Finding Aid for the National Lesbian Conference records, 1989-1991 LSC.2202
Finding aid prepared by Stacy Wood, 2013; Sabrina Ponce, 2017; machine-readable finding aid created by Caroline Cubé.
UCLA Library Special Collections
Online finding aid last updated 4 December 2017.
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Contributing Institution:
UCLA Library Special Collections
Title: National Lesbian Conference records
Creator:
National Lesbian Conference (1991 : Atlanta, Ga.)
Identifier/Call Number: LSC.2202
Physical Description:
0.4 Linear Feet
(1 box)
Date (inclusive): 1989-1991
Abstract: The National Lesbian Conference was the first and only of its kind, attempting to set a national lesbian activist agenda.
The event took place in Atlanta, Georgia in 1991 and drew over 2,500 registered attendees. The gathering was comprised of
one full day of caucuses, five plenaries, four mornings of anti-oppression training and slightly fewer than three hundred
workshops. This collection contains pre-planning materials as well as a conference program and news coverage of the conference.
Physical Location: Stored off-site. All requests to access special collections material must be made in advance using the request button located
on this page.
Language of Material: Materials are in English.
Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located
on this page.
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[Identification of item], National Lesbian Conference Records (Collection 2202). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles
E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
Provenance unknown.
This collection is part of an outreach and collection-building partnership between the
June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives , the
UCLA Center for the Study of Women (CSW) and the
UCLA Library .
Processed by Stacy Wood, 2013. Description enhanced and further physical processing completed by Sabrina Ponce in 2017.
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The
June L. Mazer Lesbian Archive at UCLA is an outreach and collection-building partnership between the
June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives , the
UCLA Center for the Study of Women (CSW) and the
UCLA Library . These collections expand the pool of primary source materials available to researchers and to the community at large. This
partnership was initiated by CSW and is funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to inventory, organize,
preserve, and digitize more than eighty Mazer collections pertaining to lesbian and feminist activism and writings.
UCLA Catalog Record ID:
9973847773606533
The National Lesbian Conference was the first and only of its kind, attempting to set a national lesbian activist agenda.
The event took place in Atlanta, Georgia in 1991 and drew over 2,500 registered attendees. The gathering was comprised of
one full day of caucuses, five plenaries, four mornings of anti-oppression training and slightly fewer than three hundred
workshops.
The Conference became a concept after the American attendees at an international lesbian conference in 1986 felt that they
had no unified voice due to a lack of national lesbian agenda. In 1988, a few American lesbians met in Washington D.C. to
plan a national lesbian conference. Subsequently, planning meetings were held in North Carolina, Oregon, and Missouri. Meetings
operated by modified consensus. Consensus and parity (defined as 50% lesbians of color, 20% disabled lesbians and 5% old lesbians)
were of prime importance. The full steering committee, with over 100 seats to represent many different interest groups, was
never fully seated. Although the ostensible goal of the conference was to decide collectively on a national lesbian agenda,
the goal remained elusive. The conference became fertile ground for intra-organizational conversations about representation
and the political process, but a fair amount of strife and dissent plagued much of the conversation.
This collection contains pre-planning materials as well as a conference program and news coverage of The National Lesbian
Conference, held at the civic center in Atlanta, Georgia in 1991.
Materials arranged by type.
Old Lesbians Organizing for Change records . Available at Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Lesbians -- United States -- Congresses.
June L. Mazer Lesbian Archive at UCLA
June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives
National Lesbian Conference (1991 : Atlanta, Ga.) -- Archives
box 1, folder 1
box 1, folder 2
Old Lesbian Organizing Committee 1989-1991
box 1, folder 3
Clippings 1991
Newspaper articles and clippings covering The National Lesbian Conference. Primarily, the articles are from lesbian, feminist,
and progressive periodicals like
off our backs and
Frontiers as well as local Atlanta news outlets. The articles discuss the events of the conference, the divisiveness it exposed and
the broader lesbian movement.
box 1, folder 4