• What is an oral herstory/history?
    Basically, it is a recording of an interview done with an individual who has been asked to tell, in this case, about their life. The results are remarkably different than what would have resulted if you'd asked the same person to write the same story. The oral format frees most people from worrying about sentence structure, spelling and such and allows the interviewer to ask for clarification at times or to go back and talk more about a specific memory.

    On the surface, it may sound like a private conversation between two people but it is done with the clear intention that the interview is part of a larger effort to collect similar stories and that the interviews will be used in some historical fashion.     Back to Top
  • How does an oral herstory differ from other historical documents?
    While there are some common questions we ask every woman interviewed, the interviewee is encouraged to talk about whatever she deems interesting and appropriate. The OLOHP does not edit what is said other than to leave out um's, and so's and such. Neither does the OLOHP presume to check the accuracy of anything said nor pass any judgement. Back to Top
  • Why use the word “herstory” instead of “history”?
    The word "Herstory" is used intentionally as a way to help make these personal stories immediately identifiable as stories about women. It also helps emphasize that this project has been created and nurtured by women. It is not a political statement about men's role in writing history or in history itself. We are aware that the etymology of the word history does not imply gender. Back to Top
  • Why does the OLOHP use 70 years of age as its cutoff?
    When this project started, women 70 years of age or older had been born before 1930. They had a shared experience, growing up before there were lesbian organizations, support services, books or other resources. Since the stories of these older lesbians were the most likely to be lost when women either died or became unable to tell their stories, it was decided that 70 years of age would be the basic criteria.

    Now that the OLOHP has grown and continued for almost a decade, women born in the mid-to-late 30s are reaching the 70 year old mark. Their stories are just as valuable but, as might be expected, they often reflect a different set of experiences than the women that came before them. Back to Top
  • What do you mean by life stories?
    Women are asked to tell whatever they'd like to share about their whole life. Most interviews start by asking the women to tell where they were born, a little bit about their parents, about their siblings, and about their early education. These are all things that contribute to who a person becomes, so they are important to the story. As their story progresses, the interviewer may ask a few questions about specific subjects that are of special interest to the project such as coming out, whether or not they have other family members that are gay or lesbian, if they ever went to the gay bars, how they found other lesbians, if butch/femme played a role in their lives, if they are involved in lesbian organizations and if they are activists. As often as not, the answers to some of those topics will naturally come out in the interview.

    No one is pressured in any way to talk about anything that they are uncomfortable about sharing. If all they want to talk about is their growing up, their jobs and their grandkids, that's okay. This is their life story.
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  • Do the stories focus on the lesbian aspects of their lives?
    Rarely. These are life stories. Some women do talk quite a bit about how being a lesbian affected them; others don't. If you're looking for something prurient to read, you need to look elsewhere.
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  • Are the stories very different from each other?
    Absolutely. As you'd expect, there are some commonalities since they all basically went through their teens during the 30s and 40s and such. But each grew up in a unique set of circumstances and had unique experiences. The result: stories that are incredibly varied.
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  • What criteria is used for making an exception to the 70 or older rule?
    A few stories were gathered from women under 70. Most often, the exception was made because of health concerns. The youngest woman to tell her story was 65 at the time.
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  • How many stories are there?
    As of December 2008, there were approximately 150 stories in the collection. There are plans to collect 30 more in 2009.
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  • Why aren't they all on this website?
    Our goal is to eventually have most of them on the website. There will be a small group of stories that won't appear because those women have not given full permission to use their materials.
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  • Do you think you'll ever run out of women to interview?
    No. Although the common elements in the stories will change as time goes by since the experiences of women born in the 30s will differ significantly from those born in the 40s or 50s. But those stories are fascinating and important to preserve, too.
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  • How does the project connect with women willing to tell their stories?
    Word of mouth has been the best way to find women for the project. Almost every old lesbian has friends who are old lesbians, and they too have friends.
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  • Does the woman telling her story give her permission for its use?
    With only one or two exceptions, all of the women sharing their stories have signed contracts authorizing the OLOHP to use the interviews in ways the OLOHP deems appropriate. However, a small portion of the contracts are conditional. Each woman telling her story is given the option of signing either an unconditional contract or a conditional contract.

    When a woman opts to sign a conditional contract, they are encouraged to define how they want to limit the use of their interview. Examples of conditions some women have set are: that the story is not used until after their death, the story can be used for research purposes only, the story can only be used after contacting the individual for further permission, or, in one or two instances, the story cannot be used at all.

