Papers of sociologist Dr Dave King relating to his research on transvestism and transgender in the UK. Dr King began to gather this material as research for his Ph.D, "The Transvestite and the Transsexual: A Case Study of Public Categories and Private Identities", Department of Sociology, University of Essex (1986: a copy is held in the Library) and continued to undertake research in this area into the 2000s, some of it in collaboration with Dr Richard Ekins. There are interviews and correspondence with medical practitioners - surgeons, psychiatrists, endocrinologists and urologists - psychologists and others who worked in a professional capacity with trans people from the 1940s to the 1980s, as well as with transgender individuals and with other social science researchers. There are also publications of and correspondence with a range of subcultural groups representing the transvestite and transgender communities, from support groups to activist organisations seeking legal recognition. There is also a substantial amount of general press and media material. The changing visibility of this population is illustrated by the increasing number of dedicated conferences, the papers of which can be found in section E of the collection. The collection includes a substantial amount of documentation on historical perceptions and descriptions of cross-dressing and gender transgression.

This archive contains a number of individual case and medical histories and personal interviews that are highly sensitive in nature and are therefore subject to closure or restrictions on access for reasons of Data Protection. A number of closed files have been further redacted for additional sensitivity issues