Donate
If you would like to discuss LIAL’s archival work, please email us at lgbtqiowaarchives@protonmail.com.
What does LIAL collect?
LIAL collects archival materials created by or about LGBTQ+ people living in Iowa and LGBTQ+ organizations operating in the state. We seek to enrich and expand the historical record of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer people in Iowa, as well as people of diverse genders and sexualities of any kind, including those who may not have used or identified with those terms. As an all-volunteer and donation-based community archives, we cannot accept all offered materials, but we are open to discussing materials in any format and documenting any facet of LGBTQ+ life or history. In many cases, such as with artwork and artifacts, we may be able to accept a representative sample of materials even if we cannot accommodate the full collection. Examples of materials of particular interest include, but are not limited to:
- Oral histories (transcripts of existing interviews or new interviews recorded by LIAL)
- Letters, emails, text messages, chat logs
- Websites
- Scrapbooks
- Photographs (digital or print)
- Video or audio recordings (digital, VHS, audiocassette; other formats possible)
- Meeting minutes, newsletters, reports
- Journals, diaries, memoir manuscripts
- Newspaper clippings on LGBTQ+ Iowa topics
- LGBTQ+ Iowa publications
- Flyers/brochures/posters
- Zines on LGBTQ+ themes
- Protest signs
- Buttons/pins
I have a collection that takes up a lot of physical space (paper-based materials, magnetic tape, film). Can I donate it to LIAL?
LIAL is not currently able to maintain an archival stacks with public reading room access in Iowa. To accommodate our larger non-digital collections, we have entered into an agreement with the Tretter Collection, an archives for Midwest LGBTQ+ history at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, to provide access to LIAL’s materials in a professional archival environment, with the option to return the materials to Iowa should LIAL ever develop a physical home where we can provide adequate climate control and reliable public access to large archival collections. We can continue to accept large collections under this agreement, to be housed at and accessed via the Tretter Collection, and/or we can arrange to digitize some or all of a larger collection for digital storage and access via LIAL’s systems. LIAL materials at Tretter can be recalled to Iowa for use in exhibits and events. We also maintain a smaller teaching collection in Iowa for use with classes and at events, and can accept a portion of larger collections for those purposes. We would be happy to discuss your collection and determine which options are available (including non-LIAL archival repositories) to help you decide how and where to donate your materials.
What does LIAl do with donated materials?
LIAL will arrange and describe donated materials, preserving original order created by the donor when possible and making adjustments when needed for research access or preservation purposes. We will work to provide public description of and access to all of our materials, recognizing our limitations as a community archives but embracing digital models to facilitate online reference and outreach resources. We can agree on access restrictions with donors, such as requiring researchers to request material rather than publishing it online or not opening the material to researchers until a given time period has passed. We can also discuss a variety of arrangements related to copyright for donated materials, again with a preference for public access of some kind for materials LIAL agrees to preserve.
I have materials related to LGBTQ+ Iowa history created by someone else who is no longer living. Can I donate it to LIAL?
It depends and we’d be happy to discuss it with you. Not everyone wishes for their private lives to become available for public access, research, and discussion, and in these cases we will be interested to hear any information you have about the person who created the materials and any expressed wishes they had regarding the material.
I’d like to discuss a potential donation, becoming a volunteer, or arranging an exhibit or event featuring LIAL materials in my area. How can I get in touch?
Email us at lgbtqiowaarchives@protonmail.com with a brief description of the materials you’re interested in donating, your interests as a volunteer (see “Support LIAL” section below for our current needs), and/or your desired event. Please note that exhibits are complex and frequently require at least a year of planning; for classes in Iowa City, please contact us a month ahead. For classes outside Iowa City, please contact us at least two months ahead and/or consider working with us to develop a digital teaching kit to suit your needs. Please provide your preferred contact information for our response.
Oral History Projects
LIAL has 25 lendable oral history kits to share with community organizations interested in recording oral history interviews, as well as training materials and digital storage resources if desired. We currently collect oral histories in LIAL’s own collection, LGBTQ Iowa Narratives (LIN).
Digitization & Scanning
LIAL has several scanners that we can lend out by arrangement to organizations or individuals holding LGBTQ+ archival materials.
If you would like to discuss donating archival materials, oral history work, or digitization projects, please contact us directly by emailing lgbtqiowaarchives@protonmail.com.
