tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7666561589989305262024-03-18T04:03:17.595+01:00LGBTI ALMS 2012 BLOGMaking LGBTI visible in archives, museums and librariesLGBTI ALMS 2012http://www.blogger.com/profile/16476681229383980702noreply@blogger.comBlogger38125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-766656158998930526.post-58692697692476841502012-08-23T15:33:00.003+02:002012-08-23T15:33:52.653+02:00Looking Back: Looking Forward<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqZuFJsZw563WNznhP9QAtmLypVjlMkd7RpdBkGhFeRAqE4zahsugr1l4RTrO_xobYiBZrRg7XlG5SIDP77KZYjQT-sGmSybae13FNxTzbZuwCKUw16bTwBXQKcL1cKpbAvoPEFp-e_FA/s1600/LMA+Logo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="108" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqZuFJsZw563WNznhP9QAtmLypVjlMkd7RpdBkGhFeRAqE4zahsugr1l4RTrO_xobYiBZrRg7XlG5SIDP77KZYjQT-sGmSybae13FNxTzbZuwCKUw16bTwBXQKcL1cKpbAvoPEFp-e_FA/s200/LMA+Logo.JPG" width="200" /></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt;">Looking Back: Looking Forward</span></i></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">London
Metropolitan Archives: </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">LGBT
History and Archives Conference 2003-2012</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526" name="_GoBack"></a><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">Jan Pimblett, Principal Development Officer, London
Metropolitan Archives</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial;">Ten years ago London Metropolitan Archives
established its annual LGBT History and Archives Conference to open up
discussion, explore historical evidence and to actively encourage the
collecting, preservation and recording of individual and community histories. Collecting,
preserving and sharing LGBT histories is essential to provide the balance in
the historical record. Without these voices the only story is the official one,
those in authority talking about people, not the people speaking for
themselves. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial;">To read the complete paper, please click on "read more"!</span></div>
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<a name='more'></a> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial;">Beginnings and Purpose</span></i></b><br />
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial;">London Metropolitan Archives, which is funded by the
City of London Corporation, provides a public service which exists to collect,
protect and make available the shared history of London and Londoners. Nearly a
thousand years of history is represented by the collections, from 1067 to the
present day, through documents, prints and drawings, photographs, films,
architectural plans, maps, plans and an extensive reference library. Here,
housed on around 95km of shelving, you can find information about individuals,
businesses, charities, hospitals, local government, education, court records
and the evolution and growth of London as a major world city. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial;">Yet, despite the vast amount of material housed
within the archive, there are still individuals and groups whose lives and
experiences are not fully represented in the collections, whose own voices are
silenced and who are hidden from view because of the way they or their actions
were described or viewed in the past. The lives of Gay men and their presence
in London life from the earliest records to the mid- twentieth century is
represented through court records, asylums and the actions of groups such as
The Public morality Council. The official record presents these men as
criminal, unbalanced, sick and immoral. There are statements from individuals
but only in defence against accusations and we rarely, if ever, get a sense of
the real lives of these men.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial;">Lesbianism was never illegal in the UK and so women
are even more invisible. Some famous individuals lived open and well documented
lives, leaving letters and diaries, but there is little that can be tracked in
the collections.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial;">After the passing of the Sexual Offences Act in 1967
more records which revealed the lives of LGBT people began to make their way
into archives. At London Metropolitan Archives these generally existed as part
of collections such as the Greater London Council grants committees and Inner
London Education Authority. Although this was an improvement, the records still
reflect the official voice, however positive. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial;">In 2003 it was clear that there was a real need to
encourage and support individuals and groups in preserving their past and
adding and embedding their story into the complex narrative of London and
Londoners. There was a danger that the histories of campaigners, active in the
1960s and 1970s would be lost. Personal collections including ephemera,
letters, diaries and photographs, stored at home in wardrobes and under the bed
might be treasured by the owner, but were not being kept in ideal conditions
and might well be disposed of in time. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial;">Raising awareness about the significance of these
types of collections, the value of creating oral histories and ways in which
materials can be preserved for the future inspired the first London
Metropolitan Archives LGBT History and Archives Conference 2003, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Why
Here? Why Now?</i></b> We did not know how many people to expect but in the end
60 people turned up and their enthusiasm and encouragement guaranteed the
future of the event and the enormous benefits which have grown from it over the
years.</span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial;">Conference Themes and Beyond…</span></i></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial;">Over the last decade the conference has provided
platforms for a wide range of historical exploration and discussion. Themes
have included transgendered lives and experience, legislation and its impact,
the media, LGBT families, museum, gallery and archive practice, art and
activism and history projects involving young people. Spin offs from the
conference themes have led to additional events focused on LGBT work in
libraries, supporting readers of all ages.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial;">Each year those attending are invited to suggest
themes and ideas and there are still some we haven’t yet focused on. Examples
have included LGBT people in the workplace and a focused event on LGBT London
based writers which we hope to pursue in the future.</span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial;">Reaching Out Across Communities </span></i></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial;">Whatever the theme for each year, the continuing
central purpose of the conference is to encourage, support and inspire. The
conference is for everyone and people with a wide range of interests join us,
from academics involved in professional research to individuals who want to
discover their own shared history with others</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial;">The conferences have attracted anywhere between 40
and 100 people depending on the topics presented. A hard core of people attend
year after year and they are joined by new participants. Sometimes people are
regular general users of the archives but every year we attract first time
visitors. This provides an opportunity to engage new people with the wider
service London Metropolitan Archives provides and to encourage them to make
full use of the service.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial;">Representatives
of community groups, organisations and heritage institutions also attend and
the conference has come to provide excellent networking opportunity where
people can find out what’s new, catch up with each other and create new
opportunities. </span></div>
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<br /><i><b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Working with Partners and Community Outreach</span></b></i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7BP7X-ExLRxd21nVRR-0IEm0SgTJMOYSyvTAxR6vFvwj74NwKNaLUa05JwA4Gjz6b1EGdfmBU-D5IeTOT0rYaA9_grknNL4hN915P4zVJ5fEjdPp7YdeBG_NqIIYF0jk0KTAq77Mjtos/s1600/LMA4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="148" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7BP7X-ExLRxd21nVRR-0IEm0SgTJMOYSyvTAxR6vFvwj74NwKNaLUa05JwA4Gjz6b1EGdfmBU-D5IeTOT0rYaA9_grknNL4hN915P4zVJ5fEjdPp7YdeBG_NqIIYF0jk0KTAq77Mjtos/s200/LMA4.JPG" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Brighton Ourstory provided the first partnership project to grow out of the conference. LMA staff provided training in cataloguing, packaging and handling archive material as part of Brighton Ourstory’s European Fund bid. </span><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" /> <a href="http://www.brightonourstory.co.uk/">http://www.brightonourstory.co.uk/</a> <br /><br /><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial;"> </span></b>
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<b><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial;">rukus! Federation</span></i></b><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">
</span></i><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">have been regular contributors to the LMA LGBTI
Conference. In 2010 they deposited their archive with LMA. rukus! volunteers
have been working with the collections on site and have made a significant
contribution to the work of the archive.</span><span lang="EN-GB"> <a href="http://rukus.org.uk/"><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">http://rukus.org.uk/</span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial;"></span></div>
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<b><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial;">Burning Issues</span></i></b><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">
</span></i><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">was a professional support group for librarians
focused on LGBT issues. It closed in 2011 running a final event at LMA which
proved very successful. LMA is now working with former group representatives to
provide a venue and support for future activities. </span></div>
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</span></i><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">has provided excellent opportunities make people
aware of the LGBTI work at LMA and to encourage them to visit the archives,
come to the conference and join other activities<b>. </b></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">In 2011-12
LMA hosted its first <b>Write Queer London </b>events with a poet in residence,
Peter Daniels and a poetry workshop and performance run by Rommi Smith. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Rommi is
now working on ideas for an LGBT inspiration resource for schools and Peter
will be delivering new workshops later this year<b>.</b></span><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial;"> </span></b><span lang="EN-GB"> </span><b><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: windowtext;"><br /></span></i></b></div>
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<b><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: windowtext;">Birkbeck College</span></i></b><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: windowtext; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> </span></i><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: windowtext; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">have run MA
modules on Queer History hosted at LMA and using material from the collections.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: windowtext; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">In 2011 <b><i>Middlesex University</i></b><i> </i>has
brought students training to be teachers in Citizenship and History to explore
the LGBT collections and consider how they might be used effectively in the
classroom. As a result of this work an article was published in Teaching
Citizenship Magazine Issue 32. Spring 2012</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv4ZAWX6d9mjk1UdhylH3Jfyde2m-2VFrU6buuA2iIOkCiXFOM-tusKq3D-iwyUjl2zCwhsvcy2JZKT2rle_tBlCPuF1ci8kcZnBEiikTpDgNs3OEdvsmtQMdkfiwf951AvTNbp0GsMDU/s1600/LMA7.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="144" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv4ZAWX6d9mjk1UdhylH3Jfyde2m-2VFrU6buuA2iIOkCiXFOM-tusKq3D-iwyUjl2zCwhsvcy2JZKT2rle_tBlCPuF1ci8kcZnBEiikTpDgNs3OEdvsmtQMdkfiwf951AvTNbp0GsMDU/s200/LMA7.JPG" width="200" /></a><b><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: windowtext;">London Metropolitan Archives </span></i></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: windowtext; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">continues to work in partnership with sister institutions, developing
projects, sharing good practice and professional skills and contributing to
each other’s programmes.</span></div>
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<b><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: windowtext;">Collections
Development </span></i></b></div>
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<i><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">LMA </span></i><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">continues
to develop its LGBTI collections and is taking in material each year. This is
crucial work which provides the evidence of LGBTI histories for future
generations. Many collections held in formal institutions are official, rooted
in social frameworks which describe people as criminals, sick or immoral.
