Physically browse: Find the call number range HQ 76.3 on the ground floor of the Main Library, and peruse the shelves, keeping an eye out for older books.
Search the catalog: Use the tips suggested for Secondary Sources, but add a date limit that corresponds with your research period.
Borrow from elsewhere: Same as above, but try searching ConnectNY and/or WorldCat.
Christopher Street (NYC; 1976-1995) VCL has 1987-1995 in print in the Periodical Room (call number HQ 75.C48)
Gay Community News (Boston; MA, 1973-1999) VCL has 1973-1996 (Microfilm 699); Articles also available online via Alt-Press Watch and Gender Watch, but it's incomplete access. Try the microfilm- you might like it!
Bay Area Reporter (San Francisco;, CA, 1971- ) Archival database of obituaries
Dallas Voice (Dallas, TX, 1984 - present) One of the collections in the University of North Texas Digital Library
The Empty Closet (Rochester, NY, 1971-present) Keyword searchable database of the newspaper, hosted by the University of Rochester
Focus Point (Minneapolis, MN, 1994-2000) Part of the Minnesota Reflections project, hosted by the Minnesota Digital Library
GLC Voice (Minneapolis, MN, 1979-1992) Part of the Minnesota Reflections project, hosted by the Minnesota Digital Library
Southern Voice (Atlanta, GA,, 1988-1995) One of the newspaper collections in the Digital Library of Georgia
Washington Blade (Washington, D.C.; 1969-1982) Keyword searchable database of the newspaper, hosted by the DC Public Library
See also Guide to Identifying Feminist/Lesbian Feminist Magazines, Bookstores and Presses
In the Life (PBS; 1992-2012) Archive of the PBS television news series, hosted by the UCLA Film and Television Archive
Before Stonewall: The Making of a Gay and Lesbian Community (Vassar DVD collection) Seminal documentary from 1985
Sexual inversion, invert
Antipathic sexuality
Intermediate sex
Third sex
Uranian, urning
Viraginity, virago
Tribadic, tribade
Sapphism
Pederasty (between two adults)
Hermaphroditism, psychical hermaphroditism, pseudo-hermaphroditism
Gyandry, gyandrism, gyandroid
Eviration / defemination
Gay and Lesbian Rights in the United States: A Documentary History (2003)
The Heart has its Reasons: Young Adult Literature with Gay/Lesbian/Queer Content, 1969-2004 (2006)
Lesbian Sources: A Bibliography of Periodical Articles, 1970-1990 (1993)
Lesbians in Print: A Bibliography of 1,500 Books with Synopses (1995)
For 20th century lesbian fiction, see the contemporary novels by Jane Rule, Claire Morgan (aka Patricia Highsmith), Ann Aldrich, Ann Bannon; Femmes Fatales series of lesbian pulp novels re-published by the Feminist Press.