Queer Pasts, Queer Futures: The Lafayette Queer Archives Project

Centered on the voices of Lafayette’s LGBTQ+ alumni, faculty, and staff, the Queer Archives project (QAP) is a collaborative undertaking of the College Archives, Digital Scholarship Services, and the Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies (WGSS) Program. Launched in 2016, the QAP uses oral history interviews to illuminate Lafayette’s LGBTQ+ past.

The Lafayette Libraries’ spring 2023 exhibition celebrates the LGBTQ+ alumni, faculty, and staff who have generously participated in the oral history interviews that shape the QAP digital humanities site. A visual timeline installed in Skillman’s Reference area features highlights from the QAP oral history interviews and related archival research on Lafayette College’s Queer history. The exhibition allows visitors to link directly to oral history interviews via QR codes and immerse themselves in the history of campus events, student groups, the academic curriculum, changes in College policy, and issues related to Queer people of color and the trans community.