Without the rich and important stories generated by LGBTI people themselves
this history will remain incomplete. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial;">To collect, preserve and share LGBT
histories is a form of political activism and connects absolutely with the fact
that archives provide<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>dynamic engines of
discourse and change, utilised by our users and depositors.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial;">The current information list can be
found <a href="http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/things-to-do/archives-and-city-history/london-metropolitan-archives/Documents/visitor-information/25%20Lesbian,%20gay,%20bisexual,%20transgender%20%28LGBT%29%20community%20archives%20at%20London%20Metropolitan%20Archives.pdf" target="_blank">here</a></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></i></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial;"></span></i></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial;">Looking Ahead</span></i></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial;">The impact and importance of the LGBT History and
Archives conference and the associated events which have built up around it
should not be underestimated. The conference has encouraged people to deposit
collections, if not with us as an official institution, then with community
projects and other organisations such as the Hall-Carpenter Archive. The
conference days have supported people as they share their stories and have
gained in confidence, realising the worth of their memories and personal
materials.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial;">Organisations, such as Lesbian lines, have deposited
collections. Sometimes the material relates to long finished activity, but the
record has remained stored in someone’s house, they knowing its value but not
sure what to do with it or how long they can continue to look after it. This
kind of material is easily lost and it is encouraging to be getting increased
interest in placing collections such as these in safe environments. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial;">LMA is actively collecting and will continue to do so
in order to add to the rich and complex narratives of London and Londoners and
their interwoven histories. As pointed by Tamsin Bookey in her presentation, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">rukus!
federation </i></b>chose to deposit their Black LGBT material at LMA because of
the wide community reach across the African-Caribbean communities through the
Eric and Jessica Huntley Collection and the annual <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Huntley Conference </b>held at LMA, but also the long tradition of LGBT
history related activity at the archives. They have made full and good use of
the LMA’s strong and thriving community programme and this will continue to
bring dividends to the on-going work of the group.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial;">Over recent months new approaches to engagement have
started to evolve. Since May LMA has been running a monthly LGBT History Club
which is a free drop in event. Numbers vary between 5 and 16 but people have
attended every week and a range of presentations have been well received. This
week (08/08/12) people came to hear our account of the LGBTI ALMS 2012
conference and were keen to discuss the sessions we highlighted.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial;">The traditional date for the London Metropolitan
Archives, LGBT Conference is December. This year we are running a practical
seminar workshop day on Saturday 8 December 2012 in response to people’s need
to collect, care for and share their own personal and community stories. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Our Stories – Ourselves </b>will help
participants recognise the importance of personal collections and become active
in creating and sharing their own stories.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial;">LMA is actively working to encourage
under-represented groups to have a presence at the conference and other
activities, either as speakers or attendees. Trans people do come but
infrequently, youth attendance is improving but more needs to be done to engage
young people and their needs to be more representation from organisations such
as the LGBTQI Muslim Support Group.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial;">LMA will continue to work with individuals and groups
wishing to develop new projects and those wanting to deposit. Support and
advice is freely given in creating events, promoting collections and planning
activities and we anticipate this area of work to go from strength to strength.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial;">The tenth anniversary conference is to be held on 16
February 2013 in the Old Library, at Guildhall in the City of London alongside
Ajamu’s new photographic portrait exhibition, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fierce,</i></b> which will be on
show at Guildhall Art Gallery. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
conference and the exhibition are the first specifically LGBT events to be held
in the Guildhall complex and are being presented as part of LGBT History Month
2013. We hope you will join us.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial;">More information about the conference will be
available soon on the LMA <a href="http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/things-to-do/archives-and-city-history/london-metropolitan-archives/Pages/default.aspx" target="_blank">website</a> </span><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/things-to-do/archives-and-city-history/london-metropolitan-archives/Pages/default.aspx"><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></div>
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LGBTI ALMS 2012http://www.blogger.com/profile/16476681229383980702noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-766656158998930526.post-89827317849504962292012-08-23T13:54:00.000+02:002012-08-23T13:59:18.477+02:00Richard Parkinson, British Museum, London, UK: A ‘Great Unrecorded History’: Presenting LGBT History in a Museum for the World<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiINRCAQcWMdwNObqbPOrcLtbzLWeQ4IfMAx4aevD0aE9xMJjseMeLDGWedWaBWHbBwaStPsePeIHr2CErqkc1YwqnG54RX_ggbdB8JtI1EAOdt0_CE-5mrfA1YpUbiANbgkQbL3scHXn0/s1600/Warren+Cup.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiINRCAQcWMdwNObqbPOrcLtbzLWeQ4IfMAx4aevD0aE9xMJjseMeLDGWedWaBWHbBwaStPsePeIHr2CErqkc1YwqnG54RX_ggbdB8JtI1EAOdt0_CE-5mrfA1YpUbiANbgkQbL3scHXn0/s320/Warren+Cup.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Warren Cup</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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At the LGBTI ALMS 2012 Conference, Richard Parkinson of the British Museum in London held a key note speach on day 3, in which he told how the British Museum's LGBT history web-trail came about. He also made some observations about
collaborations with heritage institutions, and explained his future
plans.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2a2a2a;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Click on read more, to read Richard Parkinson's key note speach!</span></span> <br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></b>
I’m here to represent some activities by the British Museum, and to tell you how the museum’s LGBT history web-trail came about, to make some observations about collaborations with heritage institutions, and also explain our future plans.<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><br />
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As background: the British Museum has over the past decade put on various relevant exhibitions, in particular about the famous ‘Warren cup’. This was acquired in 1999 and has been on permanent display ever since, and was the centre of a short temporary special exhibition on sex and society in 2006. This explored ancient attitudes to male sexuality, and linked them with modern attitudes, juxtaposing the cup with image from <i>Brokeback Mountain</i>. And the Roman emperor Hadrian’s relationship with Antinous was celebrated in the blockbuster special exhibition 2008. And, of course, Neil Macgregor’s <i>History of the World in a Hundred Objects </i>included the cup and also a Hockney etching illustrating a Cavafy poem. Anyway, in 2007 Kate Smith wanted to write an LGBT web-trail around the museum for the Culture 24 web-site. The museum press office put her in touch with me and I helped her to liaise with colleagues as she wrote the trail. A few years later, the organisers of LGBT History Month approached the museum’s community officer as a venue for their annual pre-launch, and I suggested that we revised and extended the trail and put it on the museum web-site as part of our contribution to LGBT history month. And so, in 2009 a <a href="http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/themes/same-sex_desire_and_gender/introduction.aspx" target="_blank">‘same-sex desire and gender identity’ trail</a> joined other themes there. These all explore fundamental cross-cultural subjects as time, a means of encouraging people to investigate the full diversity of the collections and the cultures that produced them. The trail was written by the in-house web-team, and my colleague Max Carocci advised on the anthropological aspects. We included some objects that are not on permanent public display (due to conservation concerns and not censorship), but we hoped that the trail would be actively used in the galleries as well as online, as it has been.<br />
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I myself am not historian of sexuality, but simply a gay Egyptologist who specialises in Middle Kingdom literature from 1850 BC, but the earliest known chat up line in human history is one between two men that is preserved in this corpus (‘What a lovely backside you have’), and from this work I became involved in the controversy about the ‘first gay kiss’: near Cairo, there is a tomb shared by two men who are shown embracing, and this has been interpreted as a socially sanctioned same-sex partnership. However, I regret to say, they are almost certainly twins; but such ancient images pose the basic questions about the extent to which gay identity and same sex desire can be identified in the historical record; issues that are not exclusively ancient but appear in, for example, 19th century American photos. I’ve also worked a little on how some striking scenes of sex acts are in their cultural context religious iconography and not pornography. Even an erection is a cultural construct.<br />
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We chose about twenty objects, as wide-ranging as possible, to show how different cultures construct love, sexuality and gender in many different ways, and I wanted to exemplify the uncertainties of the historical process, rather than offering any black and white claims that might distract from the sheer depth of our history. The key aim was to remind people that same-sex desire is not a recent phenomenon as is often claimed. So we discussed whether Gilgamesh and Enkiku in the great Mesopotamian epic poem might be ‘friend friend’s or ‘euphemism friends’ in Harvey Fierstein’s phrase? And were the two ancient Egyptians who commemorated themselves together as ‘brothers’ on this funerary monument a pair of twins or lovers (Again, I regret to say that it is in my opinion a question of twins). In a <a href="http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/galleries/ancient_egypt/room_61_tomb-chapel_nebamun.aspx" target="_blank">permanent gallery in the museum</a> there is simply not space to address this question, but a web-trail based on the permanent displays allows more to be explored, and the museum’s online database of the collections allows a fuller treatment of the objects than a <a href="http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/search_object_details.aspx?objectid=119746&partid=1&IdNum=826&orig=%2fresearch%2fsearch_the_collection_database%2fmuseum_number_search.aspx" target="_blank">label</a>.<br />
