Primary Source Set: Trans Men

Trans men and other transmasculine people have often struggled for visibility and respect. Trans men are largely ignored in media and underrepresented in popular culture. They are often assumed to be a small minority even among trans people, though their numbers are similar. Despite these challenges, transmasculine people have built a close-knit, thriving, and mutually supportive community.

Generations of trans men have pioneered ways to live in greater freedom. In the first half of the twentieth century, trans men like Alan Hart and Michael Dillon took advantage of advances in medical technologies to transition. Later, Reed Erickson would use his fortune to extensively fund trans causes and care, and Lou Sullivan would organize and galvanize the transmasculine community. Today, trans men continue to work to claim their identity, history, and right to self-expression. The materials gathered here can only represent a small part of the history of this work.

Selected Source Set

Additional Resources

The Digital Transgender Archive is a rich resource of materials from trans history. The DTA has digitized selections from the Louis Graydon Sullivan papers (1991-07), and much of this set is made up of materials Sullivan collected or created.

The Bay Area Reporter has many articles on trans people; search for “transgender,” as well as older terms, such as “transsexual” and “FTM” (most common throughout the 1990s).

The GLBT Historical Society has prepared a research guide on transgender, nonbinary, and intersex people. There are also primary source sets on Lou Sullivan and trans women.

Contact reference@glbthistory.org for research questions or information about reproductions and permissions.

These primary source sets are just a small sampling of our digitized materials. Additional resources are available in our digital collections. Our extensive archival holdings are searchable through our catalog.