Judith Schwarz, Joan Nestle & Deborah Edel
Judith Schwarz
Judith Schwarz is a pioneering grassroots lesbian historian. She joined LHA in 1978, and discovered DOB in the mid 1960s.
Joan Nestle
From Joan Nestle's website: "Born in the Bronx, NYC in 1940 to a widowed Jewish mother, came out as a fem in the working class bars of Greenwich Village in the late 1950s, protested the HUAC, the Vietnam War... demonstrated for women's rights including abortion and Gay Liberation. In 1973 became co-founder of the LHA, in 1979 started writing erotic stories and in 1982 ran afoul fo the anti-pornography movement, thus becoming a fervent pro-sex activist. In 1966 I started teaching writing in the SEEK Program at Queens College and did not stop until cancer forced me to retire in 1995."
Deborah Edel
Deborah Edel was Joan Nestle's former partner. She co-founded the LHA and has been a Coordinator there for 40 years. She retired as Director of Admissions at the Mary McDowell Friends School. She was a Historical Consultant for the documentary Before Stonewall.
Deborah Edel, Joan Nestle & Judith Schwarz Interview, November 14, 1992
Deborah Edel, Joan Nestle, and Judith Schwarz discuss the formation of the Lesbian Herstory Archives in the 1970s. They detail how the Archives grew out of a consciousness raising group through the Gay Academic Union in 1973. They talk about the mission of the archives, to ensure that lesbian voices and culture were heard and preserved. They also talk about the growth of their collections through donations of books, papers, and photographs from the lesbian community.