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Desire leaves very few archaeological traces, and we wanted to remind visitors that our presence in history may not always be as immediately obvious or explicit, but it is nevertheless there and is in part recoverable. The relevance of one simple <a href="http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/themes/same-sex_desire_and_gender/gender_identity.aspx" target="_blank">quilt</a> lies in an anecdote told to the scholar who collected it, that it was made by a <i>hijra</i>. Due to the partial and biased nature of the historical record, men predominate, and women’s desire is often less visible in the museum’s objects, despite some famous figures such as Sappho, and some glimpses on domestic items. Nevertheless, the range of images <i>as a whole</i> is a reminder that there are many different ways of being LGBT. The trail is thematically structured, and one theme is changing attitudes, from the persecutions suffered in early modern Europe—including Amsterdam I fear—to establishment figures connected with the museum’s history, such as the 19th century collector William Bankes who fled the country after being caught with a soldier. The final item we chose was, of course a badge, for the 2010 History month.<br />
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The trail sits as a permanent feature in a fairly rich site, and was one of the most visited after those about money and animals, but it’s still easy to miss. So Kate Smith of Untold London suggested that we produced a paper version of the trail that could be distributed to specific target audiences. Untold London is a Museum of London project to discover LGBT histories across London, and was founded in 2007 (<a href="http://untoldlondon.org.uk/" target="_blank">http://untoldlondon.org.uk/</a>). This was an ideal collaboration, since the style of the paper trail could be freer than the Museum’s rather classical house-style. Note, for example the change from the neutral term ‘same-sex desire’ to ‘LGBT’, a phrase that was considered simply not transparent enough for most audiences of the web-site version. The new paper trail was also addressed primarily at an LGBT audience, and was distributed to venues such as <i>Gay’s the Word</i> in London, and publicised in <i>QX</i> magazine (<a href="http://www.qxmagazine.com/feature/a-history-of-the-gay-world-in-10-objects/" target="_blank">http://www.qxmagazine.com/feature/a-history-of-the-gay-world-in-10-objects/</a>). It was a great success, with 10,000 printed and 1000 given away at London Gay Pride free, and copies are still available on request at the Great Court Information desk at the museum. The great thing was that the two institutions complemented each other and produced a sustainable collaboration. The museum now takes part in the annual <i>Write Queer London</i> festival, administered by <a href="http://untoldlondon.org.uk/community/WQL" target="_blank">Untold London</a>, with a lecture and workshop (the 2012 lecture is published as audio on <a href="http://www.britishmuseum.org/channel/events/2012/audio_unrecorded_history.aspx" target="_blank">the museum’s web-site</a>. These activities are now firmly embedded in the museum’s calendar of events, as a productive model for other institutions to follow suit. One measure of how things have changed over the past decades is the simplicity with which we can now say on a museum label for everyone that Antinous was Hadrian’s ‘lover’. And for example, the Victoria & Albert Museum has a LGBTQ working group and related web-pages on its site; such changes are hopefully irreversible, but they have not necessarily always been easy.<br />
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Sustainable collaborations also lay strategic foundations for further growth: the success of the collaboration, and in particular of the paper trail, encouraged me to suggest to British Museum Press that there was a need for a book, and they have commissioned <i>A Little Gay History: Desire and Diversity across the World</i>. This will expand on the trail in both depth and range, arranged not thematically but in chronological order. The aim is to be a short and accessible introduction to key issues about history and identity, in a well illustrated and engaging format, for as wide a readership as possible.. As Kate Smith remarked at an early stage in planning, the book should be something that a young person who was coming out could read, and could also give to their grandmother (although many of the images remain explicit, for the purely academic reason that scenes of sex provide the least ambiguous images of same-sex desire). Many of our histories concern silence, oppression and persecution, but I wanted to follow the more positive lead given by E. M. Forster, when he remarked of his Egyptian lover, Mohammed el-Adl: <br />
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<i>When I am with him, smoking or talking quietly ahead, or whatever it may be, I see, beyond my own happiness and intimacy, occasional glimpses of the happiness of 1000s of others whose names I shall never hear, and know that there is a great unrecorded history.</i><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_ftn1">[1]</a></blockquote>
Within a single museum it is hard to be utterly comprehensive. Some cultures, such as the Edo period Japan, have given same-sex desire prominence in art forms that have been valued and collected; others have not. Some objects have been valued, some suppressed, some simply not collected by the museum, but the modern history of many objects says much about contemporary cultural attitudes (as well as shaping the surviving data for modern historians). It will be a partial, fragmented history, only occasional glimpses, but such is the nature of our evidence. <br />
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With some periods we have explored the collections in more depth, as with Gilgamesh and Enkidu, shown on one cylinder seal as butch heroes. Visual art and texts predominate, as these can record desire more directly than many other sorts of object. But occasionally, objects give us the irreplaceable ‘touch of the real’, that texts alone cannot: on a sheet of Michelangelo’s, the combination of the superb drawing of the fall of Phaethon and the elegantly written note to his young friend protesting it is just a sketch, embodies an infatuated self-humiliating eagerness to impress a young man in a way that is instantly recognisable. We have tried to include, where possible, contemporaneous quotes from original voices to evoke how the original actors perceived their lives, and to evoke specific experiences rather than generalised historical views.<br />
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Despite the uncertainties of historical identity, we felt it was still useful to remind people of the ‘great and good’ historical LGBT figures, and so some are well-known, such as Shakespeare, or the cross-dressing Chevalier d’Eon. Others, however, are less well known, and three ceramic figures will I think be published for the first time. They are by the expressionist German potter Augusta Kaiser, around 1924–5, and were kept by her life-partner Hedwig Marquardt after her death. Two are domestic images of women made by a woman and treasured by a woman; a reminder that LGBT identity can be shaped by concerns of domesticity. Another theme that will emerge is how cultural traditions can shape modern identities (as with a native American commemorative quilt) and so we’ll also reflect on the museum’s role in this history, with Greek art most famously acting as touchstones for European gay identity and rights, and we will also include some of the great love stories set in the museum, such as E. M. Forster’s <i>Maurice</i>. Also, self-reflexively, we can note that Lord Wolfenden of report fame was the director of the British Museum during the years when Gay Pride started. The more modern parts of LGBT history are strong in some of the museum’s collections; in particular badges can bring us to the present day, as do prints of the Australian artist David McDiarmid’s ‘Rainbow aphorisms’, and the witty drag queen pack of cards, by the Japanese artist and activist Ōtsuka Takashi. Even within a single museum’s collections, we want to show that there were and are many different ways of being LGBT (and not all of them dead and serious). <br />
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A short epilogue will review Marguerite Yourcenar’s heroic recreation of the Hadrian’s life in her famous novel as a model for how we envisage our history for ourselves: we’ll use the manuscript for her great and profoundly queer <i>Memoirs of Hadrian</i>, which was displayed in the Hadrian exhibition, but we will also include an image of Hadrian's villa by Giovanni Battista Piranesi, partly because it inspired her, but also because a print of it hung over the fireplace of the house she shared with her life partner Grace Frick in Maine. <span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><br />
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This illustrated book does not aim to embody the full academic range of queer studies or of museology studies. Its aims are more practical: to be of some use in increasing public awareness of the diversity of desire and identity, and to move some readers beyond the usual stereotypes, reminding them that LGBT can be defined not only by sex but also by domesticity. Perhaps, despite the title, it will end up slightly post-gay. The book is planned to be published next year, and it will be accompanied by a revised and expanded version of the web-trail, and will also be published as an e-book and a series of podcasts. <span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><br />
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We’re grateful to many colleagues: these days it seems that everyone has to do more, so people have been asked to help us with the project on top of their normal duties. Many of the objects have been the results of conversations with helpful colleagues in the staff canteen (usually requests to find me some more historical lesbians). Much has depended on personal contacts rather than mission statements; personal respect remains one key factor. Looking back on the history of the project so far, I would make some observations about collaboration with heritage institutions, which are purely personal, specific, and make no claim to general relevance. I’m surprised not to see more museum colleagues here, and I don’t want to speak unwarrantedly on their behalf. Museums are usually very (self)-aware of their own audiences, and they often have house-styles. While these may not meet all the desires of queer history, they usually exist for very good reasons. Untold London was a joy to work with: we could assess together the best way to achieve something permanent, and Kate was respectful of what I thought was or what was not compatible with my institution’s house-style. I personally would always aim for a long term relationship between organisation, and not just a quick special exhibition or intervention. Going into a museum to ‘queering’ a collection briefly can have great impact, but embedding our histories into the permanent displays is I think also a priority. A quick burst of combative and striking publicity is great, but we should also think in the long term about sustainable relationships and legacies. A good collaboration can achieve more than what either party could have achieved alone. <br />
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Specialist museums are invaluable, but international institutions have inevitably more and other priorities. My own personal sense is that the more world-wide a museum aims to be, the less easy it is for it to focus exclusively on specific communities. No matter how ethical and committed to human rights a heritage organisation is, there are always going to many different agendas and audiences that demand attention, and that do not always run parallel to our particular history. Especially in an age of austerity, there are also the issues of sponsors, patrons, and relationships with source communities and governments, who might not all be as fully supportive of LGBT history as we would like. It is a hard fact to face, but support for us is not always without risks for a organisations, and we must be prepared for acknowledge that. <br />
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What an international museum can give, beyond lending their supposed brand and authority to the cause, is the sheer range of their audiences, and I would end by noting that our histories often seem to be aimed at our own community—where they are undoubtedly most needed. But we should also remember that for our histories to be truly queer, they should not only be radical but also perhaps accessible, inclusive, multiple and not monolithic. In preparing the book, I have been shocked that some supportive heterosexual people have simply not got why we should feel we need our history so much: we really do need to address everybody. Love, desire and gender in all their diversity are never minority concerns, and having to speak to the whole world is not such a bad thing. All too often, we are told that we are hidden from history and are marginal, but taking a longer view that is not really the case, as Yourcenar remarked while sitting under that Piranesi: we are as much part of the centre as anyone. We are (always have been, always will be) integral parts of human history: and so our histories must not be marginal. <br />
