LibGuides: Richard Burton Archives: LGBT+ history

Sources for LGBT+ history

This gallery is a highlight of the material we hold relating to LGBT+ history. It includes -

Swansea University Students’ Union records which give a valuable insight into student life, such as experiences of students and attitudes towards gender, sexuality, relationships, and current affairs and politics, including LGBT+ rights.
Material from the South Wales Coalfield Collection relating to the Lesbians and Gays Supports the Miners' Group (LGSM), and their support and solidarity with mining communities during the miners' strike of 1984-85.
Items relating to LGBT+ writers, photographers, and other prominent figures.

SWCC/PHO/PC/9/3: photograph of LGSM banner at the 1985-1985 strike, from the personal collection of Kim Howells

South Wales Coalfield Collection (SWCC) The South Wales Coalfield Collection (SWCC) contains a variety of archival media which give insight into the experience of the South Wales Valleys during a period of industrial turmoil both from an institutional and personal perspective. It contains records of trade unions (notably the South Wales Miners' Federation, later the National Union of Mineworkers (South Wales Area) and the Iron and Steel Trades Confederation, South Wales Division), Miners' Institutes, Co-operative Societies, and individuals connected with the mining community.

UNI/SSO/1/2/5/21: ‘There’s a lot of us about’. Bad Press student newspaper, 4th Nov 1988

DC3/16/1/180: Raissa Page Collection - Photograph of Jill Posener, British photographer and playwright, known for her exploration of lesbian identity and erotica. 1980s

Black and white portrait image of Jill Posener

UNI/SSO/1/2/3: Article in Crefft student newspaper, 8th May 1969

Amy Dillwyn and her dog, from the papers of David Painting (Courtesy of Kirsti Bohata)

Black and white image of Amy Dillwyn sat posed on a chair, with dog infront

Amy Dillwyn’s novels (such as Jill, 1884) explore love and romance between women, an early example of lesbian fiction in print. Her own journals (ref. DC6/1) also give details about her close relationship with Welsh aristocrat Olive Talbot.

For more about Amy Dillwyn see our blog post ‘Take me as you find me … I am not ashamed of being myself’

SWCC/PHO/PC/9/3: photograph of LGSM banner at the 1985-1985 strike, from the personal collection of Kim Howells

Black and white image of protesters holding banner 'Lesbians and Gays support the miners'

UNI/SSO/1/1/35: Swansea University Students' Union Policy File on Gay and Lesbian Rights, Feb 1986

Emlyn Williams (1905-1987) was a Welsh writer, dramatist and actor. He wrote about his bisexuality in his autobiographies (George,1961 and Emlyn,1973). His play 'He was born gay' was performed at Swansea Little Theatre in 1940 - though it is assumed that 'gay' in this context meant 'happy' to most people at this time.

Richard Burton Archives