    There are also a couple of interviews in the collection without any contract. In one case, the individual was critically ill when she gave the interview and died before it could be transcribed and reviewed.     Back to Top
  • Are there any costs to the woman telling her story?
    No. The Project absorbs the costs. Funding has primarily come through personal donations but also grants from the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice and financial support from Old Lesbians Organizing for Change.
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  • How does the OLOHP plan to use the stories they collect?
    The primary goal is first and foremost to let the woman sharing her story know what she has to say is valuable. Then the hope is that the stories will be used for research and education. Many of these women came out before there was a single lesbian organization in the country, before any LGBT publications and well before any legal protections, so documenting their experiences is essential to our ongoing growth as a community and as a culture.
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  • What’s in it for the women telling their stories?
    Telling their life stories and knowing that it will help document events in their lives is a meaningful experience in and of itself. Many of the women express their hopes that by telling their stories, readers will both learn about what they had to go through and be inspired by what they accomplished.


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  • Who conducts the interviews?
    The majority of the interviews have been conducted by Arden Eversmeyer but she has trained several other women to help in this effort.

    Sharing a life story for this project takes quite a bit of faith on the part of the story teller. They need to be comfortable with the interviewer and it is helpful if they feel the person doing the interview can relate to the story. The OLOHP has a goal of limiting interviewing to women that are both lesbian and old, ideally in their 60s or 70s themselves.

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  • Is only the audio taped or are the interviews video taped, too?
    The OLOHP is focused on getting audio tapes which are then transcribed, but one interviewer also tries to capture a video of the interview. Those videos haven't been added to the Project. Back to Top
  • Where are the interviews done?
    Most interviews are done in the woman's home where she is likely to be the most comfortable. When Arden sets up to do the interview, she encourages the woman to sit in her favorite chair and relax. Occasionally, interviews have been done at events such as an OLOC Gathering.
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  • Are all the stories about woman who were “out” early in their life?
    No. There are, in fact, a few stories in the collection of women who didn't come out until they were 60 or even later in life.
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  • Is the OLOHP only interested in stories of women who are “out” lesbians?
    No. Stories range from women who are totally out and have been for all their lives to women who have never been out and everywhere in between. But, since being willing to tell your story takes someone fairly comfortable talking about who they are, most of the women in the collection have been out to some degree, if only to their friends.
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  • What happens to a story once the interview is finished?
    Once it's transcribed and edited, two print copies are produced. One goes to the woman who has shared her story. The other is stored in the office of the OLOHP or in a climate controlled storage space that currently serves as an archive.

    The audio file is also saved. For the first 7 years, interviews were taped on cassettes. Those have been stored as well. As digital recorders became more affordable and reliable, digital recordings have replaced cassette tapes. There is a project underway to transfer all the analog tapes to digital format to better preserve them for the future.     Back to Top
  • What does a finished herstory look like?
    Each copy contains a title page, a transcript of the interview and photocopies of any supplemental documents the woman provided and a copy of the contract. Supplemental documents may include a mix of photographs, graduation certificates, awards, newspaper clippings, etc. The materials are all sleeved and put into a three-ring binder.
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  • Can I view the herstories?
    Right now, they are only available for viewing by special arrangement directly through Arden Eversmeyer.
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  • Where are the herstories actually housed?
    Arden has a home office in the upper floor of her home. A handful of finished Herstories, as well as all of those in various stages of production, are stored there. The rest are in a nearby climate controlled storage space that serves as a temporary archive.
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  • Where will the herstories be archived?
    One of the tasks for this coming year is to visit several archives that have expressed an interest in housing the collection. Arden and a representative of the OLOC Steering Committee are working on this. Criteria for selecting a permanent archive include evaluating the archive's mission/vision, the long term protection of the materials, how it is cataloged and made available, and more.
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  • Will the actual audio interviews be archived too?
    Hopefully. Reading a transcript is only a sliver of the experience one gets from listening to the story told in the woman's own voice.
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  • Is there a way to hear excerpts from the interviews?
    As we develop this website, clips will be available for most of the interviews. Our goal is to provide an audio of the quote on each woman's page as well as the audio of a sample page from their transcript. Quality of the audio clips varies greatly so this will be quite a challenge!
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  • Is there a way to read excerpts from the interviews?
    Each woman's page contains an abstract that tells a little about her life. As we develop the site, there will also be a sample page from each transcript (as a pdf) and, hopefully, the audio for that page. Back to Top
  • Will the transcripts ever be published?
    Not full transcripts but three books are in process. Each book will be a collection of short stories based on the transcripts. The stories rely heavily on quotes but are a distillation of the interview. Go to the The Book page for more details.
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  • Is there a way for me to be involved?
    Of course! There is a page on this website telling just how you can be a part of the Old Lesbian Oral Herstory Project! Back to Top