Tretter Collection
Share
The Tretter Collection is dedicated to the history of LGBTQ people in the Upper Midwest. [email protected]
05/26/2026
In 1986, inspired by the films found in Vito Russo’s The Celluloid Closet, University of Minnesota student began screening LGBTQ films in Minneapolis. A year later, she would curate the first official Minneapolis/St.Paul Le***an, Gay, Bi & Transgender Film Festival. Then known as Lavender Images: A Le***an & Gay Film Retrospective, the festival brought 10 films to the Twin Cities, including The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant, Taxi Zum Klo, Buddies, and Mädchen in Uniform to the University of Minnesota’s Coffman Union. The first of many festivals, the 1987 screenings were sponsored by the iconic Chicago theater, The Bijou, and featured a poster illustrated by Alison Bechdel. While Jenni Olson left in 1992 to become the co-director of Frameline in San Francisco, the festival would go on to screen hundreds of films until the early 2000s.
Equal Time cover, 1987. Lavender Images IV program, 1990. Pulled from the Tretter Information Files.
The HIV/AIDS Caregivers Oral History Project is a collection of interviews documenting the response to the HIV/AIDS crisis in the Twin Cities from the 1980s through the 2000s. Sponsored by the Hennepin History Museum and the Ramsey County Historical Society, 35 caregivers from a range of organizations were interviewed between 2013-2016 in an effort to bridge a gap in the historical record and to present a deeper understanding of the response to HIV and AIDS in the Twin Cities. Alongside housing this project, Tretter is home to many records of the organizations discussed, including: Aliveness Project, Minnesota Men of Color, Minnesota AIDS Project, Indigenous Peoples’ Task Force (formerly the American Indian AIDS Task Force), and more. All interviews can be viewed at UMedia by searching for HIV/AIDS Caregivers Oral History Project.
Clip of Nick Metcalf, co-founder of Minnesota Men of Color, discussing their experience working at the Minnesota American Indian AIDS Task Force (now the Indigenous People’s Task Force), 2015. Pulled from the HIV/AIDS Caregivers Oral History Project.
Click here to claim your Sponsored Listing.
Category
Contact the organization
Telephone
Website
Address
Andersen Library, 222 21st Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN
55455