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">[1]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 10.0pt;"> E. M. Forster<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(ed. M. Lago and P. N. Furbank), <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Selected Letters of E. M. Forster</i> I:
1879–1920 (London
1983),<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>269.</span></div>
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LGBTI ALMS 2012http://www.blogger.com/profile/16476681229383980702noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-766656158998930526.post-34523984434021457922012-07-30T21:04:00.001+02:002012-08-15T16:29:06.085+02:00Emanuela Fiorletta, CLI, Rome, Italy: Lesbian Archives in Italy: The Archives of Collegamento Lesbiche Italiane<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"The main objective of Archivia is to let women know that we have a heritage, a history, and that we needn't always start from scratch."</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small; line-height: 20px;">Emanuela Fiorletta is an archivist, feminist and lesbian activist. In this paper, she focuses on the issues of conservation and availability of the documents produced by Italian lesbian groups from the Seventies onwards and relates the experience of the only proper Italian lesbian archives, the archives of the Collegamento Lesbiche Italiane, housed at the International Women's House in Rome.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">What do you think about the questions Emanuela Fiorletta raises in her paper? How, for instance "can small documentation centers and women documentation centers access state or European Union resources?" And "what strategies can we put in place to collect documents of groups having an informal structure and therefore without any strategies for the conservation of their documentary memory, which have no resources and know-how?" </span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">To read the complete paper, please click on "read more". Enjoy, discuss, comment and share!</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><b>Lesbian Archives in Italy: the archives of Collegamento lesbiche italiane</b></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In this paper I’d like to focus on three points:</span></span></div>
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<li style="font: 14.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>my position, my experience: how I arrived here;</li>
<li style="font: 14.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>the experience of Italian Lesbian Archives, a project started with the Collegamento lesbiche italiane in 1986, part of Archivia, a women’s documentation center housed at the International Women's House in Rome;</li>
<li style="font: 14.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>the critical points about the preservation and conservation of memory of lesbian groups.</li>
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1. I'll start with <b>some words about me</b>: I have been feminist for 18 years, an archivist for 10 years, and lesbian for 7 years. In my case these three identities are closely tied, because feminism has led me to lesbianism, lesbianism has profoundly transformed my feminism; and my lesbianism, my feminism, and my political activism have taken and learned a lot from the experiences and elaborations of lesbians and women before me. Political activism has taught me that keeping the memory of the past is vital to know our strength and thoughts for the future: the preservation of memory is a highly political activity, it is a daily struggle against the cultural leveling that the governments of our countries want to impose. I do not work in a documentation center LGBTI, although I'd like to, but I try to use my archival knowledge within the lesbian and feminist movement to which I belong.</div>
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2. I am going to talk about the <b>archives of Cli – Collegamento lesbiche italiane. </b>The name means "connection between Italian lesbians": it is a lesbian collective active in Rome between 1981 and 2004. The first Italian lesbian groups were born in the Seventies within a feminist movement that counted hundreds of groups, collectives and squats made up of women<span style="font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica;">.</span> The Cli began its activities in 1981 with the aim of creating a stable connection between Italian lesbians, groups and individuals alike: the tool chosen was a magazine. 1981 was an important year for the Italian lesbian movement: two national meetings of lesbians were organized in Rome and there was also a demonstration when two women were denounced for kissing in public in a city in Sicily. It was at that time that Cli decided to start publishing a <b>monthly newsletter as a tool to connect and inform Italian lesbians</b>. The newsletter was distributed to around 500 individual subscribers, to women's bookstores and through exchanges with other journals.</div>
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In 1986 Cli started a project called <b>Italian Lesbian Archives (Ali)</b>, to keep the documents that were accumulating - papers, books, magazines, posters, letters, leaflets, audiotapes, videos, movies about lesbianism in Italy and abroad - with the aim of making them available. </div>
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Thanks to voluntary work a rich international library of journals and magazines was established, as well as a a library of Italian and foreign books and an archive collecting records relating to political, cultural and recreational activities organized by lesbian associations and groups in Italy and around the world. This project ended in 2004, when Cli ended its experience; we now have this fonds, available, but still waiting to be ordered.</div>
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The extent of the archival fonds is 30 folders, containing:</div>
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<li style="font: 14.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica;">•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span>documents about activities of lesbian collectives in Italy,</li>
<li style="font: 14.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica;">•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span>around 150 posters,</li>
<li style="font: 14.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica;">•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span>newspaper articles about events affecting lesbian women or written by lesbians, </li>
<li style="font: 14.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica;">•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span>letters written by readers of the bulletin from the remotest towns of Italy, </li>
<li style="font: 14.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica;">•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span>poems and short stories received by lesbian women for publication,</li>
<li style="font: 14.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica;">•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span>documentation on lesbian films,</li>
<li style="font: 14.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica;">•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span>documentation of Cli’s activity from 1981 to 1993, especially regarding national meetings (with around 80 audiocassettes and 70 videos).</li>
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The emeroteca contains whole or part collections of lesbian magazines published between 1974 and 2003: 34 different gay magazines, 72 Italian and 121 foreign magazines about women and lesbianism.</div>
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The fonds of Cli is one of the fonds held in <b>Archivia, a women’s documentation center housed at the International Women's House in Rome</b>. Archivia was born in 2003 to keep together and make accessible archival and bibliographic materials of feminist groups and organizations operating in Rome since the early 70s. All their fonds have been recognized as significant historical interest by the Ministry for Cultural Assets and Activities. Now Archivia <b>maintains 20.000 volumes, 600 periodicals and 11 archival fonds</b>.</div>
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The main objective of Archivia is to let women know that we have a heritage, a history, and that we needn't always start from scratch. And also to make known and accessible gender culture, which is still underestimated in official places such as schools, universities, research centers, at least in Italy. When students want to do research at University, for example on feminism in the '70s, or on the lesbianism, it is easy for professors to say it is not possible because there are no sources. But this is not true, and Archivia proves it! </div>
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2. To conclude I would like to focus on the <b>issues of conservation of memory of lesbian groups of the past, present and future</b>:</div>
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<li style="font: 14.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">-<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The first point concerns <b>the collection and preservation of documents over time</b>: what strategies can we put in place to collect documents of groups having an informal structure and therefore without any strategies for the conservation of their documentary memory, which have no resources and know-how? How can we preserve digital documents that are extremely fragile and volatile, but that right now represent most of their documentation? Especially I’m thinking electronic mails, discussion lists, blogs, websites. We know that with digital records preservation is necessarily an active intervention: with paper records it was enough not to throw them away but with digital records you need to decide what to keep.</li>
<li style="font: 14.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">-<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The second point is related to<b> the description of documents and networking with other documentation centers</b>: we need to use a description language, which respects our differences and specificities (for example a controlled vocabulary as access point to documents, that isn’t sexist, which covers the difference between the genders). We must develop our description language, between centers that have similar documentation (as with the centers that are here) to allow the sharing of information. But at the same time how can we share our information with larger networks of archives and libraries such as national networks? Do we want to promote change in the language and culture of these networks?</li>
<li style="font: 14.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify;">-<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The last problem (but probably the biggest) is <b>resources</b>: how can small documentation centers and women documentation centers access state or European Union resources? Especially as these documentation centres are self-administered and critical of the dominant and patriarchal culture? In the case of Archivia, the funding comes from individuals who believe in the project or foundations that fund cultural projects, but we are talking about small sums of money, and the work is done mostly on a voluntary basis.</li>
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I will end with an <b>input for the common future</b>: I think it is important to join forces to find resources, and to create networks between our centers of documentation, using a common software, open source, free, professional and easy to use. And this is only the beginning!</div>
