Many of us trainees are tasked with, or collaborate with, colleagues on creating book displays in our libraries. This gives us a chance to further explore our libraries’ collections and conduct research on topics that we are passionate about, or topics which are entirely new to us! The month of February is LGBT+ History Month and this year’s theme is Activism and Social Change. In this blog post, three trainees (from the Social Science Library, New College Library and the English Faculty Library) talk about LGBT+ History Month in their libraries, the process of creating displays, and the relevant titles which they are currently exhibiting.
If you would like to learn more about LGBT+ History Month, head on over to the Schools Out! website for more details. There has been a great deal of work done on the accumulation of LGBT+ history resources in recent years. The History Faculty Library held a LGBT+ history hackathon in November 2024 with the aim of crowdsourcing information and resources on LGBT+ history. One of our 2024/25 trainees was involved in the organisation of this event.
Social Science Library – Gia Simmons
Hello again from Manor Road! It’s Gia here, the SSL trainee. One of the most interesting and creative parts of my job is the work that I get to put into the book displays. Luckily for me, we do a lot in the SSL! Every few weeks I get to update our new book display with both Legal Deposit and Research acquisitions as well as our eBook displays. In addition to this, around once a month, we put together a special pop-up display in the SSL. These displays generally surround a particular theme, event or the time of year. This month is LGBT+ history month, so I got to collaborate with one of my colleagues to create a display that fell into the categories of this year’s theme, which was Activism and Social Change. The theme for the month is decided by the founding organisation, Schools Out!
A colleague of mine in the SSL is the EDI Co-ordinator for Academic Library Services. Once I had come up with my very extensive list of items that I could include in this display, she very kindly helped me to narrow down the resources that I had accumulated throughout my search. Here are the books that were included in the display:
Transnational LGBT activism: working for sexual rights worldwide / Ryan Richard Thoreson https://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/permalink/44OXF_INST/35n82s/alma990204582520107026
Miss Major speaks : conversations with a Black trans revolutionary / Toshio Meronek & Miss Major https://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/permalink/44OXF_INST/35n82s/alma991027128663607026
Home is where your politics are : queer activism in the US South and South Africa / Jessica A. Scott https://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/permalink/44OXF_INST/ohuutv/alma991026827538107026
Kenyan, Christian, queer : religion, LGBT activism, and arts of resistance in Africa / Adriaan van Klinken https://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/permalink/44OXF_INST/ohuutv/alma990218360350107026
Coming out of communism : the emergence of LGBT activism in Eastern Europe / Conor O’Dwyer https://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/permalink/44OXF_INST/ohuutv/alma990212984130107026
Queer African reader / Edited by Sokari Ekine & Hakima Abbas https://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/permalink/44OXF_INST/35n82s/alma990214902680107026
Queering the public sphere in Mexico and Brazil : sexual rights movements in emerging democracies / Rafael de la Dehesa https://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/permalink/44OXF_INST/35n82s/alma990218455460107026
Political voice : protest, democracy, and marginalised groups / Aidan McGarry https://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/permalink/44OXF_INST/35n82s/alma991026938153107026
Between HIV prevention and LGBTI rights : the political economy of queer activism in Ghana / Ellie Gore https://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/permalink/44OXF_INST/35n82s/alma991026941802407026
Global LGBTQ activism : social media, digital technologies, and protest mechanisms / Edited by Paromita Pain https://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/permalink/44OXF_INST/1tb00os/alma991025409040407026
Queer activism in India a story in the anthropology of ethics / Naisargi N. Davé https://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/permalink/44OXF_INST/35n82s/alma991002540669707026
Turning the page : storytelling as activism in queer film and media / David R. Coon https://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/permalink/44OXF_INST/1tb00os/alma991026785379807026
The Oxford Handbook of Global LGBT and Sexual Diversity Politics / Edited by Michael J. Bosia, Sandra M. McEvoy & Momin Rahman. https://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/permalink/44OXF_INST/35n82s/alma991022098169007026
Queer data : using gender, sex and sexuality data for action / Kevin Guyan https://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/permalink/44OXF_INST/1tb00os/alma990233653430107026
Activist identity development of transgender social justice activists and educators / Ksenija Joksimović https://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/permalink/44OXF_INST/35n82s/alma991025429780907026
Transgender in the post-Yugoslav space : lives, activisms, culture / Edited by Bojan Bilić, Iwo Nord & Aleksa Milanović https://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/permalink/44OXF_INST/35n82s/alma991025429780907026
Sometimes, there are multiple displays happening in the SSL at once. We are very lucky that we have the space for them all! The other book display that took place at the start of February was Green Action Week.
By curating these book display, I not only get to become more familiar with the collection in my library, but I also get to show off the wide range of resources that the SSL and the wider Bodleian collection has to offer.
Furthermore, I created a suggestion booklet to be included in the display. This allows readers to indicate books on LGBT+ history to us which are important to them and also gives them the opportunity to suggest something for the library to purchase that we may not have in our collection. We also included this call for suggestions on the blog post that I wrote for the SSL blog.
We’ll see you next month with our Women’s History Month display!
