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LGBT History Project time capsule

The LGBT History Project is an LGBT online encyclopedia – a wiki web site. Its aim is to record the knowledge and memories of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people living in the UK. It’s a virtual time-capsule, capturing the experiences of our time – the changing law and challenges, the amazing response health epidemics, the newspapers and magazines that come and go, TV programmes, sports, lesbian, gay, bi and trans businesses, arts, music and theatre, and of course events, pubs and clubs. Anything you can think of that has been related to you as an LGBT person. You can even write about yourself!

A good place to start browsing this website is Timeline of UK LGBT History, or new for LGBT History Month 2012, Timeline of UK LGBT Sport. Alternatively, click ‘Special pages’ in the left-hand column, and click ‘All pages’. If you want to know where to start contributing, click ‘Special pages’ and then ‘Wanted pages’ – this will give a list of page links that have currently not been written. Pages that do not currently have links to, but which we think are important to create, can be found here: http://www.lgbthistoryuk.org/wiki/index.php?title=Articles_needed

Who is writing it?

You are! If you know a bi, gay, trans or lesbian person, have been a member of a gay club, read a gay newspaper, have  a memory of going out with your mates to a gay pub or club, we want to hear about it – wherever you are in the country. If you’ve never done anything gay, because there was nothing in your area, or you were too scared, we want to hear about that too! We also want to hear from those that run gay clubs, businesses, venues, media – when did they start, who started them? Why were they started? Who joined?

Alternatively you can write something personal to you, a ‘vox-pop’. This could be your ‘coming out’ story, or your experience of visiting your first gay bar. These first-person stories are valuable for academics who seek ‘qualitative primary sources’ – i.e. a story that is not necessarily factual, but gives a glimpse of your personal experience and your own viewpoint. If you created one of these, there’s no need to disclose your actual name, and prefix the page title with ‘VP’ and suffix it with the year, e.g. “VP: Joe B’s Coming Out 1985” or “VP: Joe B’s first gay bar 2001”.

Recent Changes
We have disabled Account Creation. We welcome new editors and contributors, and we would be happy to set you up with an account – please email jonathan@lgbthistoryuk.org with your name and email address (and organisation, if you have one). I know this is another step and possibly a delay for people to join spontaneously. The reason we did this is that for the past 6 months we’ve had 40 accounts opened every day with each one posting 2 spam pages which could harm your computer.

When to start writing?

The site may be sparse now, but it will grow and grow, you can be at the very forefront of LGBT history-in-the-making. We are planning lots of events and ways to publicise the LGBT History Project, but the sooner you enter something, the sooner others will join you. 

There are few books published on British LGBT History which have their areas of focus. The LGBT History Project is about creating the most diverse and comprehensive record of LGBT experiences in Britain over the past years. We really appreciate your contribution.

To get started, search for something, if there is not a page for it, you can click to create one.

Getting started

If you want to enter or edit information, create an account using the link at the top right of the page: “Log in/Create account”. Then, search for a term, using the search field below the login field. Use the correct spelling, upper- and lower-case letters, as appropriate, because, if the article does not exist already, it will ask you to create a page with this exact title. If you’re creating a page that’s the name of an organisation, use the full name (e.g. “The European Gay and Lesbian Sports Federation”), then put the initials (e.g. “EGLSF”) in brackets after the name in the body of the article. We recommend missing out the word “The” in the page title, as it makes it easier for people to find the page.

e.g. The European Gay and Lesbian Sports Federation (EGLSF) is the umbrella association for LGBT sports clubs in Europe…

If the page already exists, you may edit it using the “edit” tab, if the page does not already exist, it will ask you if you want to create it – click the red title to create the page. Then start writing.
Alternatively, click on the “Special pages” link in the left-hand Toolbox, click onto “All pages” or “Wanted pages” to browse what’s been done, and what links need new pages.
If you edit someone else’s page, it’s always a good idea to describe what you did in the ‘Summary’ field, before you save it.

Guidelines to writing

• use a neutral point of view, avoid articles that read like adverts
• use the third person throughout — avoid “I”, “we”, or “you” (unless you’re writing personal quotation)
• be careful with statements about living people that could be libelous
• don’t mention people’s HIV status unless relevant and publicised
• supply references for any contentious statements
• don’t copy from other websites and books without permission from the copyright owner
• be aware that you don’t own what you’ve written and other people may change it
• don’t hide the URLs of external web sites
• for consistency, we've chosen to use plural for category names

Suggested topics

Remember, this is aimed to be UK-only LGBT History. Take a look at our main categories page.

And see also our Articles needed page for a list of subjects that ought to be covered but haven't been yet.

Press

To see the recent media coverage about this site, see the page: LGBT History Project in the press

External links

You may also be interested in

• LGBT History Month http://www.lgbthistorymonth.org.uk
  
• LGBT History Month Scotland http://www.lgbthistory.org.uk
  

LGBT Archives and research

• Gay History and Literature by Rictor Norton http://rictornorton.co.uk/
  
• Hall-Carpenter Archives at the LSE http://www2.lse.ac.uk/library/archive/holdings/lesbian_and_gay_archives.aspx
  
• Lesbian & Gay Foundation http://www.lgf.org.uk/
  
• LAGNA – Lesbian and Gay Newsmedia Archive at the Bishopsgate Institute http://www.lagna.org.uk
  
• London Metropolitan Archives http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Corporation/LGNL_Services/Leisure_and_culture/Records_and_archives/
• Manchester Source Guide http://www.manchester.gov.uk/info/448/archives_and_local_studies/520/lgbt_source_guide/1
  
• National Archives "Out There" http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/about/out-there.htm
  
• Scarlet Collection http://vc.lib.harvard.edu/vc/deliver/browseCombine?_collection=scarlet
  
• Stradivarius http://www.kemglen.talktalk.net/stradivarius/OurHistory18cent.htm
  

Events

GALHA Event: Queer London in the late 19th Century - a talk by Dr Matt Cook
Wednesday 21st March 2012, 7:30pm at Conway Hall
Dr Matt Cook, Senior Lecturer in History of Gender Studies, Birkbeck, University of London.

Dr Cook will explore the relationship between London and male homosexuality from the criminalisation of all "acts of gross indecency" between men in 1885 to the outbreak of the First World War in 1914-years marked by an intensification in concern about male-male relationships and also by the emergence of an embryonic homosexual rights movement.

Taking his cue from literary and lesbian and gay scholars, urban historians and cultural geographers, Matt Cook combines discussion of London's homosexual subculture and various major and minor scandals with a detailed examination of representations in the press, in science and in literature. http://www.galha.org/upcoming-events/