Eugene Lesbian Oral History Project

Available now in Oregon Digital, the UO Libraries’ shared digital depository with Oregon State University Libraries, are video oral history interviews of members of the longtime Eugene lesbian community. The Eugene Lesbian Oral History Project is an ongoing community-engaged oral history project. Linda J. Long, Curator of Manuscripts, and Professor Judith Raiskin of the Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies Department at the University of Oregon, conducted video interviews with eighty-three narrators in the summers of 2018 and 2019. This collection currently includes the video interviews and first-draft transcripts.

In the 1960s-1990s hundreds of lesbian-identified women came to Eugene, Oregon from across the United States and created one of the largest lesbian communities in the United States. This oral history project seeks to preserve that specific and vibrant history that otherwise would be lost. The interviews capture a range of engaging and important stories that reveal new angles on lesbian history, women’s history, the counterculture movement in the 1960s-1980s, Oregon history, feminism, sexuality, intentional communities, and women working in jobs traditionally reserved for men. Looking back over 25-50 years, the narrators reflect on the complex relationship of individual aspirations and larger social movements in times of dramatic historical change. A number of narrators were instrumental in leading important legal challenges of discriminatory policies at the county and state levels regarding employment and housing protections, benefits, lesbian and gay adoption, and marriage equality. Those who came to study or teach at the University of Oregon were influential in making institutional change protecting the rights of lesbians and gay men. Many of the narrators have retired and continue to be involved in vibrant artistic, scientific and political work.

As time permits, Long and Raiskin plan to conduct more interviews, which will be added to the collection.