SST faculty and Crossing Latinidades Mellon Fellow undergo project to explore Bj Bud archive

As a city, Phoenix is relatively new to the LGBTQ+ scene, as Arizona hasn't been established for as long as many other states. However, Phoenix does have a rich history of LGBTQ+ activism, and ASU has the honor of unveiling and protecting those stories.

In 2004, ASU became in possession of the Bj Bud archive, the largest LGBTQ+ archive in Arizona. Housed at Hayden Library, the archive is an ongoing project for faculty member Mellissa Linton and Francisco Carrillo. The archive has been proven invaluable to understanding the history of the LGBTQ+ community in Arizona and Bj Bud’s legacy.

Nancy Godoy, the director of Community Driven Archives at Hayden Library, oversees the archives as they are now fully funded by ASU. She has received multiple grants to fund the archives and is working on making them more accessible to students and the public.

Bj Bud is a lesbian activist born in Chicago but gained social importance in Arizona during the 1970s and 80s as she helped organize the first Arizona pride in 1981, created a local newsletter called Sunday's Childe and spearheaded AIDS awareness initiatives. The Valley of the Sun Gay and Lesbian Center maintained an archive containing documents of historical importance to the LGBTQ+ community, and after Bud passed away in 1996, the archive was renamed in her honor. The Valley of the Sun Gay and Lesbian Center then closed down and the archive was donated to ASU in 2004 to be housed at Hayden Library.

The archives are valuable because they are vital to the remembrance of events and formative places where the LGBTQ+ community could connect and socialize, especially within Arizona. When asked about the importance of the archive, Linton stated, “I became aware of Bj Bud through queer people today who inspire me, and see myself as part of a social lineage.”

Most of the items in the archive are physical documents, so much care is needed as Linton and Carrillo sift through them. Gloves are encouraged to handle the documents, and the only materials they bring in are a pencil and a computer. But any extra precautions needed are well worth it, as the chronological ordering of the documents makes the experience feel like a walk down LGBTQ+ history in Arizona. Going through the archives is a personal experience to Carrillo, as he said, “The smell of the archives reminds me of when I was a child in Mexico and I opened a new book or an old carbon fiber; I’m touching something that is very important.”

Linton and Carrillo are hoping to find insight regarding the diversity of the past and how it led to Phoenix queer community organizing as it is now, as well as what issues were prominent in the LGBTQ+ community of the time. It is bittersweet finding newspapers and pamphlets that were meant to build safe networks while also finding documents detailing the loss and pain caused by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Linton and Carrillo expressed how it feels powerful to learn from the stories told through the documents and to encourage the public to engage the Bj Bud archive.

Despite any challenges, Linton and Carrillo are determined to finish what Bj Bud started by protecting the history of the LGBTQ+ community in Arizona. Linton and Carrillo are hoping to produce a research paper once they are finished mapping the historical significance of each artifact, with the ultimate goal of spreading the word about the archive. It’s a privilege to have the archive housed at an ASU campus, and students are allowed to visit them. Just as ASU is a place in the middle of Arizona where people from all over the world come to learn, the Bj Bud archive is the center of a unique history established by many different people searching for community in what used to be a small city.