An Open Door to Love
(Re)Examining the History of LGBTQ Life in Bloomington
About the Collection
The content and subject matter of this collection is drawn largely from a 2019 IU Archives exhibit, “An Army of Lovers Cannot Be Conquered”: Examining the History of LGBTQ Life in Bloomington. Then-graduate assistant Kennedy Jones cataloged and curated historical materials relating to LGBTQ life in Bloomington dating back as early as the 1960s. This digital collection represents the early stages of digitizing these materials for further documentation of local LGBTQ life, a task with growing urgency given both state and national anti-LGBTQ politics.
The materials digitized here consist largely of newspaper articles from Bloomington and IU-affiliated publications, as well as a few selections of programming materials from LGBTQ-aligned groups and spaces. This selection of materials spans from 1971 to 2004. Every scan in the collection was produced by Evan Hurst (me). All materials digitized here are in posession of the Indiana University-Bloomington University Archives, in use expressly for educational purposes as part of the Digital Libraries graduate course.
Controlled Vocabularies
There are several sets of controlled vocabularies in use due to the variety of themes, locations, and subject matter within this digitized collection. The selections below represent solely the information within these objects; given that this work with the IU Archives might expand, these vocabularies will be refined as needed.
Locations
The following list includes all locations documented in this collection. When necessary, locations with multiple names are listed in full with the preferred name indicated.
- Aquarius Books
- Backstreet Bar (formerly at 430 E. Kirkwood Avenue)
- Bloomington Bagel Company
- Center for University Ministry (formerly at the corner of 3rd and Fess)
- Collins Living Learning Center
- Also known as: Collins Center
- Holiday Inn West
- LGBTQ+ Culture Center (705 E. Seventh Street)
- Also known as: GLBT Center, GLB Office, Center for Gay and Lesbian Concerns, and more
- New Horizons Gay Community Services (formerly at 809 S. Rogers Street)
- University Lutheran Church (607 E. Seventh Street)
- Washington D.C.
Subjects
The following list of subjects was made with reference to the Homosaurus vocabulary, an international data vocabulary thesaurus.
- AIDS
- Collective Action
- Used for: activism, protest, boycott, etc.
- Coming Out
- Community Space
- Equal Rights
- Gay/Lesbian Switchboard
- LGBTQ+ Press
- Used for: publications, newsletters, newspapers, pamphlets, writings, etc.
- Parenting
- Recreation
- Used for: social programs, concerts,
- Religion
- Student
Community
The community property for each object indicates to what groups the object is explicitly (or by clear inference) related. This includes groups based on gender and sexual identities, as well as specific affinity, advocacy, or actvist groups involved in LGBTQ+ politics.
- Feminist
- Gay
- Gay, Lesbian & Bisexual (GLB)
- Gay Liberation Front (GLF)
- Integrity/Bloomington
- Lesbian
- Lesbian & Gay Alliance
- OUT
Technical Credits - CollectionBuilder
This digital collection is built with CollectionBuilder, an open source framework for creating digital collection and exhibit websites that is developed by faculty librarians at the University of Idaho Library following the Lib-Static methodology.
The site started from the CollectionBuilder-GH template which utilizes the static website generator Jekyll and GitHub Pages to build and host digital collections and exhibits.