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LGBTI ALMS 2012http://www.blogger.com/profile/16476681229383980702noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-766656158998930526.post-12159358637326667382012-07-28T14:58:00.003+02:002012-08-15T16:27:43.024+02:00Gabriel Hoosain Khan, GALA, Johannesburg, South Africa: Archival Expansions<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"The archive itself becomes a space which actively moves away from the institution, and instead structures itself as an informal and engaging space open to the community and community requests."</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVkZHAAJVFpHsDJ3So8GerFA7nCjEORNK5IW3pugyxcdj8ZD6wXjp_x3L0Zegu99BKSX1ZmKADYo2ytY0gx038y9sbx3Ktptj_fu6VRRXvO8-JyISybrOcRJ2syGNkP86_cclC297eovQ/s1600/gala.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVkZHAAJVFpHsDJ3So8GerFA7nCjEORNK5IW3pugyxcdj8ZD6wXjp_x3L0Zegu99BKSX1ZmKADYo2ytY0gx038y9sbx3Ktptj_fu6VRRXvO8-JyISybrOcRJ2syGNkP86_cclC297eovQ/s1600/gala.png" /></span></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Gabriel Hoosain Khan is archivist at the Gay and Lesbian Memory in Action (GALA). In this paper, he discusses personal narratives as a crucial part of LGBTI archives. By focusing on</span> three GALA projects as case studies, the Queer Indian project, the Arts for Advocacy project and the GALA youth forum, he reveals that "these personal narratives can be utilized, interpreted and reconfigured as a
tool for advocacy and building group identity." </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What do you think about the possibility of using personal narratives for human rights advocacy and community building? Do you know of other insightful examples? To read the full paper, please click on the following link: <a href="https://docs.google.com/open?id=0Bwh2PiM-S2xuX21OODJTSVBJSW8">Gabriel Hoosain Khan's full paper</a> Discuss, comment, share and enjoy!</span></div>
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<br />LGBTI ALMS 2012http://www.blogger.com/profile/16476681229383980702noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-766656158998930526.post-14390592670440498112012-07-28T14:26:00.002+02:002012-08-15T16:26:41.673+02:00Andy Sacher, Los Angeles, USA: The Lavender Effect<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"Can we retain a distinct 'queer identity' and ethos, while participating fully in society? The Museum and Cultural Center will frame the dialogue by posing the right questions for discussion."</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7sUVRB1tBB6h9dwmYcQdBwi7y9g7Kzf8g4owF9TxrMKRx0RqTGZj6-Op8cj8a3jlIIx00-RAIuRUEEyUtU1J0tCIEaXBaOrDSmwmoo7tlwau2KzTQrNybvUCO4DA1vbqW8DaKl3xcG5g/s1600/LE+Logo+NEWS+GOTH+sm%5B9%5D%5B72%5D.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="128" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7sUVRB1tBB6h9dwmYcQdBwi7y9g7Kzf8g4owF9TxrMKRx0RqTGZj6-Op8cj8a3jlIIx00-RAIuRUEEyUtU1J0tCIEaXBaOrDSmwmoo7tlwau2KzTQrNybvUCO4DA1vbqW8DaKl3xcG5g/s320/LE+Logo+NEWS+GOTH+sm%5B9%5D%5B72%5D.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Andy Sacher is the Executive Director of The Lavender Effect project. The idea of the Lavender Effect is to <span class="Apple-style-span">create a LGBTQ Museum and Cultural Center in Hollywood that </span><span class="Apple-style-span">will "concentrate on the regional history of the LGBTQ movement and its place in world history, as well as the reciprocal influence on our region of LGBTQ contributions to civilization, aiming for an audience of both straights and gays." </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What do you think about the Lavender Effect? How do you think could it be realized? </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">To read the full paper click on the following link:</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <a href="https://docs.google.com/open?id=0Bwh2PiM-S2xuN2hmaW4wMnZHVXM">The Lavender Effect</a> Enjoy, comment, discuss and share!</span>LGBTI ALMS 2012http://www.blogger.com/profile/16476681229383980702noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-766656158998930526.post-35559857655361245832012-07-26T16:40:00.001+02:002012-08-15T16:24:54.687+02:00Tamsin Bookey, Lesbian and Gay Newsmedia Archive, London, UK: Strange bedfellows: improving the accessibility and preservation of LGBTQ archives through partnership<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"The importance of the facilities for permanent preservation offered by a potential host should not be underestimated or prioritised significantly behind what might be termed political affinity with the community archive’s own aims and objectives."</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3heUWjx4t43xFmIXc95ZG3cntjzSMhl0Uf9yXMOgQqVs_7lCywe6daYFEPIaHWpXd3gfJz_OT9-bhSbmmARRGr5pRhCulnbIauDze5GC0a4fuRhpKqNCOLMX0fxZrraanJPO4eDo3qm0/s1600/rukus+at+LMA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3heUWjx4t43xFmIXc95ZG3cntjzSMhl0Uf9yXMOgQqVs_7lCywe6daYFEPIaHWpXd3gfJz_OT9-bhSbmmARRGr5pRhCulnbIauDze5GC0a4fuRhpKqNCOLMX0fxZrraanJPO4eDo3qm0/s400/rukus+at+LMA.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 17px;">rukus! at London Metropolitan Archives<br style="line-height: 17px;" />Image courtesy of LMA, City of London</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;">Tamsin Bookey is a committee member and archivist at the Lesbian and Gay Newsmedia Archive (LAGNA). In her paper, she explores the case studies of
two London-based independent LGBTQ archive collections, LAGNA and rukus!, that are developed and managed by
volunteers. She discusses how these two organizations "</span>have recently formed partnerships with mainstream archival institutions which provide storage and access facilities for the collections while the LGBTQ archive group retains ownership, collection development and outreach responsibilities" and explores "whether this type of approach is suitable in the long-term or in other global contexts."</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What do you think about the questions Tamsin Bookey raises at the end of her paper. Is it, for instance, "worth building up a collection only to perpetuate storage arrangements which undermine the long-term safety of the collection?"</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">To read the full paper, click on "read more". Enjoy, discuss, comment and share!</span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt;">Strange bedfellows: Improving the accessibility and
preservation of LGBTQ archives through partnership<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></b></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Tamsin
Bookey, LAGNA<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Introduction<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This paper will explore the approach taken
by two London-based independent LGBTQ community archives in forming practical partnerships
with ‘mainstream’ archive organisations. LGBTQ-led voluntary archive and
history groups can suffer from a lack of appropriate storage facilities for the
collections they develop and acquire. Enabling public access to these
collections can also be problematic without professional cataloguing expertise
or searchroom facilities. Two such LGBTQ organisations in London have recently
formed partnerships with mainstream archival institutions which provide storage
and access facilities for the collections while the LGBTQ archive group retains
ownership, collection development and outreach responsibilities. The paper will
describe the approach taken in each case and examine the impacts, and will conclude
by exploring whether this type of approach is suitable in the long-term or in
other global contexts.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">The
Lesbian and Gay Newsmedia Archive</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"> (LAGNA), once
part of the Hall-Carpenter Archives of lesbian and gay activism, is a
collection of over 200,000 press cuttings documenting the changing representation
of LGBT people in the pages of the straight press since the late 19<sup>th</sup>
century. It was originally set up in the early 1980s as part of the Media
Monitoring and Archive Group of the Campaign for Homosexual Equality (CHE) which
scrutinised press reports for evidence of discrimination to help inform CHE
campaigns. Faced with the closure of its previous base at a university on the
outskirts of London, in February 2011 the collection was taken in by the
Library and Archives of Bishopsgate Institute, an independent cultural
institute founded in 1895 in the City of London with extensive collections
relating to political, labour and radical history. LAGNA
(http://www.lagna.org.uk) was the first LGBTQ collection it acquired, as the
trustees accepted that its origins in the campaigning work undertaken by gay
activists in the early 1980s fitted with the acquisitions policy of the
archive.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The LAGNA Management Committee, on which I
sit, agreed to deposit the collection on a 10 year loan basis with a one year
notice period on both sides. At the end of this time the loan can be
renegotiated. The Library & Archives of Bishopsgate Institute offered a
convenient location, in central London close to Liverpool Street station and
the younger emergent queer community who have all but departed Soho for the
East End. LAGNA now has free use of rooms at the Institute by arrangement,
which has recently been refurbished to include an expanded, fit-for-purpose
archive strongroom and searchroom area. LAGNA’s book collection has been catalogued
and incorporated into the wider Bishopsgate library and the cuttings collection
can now be accessed by the public Monday to Saturday, where in its previous
home, appointments were only available on Wednesdays. At Bishopsgate the weekly
volunteer cataloguing and indexing session has been maintained, more research
visits have been made, and a free one-day conference on the history of LGBT
activism was held in the Great Hall attracting over 100 people in October 2011
with more events planned in 2012.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The move to Bishopsgate has provided not
just the security of physical storage for the collection and the benefits of
professional care by the Institute’s archivists and librarians, but has helped
to build capacity within the LAGNA organisation as the organisation is now able
to focus on developing the archive and bringing it to a wider audience without
having to deal with the constraints of collections storage and access. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">rukus!</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"> the Black LGBT Cultural<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b>Archive,
(<a href="http://rukus.org.uk/">http://rukus.org.uk</a>) was established in London
the early 2000s by artists Ajamu X and Topher Campbell to create a living archive
of Black LGBT experience. I strongly recommend learning about rukus!’s origins
and continuing work in the voices of its inspirational founders in the 2009 issue
of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Archivaria</i> devoted to Queer
Archives<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_ftn1" name="_ftnref" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference">[1]</span></a>
and in Ajamu’s presentation at this conference on the Sharing Tongues oral
history project<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_ftn2" name="_ftnref" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference">[2]</span></a>. With
Ajamu’s permission I will describe the background to rukus! and their recent partnership
arrangement with London Metropolitan Archives (LMA), the record office for Pan-London
and the square mile of the City of London. </span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The archive was founded in order to
celebrate and make visible a culture which experiences exclusion and
discrimination within both the mainstream queer scene and the wider Black
community, functioning as a political intervention as well as a way of
producing new culture. Donations of archives and ephemera from individuals keen
to see their culture finally recognised grew so extensive that a new home was
sought which would provide adequate long-term storage and access while also
supporting rukus! to continue its outreach work. The rukus! board weighed up
options including Hall-Carpenter Archives, held at the London School of Economics,
which is an extensive and important collection reflecting LGBTQ political
history but without any significant collections relating to Black queer
experience. Similarly, the long-established community-based Black Cultural
Archives in south London had no history of collecting materials from queer
Black people or organisations. In 2010 the rukus! archive was deposited at LMA,
the publicly-funded city record office whose collections reflect the wide
variety of London life. rukus! had been involved in LGBT history conferences at
