On Wednesday, October 9, UK Libraries will welcome art historian and curator Josh Porter, Assistant Executive Director for the Faulkner Morgan Archive (FMA).
Porter will highlight the FMA’s diligent work preserving the documents, artifacts, and oral histories that tell the story of Kentucky’s LGBTQ* community. Numbering 15,000 items and more than 250 hours of recorded interviews, FMA collections span 200 years of history, representing individuals, events, and institutions and creating a rich resource for activists, scholars, artists, and museums.
Porter’s presentation begins at 6pm in the Alumni Gallery in William T. Young Library. Light refreshments and a meet and greet will follow the lecture.
Born in Eastern Kentucky, Porter brings a unique perspective to the archive by viewing Kentucky’s LGBTQ* history through the lens of art, particularly photography. His writing, design, and photography has appeared in Oxford American, Brooklyn Rail, Art In America, Queer Kentucky, UnderMain, and other publications. He received his MFA in Curatorial Studies from UK in 2023.
The evening will also showcase the many resources and collections at UK Libraries that support research in the field of gender and sexuality studies and shine a light on the lives and legacies of LGBTQ* individuals and communities from across Kentucky.
Below, find a sample of the collections that will be available to browse following the lecture, from primary source materials and cutting edge scholarship to guides and tools for self-discovery and belonging.
The Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History holds several dozen oral history projects that touch on gender and sexuality.
Produced through a partnership between the Nunn Center and UK’s Office of LGBTQ* Resources, the OutSouth: LGBTQ+ Oral History Project documents the lives of Southern LGBTQ* individuals who have fostered and grown LGBTQ* communities locally, regionally, and nationally. These 55 interviews share stories that span decades of LGBTQ* history, from trailblazing community members and the AIDS epidemic to contemporary activism and the enshrinement of legal rights. They also capture deeply personal moments of coming out to friends and family, finding the warmth of community and safe spaces, falling in love, and persevering through the difficult journey from self-discovery to self-acceptance and self-realization.
In 1982, while gathering material for his book, The Outrageous Life of Henry Faulkner, author Charles House conducted the six interviews that now make up the Henry Faulkner Oral History Project – including an interview with 90-year-old Sweet Evening Breeze, one of Lexington’s first notable drag queens. The collection – along with House’s notes and papers for the book, held at the Special Collections Research Center – tells the inside story of Faulkner, an animated, eccentric, and complicated artist who stood as one of the pioneers and pillars of the mid-century Kentucky LGBTQ* scene. In 2014, the Faulkner Morgan Archive was created to honor his legacy.
From over 350 Lexington Herald-Leader articles about the Bar Complex, a fixture in Lexington’s LGBTQ* nightlife, to rich collections of photographs capturing moments of performance and celebration, UK Libraries has an astounding range of primary source materials documenting LGBTQ* culture and history across Kentucky.
After Porter’s presentation, browse through our extensive collection of archival meeting minutes from the Gay and Lesbian Services Organization (GLSO), drawn from the Pride Community Services Organization Publications Collection. The GLSO worked to increase LGTBQ* visibility, empower community members, and educate the public. In 1996, they opened the Lexington Pride Center.
UK Libraries is home to a wide range of resources and collections that support teaching, research, and learning across the vast fields of gender and sexuality studies. Users can stay on the cutting edge with access to a growing list of databases and hundreds of scholarly journals encompassing a broad historical, geographic, and cultural scope.
We hope you’ll browse the stacks for titles near and dear to our Kentucky hearts, including The Lexington Six: Lesbian and Gay resistance in 1970s America by Josephine Donovan and The Last Gospel of the Pagan Babies: A Queer Southern Story by filmmaker Jean Donohue.
UK Libraries’ Central Kentucky LGBTQIA+ Resource Guide compiles a vast amount of information on resources and services supporting LBGTQIA+ individuals, communities, and allies. While many organizations and services referenced in the guide are local to Central Kentucky, the guide also includes information on national advocacy groups, organizations, and publications.
Users can find detailed descriptions, links, and contact information for:
Other UK Libraries-authored LGBTQ* guides include the Lesbian Studies Research Guide, an exhaustive resource covering all facets of the interdisciplinary field of Lesbian Studies. The guide includes information about advocacy organizations; books, journals, and databases; art, music, and film; blogs, comic books, and cartoons; news sources; academic programs; grants; oral histories and special collections; and politics and social movements.
