Introduction

In 1983, students in the Lesbian Gay Student Alliance (LGSA) began a series of collaborative journals that they kept in their office on the third floor of Faunce House. For years, they filled their pages with candid reflections, meeting notes, poetry, artwork, and discussion questions—an intimate record of LGBTQ life on campus. There are 10 total journals, and the height of engagement was between the mid 80s and early 90s.

These journals highlight alternative modes of history-making outside institutional archives. They capture the playful, poignant, and defiant voices of LGBTQ students in their own words and handwriting. The raw emotions and daily experiences revealed offer a powerful lens into the past.

At the same time, the journals represent only certain perspectives from that era. As you explore them, consider: Whose stories are missing? Why might that be? To add depth to the narratives in the journals, oral history quotes from journal participants and other LGBTQ alumni are highlighted throughout the exhibit.

Uncovered in Stonewall House, this rich archive reminds us that LGBTQ communities have always created dynamic spaces to share personal stories and build collective belonging. We invite you to engage with these journals as a historical record and as a form of queer memory-keeping.

Ethical Considerations

These journals, kept at the LGSA office, were intended to be an ongoing logbook for group members to share experiences, emotions, and observations amongst each other. In curating them for public viewing, we carefully navigated the ethical considerations of displaying these entries. For most of the entries in the exhibit, the authors have given direct consent for their use. Uncredited illustrations, excerpts, and polls were included if their contents were non-identifying.

Terminology around gender and sexual identities also evolved across the journals' timespan. In the earliest editions of the journal from the 1980s, “lesbian and gay” was the most used community label, but this changed over time. In describing the exhibit’s content, we use “LGBTQ” to allow for a more inclusive gloss of the community. As a curatorial team, we use “queer” to reflect our methodology.

Jennie Journal Entry- "Portrait"

“Jennie Portrait”

Jennie, Journal 1, c. 1985

Oral History Quote

Annette: I'd come flying out of the Midwest where I lived, like, “Oh my god, maybe I can breathe here.” I got to Brown, but the problem was I was fundamentally a very, very, very shy person. So kind of hard to be bursting onto the scene while retreating at the same time. So one day, I was in my room. We always had the doors open to the hallway, and I heard some guys were horsing around. They were like, “Can you believe this? Oh Jesus, this is ridiculous.” And I heard them rip something off the bulletin board, and this ball of paper literally came down the hall and landed inside my door. And I went over and I was like, “LGSA meeting, Tuesday, Faunce.” How's that?

Ellen (Curator) : Oh, that's like fate.

Annette: Yeah, and I remember I just was like, “Oh My God.” My roommate wasn't there at the time. “Oh my god, Faunce House, where's Faunce House?” You know, because it was pretty early in freshman year. I was like, “Okay. This is a sign. You gotta be brave. You just gotta go.” And I remember I had one friend from high school who was also at Brown. I'm a freshman. I went and talked to her and I said, “I really need to go to this, but I'm really, really scared. Will you come with me?” And she was one of those people who was up for anything, she was like, “Oh, sure. Why not?” [I said] “Well, they might think that you're-” [She said] “So?” I mean, she was one of those people who just did not care. Right? You know, that you could get the big “L” put on your forehead. Anyway, she came with me, and I remember we were up in the attic of Faunce House. I remember the sloped ceilings, and there was this group, with everybody sitting on the floor. And I remember sitting there, just absolutely terrified. And I don't think they did much more than get my name. We went around, everybody introducing themselves. They always had some topic, which I feel like seventy five percent of the time was either coming out or dealing with your parents. Obviously, a big theme of coming out to your roommate, [etc.]. And afterwards, My friend was like, “Oh, there were some really interesting people, this is great!” She never went back again. But I was- I thought, “Oh My God. I’ve found my people.” Now, I proceeded to sit there silently for I don't know how long. For me, it feels like it was, like, years, but it couldn't have been more than a few months because then at some point, “Okay, we need somebody to do some postering.” And I thought, “Oh, I should do something helpful.”

-Annette Huddle reflecting on her first encounter with the LGSA as a freshman

Page updated

Report abuse