An author, college professor, and transgender activist, Jennifer Finney Boylan is a graduate of Wesleyan University and Johns Hopkins University. She was on the faculty of Colby College (1988-2014) before moving to Barnard College at Columbia University. The author of a number of novels, short stories, and an autobiography, Boylan also writes regularly for the New York Times. Born James Boylan, Jennifer Finney Boylan began her male to female transition in 2000. Her autobiography, She's Not There: A Life in Two Genders (2003) was the first bestselling work by a transgender American. She appears regularly on television and has spoken across the country as an advocate for civil rights for LGBTQ people. Boylan served on the national board of directors of GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) from 2011-2018, and was a member of the board of trustees of the Kinsey Institute for Research on Sex, Gender, and Reproduction. This collection includes unpublished writings, including stories, novels, screenplays, etc.; drafts of published works; photographs; her transition diary, 2000-2001; correspondence and other documents re: her transition; issues of the Wesleyan Argus, 1979-1980; a copy of the American Bystander, 1982; etc.

A participant in poverty programs and civil rights organizations while a student of history at Duke University (1962-1966), Bunch became active in the women's liberation movement of the 1960s. She has subsequently taught courses on feminism at colleges and universities, participated in international conferences concerning women, peace, and Christianity, edited feminist books and journals, and worked to develop a lesbian/feminist ideology. Her many organizational affiliations have included the Methodist Student Movement, the New York City Commission on the Status of Women, American Friends Service Committee, National Congress of Neighborhood Women, and the National Gay Task Force. See also the Additional Papers of Charlotte Bunch.

Dobkin began her career singing folk music in coffee houses, especially the Gaslight Cafe in Greenwich. In 1972 Dobkin fell in love with Liza Cowan and the couple came out together. In 1973, Dobkin released Lavender Jane Loves Women, the first album specifically made by and for lesbians. Since then she has released six other albums of women's music and has performed widely in the United States and abroad. For many years Dobkin was an advocate of women-only spaces and performed only for women. She appeared regularly at the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival from the 1970s to the 1990s, as well as at other women's music and lesbian festivals.

Hannah Doress graduated from Wesleyan University (A.B. 1988) where she was involved with the Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual Alliance and with a number of other political movements. In 1996 she began an e-mail calendar of events serving queer women, progressives, and artists, as well as producing and promoting inclusive and diverse events including concerts, readings, Gay Pride Parties and multimedia programs. As a community organizer and founder and executive director of Hanarchy Now Productions, a group promoting progressive, socially-conscious entertainment, she sought to form successful collaborations with companies owned and operated by women of color and to promote a community that was "inclusive, sex-positive, bi-positive, trans-positive, progressive and supportive of artists." The collection consists of promotional flyers, posters, etc., and clippings about Doress and Hanarchy Now Productions.

A civil rights, peace, feminist, and lesbian activist, Vicki (Levins) Gabriner is a graduate of Cornell (B.A. 1963), University of Wisconsin (M.A. 1966), and Union Institute and University (Ph.D. 2009). In 1968, she moved to New York City to teach, joined the Weathermen, traveled to Cuba with the Venceremos Brigade, and became a feminist. In 1970, Gabriner moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where she came out as a lesbian and helped to found the Atlanta Lesbian Feminist Alliance. While in Georgia she co-founded Georgians for the ERA and ATTHIS, which offered workshops in lesbian sexuality; she was also the project director for the Human Sexuality--Family Life Skills Program for the Northwest Georgia Girl Scout Council. In 1973, Gabriner was arrested for her participation in a Weathermen action. She was convicted in 1977 but exonerated upon appeal in 1978. In 1979, she moved to Boston, Mass., where she wrote for Sojourner and Gay Community News. Gabriner is the author of Sleeping Beauty: A Lesbian Fairy Tale (1971, 1976), among other works.

Founded in 1992 by Nancy Pleasant, Girlfriends is based in Cambridge, Mass., and began as a peer support group for lesbians and bisexual women of African descent. It meets weekly and provides a safe haven and facilitates discussions around various topics. It also publishes a newsletter and has sponsored a number of events, including a book group, film festival, and talent show. The collection consists of board meeting agendas, flyers and other publicity, newsletters, and grant proposals.

The International Foundation for Gender Education (IFGE) is a nonprofit transgender advocacy organization founded in November 1986 by Merissa Sherill Lynn. The mission of the organization is to promote understanding and acceptance of transgender people through advocacy and educational initiatives. Since its founding the IFGE has operated as a communications medium, and an outreach and educational tool for transgender people, professional communities, and the general public. IFGE is managed by a board of directors elected from the transgender community at large. The IFGE publishes Transgender Tapestry, which was originally titled The TV-TS Tapestry until 1995. They provide a speakers bureau, a library of publications on transgender issues, and, since 1987, they have held an annual "coming together" convention.

Meredith was a photographer, artist, filmmaker, and performance artist. Most of her career in photography was spent documenting the lives of women, gay and lesbian life, and her family. See also Ann P. Meredith (Audiovisual collection)

An activist, theologian, journalist and motivational speaker, Reverend Monroe has written and lectured extensively on a broad range of social issues and on the history of African American, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities in Boston and across the nation. Monroe has also served as a board member for organizations committed to civil and human rights, including CLOUT (Christian Lesbians Out Together), the National Black Justice Coalition, the Religious Coalition for the Freedom to Marry, and the African American Roundtable of the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry at the Pacific School of Religon. In addition to her papers, researchers can view her web site at www.irenemonroe.com, which is being archived by Harvard University.

Singer, composer, and political activist Holly Near grew up on a farm in northern California and began performing as a singer at an early age. As a student at UCLA, she became involved in the anti-Vietnam war movement, touring with Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland in the Free the Army show (1971-1973). In 1975 she became involved in the women's music scene, performing at the annual fundraiser for the Los Angeles Woman's Building. Near toured broadly and performed around the United States and abroad, as well as at many women's music festivals and concerts. She has concertized widely as part of her struggle against nuclear weapons and for equal rights for all people. See also Holly Near (Additional papers)

African American feminist lesbian poet Pat (Cooks) Parker earned an undergraduate degree at Los Angeles City College and a graduate degree at San Francisco State College. In 1962 she married Ed Bullins, a playwright and member of the Black Panthers. They divorced after four years and she married Robert F. Parker and had two daughters, Cassidy and Anastasia. In the late 1960s, Parker began to identify as a lesbian; following her divorce from Parker she had committed relationships with Laura Brown and Martha Dunham. Parker gave her first public poetry reading in 1963. Her first book of poetry, Child of Myself, appeared in 1972 followed by Pit Stop in 1973. In 1976 Parker and Judy Grahn released a phonograph album, Where Would I Be Without You. In 1978 Parker became director of Oakland's Feminist Women's Health Center and in 1980 she founded the Black Women's Revolutionary Council.