Digital Transgender Archive

Reviewed by: Erin Livingston, Melissa McDonald

Review date: March 03, 2025

Site Link: https://www.digitaltransgenderarchive.net/

Archive Link: https://archive.ph/0SBlz

Keywords: Gender & Sexuality Studies, Queer Studies, Transgender & Nonbinary Studies

Data Sources:

• Digitized historical materials, born-digital materials, oral histories, and information on archival holdings, examples of digitized materials include:
  
  • Photographs
    
  • Trans publications, magazines/zines, pamphlets, leaflets, articles
    
  • Artwork, including prints, posters, and portraits of trans figures
    
  • Legal proceedings and documents
    
  • Activism fliers, posters, shirts
    
  • Correspondence between queer people

Processes:

The Digital Transgender Archive (DTA) brings together materials from a variety of institutions, libraries, and private collections, meaning that a significant amount of data transformation had to take place to make these diverse sources accessible and searchable within a single system. Though not stated explicitly on the site, it’s likely this included:

• Metadata Standardization/Harmonization: team-created standardized descriptive elements like title, author/creator, date, format. Controlled vocabulary efforts
  
• Merging Redundant Data: resolving duplicate records contained in multiple institutional archives while preserving correct attributions.
  
• Adding new unpublished information by digitizing previously undigitized materials, and recording oral histories not previously available in other archives.

Presentation:

This project is a web-based digital archive. Users can view the exhibits by selecting a category to browse or by entering a term into the search bar. Featured on the homepage is a carousel of collections, a prompt to explore locations on an interactive map, selected topics to view, and a resource guide for navigating the archive.

Digital Tools Used:

The digital tools used to create the Digital Transgender Archive are not explicitly stated on site pages. Through navigating the archive pages, user features hint at tools used including:

• Multimedia Integration & Hosting: The DTA collaborates with the Internet Archive to host and preserve the majority of materials.
  
  • The Internet Archive specializes in digitization and long-term digital preservation so it’s a logical infrastructure partner for the DTA to offload large file hosting to ensure long-term access
    
  • Given the collaborative nature of the DTA, some partner institutions host and manage their own collections but they are linked through DTA’s platform. This decentralized hosting strategy enhances resilience and ensures broad access to a diverse collection.
    
• Robust Categorized Browse System: indicates a strong content management system that supports metadata categorization for thousands of items. Inspecting the elements tab in a developer window reveals Blacklight is the DTA’s backend search and display system.
  
  • Blacklight is an open source platform used for digital archives and library search interfaces. It works with Apache Solr as the backend search engine which enables a faceted and scalable search across the entire set of collections.
    
  • The use of Blacklight + Solr suggests that the DTA is structured like an academic library as opposed to a museum-like archive, which often uses Omeka.
    
• Interactive Mapping: (GIS technology) through the open source JavaScript library Leaflet to integrate map features compatible with search.

Languages:

• English

Review

The Digital Transgender Archive (DTA) was conceived after the 2008 TransSomatechnics conference where the project lead realized that there were a number of systemic barriers to researching the history of trans people. This project aims to remove barriers of access to trans history for academics and independent researchers. The team identified the three main barriers to access: the decentralized nature of trans archival materials in repositories such as universities, non-profits, and grassroots archives, etc.; the language that is used to discuss transgender identity, as the language we use today is relatively new, emerging in the 1990s; and very few primary source materials are available online or if they are online they are very difficult to find. The DTA has addressed these barriers by virtually merging disparate archival collections, digital materials, and independent projects into one searchable database. They were able to do this project with support from the American Council of Learned Societies, the Mellon Foundation, Northeastern University, and the College of the Holy Cross.

Browsing Pillar Overview by Melissa McDonald
The Digital Transgender Archive allows users to browse their extensive collection of 12,717 artifacts, both digitized and born digital, using an interactive map, by institution, collection, topic, and genre, and by what was most recently added. The modes for browsing the site allow the archive to be accessible to many users. The map tool, which is made with Leaflet, was particularly useful when exploring the site without a specific artifact in mind. The interactive map starts with a world view where there are colored circles with numbers inside of them, indicating the number of exhibits in that region. The user can click on the circles or zoom in on the map to get more information about what artifacts come from those areas.

Browsing by institution and collection were less easy to navigate as someone coming to the site without a clear research topic. The main audience for this archive is researchers and I think these search categories are geared towards their needs. With both of these searches, once the user clicks into the institution or collection they’d like to view they are taken to a landing page with information pertaining to either the institution or the collection. On that page there is a search function, a map showing the object that the institution/collection contains, as well as additional criteria such as topic, subject, or genre in order to refine the search.

I found the ability to search by topic and genre to be the most interesting. Browsing by topic gives the user a clickable list of topics that are sorted either A-Z or numerically. This topic list is varied and contains many words that are no longer used today. The DTA addresses this in the “Research” tab where they provide a terminology guide for navigating the variety of topics covered in the archive. Searching by genre provided a breakdown of the types of objects in the archive, as well as the number of that object. This allows the user to theorize about what things survive and get shared. The many search modalities make sure that whoever is using this site can navigate it in the way that makes the most sense to them.

