray, within this finding aid the archivists chose not to add any terminology that Murray did not use to describe herself or her relationships.
Because there is a general acknowledgement by the scholarly community that Pauli Murray's life story can be seen as part of LGBTQ+ visibility, archivists added the Homosaurus subject term LGBTQ+ People to the finding aid and the collection was added to Schlesinger's LGBTQ+ research guide.
EXAMPLE 2: Mary Ross Taylor and Judy Chicago
A similar example related to unspoken identity is when a creator may be engaging in same-sex romantic or sexual behavior but does not articulate an identity (sometimes due to historical reasons).
Mary Ross Taylor gave the Schlesinger a collection of letters that documents her relationship with artist Judy Chicago. The nature of the relationship, which was sexual and romantic for a period of time in the early 1980s, is a reason Taylor wanted us to have the letters. Taylor refers to the sexual nature of the relationship in Gail Levin’s biography, Becoming Judy Chicago. Neither Chicago nor Taylor identify or identified as lesbians, so the archivist believed the use of that LCSH was not appropriate for the collection. The archivist described the relationship as sexual, and was clear about the nature of the letters in the text of the catalog record and finding aid. She also used the LCSH terms “love letters” and “female friendship.”
It’s possible that our internal thinking and decisions about this kind of topic may change over time, which reinforces the importance of maintaining documentation about process and procedures related to identity.
EXAMPLE 3: “Boston marriage” collections
In late 19th and early 20th century New England, it was not uncommon for two women to create a household together. These women were often well-educated and from wealthy families; they did not need to marry men for financial support. Many had careers and were active in social reform movements. Some of these relationships developed into romantic and sexual relationships. These relationships are often referred to as “Boston marriages.” The Schlesinger holds papers documenting these types of relationship, many collected relatively early on in Schlesinger’s history because of the women’s political activism or work in social reform.
In many cases, Schlesinger legacy description of these women does not dwell on the nature of their relationships. This could be because the archival collections themselves contain more professional material and less personal material, because of fears around potential outing, because of homophobia, or a number of different reasons. Historically and currently, collections where women are known to have had romantic or sexual partners are included in the Library’s LGBTQ Research Guide but are not necessarily adequately described.
In the Louise Marion Bosworth Papers finding aid the archivist used the LCSH term Women—Sexual behavior; describes a “friendship” breaking up; and also mentions Bosworth’s description in a diary of her “sexuality.” In the Mary Ellicott Arnold Papers finding aid, users discover in the biographical note that at a young age, Arnold moved to Somerville, New Jersey, where she began a friendship with Mabel Reed (1876-1962), who would become her lifelong companion and colleague. There are no relevant LCSH terms or additional description about their relationship.
As with the Pauli Murray finding aid, we recommend some more in-depth staff conversation and engagement with the related scholarship on these issues to decide whether and how to remediate existing descriptions and to establish an approach that would improve description and consistency across collections.
Using correct pronouns
As with terminology related to gender or sexual identity, correct pronoun use is a way to further respect and acknowledge identity.
EXAMPLE 1: Ari Kane
The Papers of J. Ari Kane-DeMaios is an example where pronoun choice in the finding aid needed to be better explained or changed.
Ari Kane is a transgender activist, counselor, and former executive director of the Outreach Institute of Gender Studies. Kane uses both “he” and “she” pronouns and identifies with both genders. According to the Ari Kane papers finding aid at the Online Archive of California, “Kane is bisexual, bi-gender, and androgynous, identifying with both masculinity and femininity; [Kane’s] pronouns are ‘he'’ and 'she.’ ... Kane explicitly does not identify as nonbinary, but rather with both binary genders.”
