Mattachine Society of Washington, D.C. documents to be housed in the new American LGBTQ Political and Legal History archive.

May 24, 2022: The Mattachine Society of Washington, D.C. has donated a document “trove” to Swem Library at William & Mary, which will help establish a new archive in honor of renowned LGBTQ scholar John Boswell. The archive will include original documents spanning Mattachine’s decade of “archive activism” research, including declassified documents found in Presidential Library archives, public and private universities, the National Archives, and the Library of Congress. It will also contain the records of Mattachine advisory board member Jeff Trammell, the former William & Mary Rector, and first openly gay board chair of a major public university.

“Our research included countless Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to federal and state agencies including litigation when necessary. Research made consequential by our unique partnership with the international law firm of McDermott, Will & Emery and their twenty-plus pro bono team of attorneys devoted to the Mattachine’s mission,” remarked Mattachine president Charles Francis in a press statement issued by William & Mary.

Read more on William & Mary’s website here.