The National Transgender Library and Archive was the project of Dallas Denny, an Atlanta-based activist, writer, and organizer in the transgender community. This collection contains a wide range of transgender material, from popular representations of transgender people, to medical reports, to advertisements for conferences and events.

The National Transgender Library and Archive was the project of Dallas Denny, an Atlanta-based activist, writer, and organizer in the transgender community. She began compiling materials for the library in the early eighties, adding to her personal files. In September of 1990, Denny founded the American Educational Gender Information Service (AEGIS), a not-for-profit organization for disseminating information on gender dysphoria, and providing referrals to physicians, gender clinics, attorneys, ministers, and support groups. The organization promoted the Standards of Care set up by the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association, Inc., and made referrals based on these standards. The National Transgender Library & Archive became an integral part of AEGIS and tripled in size over the next eight years, as AEGIS used membership funds and sales from its journal Chrysalis: The Journal of Transgressive Gender Identities to actively acquire new materials. While executive director of AEGIS, Denny compiled a bibliography of transgender and transsexual-related texts titled Gender Dysphoria: A Guide to Research, which was published in 1994 by Garland Press with an introduction by Vern L. Bullough. A copy of the original 900-page manuscript is held in this GLBTHS collection, along with correspondence between Denny and Bullough relating to the manuscript. In 1998, AEGIS became part of Gender Education and Advocacy (GEA), a Georgia-based non-profit organization addressing the needs of gender-variant people; a history of AEGIS and its relationship with GEA can be found at www.gender.org, the official GEA website. In 2000, the NTL&A became too extensive to house locally, and the GEA board donated the entire collection to the University of Michigan (UM). Archivists at UM gave duplicates and materials not suited to their archive to the GLBT Historical Society.

8 linear feet (10 manuscript boxes, 1 half-size manuscript box, one medium oversized box, and one custom box)

Copyright to material has not been transferred to the GLBT Historical Society. All requests for reproductions and/or permission to publish or quote from material must be submitted in writing to the GLBT Historical Society Archivist. Permission for reproductions and/or permission to publish or quote from material is given on behalf of the GLBT Historical Society as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the researcher.

Collection is open for research. Mailing lists and other records holding the names, addresses and/or phone numbers of individuals are restricted until March 2021. Selections of this collection have been digitized in partnership with Gale/Cengage. Contact the GLBT Historical Society archivist for information regarding access to the digital collection.