London Metropolitan Archives (LMA) since 2005. For rukus!, LMA’s track record
in acquiring significant African-Caribbean as well as LGBTQ collections, and
their annual conferences which promoted these archives to the wider public, was
the deciding factor. LMA is not an archive solely for LGBT or Black history, it
is the pan-London regional archive and in this, is meant to be inclusive for
all. This suited rukus! which has a firm London basis. As Ajamu says, ‘Our
lives cannot be separated from either the Gay or Black experience – we inhabit
a unique position in history.’</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The collection was deposited on a 20 year
agreement with ownership remaining with the rukus! founders. If rukus! decide
to withdraw the collection a charge would be levied. Once the collection has
been catalogued, LMA will provide appropriate professional storage facilities
and public access in the search room approximately 37 hours per week
Monday-Thursday and on about ten Saturdays per year, as well as supporting the
events and outreach work delivered by rukus! including the Sharing Tongues oral
history project and other offsite exhibitions and programmes. The cataloguing is
completed by rukus!’s own volunteers. Fourteen have attended so far,
contributing 83 hours of cataloguing at supervised sessions held at LMA one
half-day per month. It is expected that the first third of the catalogue will
go online in October 2012, and in advance of that deadline the collection can
be made available uncatalogued to researchers at Ajamu’s discretion.</span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Conclusions
and questions<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In both cases, the collections are now more
secure and more accessible than in their previous, community-based homes. The
partnership enables capacity building in the community archives, who are now
freed up to add to the collections and consolidate community links helping to
bring the archives to a wider audience. Ownership and independence is retained
and, for now, respected. The mainstream institutions benefit from diversifying
their user base and demonstrating a greater level of relevance to the
contemporary public. But to what extent are these partnerships subject to
political winds? Both would have been highly unlikely to have taken place prior
to the diversity agenda of social change introduced by New Labour in the late
1990s. If political regression on equality is likely to happen in the future,
will such minority-interest collections held in mainstream institutions be at
risk? These are important questions for any community archive to consider when
contemplating deposit, even in the UK. Flexibility should be built in to
deposit agreements to accommodate all imaginable worst case scenarios, where
possible protecting the independence of the archive so that if necessary it can
be withdrawn and deposited elsewhere with as little cost as possible. In other
global contexts this type of partnership is still unthinkable, where LGBTQ
activity is illegal or where the LGBTQ community have a long-held oppressive or
distrustful relationship with the authorities. However, where such partnerships
are possible or even invited by well-established, financially sound
institutional archives, I suggest that the community-based owners of LGBTQ
collections should be receptive to the possibility. The importance of the
facilities for permanent preservation offered by a potential host should not be
underestimated or prioritised significantly behind what might be termed political
affinity with the community archive’s own aims and objectives. In the vast
majority of cases LGBTQ community archives do not have their own premises which
can offer professional standards of cataloguing, storage and access, and
without them the collections are incredibly vulnerable to loss. Is it worth
building up a collection only to perpetuate storage arrangements which
undermine the long-term safety of the collection? In doing so, the trust of
community members who deposited their material is also undermined. Those
managing the community archives have an important responsibility to ensure
their valuable collections will still be accessible far beyond their own
lifetimes, and ensure they are planning for perpetuity.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_ftnref" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 9pt;">[1]</span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 9pt;">Ajamu X, Topher Campbell, Mary Stevens (2009),
</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 9pt;">‘Love
and Lubrication in the Archives, or rukus! A Black Queer Archive for the United
Kingdom’, </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 9pt;">Archivaria</span></i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 9pt;"> 68:271</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #111111; font-size: 9pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_ftnref" name="_ftn2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 9pt;">[2]</span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 9pt;"> Ajamu X and Topher Campbell (2012),
‘Sharing Tongues: Black LGBT Oral Histories’, accessible at http://www.lgbtialms2012.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/sharing-tongues-black-lgbt-oral.html</span></span></div>
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LGBTI ALMS 2012http://www.blogger.com/profile/16476681229383980702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-766656158998930526.post-38468401338881782982012-07-25T23:37:00.003+02:002012-08-15T16:23:42.896+02:00Graham Willett, Australian Lesbian and Gay Archives, Melbourne, Australia: How Small Collections Can Make a Big Difference Graham Willett, Australian Lesbian and Gay Archives<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"The work of community-based archives and other collections is of national significance, and we should celebrate what we do and be proud of it and not be backward in expecting national/state/local institutions to support our work."</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-AU">Graham Willett is the president of the Australian Lesbian and Gay archives, an independent, community-based, volunteer-operated and non-profit organisation. In this paper, he discusses the <o:p></o:p></span><span class="Apple-style-span">relationship that the Australian Lesbian and Gay Archives has with "major federal and state museums, archives and heritage organizations" and asks "w</span><span class="Apple-style-span">hat (they) – a small, poor, community-based, volunteer-run organisation – have to offer to these larger, richer bodies, and the local, regional and national histories that they serve?"</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What do you think can larger institutes learn from organizations like the Australian Lesbian and Gay Archives? To read Graham Willett's full paper, click "read more". Discuss, comment, share and enjoy!</span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 12pt;">How Small
Collections Can Make a Big Difference</span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 12pt;">Graham Willett, Australian Lesbian and Gay Archives<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br />
Since its establishment by a vote of the National Homosexual Conference in
1978, the Australian Lesbian and Gay Archives has been collecting, preserving
and celebrating the lives and experiences of lesbians and gay men and the
broader LGBTIQ community in Australia. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br />
The Archives is based in Melbourne (Australia’s second biggest city) in the
state of Victoria, but has a national membership and operates with the
assistance of interstate members and friends. While it has received occasional
small grants for particular projects, the Archives is an independent
organisation – community-based, volunteer-operated and not-for-profit. It is
one of very few such collections in the world.<br />
<br />
From its earliest days, the Archives has relied on the good will of gay,
lesbian and queer communities across Australia for its materials.
Organisations producing newspapers and magazines have almost always responded
positively to requests supply us with complimentary copies as each issue is published.
As result, our serials collection is the most complete such collection of
Australian materials anywhere in the world. Manuscript collections come from
individuals who donate or bequeath personal collections, defunct organisations
and sometimes from still-functioning organisations wishing to relinquish their
non-current records.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 12pt;">Currently
the collection holds 40,000 periodicals (covering 1,300 titles); 45,000
newspaper clippings, 2000 ephemera files, 1500 posters, 800 badges, 4000
photographs, 4000 books and 130 oral history interviews, as well as personal
correspondence and diaries, scrap books, court records, banners, paintings,
film scripts, plays, audio and video tapes. The Archives aspires to be a
collection which reflects the diversity of GLBTI Australia. We do not see
our role as censoring or judging the contributions of those who identify with
any of those communities. Accordingly, the organisation has earned
widespread respect, and enjoys active support from a broad range of GLBTI
donors. <br />
<br />
The use of the Archives by researchers has increased over the years – mainly
due to the burgeoning interest in gay and lesbian issues as a matter for
academic research. In addition the Archives is consulted as a first point
of contact by professionals engaged in projects where it is relevant to give a
homosexual perspective from an historical context (e.g. producers of
documentaries, script-writers, film-makers etc).<br />
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 12pt;">At last
year’s GLBT ALMS conference in Los Angeles, I discussed some of the ways in
which the Archives’ committee and members have worked to bring the collection
to the attention of the wider GLQ community, focussing on our annual history
conference, history walks, research prizes, publications exhibitions and so on.
Here I would like to draw attention to the relationship that we have with major
federal and state museums, archives and heritage organisations. Initially, I
was intending to focus on what we, as a small independent organisation, hoped
to get from our association with organisations such as the State Library of
Victoria, the National Library, state and federal government heritage
departments and so on. But upon reflection, it seemed to me that it might be
worth considering the relationship the other way round. What do we – a small,
poor, community-based, volunteer-run organisation – have to offer to these
larger, richer bodies, and the local, regional and national histories that they
serve?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 12pt;">I think
there are five aspects worth considering: our collection is unique, both <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">in toto</i> and in respect of individual
items and sub-collections; ALGA gathers and concentrates expertise; it reaches
audiences in a way that most collecting institutions aspire to do; it brings
volunteer passion to collecting and celebrating the past; it provides a means
to raise the profile of a small
and marginalised part of the national story and to integrate it into that
bigger story. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 12pt;">It is not
too much of an exaggeration to say that the larger institutions need the
Archives more than we need them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 12pt;">Our collection is unique<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 12pt;">Anyone
hoping to study or understand the history of homosexual Australia has a mass of
materials to draw upon. Some of these are held in state and national archives
(records and documents of the convict era, for example); some are in rare books
and personal collections held in the National and state libraries; there are
important films and paintings and other art objects that are part of the story
which are mostly in public hands.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 12pt;">But the
Australian Lesbian and Gay Archives has a collection that – especially for the
period after 1969, when the gay movement began in Australia – is indispensible
for such work. Without it, our knowledge and understanding would be very much
poorer, and some parts of the story would have disappeared altogether. Ours is a
collection that is not – and could not be – reproduced by any other institution.
