UBC Library users now have access to more than 5,000 books that offer historical perspectives on sex, sexuality and gender through Part III of Gale’s ‘Archives of Sexuality and Gender’. Complementing the recently-acquired LGBTQ History and culture since 1940, the digital archive contains nearly one million pages of unique and rare content that was previously banned and provides a window into how sexuality and gender roles were viewed and how they evolved over centuries.
Part III of the archive includes three unique collections:
The British Library’s Private Case Collection comprised of printed books that were originally held separately from the Library’s main reference collection from the 1850s to 1990 on grounds of obscenity.
The Kinsey Institute for Sex Research Collection – Special Subjects Units from Sex Research: Early Literature from Statistics to Erotica: This collection is a portion of Dr. Alfred C. Kinsey’s original library, which he used to study human sexual behavior from multiple perspectives.
New York Academy of Medicine Collection: A collection of rare and unique books covering a variety of subjects from sex education to erotica, manners to medicine.
The material in the archive covers a wide array of fields, providing multiple perspectives in research areas such as medicine, biology, anthropology, law, the classics, art and erotic literature.
New opportunities for teaching and research
Dr. Joy Dixon, Associate Professor and Associate Head of UBC’s Department of History is thrilled about what access to this collection means for her research. “My own work on the history of religion and sexuality in late 19C and early 20C Britain is given an enormous boost by access to the Private Case materials in this collection – there are a whole series of rare pamphlets in there that aren’t accessible anywhere else. Chapman Cohen’s 1909 Sex and Religion: studies in the pathology of religious development is one of the texts I am really looking forward to working my way through.”
She’s also excited by what access to the collection means for UBC students: “The collection offers incredible resources for students, and allow us to see how the understanding of sexuality has changed over time. There are materials in all the collections that would make a wonderful basis for an honours thesis or a primary source analysis/research paper.”
Keith Bunnell, Reference and Collections Librarian, Humanities & Social Sciences Division echoes this excitement, “Because this resource is now offered by UBC, Simon Fraser University and the University of Victoria means that is it now opened up to all British Columbians,” says Bunnell “Everyone in BC can access this material regardless of academic affiliation.”
Explore Archives of Sexuality & Gender, Part III.
This project is part of UBC Library’s strategic direction to create and deliver responsive collections.
Learn more about our Strategic Framework.
