The New York State Archives was established in 1971 and opened its doors to the public in 1978. It is a program of the State Education Department, with its main facility located in the Cultural Education Center on Madison Avenue in Albany. There it cares for and provides access to more than 200 million documents that tell the story of New York from the seventeenth century to the present.

The Documentary Heritage Program

The Gay Alliance Documentation Project was made possible in part by a grant from the Documentary Heritage Program of the New York State Archives. The Documentary Heritage Program (DHP) is a statewide program established by law to provide financial support and guidance to not-for-profit organizations. DHP grants are designed to encourage more comprehensive documentation of New York State’s history and culture by supporting projects that identify, survey, collect, and make available important records relating to groups and topics traditionally under-represented in the historical record.

Documentation Project of the Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Community of Rochester, NY

The Gay Alliance of the Genesee Valley has been engaged in a strategic effort to document the history of the Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender community in Rochester, NY.  The present LGBT community of Rochester, which is the product of the 1st generation of activism, has had no organized repository to gather its history and the struggle for equality.  Prior to the late 1960's there were no records other than oral tradition.  To properly document the history of the LGBT community in Rochester and its influence locally and nationally, the Gay Alliance applied for and received a grant from the NYS Documentary Heritage Program to identify and locate the records of any local LGBT community organization that existed for more then 3 years.

If you have any materials (posters, fliers, meeting minutes, photographs etc) related to any LGBT community events and organizations, please contact the Shoulders to Stand On Project.  Read more about the efforts to save LGBT historic items download the brochure below, and/or the flier to post and share with others.

The NYS Archives Documentary Heritage Program, Shoulders To Stand On and the Gay Alliance of the Genesee Valley express their heartfelt gratitude to DataVault Storage for donating space for the temporary storage of archival material from various LGBT organizations in Rochester, New York.  If you or your company have record storage needs, we would encourage you to consider DataVault (585- 235-3380) to thank them for supporting our important work.

Learn more by downloading the documents below:

Conference Notice.pdf [Letter of Invitation to Archive Conference.]

DHP Brochure.pdf [Brochure about the disappearance of LGBT history.]

DHP Poster.pdf [Poster about the disappearance of LGBT history.]