If curator Aiden Bettine had to pick a favorite part of the University of Minnesota\u2019s Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection, the largest compilation of LGBTQ+ archival material in the Upper Midwest, it would be material documenting the Gay\/Lesbian Postal Employees\u2019 Network. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Founded in the Twin Cities in 1992, the organization strongly advocated for domestic partner benefits and anti-discrimination policies \u2013 a movement that took national strides just a year later. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis collection demonstrates the ways that Minnesota history impacted history throughout the country,\u201d said Bettine, whose job is to manage the collection housed in the Elmer L. Andersen Library on the University\u2019s West Bank campus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Tretter Collection documents the rich history of LGBTQ+ life and advocacy in the Upper Midwest and beyond. The robust and complex collection of books, periodicals, literature, records, artifacts and audiovisual materials occupies nearly 4,000 linear feet of material and has content in nearly 60 different languages. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Tretter Collection is for more than just researchers,\u201d Bettine said. \u201cIt is an opportunity to sift through LGBTQ+ history.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The collection is based on three pillars, Bettine said. The first is material history, which includes everything from t-shirts, buttons and enamel pins to posters, belt buckles and beer cans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Periodicals and publications occupy the second pillar, documenting various LGBTQ+ publications. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The third pillar is archival collections of people who represent trans life through a series of daily experiences and extraordinary moments through various media. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The collection also includes textiles and the world\u2019s largest Transgender Oral Histories Collection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2000 Jean-Nickolaus Tretter, the collection\u2019s founder and an LGBTQ+ activist, donated nearly 20 years’ worth of archival material to Andersen Library.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cJean Nickolaus-Tretter left us an invaluable legacy,\u201d said Lisa Vecoli, former collection curator who is now retired. \u201cWithout his dogged stubborn persistence, we would not have an archive today, and all voices here would have been lost and forgotten.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tretter is from Little Falls, Minnesota. He served in the Navy during the Vietnam War and attended the University from 1973-1976. He studied cultural anthropology but dropped out because he wasn\u2019t allowed to focus his studies on the LGBTQ+ community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tretter also played a large role pioneering Twin Cities pride in the 1970s by organizing the first Twin Cities Stonewall Riots commemoration. In 1982, he was named the co-chair of the Minnesota Gay and Lesbian Olympic Committee and created St. Paul\u2019s Landmark Center\u2019s gay history exhibit one year later. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anyone can access the archives. The collection has hosted middle schoolers working on History Day projects, undergrads, doctoral candidates and press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Artifacts can\u2019t be taken out of the library but may be viewed in the central archives and special collections room located in the Wallin Center on the ground floor of Andersen Library. <\/p>\n\n\n\n