New College Library – Jess Pascal
Never one to shy away from a themed book display, this month I’ve put one together for LGBT+ History Month. Having a smaller library collection to work with, I wasn’t able to stick closely to the theme of Activism and Social Change, however, I selected as many books as possible relating to this theme, such as We are everywhere: protest, power, and pride in the history of Queer Liberation. I also put the most relevant books at the top of the display, as these will be the most visible. Searching for titles to include in this display was relatively easy, as books about gender and sexuality are grouped together in New College library’s in-house classification system under the fairly new shelfmark Q. This meant I could go to that section and browse for the appropriate books. I aimed to incorporate as much variety as possible; this meant including various identities under the queer umbrella as well as differing geographical locations and time periods to showcase the diversity and extent of the queer community. With this in mind, I designed the label for the display around the progress pride flag and included a variety of flags representing queer identities that aren’t yet consistently included in books about LGBT+ history. As always, the final step is to publicise the display here and on our social media, reminding people that these books are there to be read!
Books used:
In Her Hands : Women’s Fight against AIDS in the United States / Emma Day https://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/permalink/44OXF_INST/35n82s/alma991025354505507026
Transgender Warriors: Making History from Joan of Arc to Dennis Rodman / Leslie Feinberg https://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/permalink/44OXF_INST/35n82s/alma990210863520107026
Queer (Re)Readings in the French Renaissance: Homosexuality, Gender, Culture / Gary Ferguson https://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/permalink/44OXF_INST/35n82s/alma990228559620107026
Queer Cambridge: An Alternative History / Simon Goldhill https://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/permalink/44OXF_INST/35n82s/alma991027156561107026
The Lesbian Revolution: Lesbian Feminism in the UK, 1970-1990 / Sheila Jeffreys https://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/permalink/44OXF_INST/35n82s/alma990217995000107026
LGBT Victorians: Sexuality and Gender in the Nineteenth-Century Archives / Simon Joyce https://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/permalink/44OXF_INST/35n82s/alma990231097600107026
The Other Side of Silence: Men’s Lives and Gay Identities: A Twentieth-Century History / John Loughery https://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/permalink/44OXF_INST/35n82s/alma990223290420107026
Queer Philologies: Sex, Language, and Affect in Shakespeare’s Time / Jeffrey Masten https://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/permalink/44OXF_INST/35n82s/alma990214013820107026
Spaces Between Us: Queer Settler Colonialism and Indigenous Decolonization / Scott Lauria Morgensen https://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/permalink/44OXF_INST/35n82s/alma990218530000107026
Sex Change, Social Change: Reflections on Identity, Institutions, and Imperialism / Viviane K. Namaste https://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/permalink/44OXF_INST/35n82s/alma990214902070107026
We Are Everywhere: Protest, Power, and Pride in the History of Queer Liberation / Matthew Riemer & Leighton Brown. https://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/permalink/44OXF_INST/35n82s/alma990218614470107026
Queer Identities and Politics in Germany: A History, 1880-1945 / Clayton John Whisnant https://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/permalink/44OXF_INST/35n82s/alma990208178650107026
English Faculty Library – Harry Whattoff
Whilst the English Faculty Library does not have a designated LGBT+ History Month display like some other libraries do this year, we are, of course, still celebrating in style. Each year, for both LGBT+ History Month (February) and Pride Month (June), the library dons its most colourful finery (various pride flags) and doesn’t it look lovely! Furthermore, our current display (curated by yours truly) is particularly topical and refers to one of the most famous queer books to be banned: The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall (1928).
The display is titled “TO BE DESTROYED:” The Legal History of Book Censorship in the UK and it is essentially a (mostly) complete timeline of the major events/publications that resulted in the creation of the 1959 Obscene Publications Act. This piece of legislation, which is still in use today, took huge steps in reforming previous laws aimed at curbing the publication, sale, and distribution of material deemed to be obscene and corruptive. In numerous instances, these historic laws resulted in the censorship of an array of queer literature such as that of Radclyffe Hall.
Whilst her book was unfortunately banned until after her death, Hall’s case was a landmark one in showcasing the frustration of censorship laws of the time and the need for change; as such, this year’s LGBT+ History Month theme (Activism and Social Change) is especially relevant. Wan writes that “Norman Birkett, the defence lawyer, had assembled a formidable group of witnesses, including E.M. Forster, Desmond McCarthy (the editor of Life and Letters), Leonard and Virginia Woolf, [and] Vita Sackville-West” (150) to defend the novel and oppose censorship. Most of these figures were queer creatives, and all were members of The Bloomsbury Group – an influential artistic social circle of the early twentieth century. The obscenity trial which took place received a huge amount of publicity and consequently, Hall’s status as a lesbian icon was firmly cemented. In many ways, Hall’s trial also led to wider exposure to this so-called ‘obscene’ material, thus, having the opposite of the intended effect.
Changes to obscenity laws would only come about in 1959 after much legal back and forth. To find out more about this, and Radclyffe Hall’s case, head on over to our own blog site here for a more in-depth view. Additionally, please do pop into the EFL for a look at the display – it covers almost 600 years of a long, complex history so it’s not one to be missed!
*It is important to note that, whilst Radclyffe Hall can indeed be viewed as a courageous advocate for social change, her personal politics can divide opinion. To understand more about her life, I would recommend listening to the Bad Gays podcast featuring Jana Funke, Professor of Modern Literature and Sexuality Studies at Exeter University. The link to the episode can be found here!*
Works Cited
Wan, M. (2016). “The Well of Loneliness trials: lesbianism and the return of the repressed.” Masculinity and the Trials of Modern Fiction, Routledge, 2018, pp. 138-170.
