Why Oral Histories?
Led by Dr. Kate Drabinski, students at UMBC seek to preserve the widest possible range of experiences of LGBTQ+ life at the university and in the greater Baltimore region. Archived with UMBC’s Special Collections, the UMBC LGBTQ+ Oral History Project consists of oral histories conducted by Sexuality and Queer Theory students in conversation with community members with an emphasis on experiences related to gender and sexual identity as they intersect with other categories of difference.
This collection, based on lived experience, serves to expand the voices and narratives preserved for historical research to include those of gender and sexual minorities. The collection features narrators of all ages as we seek to leave an intergenerational record for the future.
Uses of Oral Histories