Quatrefoil Library is a member-supported,

501(c)(3) A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, Trust (business), trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of ...

non-profit library and community center for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community. It is located in

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

, Minnesota, where it was founded by David Irwin and Dick Hewetson in 1983. It is the second LGBT

lending library A lending library is a library from which books and other media are lent out. The major classifications are endowed libraries, institutional libraries (the most diverse), public libraries, and subscription libraries. It may also refer to a librar ...

in the United States, and the oldest such library in the

Upper Midwest The Upper Midwest is a northern subregion of the U.S. Census Bureau's Midwestern United States. Although the exact boundaries are not uniformly agreed upon, the region is usually defined to include the states of Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota and Wi ...

. In the beginning, it was not only an educational resource center but also a

safe space The term safe space refers to places "intended to be free of bias, conflict, criticism, or potentially threatening actions, ideas, or conversations", according to Merriam-Webster. It is a place where marginalized groups can discuss issues pert ...

for LGBT people. The library houses over 15,000 books, 7,000 DVDs, a collection of first editions and rare books, and books in

braille Braille ( , ) is a Tactile alphabet, tactile writing system used by blindness, blind or visually impaired people. It can be read either on embossed paper or by using refreshable braille displays that connect to computers and smartphone device ...

. It hosts poetry readings, panel discussions, book launches, and other events, open to all. The library celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2016.

Early history

The doors of the library officially opened to the public on February 4, 1986. It opened with a significant donation from the collections of David Irwin but afterwards received donations from individuals across the country. Quatrefoil Library shared space with the Minnesota Civil Liberties Union at 1021 West Broadway in Minneapolis. Sixteen months after its opening, the library moved to a bigger building in

St. Paul Paul, also named Saul of Tarsus, commonly known as Paul the Apostle and Saint Paul, was a Christian apostle ( AD) who spread the teachings of Jesus in the first-century world. For his contributions towards the New Testament, he is generally ...

to accommodate the growing collection. Early volunteers and supporters include Jean-Nickolaus Tretter of the Tretter Collection, Tim Campbell who provided ad space in his publication and George Holdgrafer of ''Lavender'' magazine. The library published a newsletter, ''The Gay Bookworm'', which was later christened ''Quatrefolio''. The library took its name from the novel '' Quatrefoil: A Modern Novel'' by James Barr. Founding member David Irwin had been so impressed with the positive portrayal of homosexuality, that he insisted on naming their collection the Quatrefoil Library. In 2013, the library moved to its present site in Minneapolis with twice as much space as it had in St. Paul. In 2019, the library announced the creation of a scholarship for LGBTQ+ students attending college in Minnesota. In 2021, Quatrefoil switched to a free membership system that enabled anyone to sign up for a library card and borrow materials at no charge. In October 2022, it launched Q Digital, a collection of LGBTQ+ ebooks and audiobooks that can be borrowed by Q cardholders for free.

Mission statement

The mission of the Quatrefoil Library states that, "Quatrefoil Library is a community center that cultivates the free exchange of ideas and makes accessible LGBTQ+ materials for education and inspiration."

Collections

The library's collection includes lesbian periodicals, documentaries, gay-themed posters, pulp novels, fiction, non-fiction, art, and photography books. As of 2007, the volume of the collection included more 14,000 books, 1,040 DVDs, 2,123 VHS videotapes, 500 periodicals and 1,550 pulp novels. The library also houses a collection of rare and out-of-print books.

Conferences

Quatrefoil collaborated with the

University of Minnesota Libraries The University of Minnesota Libraries is the library system of the University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus, operating at 12 facilities in and around Minneapolis–Saint Paul. It has over 8 million volumes and 119,000 serial titles that are col ...

and the Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies to host the 2006

ALMS Conference The Archives, Libraries, Museums and Special Collections (ALMS) Conference is an international event focussed on the work by public, private, academic, and grassroots organisations which are collecting, capture and preserving archives of LGBTQ+ exp ...

, the first international conference on LGBT Archives, Libraries, Museums, and Special Collections in Minneapolis.

References

Bibliography

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External links

* {{Authority control Libraries in Minnesota LGBTQ and education Non-profit organizations based in Minnesota Organizations established in 1983 1983 establishments in Minnesota 501(c)(3) organizations