In the first place, it is hard to imagine any other conditions under which this
collection could have been created. Some 34 years ago, the Archives was
established by a vote of the annual National Homosexual Conference – it began
operations then with the imprimatur, as it were, of the gay and lesbian
movement. A number of people immediately donated important collections and the
sense that the Archives is community property and a community institution has
been an important element of its success in collecting ever since. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 12pt;">The
collection was established as, and continues to be, national in its orientation.
(Early attempts to build an international collection were abandoned some time
in the 1980s when it became clear that this could not be done in any thorough
way with the resources available to us). The state-based state libraries make
no attempt to collect nationally, and while the National Library does attempt
this, it has been less successful than ALGA. The collection is unique, too, in
that it holds a collection of GLQ newspapers and magazines that is unrivalled
in its scope and comprehensiveness. We have pretty much every issue of every
newspaper and magazine produced in Australia, as well as a very extensive
collection of newsletters. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 12pt;">Because the
collection has been amassed over such a long time and in real time, as it were,
it has accumulated materials not now available, however widely available they
may have been in the past. Here I am thinking of the runs of newspapers and
magazines, the ephemera, the posters and badges and so on. Except by being
captured at the time of circulation, many of these materials would have
disappeared, as indeed they have, for the most part, outside the confines of
the collection.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 12pt;">We also have
unique organisational and personal collections that can only be held in one
place – such as the papers of the 11 national homosexual conferences; early
activist groups such as Daughters of Bilitis, Gay Liberation and Society 5; and
ACTUP Melbourne and Sydney ...<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 12pt;">We also
provide an antidote to the widely-held belief that we often hear voiced that
individual lives (as represented in diaries, letters, photographs) ‘aren’t very
important’. The existence of the archive, and its very public efforts to
collect all manner of materials, means that materials that might otherwise have
been destroyed by the owners or their family and friends as insignificant have
been saved for history. In other cases materials have come to us from people
who would prefer not to hand them over to state-owned institutions or straight
institutions. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 12pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 12pt;">These
various ways in which the collection is unique are more than just interesting.
The collection matters to the national, state and local history and heritage
and collecting organisations because those organisations have – and are often
genuinely committed to – an obligation not just to their own collections, but to
the wider national, state and local heritage. One of the very few ways in which
they can extend their coverage beyond using what they already hold, beyond what
they already do, is in partnership with ALGA. We can help them meet their
national or state obligations in a richer way than they could otherwise do. (An
important example of their recognising our expertise and of their willingness,
eagerness even, to work with us is discussed in Kate Davison’s paper for this conference.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 12pt;">It was no
surprise to us when an independent significance assessment prepared under the
aegis of the federal government department responsible for heritage matters
concluded that the collection was of national significance, particularly for
its historical, social and research potential. The collection was recognised as
being relatively well provenanced, representative and in possession of some
rare items and collections; in good condition and with strong interpretive<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 12pt;">potential.
This is important evidence for the argument I am making here – that the work of
community-based archives and other collections is of national significance, and
we should celebrate what we do and be proud of it and not be backward in
expecting national/state/local institutions to support our work.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 12pt;">ALGA gathers and concentrates expertise<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 12pt;">The second
way in which the work of the Archives is important is the expertise that it
embodies. The volunteers and the managing committee are members of the GLQ
communities, aged from mid-60s to 30s and thus representative a range of
generations and experiences. All are attached to parts of the communities,
albeit in various ways. While all are based in Melbourne, where the Archives lives
(with a couple of exceptions of people who do volunteer work online or from
home in other parts of the state and nation), many have come to Melbourne form
other parts of the country and bring a national focus to our work. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 12pt;">This gives
us day-to-day contact with community affairs, allowing us to proactively seek
out material and respond to developments. To take one example – in 2000, the
company that owned most of the gay newspapers and magazines in Australia went
bankrupt and stopped publishing, literally overnight. Within a couple of weeks,
replacement papers had been started up across the country. Alert to these
developments, we were able to contact the new publishers in each state and get
ourselves back on their free list. Many State Libraries, on the other hand,
were unaware of these new papers and not in a position to follow up on them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 12pt;">There is
also, of course, as a result of the active engagement with the collection
itself, and with the broad field of Australian GLQ studies, a deep and wide
knowledge of the past. When someone is researching, say, homosexual experiences
in World War 2, between us we are able to generate a very thorough listing of
sources – both from our own collection, but also books, journal articles, other
collections and so on. Equally, we are able to advise a researcher based at the
Australian war memorial that there was virtually nothing known about the
homosexual experience of the First World War. That is, we are across the known
unknowns, as much as the unknown knowns.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 12pt;">The Archives
also runs an email discussion list called ozhomohist which engages in what we
might now call crowdsourcing, seeking input from its members to answer research
and other questions. Our Facebook page serves a similar purpose. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 12pt;">This
expertise is well beyond anything that state institutions, with their many
responsibilities, could hope to match.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 12pt;">The Archives brings volunteer passion to collecting
and celebrating the past <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 12pt;">The
volunteer model has long been used in community based archiving and obviously
has its limitations. Volunteering in an archive is hardly cool (we often
describe our organisation as ‘daggy but loved’) and numbers tend to be small.
Most of us have other jobs and need to fit our archiving in around those.
Competing demands on time means that often volunteers do not stay all that
long. Having said that, we have sustained a volunteer base, with some turnover
(but not as much as we might have feared), of about 20 people, and many of
those have been involved for many years. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 12pt;">Most
volunteers have their own particular projects—indexing magazines, listing box
content, maintaining the website, collecting and logging oral histories. In
discussions with the State Library in 2007 about the possibility of our housing
the collection with that institution – and it is indicative of the standing
that we have that this approach came from the State Library to us, rather than
the other way around – it was clear that the Library, for all its resources,
could not offer the same level of collection management.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 12pt;">As a
community based organisation we are reliant upon other community organisations
to help us with costs (most notably, the Victorian AIDS Council provides us
with free accommodation). Despite this, we have done a remarkable job of
collecting and preserving materials of various kinds. In the 2011 Preservation
Report, very little was identified as needing to be done to preserve the
collection from decay. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 12pt;">The strengths
of volunteer-based operations need to be recognised. Individuals who have a
particular interest – posters, or AIDS, or same-sex marriage, or any one of a
myriad of issues and materials – will often pro-actively seek out materials,
using their expertise (as identified above) but donating their time and effort,
above and beyond what might be expected from paid staff, even in large
organisations. We can – and do – chase opportunities to enhance the collection,
but also respond to offers, however small. A few years ago we were offered two
small photographs of a brother and sister from the 1940s cross-dressing. In
responding to this offer we were given, as well, a wonderful family story about
these two people and other members of the family. By offering time to the
donor, we have enriched our history in a small but wonderful way.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 12pt;">The Archives provides a means to raise the profile
of a small and marginalised part of the national story and to integrate it into
that bigger story<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 12pt;">The Archives
has always been clear that it aims not merely to collect and preserve Australia’s
queer past – but to celebrate it. And to take it to the wider world. Within our
limited resources we have managed, especially over the past decade or so, so
bring the richness of our past to public notice. We organise an annual GLQ
history conference (one of the few conferences on our history to be held on a
regular basis anywhere in the world). This conference welcomes established and
newer academics, students and independent scholars to participate in a
supportive and encouraging environment and to share their work. Out of these
conferences we have published two edited collections, with a third in
production now. We also have an annual fourth year thesis prize, using this as
a way to collect work that would otherwise be lost, despite its research value.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 12pt;">PhD
researchers are probably our biggest group of users, bust senior academics,
filmmakers, novelists, artists are also well-represented. Their productions
help bring the queer past to life for wide audiences.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 12pt;">The Archives reaches audiences in a way that most
collecting institutions aspire to do<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 12pt;">Attracting
audiences is an important part of most collecting and heritage institutions these
days. The archives has had considerable success in this, and could serve as
inspiration to others. Activities such as history walks, exhibitions, public
lectures, publishing, have given GLQ history a profile out of all proportion to
its size. Our history walks usually attract 50-100 people, but attract
mainstream publicity. The ‘Camp as ...’ exhibition held in the Melbourne town
hall gallery in 2005 attracted one of the largest attendances ever. A Melbourne
University public lecture was delivered to a packed house. These are events
that are noted not only by those of us organising them or attending – but also
by the staff of mainstream institutions who are not unaware of the numbers they
attract. or of the enthusiastic response that they get from wide audiences.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 12pt;">Such events
can be a drain on resources, of course, but there is a flexibility here. We can
organise them as regularly or occasionally as we want. There are fewer
competing demands on our time, fewer competing priorities than national or mainstream
institutions have to juggle, fewer stakeholders to appease than mainstream
organisations have to take account of.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 12pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 12pt;">In conclusion <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 12pt;">I have tried
to suggest here some of the ways in which the Australian Lesbian and Gay
Archives despite – and sometimes because of – or small size, limited resources,
and volunteer base has lessons for bigger organisations. I am arguing that
