The Sparrows' Nest Library and Archive

Welcome to the Sparrows' Nest Library and Archive

Based in Nottingham (UK), we look after tens of thousands of books, journals, pamphlets, zines, leaflets, posters and other items documenting the anarchist movement in the UK and beyond, as well as local radical history. Browse our catalogue, access digitised records in our free Digital Library and get in touch to arrange a visit.

We have the pleasure to announce that we have been entrusted with documents relating to the Out House Project, a Nottingham based LGBTQ+ project which worked between the 1980s and mid 2000s to establish a community centre.

The Out House Project grew out of the Nottingham Gay People's Centre Co-operative Society, that was set up in August 1985. There were several changes of name, but The Outhouse Project remained the short title for all of them. This was a community organisation which had developed from the Nottingham City Council's Equal Opportunities Committee and its Gay and Lesbian sub-committees. These were outcomes of intense discussions in Nottingham, and in other towns and cities, in 1983 by gay and lesbian organisations seeking support for equality policies in local government and public funding for gay and lesbian projects.

The Outhouse Project aimed to open a lesbian and gay community centre in the city and to organise social and fundraising activities to support it.

The documents provide excellent reserach materials for anyone investigating LGBTQ+ or general community organisation, as well as anyone who might be looking to organise a similar project and wants to draw from other peoples' experiences.

Please note that most of the materials were not intended for publication and will not be digitised (well, at least not before the late 2040s!). However, the materials can be accessed at the Sparrows' Nest, if you have any enquiries, please do not hesitate to contact us. Please see below for digitised copies of the Out House Project Newsletter and assorted other materials, as well as detailed inventories of the document bundles.