Times Square is bigger in real life than it is on Television.  But the Crystal Ball looks a lot smaller when you’re standing down on the street and you stumble upon it on accident while looking for a place to eat lunch.

That was all well and good, but then we went to 484 14th Street in Brooklyn.

Also known as the Lesbian Herstory Archives (LHA).

It was like no archive you’ve ever seen.

First of all, they gave us cookies and we sat around a dinning room table while we got a brief (but really wonderful) history lesson on how the archives came to be. I’d tell you, but honestly, you should listen to Deborah Edel. Because she’s wonderful. (You can watch the introductory video about the archives after reading this post.  I think you should.)

I’m an undergraduate Biomedical Engineer, so I’ve never seen an archive before. At least, not in real life. I haven’t been to Purdue’s Archive yet either. But I have friends and they’ve told me horror stories.

This was completely different. But then again, that’s what they want. The LHA don’t want you to have to wear gloves and show credentials to get in and look around. They want you to touch things, to take pictures and make photocopies, to learn and interact with the herstory in front of you. It’s not just an archive–it’s a community.

The LHA were started in 1974 by a group of women who were concerned that Lesbian history would vanish completely.  Especially because no one was really collecting it.

(Side note: “Herstory” is the word they chose as a play on of “history.” Break it down: Her-story instead of his-story…well no one says history with an emphasis on his but you get the point.)

And it wasn’t easy, not by a long shot. But they did it. And holy fudgesticks, it’s amazing.

They have a whole brownstone (which they paid off with donations, back when it cost only about $313,000). It’s filled top to bottom with books, journals, photographs, flyers, pamphlets, news articles, video tapes, audio cassettes, coats, flags, protest signs, documents…I could go on for awhile.

And they came from donations.

The Herstory tells just that. Histories of anything that has to do with Lesbian (“in the broadest sense of the word” according to Deb). The good and the bad (Deb told us of a Lesbian who’s archive they have that, although she was a respected member of the community, once was an FBI informer who ended up causing the fall of a lot of grassroots organizations).

There was so much there and I kind of wanted to spend the rest of the day there just…touching things. I felt connected to all the stories of thousands of people I’ve never met and will never meet.

It’s just strange for me to see all that. Every story, everything they have. It’s important. Not just to them, but to remembering a whole group of people who have almost nothing on record.

I want to go back, if I can find the time. Or maybe bring others there. It would take way too long to read everything but…I’d really like to read everything. Or help sort things at least. Did I mention they work off volunteers completely? No paid staff? No? Well they work off of volunteers with no paid staff.

As someone with no history–I kind of try to be invisible, it works for me–it’s outstanding to see something this extensive. It’s almost like finding the Library of Alexandria in a brownstone in New York.

Only this Library is completely out and open.