The Ari Kane collection at the Schlesinger was originally processed in 2010. At the time the archivist chose the “he” pronoun to refer to Kane. This was the pronoun choice on Kane’s website at the time. Kane was also provided a copy of the finding aid for final review before publishing. The department recently reviewed the finding aid description and determined that in this particular case not choosing a specific pronoun in the description was probably a more responsible and ethical approach for someone who identifies as both male and female. The finding aid could benefit from more transparency around pronoun use and description revision in general. In February 2023 we contacted Ari Kane to review some of the descriptive revisions we were thinking about and received the green light to go forward with updating the finding aid. The processing information note in the finding aid explains the changes that were made:
In February 2023, Laura Peimer revised this finding aid to bring it into alignment with Schlesinger Library’s inclusive and reparative language guidelines. In the narrative sections of the finding aid she replaced the terms transgendered and transgenderist with transgender and she replaced male-to-female and female-to-male transsexuals with trans women and trans men. She retained any original terms that are part of the names of organizations, publications, or within original folder titles for historical context. She also added additional subject headings.
When referring to Ari Kane in the narrative sections of the finding aid, she replaced the "he" pronoun with "Kane." While Kane uses both "he" and "she" pronouns, we made this change so as not to preference one identity over another.
She updated additional text as well, including changing present to past tense for programs no longer available, removing the dash in crossdressing, and revising the description of Fantasia Fair. A previous version of this finding aid has been maintained for transparency around the descriptive process. Please contact the Schlesinger Library for details.
EXAMPLE 2: Soloway family
When the Soloway family papers were donated to the Schlesinger Library, Faith Soloway used the pronoun “she” and was referred to as thus in the catalog record and in the first iteration of the finding aid. In summer 2021, Faith Soloway began to use “they” pronouns, and when the finding aid was next updated, the text was checked and revised, removing all use of “she” (through a request from curator to the archivist accessioning the new addenda to the collection).
Joey Soloway’s use of “they” pronouns coincided with their name change in 2020 (see next section). The finding aid was updated to include a specific reference to their pronoun, and all description warranting a pronoun usage was minimized.
Deadnaming
Deadnaming is a term describing continued use of the birthname or old name of a transgender or non-binary person who has transitioned. For many, use of previous names can be hurtful and interpreted as transphobic. Each individual is different, however, and a person's feelings about previous names may be complicated. It's important to be aware and sensitive to the issue.
EXAMPLE 1: Soloway family
In addition to the pronoun issue above, Joey Soloway changed their name in the summer of 2020, necessitating changes to the finding aid. The archivist changed the existing biographical description and scope notes to reflect the name change. However, folders are listed with original titles in the finding aid. Joey had a long career under their former name, and much of the collection (including the folder titles) includes Joey’s former name. The archivist felt she could not change all existences of the former name in the finding aid, and wrote a note to that extent in the scope note:
“After Joey Soloway's name change in June 2020, finding aid description and series titles were updated. Many original folder titles contain the name Jill; these were kept as originally written.” Also, as part of this process, the archivist offered to Joey Soloway that Schlesinger staff would facilitate the change of Joey's name in the Library of Congress Name Authority file.
The archivist sent the new description to Joey Soloway for their approval, and they signed off on it. It’s possible that Schlesinger archivists and Joey Soloway may decide to revisit this decision in the future.
EXAMPLE 2: Jennifer Finney Boylan
In the Jennifer Finney Boylan papers, the description in the biographical note and the scope and content note uses Boylan’s pronoun, “she.” However, within the collection there are folder entries for photographs of Boylan before she physically transitioned from male to female, which uses her former name. While Boylan reviewed the finding aid prior to its publication, in cases like this it would be beneficial for the archivist to specifically point out to the creator about these particular situations related to naming. In April 2023, in order to bring the language in this finding aid into alignment with Schlesinger Library's inclusive and reparative language guidelines, we contacted Boylan about this discrepancy and then updated the photo folder titles with the name "Jennifer Finney Boylan." As with other finding aids that have been edited for inclusive language, the original version of this finding aid was maintained for transparency around the descriptive process.
