Preserving Houston’s LGBTQ History: OutSmart Archives Go Digital

This project, says longtime LGBTQ historian JD Doyle, “was in a way a gift.”

For decades, Doyle has worked to preserve queer history through his JD Doyle Archives, which now hold over 22,000 pages of publications, ephemera, and stories from across Texas and beyond. While he had every issue of OutSmart in his personal collection, digitizing them felt daunting. “Hey, OutSmart is over 30 years old!” he laughs. “But I still wished for this history to be available online. Of course, all this was done with OutSmart’s blessing.”

That wish became reality in 2023 when Doyle attended the Invisible Histories Project (IHP) conference in Charlotte. “The founders mentioned they had some grant money available for scanning and asked if I wanted this work done. Of course!” Doyle recalls. “So I shipped five heavy boxes—22 years of issues—to Birmingham. It took two years for it to be worked into their schedule, and now it’s finally done.”

The process didn’t end there. Once the digital files came back, Doyle built out the archive himself. “I set up a page for the magazine and uploaded cover images for every issue, because I think a visual history is more appealing. The digital files I received were huge—about 70GB—so I compressed them down to about 9GB, one file at a time. That was over 370 files. Of course, I had [OutSmart publisher] Greg Jeu’s permission, and I immediately gave him copies of everything.”

For Doyle, the effort carries deep meaning. “OutSmart is Houston’s most important magazine, so of course it was high on my list to make available. Literally over 30 years of our history are in those pages. Starting in 1994, OutSmart was documenting fundraising and research efforts around AIDS, as well as how the community has grown in so many other areas. History doesn’t save itself.”

Doyle hopes the archive will serve many audiences. “There’s so much history to be found—organizations, social groups, events, businesses, Pride, politics, people. And in my Texas Obituary Project, I’ve documented more than 8,300 Texans we’ve lost. It’s all there.”

Although the OutSmart archive is now complete, Doyle continues to work on other preservation efforts. “My site doesn’t just cover Houston publications. Right now I’m working on Ciao Magazine (1973–1980). Nowhere else have I found photos of the bars and cruise areas of so many cities, from around the world. In the Houston issue from December 1974 you’ll see Simpson’s Diner, The Locker, Silver Dollar (now Katz), Dirty Sally’s, and many more. There were 41 issues, and I only need ten more.”

Doyle also notes that his work relies on community contributions. “People have donated scrapbooks, photos, newspapers, magazines, memorabilia—Annise Parker recently gave me a historic art poster of Montrose. Last year, I got a four-inch scrapbook of records and photos from Bunnies on the Bayou. I honor all of it. And of course, monetary donations are welcome. I just had to buy more space on my server, going from 300 to 400 GB, and none of that is free. Any donation helps, and can be set up right on my site. Some folks even give $10 a month, and it all adds up.”

For Doyle, the mission remains clear: “Publications were the first love of my History Site. This is our best publication. And since the OutSmart website doesn’t feature vintage back issues, it was important to make them available.”

The complete digital archive of OutSmart is now available at houstonlgbthistory.org/outsmart.html.