Eugene Lesbian Oral History Project collection

The collection consists of video recorded interviews of 83 people in 2018 and 2019. These 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 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. These women founded cornerstone organizations central to Eugene’s history and influenced Oregon’s political landscape. They created and worked in collective businesses, ran printing presses, and founded cultural organizations (theater companies and dance troupes, music bands and choirs) and gathered in lesbian cultural spaces (book stores, martial arts studios, restaurants, bars, and softball teams). They became leaders of Eugene community service agencies and worked in city and state government positions. A number 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.