LGBTQ+ Oral Histories: Practice and Connection with Communities

Join us for a roundtable discussion about experiences documenting and collecting personal histories within LGBTQ+ communities. Our panel will reflect on the power of connecting with oral history participants and the struggles that can result from disseminating stories, as well as share some examples of related community archives.

Meet our Panelists:

Tami Albin is an Associate Librarian at the University of Kansas in the Center for Faculty/Staff Initiatives and Engagement. She is also the Director of “Under the Rainbow: Oral Histories of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer People in Kansas.” She received her M.L.I.S. from the University of Western Ontario and her B.A.H. in Sociology and Women Studies from Trent University. She is presently working on a manuscript based on her oral history project, “Under the Rainbow.” Other areas of interest include LEGOS, cryptozoology, parapsychology, dinosaurs, and talking about her cats non-stop. Basically, she is a six-year-old boy.

Melissa Gohlke received her master’s degree in History from the University of Texas at San Antonio in 2012. While working on her master’s thesis, Melissa began forging relationships with local LGBTQ organizations and individuals as she worked to piece together the history of San Antonio’s queer community. She gained a strong appreciation for the importance of collecting, preserving, and providing access to local LGBTQ materials- a mission she pursues at UTSA Special Collections. She is currently focused on intake of the Happy Foundation Archives, one of the largest LGBTQ community archives in Texas. Melissa is also working with the Office of Historic Preservation at the City of San Antonio to secure a Pride Cultural Heritage District designation for an area of the Tobin Hill neighborhood.

Kevin Alvarez Reyes, a native of Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, is a passionate scholar and advocate at the intersection of Queer Studies and migration. Currently pursuing his master's degree at the University of Texas at San Antonio with intentions to pursue more academic achievements. Outside the academic realm, Kevin finds comfort and inspiration within music, whether he's lost in the nostalgia of 90s tunes or immersed in the soulful rhythms of regional.

Emily Gracielle Rodriguez-Guajardo (she/they) was born in Laredo, Texas, and raised in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico. They embrace their identity as second-generation transfronteriza, navigating two cultural worlds. At 23, she realized que ella, es de aquí y es de allá and found comfort in Spanglish poetry and queer Latin American Literature. Although she considers home between the waters of the Rio Bravo, where EEUU and Mexico find their confluence, they now live in San Antonio, TX. She embraces her Nepantla through academia at the University of Texas at San Antonio, where she pursues her Master of Arts in Spanish with a focus on Transborder literature, LGBTQ+ creative arts, and digital humanities to further advocate for better open and inclusive creative spaces for marginalized communities to navigate their Nepantla.