I decided to explore the Rare Books Collection to see how the archive catalogs the exhibits. The collection landing page gives a brief description of the collection, a search bar, links to the institutions that have contributed to the collection, refined search options by creator, topic, subject, genre, location, and language, there is also a map that shows where items in the collection came from. Each exhibit is navigable via the same methods as the entire site, which allows the user to choose whichever method works best for them. I selected Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg to look at. The landing page for this exhibit features a book cover, a brief synopsis of the book, shows a map of locations mapped in the book, and much to my delight, a PDF of the book. This book is out of print and while it does exist in other places on the web, I was excited to see it available through the DTA. The page also contains information on the item, including an identifier number, the collection, institution, creator, contributors, publisher, date created, genre, subjects, places, topics, and language. At the bottom of the page the user can either go back to the search page, view the next item, or select one of the related items to explore.

Learn & Education Resources Overview by Erin Livingston
Beyond serving as a repository of digitized materials, the Digital Transgender Archive also functions as an educational resource. The Learn and Resources tabs provide further context for these archive materials, as well as teaching tools and multimedia sources friendly to a wide range of audiences. These sections forge connections between raw archival data and historical interpretation.

The Learn tab offers structured educational materials including multimedia resources, primary source sets with accompanying teaching/discussion guides, pre-colonial gender expression context, and a glossary of key terms. These tools introduce users to key methodologies to studying transgender history, and can help educators integrate DTA materials into classrooms to facilitate discussions in a thoughtful manner. The Oral History Shorts collection stands out as a unique resource within the Learn section. Hosted in partnership with the Internet Archive, this audio visual collection adds first-person transgender experiences to the DTA’s archival records. This collection currently includes several interviews with queer elders conducted between 2018 - 2021 in the various home states of the participants. These narratives add depth to the archive, transforming the project from a static database to a digital space for storytelling.

The Resources section expands on these materials by offering search guides, tips to navigate the DTA site, and related external resources linking to other key trans history sites. Notably, the “DTA Starter’s Guide” in this section serves as an accessible point for those overwhelmed with the scale of resources available, and concisely divides trans history into buckets easier for a user to pick from. This includes: Prominent figures, How to be an Ally, Artwork, Controversy, Intersex Activism, Political Viewpoints, Global Transgender History, Gender & Psychology, and Drag.

The holistic approach of the DTA, which combines Learn and Resources sections with a robust Browse function, ensures that the archive ascends the role of a repository and serves as a platform for learning and interpretation.

Criticism(s)
While the DTA is an invaluable resource, its vast collection of materials and references could be overwhelming for users unfamiliar with archival research. With so much information, certain sections may be overlooked or buried under others, making it difficult to navigate the site efficiently. The Starter’s Guide, while helpful in categorizing frequently searched topics in transgender history, primarily links out to singular items within the archive, versus curated collections or galleries. There is an opportunity for this page to serve as a stronger landing point for users, creating a clearer connection between research guidance and the Browse function. Additionally, given that queer and transgender terminology is constantly evolving, the glossary section could be more central to the site’s navigation and search functionality. A clearer connection between these two could help users locate materials with both historical and contemporary language, making the archive more reflective of shifting discourse within the community.

Finally, while the DTA excels as an educational repository, its structure primarily caters to researchers, educators, and institutions. This raises the question: how might the archive better serve transgender people directly? The site functions as a static resource rather than a community-driven platform. Incorporating more interactive or community-oriented features like spaces for user contributions, more oral histories, contemporary narratives, or user-created collections/highlights, could enhance the DTA’s role as a living resource for the trans community. This would ensure it preserves history, but also fosters connection and engagement in the present.

Conclusion
The Digital Transgender Archive largely succeeds in its mission to preserve and make accessible transgender history. It provides an essential resource for researchers, educators, and the broader public. The extensive collection, thoughtful organization, and multimedia resources, help bridge historical gaps and ensure that trans narratives are recorded and studied. As discussed, there are opportunities to refine user experience and explore ways to make the archive more directly useful to the trans community itself. Yet, at a time when trans rights are under increasing political attack, with efforts to erase LGBTQ+ history and dismantle DEI initiatives, the DTA stands as an act of resistance. By safeguarding historical records and making them accessible, it challenges these attempts and ensures trans histories remain visible and protected. As this project continues to evolve, expanded reach and accessibility will strengthen its impact in academic and activist spaces.

How are the collaborative aspects reflected in the project and are there elements that work particularly well?

The DTA is inherently a product of collaboration by bringing together materials from previously siloed institutions, libraries, and independent collections across the world. This cross-institutional approach brings together diverse materials, while partnerships with platforms like the Internet Archive extend digital preservation. The DTA is a model for how digital projects can bridge gaps between scattered historical records and create a centralized resource.

Do you see an opportunity for collaboration that would be helpful to the project?

One key opportunity for further collaboration is in deepening community engagement beyond academic and institutional spaces. The DTA could explore ways to invite contributions from trans individuals and organizations to build features that reflect the living history of transgender experiences. Through fostering more direct participation from the trans community, the DTA could evolve into a dynamic space for collective memory and storytelling.