Welcome to the '80s!

We've got the '80s covered -- The Washington Blade newspaper 1969 to 1989 is all now online! Work to digitize all of the nation's oldest still-publishing LGBT newspaper's archives by DC Public Library, Special Collections are ongoing.

Digitized issues from the first two decades of The Blade are in Dig DC, DC Public Library Special Collections' home for digitized materials. The collection contains digitized editions of the newspaper and is presented in partnership with The Blade. The digitization partnership between the newspaper and DCPL Special Collections is ongoing and additional years from The Blade archives will be added to the digital collection as they are scanned and cataloged.

The Washington Blade has been Washington, D.C.’s principal lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) newspaper since its first issue in October 1969.  It began as a monthly news sheet and a replacement for the Mattachine Society of Washington’s newsletter of the 1950s and early 1960s. The Blade quickly grew, adding images and additional pages and expanding its run to twice a month, and then weekly. Since its inception, The Blade has covered current events from an LGBT perspective as well as LGBT life in D.C. and the social and political progress of the gay rights movement. 

Microfilm of the newspaper 1969-1996 and most print editions from 1996 to 2014 are also available through the Library's Washingtoniana Periodicals Collection. For current and recent editions, and information about reprints visit washingtonblade.com. The copyright for The Washington Blade is held by Brown Naff Pitts Omnimedia. DC Public Library can grant usage and publication rights.