The Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection in Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Studies is a collection of

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term ...

historical materials housed in the Special Collections and Rare Books section of the

University of Minnesota Libraries The University of Minnesota Libraries is the library system of the University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus, operating at 13 facilities in and around Minneapolis–Saint Paul. It has over 7 million volumes and 119,000 serial titles that are coll ...

. It is located underground in the

Elmer L. Andersen Elmer Lee Andersen (June 17, 1909 – November 15, 2004) was an American businessman, philanthropist, and politician who built a successful business career with the H. B. Fuller Company. Andersen was most notably the 30th Governor of Minnesota ...

special collections facilities on the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...

's Minneapolis campus. The Tretter Collection houses over 40,000 items, making it the largest LGBT archive in the Upper Midwest and one of the largest GLBT history collections in the United States. The collection, which was created by Jean-Nickolaus Tretter, is international in scope and is varied in media.

Collection

Although books are the core of the collection (including a large holding of

gay pulp fiction Gay pulp fiction, or gay pulps, refers to printed works, primarily fiction, that include references to male homosexuality, specifically male gay sex, and that are cheaply produced, typically in paperback books made of wood pulp paper; lesbian pul ...

), substantial sections include textiles, glassware, film, music, art works, and three-dimensional objects such as statuary, event buttons, and furniture. The collection includes unpublished manuscripts, vertical files, and periodicals in approximately 56 languages. Much of the material is from people and organizations in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

during the last third of the twentieth century. Among the significant archival holdings are: * items from the

Magnus Hirschfeld Magnus Hirschfeld (14 May 1868 – 14 May 1935) was a German physician and sexologist. Hirschfeld was educated in philosophy, philology and medicine. An outspoken advocate for sexual minorities, Hirschfeld founded the Scientific-Humanitarian Com ...

estate * archives of the national

Log Cabin Republicans The Log Cabin Republicans (LCR) is an organization within the Republican Party which advocates for equal rights for LGBT+ Americans. History Log Cabin Republicans was founded in 1977 in California as a rallying point for Republicans opposed t ...

* records of the

Daughters of Bilitis The Daughters of Bilitis , also called the DOB or the Daughters, was the first lesbian civil and political rights organization in the United States. The organization, formed in San Francisco in 1955, was conceived as a social alternative to le ...

Mattachine Society The Mattachine Society (), founded in 1950, was an early national gay rights organization in the United States, perhaps preceded only by Chicago's Society for Human Rights. Communist and labor activist Harry Hay formed the group with a collectio ...

records * page proofs and layouts for six works by

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationsh ...

* archives of the

National Education Association The National Education Association (NEA) is the largest labor union in the United States. It represents public school teachers and other support personnel, faculty and staffers at colleges and universities, retired educators, and college stud ...

GLBT Caucus * the personal papers of: **

Tobias Schneebaum Tobias Schneebaum (March 25, 1922 – September 20, 2005) was an American artist, anthropologist, and AIDS activist. He is best known for his experiences living and traveling among the Harakmbut people of Peru, and the Asmat people of Papua, Indo ...

Charles Nolte Charles Nolte (November 3, 1923 – January 14, 2010) was an American stage and film actor, director, playwright, and educator. Career Nolte was born in Duluth, Minnesota and moved to Wayzata, Minnesota with his family in the early 1930s. ...

** Stuart Ferguson The collection was started by Jean-Nickolaus Tretter, a

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over t ...

-born archivist, in the 1950s, and donated to the University of Minnesota Libraries in the early 200s when the collection grew large enough to be a fire hazard in his home. Selected items from the collection and timelines are frequently assembled and displayed worldwide. Recent displays have been at the

Motor City Pride Motor City Pride is an annual LGBT pride street festival, held in Hart Plaza in Detroit, Michigan the second Saturday and Sunday of June. Previously held in Ferndale, Michigan, the festival moved to Detroit in 2011. It is the largest LGBT event ...

in Michigan in 2007 and 2009, and the first

Moscow Pride Moscow Pride (Russian Московский Гей-Прайд, Moscow Gay Pride) is a demonstration of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgender persons (LGBT). It was intended to take place in May annually since 2006 in the Russian capital Mosc ...

festival in May 2006. In 2005, the collection started its official newsletter, ''The Tretter Letter''. In 2006, The Tretter Collection, the University of Minnesota Libraries, and the

Quatrefoil Library Quatrefoil Library is a member-supported, 501(c)(3) non-profit library and community center for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community. It is located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where it was founded by David Irwin and Dick Hewet ...

presented the first GLBT ALMS ( Archives, Libraries, Museums and Special Collections) Conference in Minneapolis. It is the home of the Transgender Oral History Project, which has gathered 200 video interviews of transgender individuals, primarily in the Upper Midwest, and which has received funding for a second phase.

Awards, honors and media recognition

In 2016, The Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection was the inaugural recipient of the Newlen-Symons Award for Excellence in Library Services and Outreach to the GLBT Community. "The Newlen-Symons Award recognizes the tremendous impact of the Tretter Collection and its leadership in collecting and preserving the record of the GLBT community, from the University of Minnesota campus and beyond," said American Library Association President Sari Feldman. "Through preservation, collection development and advocacy, the Tretter Collection embodies how libraries can transform lives and communities." In 2017, The Tretter Collection won the Diversity Award presented by the

Society of American Archivists The Society of American Archivists is the oldest and largest archivist association in North America, serving the educational and informational needs of more than 5,000 individual archivist and institutional members. Established in 1936, the org ...

. The Society of American Archivists annually recognizes outstanding contributions, leaders, and achievers in advancing diversity within the archives profession. Tretter was honored for its dedication to filling in the gaps of the GLBT archival record and for striving to include marginalized voices from within the GLBT community.

People

In 2015, Andrea Jenkins began work at the Tretter Collection as curator of the Transgender Oral History Project.

References

External links

University Tretter Collection website

Andersen Library Website
{{Authority control Archives in the United States LGBT museums and archives LGBT studies organizations University of Minnesota 2000 establishments in Minnesota

Collection

Awards, honors and media recognition

People

See also

References

External links