Bishopsgate Institute’s Special Collections and Archives holds one of the most extensive collections on LGBTQIA+ history, politics and culture in the UK. It covers the late nineteenth century onward.

The collections encompass LGBTQIA+ history politics and culture, with archives from Stonewall, Switchboard, GMFA/The Gay Men's Health Charity, Outrage! and material relating to the Terrence Higgins Trust, Achilles Heel and QX magazines. We also hold records of individuals including Paris Lees, Sue Sanders/Schools Out/LGBT History Month and many others

We’re proud to be custodians of the Lesbian and Gay Newsmedia Archive (LAGNA). LAGNA includes over 300,000 press cuttings from the straight press regarding LGBTQIA+ history from the 1890s to today. The cuttings are organised by subject matter, biographical content and location.

We hold a library of around 10,000 LGBTQ+ titles, from academic works, biographies, fiction and poetry to pulp fiction, along with over 700 journal titles from around the world. The LGBTQIA+ Pamphlet Collection contains around 1,500 items including programmes for festivals and events, material from campaigning organisations and catalogues. The collection also features extensive ephemera such as club flyers, t-shirts, banners and badges.

The Special Collections and Archives also hosts the UK Leather and Fetish Archives, a national collection documenting the history and heritage of fetish, kink and BDSM in the UK. The archives holds organisational papers, flyers, journals, pamphlets, books and artefacts.