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Due to the transfer of our new collection management system we cannot currently (yet) offer English translations of the labels and texts on the website, so that international visitors can navigate more easily. We apologise for any inconvenience

About the collection

The collection focuses on the Netherlands, Europe and the non-Western world and contains documents from about 150 countries: from Australia via England and Costa Rica to India and Lebanon.

There is also a great diversity of languages: from Dutch to Bahasa, via English and Slovenian to Vietnamese. In total, this involves more than sixty languages.

The oldest pieces in the IHLIA collection date from the seventeenth century. These are books about the allegedly gay French king Henri III and his mignons. But IHLIA also has just published magazines such as Gay News, Hello Gorgeous, the Gay & Lesbian Review or Transgender Studies Quarterly.

Via the project Open Up! the collection also devotes a great deal of attention to LGBTI emancipation and development, mainly in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe. In this region, LGBTI rights are lagging behind those of many other parts of Europe. The archives and history of these courageous movements contain unique documents.

Thanks to Open Up! More than 95,000 pages of gray literature, posters, magazines and other archive material have been collected and digitized from countries such as Poland, Turkey, Romania and Russia.

A number of individual, organisational and thematic archives are accommodated in the International Institute of Social History (IISH) in Amsterdam
Picture books, dissertations, travel guides, novels and collections of poetry; grey literature such as theses; periodicals and clippings
IHLIA also stores items such as clothing, buttons, medals, jewelry, games, banners, DVDs, video tapes, photos, cards, posters and music
A small part of our collection is accessible online, for example Open Up! and old LGBTI magazines
For non-fiction you can visit the special Pink Cabinet on the IHLIA Plaza. In the House of all Languages, a special collection of contemporary queer Dutch (original and translated) fiction has been put together with a lot of attention for other cultures

Contact

Visiting address IHLIA
OBA Oosterdok
Oosterdokskade 143, 3rd floor
1011 DL Amsterdam

Tel: 020-5230837
Email: info@ihlia.nl

Exhibits on the IHLIA Plaza
Free to visit every day, follow OBA opening times