EXAMPLE 3: Caitlyn Jenner portrait in Bettye Lane Photographs
Item level cataloging of photographs or visual materials can bring up additional questions regarding naming. The photographer Bettye Lane photographed Bruce Jenner in 1977, almost 38 years before Bruce had transitioned to Caitlyn Jenner. Lane's caption on the slide includes Jenner's pre-transition name, "Bruce Jenner 1/10/77." In order to help us determine whether we should retain "Bruce Jenner" in the description for the catalog record, we did research on whether Caitlyn had ever addressed deadnaming and her former identity. Since Caitlyn Jenner is a known personality we were able to find online an interview in The Guardian (May 8, 2017) where she states she does not mind being referred to as Bruce: “'I had a life for 65 years. OK?' Besides which, 'I liked Bruce. He was a good person. He did a lot in his life. Oh, ‘he didn’t even exist’. Yes he did exist!...'" Given this information, we kept Lane's caption "Bruce Jenner" and added: "[pre-transition name, as captioned by Bettye Lane in 1977]; 1-10-1977."
When to describe
There are situations where a collection doesn’t contain directly related content about the creator’s sexual or gender identity but the individual does identify under the LGBTQ+ umbrella. For example, The description of the Angela Davis papers does not address her sexuality since the collection does not contain materials directly related to it. Davis has publicly identified as lesbian since 1997. Is identity description always warranted in the creator's biography or in LCSH in order to ensure LGBTQ+ visibility? This is a question we are currently exploring.
Recommendations
- Solicit input about identity from creator/donor of archival collections when possible.
Donor involvement in description, when possible, is ideal and historically Schlesinger has engaged donors in this process. Donors can provide information on how they want to be identified, what pronouns they use, and what subject terms they would be ok with. Community input can also be helpful.
- Be cognizant of dated terminology. Unless the term is part of an organizational name or preferred by the creator, try to avoid terminology that is no longer widely accepted. For example, in general, treat the term “homosexual” as an antiquated term and avoid its usage unless the creator prefers it.
- For some creators, gender and sexuality are particularly fluid areas. We need to recognize this and know that our description can and should change as living creators do. Curators and archivists who interact with creators should be on the lookout for public information that could cause us to revise description.
- Be transparent when adding identity-related description: “Be clear on what we know, how we know it, and what we don’t know.”
Rely on free-text description in the biographical note. Come up with language to describe why terms are being used and add context, especially if keeping historical terms for accuracy but which now may be outdated.
We do not presume to know a subject’s identity better than they do and therefore try to use chosen names, pronouns, and terms whenever possible. This remains true even for subjects who identify with terms which might today seem offensive, outdated, or imprecise. Digital Transgender Archive Style Guide
The key is to ensure that accurate descriptors (as much as we know them) are being used when identifying the creator within the historical note or other narrative sections. Involve the creator, if living, as much as possible. If not possible, use print or online sources (and consider citing them within the finding aid). When you can’t be in touch with a creator consider adding a processing note or sentence in the biographical or scope and content note that addresses gender and sexual identity.
- Be cognizant of using the correct pronouns.
Apply the pronouns that are used by the creator, if clearly known. Possible examples can include She, He, Ze, Hir, they, etc. If the creator uses more than one pronoun or it is unclear what pronoun they identify with consider avoiding the use of a specific pronoun in description in order to prevent preferencing one identity over another. If you do decide to use a pronoun, provide a note in the finding aid describing the creator’s identity and why we made certain pronoun choices. When possible, input by the creator will guide this decision.
Be mindful when describing subjects that are usually gendered female such as menstruation, pregnancy, and parenting (specifically mothers, motherhood, maternal). People of varying genders can menstruate, become pregnant, and be parents, so it is best to not assume someone’s gender based on this information. Appropriate terminology should be used including neutral/ungendered terms when necessary.
- Understand limitations of controlled vocabulary and go beyond it if necessary.
Explore other controlled vocabularies that are more rooted in the community. For example, Homosaurus is now widely used in the library and archives field. You can go beyond Library of Congress Subject Headings keeping in mind that other vocabularies, even those based in the LGBTQ+ communities (like Homosaurus) may still be insufficient.
Resources
GLBT Controlled Vocabularies and Classification Schemes
Digital Transgender Archive Style Guide
Metadata Best Practices for Trans and Gender Diverse Resources
Best Practices for Queer Metadata