Physical Archives

In 2008, Rainbow History Project formed a pivotal partnership with the DC History Center (formerly the Historical Society of Washington, D.C.) to make it the physical home of RHP’s archives. Since then, paper records and certain artifacts are stored and made accessible to researchers, by appointment, at the DC History Center. Researchers should contact the DC History Center directly to make arrangements for onsite research. 

“Researchers” are ALL people interested in using the collections. 

RHP collections are organized by provenance—the donor who provided the materials. The contents of most collections are described in a finding aid that describes the collection, its origins and contents. A finding aid helps to navigate a collection in the same way that a table of contents and an index help to navigate a book. Most finding aids include the titles of the folders and not descriptions of a folder’s contents. 

Information on our collections with links to finding aids can be found in various place, usually duplicating the same information.

All collections are described in the RHP Archives Catalog, including links to finding aids. Materials are also described in the DC History Center catalog in the online guide to the Rainbow History Project Collection.  

RHP maintains a Guide to Finding Aids that includes titles of archival collections, periodicals and ephemera, as well as links to finding aids and indexes of periodicals available at the DC History Center. It also includes information about recent acquisitions that have not yet been transferred or digitization projects currently underway. These may be available to researchers, by arrangement, directly with RHP; contact us to discuss.