The First Digital Archive of Transgender History is Now Open in Massachusetts

The Digital Transgender Archive (DTA), the first and largest collection of historical materials regarding transgender issues, was launched at College of the Holy Cross.

This ambitious project was born from the trouble a local academic had finding relevant research about trans history. K.J. Rawson, director of the DTA and an assistant professor of English at College of the Holy Cross, recognized the lack of readily available research and spent eight years amassing the impressive collection. 

The digital resource includes books, photography, newsletters and oral history transcripts gathered from more than 12 institutions around the world which include universities like Harvard, Duke, and the University of Michigan. The collection will continue to expand, as it awaits contributions from at least eight other institutions in the coming months.

The digital trove is available for academics, students and the general public. In a statement by Holy Cross, Rawson said he hopes the DTA will counteract "negative and hurtful stereotypes of transgender people with more truthful and historically informed representations.”

On another promising note, Rawson told the Boston Globe, "A number of transgender individuals have already reached out with gratitude to find a history they weren’t able to find and read about before."

Check out the Digital Transgender Archive at Digitaltransgenderarchive.net