organisations like ours – and we exist in many cities around the world – are
doing important work. In celebrating the GLQ past we should be celebrating all
of those whose work makes the preservation and dissemination of that past
possible ... and so pleasurable.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
LGBTI ALMS 2012http://www.blogger.com/profile/16476681229383980702noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-766656158998930526.post-74698015169231247062012-07-25T11:24:00.001+02:002012-08-15T16:25:49.446+02:00Bryan Knicely, Stonewall National Museum & Archives, Fort Lauderdale, USA: Call for Cooperation<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2a2a2a; line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"We are hoping that our colleagues from around the world will share these resources with us to post, so we can all help each other in the process of LGBT K-12 curriculum development."</span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7CFjpMKikJNxE0bM64BPouql0rG9lW9i3MX4ojQs_DzuQT-Itc6i1hHg-7p-sNiXGeqH7YBIgzIes81YQeZdO8Qg8_ZEybAe_m5w1LCodmXCgbEGYVyBsf5M48KjCnhGWQheJt4Q4poI/s1600/thekids.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="247" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7CFjpMKikJNxE0bM64BPouql0rG9lW9i3MX4ojQs_DzuQT-Itc6i1hHg-7p-sNiXGeqH7YBIgzIes81YQeZdO8Qg8_ZEybAe_m5w1LCodmXCgbEGYVyBsf5M48KjCnhGWQheJt4Q4poI/s400/thekids.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><br /></span></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2a2a2a;"></span></span><br />
<div style="line-height: 17px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Bryan Knicely from the Stonewall Museum & Archives will hold a session about LGBTI education in the K-12 curriculum at the LGBTI <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2a2a2a;">ALMS 2012. As a follow-up of his paper, he, therefore, asks you to cooperate with him and send in materials and best practice resources from your organiza</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2a2a2a;">tions. </span></span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2a2a2a;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span></span><br />
<div style="line-height: 17px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2a2a2a;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2a2a2a;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">
</span></span>
<div style="line-height: 17px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2a2a2a;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Click on read more, to read Bryan Knicely's full call for cooperation. Read, enjoy and participate!</span></span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2a2a2a;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">
<div style="line-height: 17px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 17px;">
<a name='more'></a></div>
<div style="line-height: 17px;">
Sort of the follow-up to the Concept Paper is that Stonewall National Museum & Archives will be hosting a Symposium in February 2013 - <i style="font-style: italic; line-height: 17px;">The Kids Are Not All Right</i> through our cooperative joint venture with the Broward County Schools (6th largest school district in the US). We will be bringing together the top 10 school districts from across the United States to discuss best practices related to LGBT issues, lesson plans and activities currently in use. Our goal is to create action plans for the 10 districts to return back home and implement to their next level. Stonewall will create a digital network to keep the districts linked as they make progress and report back to the larger group. Our goal is to expand the digital network to include best practice resources and materials from around the world. Stonewall is committed to developing a digital archive of materials currently in use, so we can share best practice ideas from one location. We are hoping that our colleagues from around the world will share these resources with us to post, so we can all help each other in the process of LGBT K-12 curriculum development. Stonewall anticipates follow-up Symposiums and Conference to expand the reach to other school districts after the initial Symposium in February 2013.</div>
<div style="line-height: 17px;">
<br style="line-height: 17px;" /></div>
<div style="line-height: 17px;">
As the next step, Stonewall is convening a faculty of scholars from around the United States to meet after the February 2013 Symposium in order to begin to develop the first of its kind LGBT K-12 curriculum that is based on history and profiles and not lesson plans on bullying, safe schools, self-esteem, etc. We will rely on those schools who are part of a Safe Schools or Welcoming Schools network who already have lesson plans in place on bullying, etc. to be the first to implement the curriculum on history and profiles on LGBT people.</div>
<div style="line-height: 17px;">
<br style="line-height: 17px;" /></div>
<div style="line-height: 17px;">
Please join us, and share your information so we can share it with others…we are not alone in this movement!</div>
</span></span>LGBTI ALMS 2012http://www.blogger.com/profile/16476681229383980702noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-766656158998930526.post-62607334940440818802012-07-25T10:49:00.003+02:002012-08-22T12:55:44.327+02:00Sean Curran, London, UK: The Museum Through Queer Eyes: Bringing the "Outsider" Narratives Inside<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;">"<span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;">Museum collections and
exhibitions should perhaps be interpreted under the assumption that everyone
is, or has the potential to identify as queer, in that individuality and
disparate identities should be celebrated as something we hold in common.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">"</span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></span></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="457" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAvphxLpMqhaC3Qm03SSHImoQqfaPVR09tBkUV0QEiZBV7fpciiaRRYaeDxWQ5Wu-3yP_ndbkaipu6WQoqlnn4gd-e1yqyCTfp4Lkf_LX39unBrDPEdDx3fIJ7QYjbW6HdVPETYR3aceU/s640/HelloSailor.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Hello Sailor! Gay Life on the ocean wave" exhibition at the Merseyside Maritime Museum in Liverpool</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Sean Curran is a PhD student and library assistant at the University of London. In this paper, he asks "whether interpretation in museums and archives should be weighted towards a celebration of a shared
queer identity in order to more successfully promote a sense of community
amongst a diverse audience." He suggests that this "would make broader steps towards inclusion
than the current trend of focusing on <i>difference</i>." </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What do you think? Is ‘threshold fear’ a
device to place the blame of those excluded from museum interpretation onto the
audience themselves, rather than the institutions? Would ‘queering’ our museums
promote a celebration of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">shared</i>
diversity, as opposed to emphasising difference? Can queer interpretation
integrate marginal narratives into the flow of museums whilst avoiding tokenism?</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2a2a2a;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Click on read more, to read Sean Curran's full </span></span>paper!<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
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<br />
I was recently awarded an Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) studentship to pursue a PhD. In this research project I will investigate whether interpretation in museums should be weighted towards a celebration of a shared queer identity in order to more successfully promote a sense of belonging and community amongst a diverse and varied audience, and argue that this would make broader steps towards inclusion than the current trend of tokenistic interpretations focusing on difference. <br />
<br />
There is a growing, but still relatively small body of literature in this area. While theory about inclusion in museums is progressive and challenging, practice is still rooted in conservatism and patriarchy.<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><br />
<br />
This proposed research addresses the need for further work in this area, though moving focus away from specifically LGBTI audiences, and instead looking at the broader definition of ‘queer’, which, thanks to Foucault and Butler, has evolved from being a pejorative term and has instead become an encapsulating umbrella term that covers anyone who relates or identifies outside of heteronormativity and the enforced gender-binary. Queer is essentially a rejection of, or a challenge to the “normal” or dominant and, as Suzana Milevska says, ‘becoming community without having in common’. Museum collections and exhibitions should be interpreted under the assumption that everyone is, or has the potential to identify as queer, in that individuality and disparate identities should be celebrated as something we hold in common. Identity is performance, so museums should be the stage that highlights a unity between performers. Museums should strive, when thinking about inclusion as a central focus of all interpretation, towards the depoliticisation of people. As Butler states, identity categories are often merely ‘instruments of regulatory regimes, whether as the normalizing categories of oppressive structures or as the rallying points for a liberatory contestation of that very oppression’ (1991: 13-14). The overuse of the word ‘diversity’ in museums emphasises these constrictive social categories rather than acknowledging the ranging stories and voices within a <i>shared </i>humanity.<br />
<br />
It is an interesting year to be beginning this research in the UK, following the shambolic World Pride event last month in London that was grossly overlooked by our coalition government who proved once again that their affection and respect for the LGBTI community is purely for show, in a year where London has staged events on a grand scale that further alienate the queer population, the first being the Queen’s Jubilee, which celebrated the archaic, heteronormative and empirical un-earned wealth of our unelected royal family, and presently the 2012 Olympics, which, while the opening ceremony gave a brief nod to the rich British LGBTI community, is a timely reminder of the inherent homophobia in sport, with only 0.16% of the near 14,000 athletes competing outwardly identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, although one must assume that this number would rise considerably if men were allowed to compete in the synchronised swimming events.<br />
<br />
I will challenge Heumann Gurian’s notion of ‘threshold fear’ (2005), and aim to demonstrate that rather than the ‘uninitiated’(2005: 203) being intimidated by, or wary of the ‘physical and programmatic barriers’(2005: 203) that museums present, it is in fact the institutions themselves that fear their audiences and are hesitant to completely engage with more marginal or “difficult” narratives. <br />
<br />
Often, attempts to involve and entice minority or alternative communities are tokenistic, and following stand-alone exhibitions or events, little is done to weave these narratives into the general flow of the museum. For me, this presents one of the greatest challenges. In order to create a transparent and collaborative working relationship with varying communities, museums must actively recruit alternative voices from outside the confinements of heteronormative society and ‘listen, share authority and work at sustaining’ (Reeve, 2006: 54) those relationships when interpreting its collections, this will result in ‘increased ownership’ (Blackwell, 2009: 32) of the museum by the communities it reflects. A positive example of this is at the Victoria & Albert museum in London, where seven faith advisory groups have been recruited to help inform on all aspects of interpretation relating to their religions. <br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Hopefully the research gathered throughout my PhD will help to inform a potential framework by which museums could become queered institutions that encompass a livelier, more honest and truly diverse reflection of its audience. The research might also persuade LGBTI museum directors and professionals to <br />
embrace and take ownership of their own diversity more. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
Positive work in the UK has taken place, some of which we have been hearing about at this conference, I shan’t labour over the examples, but to name just two: <br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span><br />
In August 2006 the Merseyside Maritime Museum in Liverpool launched an exhibition called Hello Sailor! Gay life on the ocean wave to accompany the new book by Jo Stanley and Paul Baker. Since then the exhibition has been woven into a permanent exhibition called Life at Sea, and while scholarly indulgences have perhaps created a surreal and inconsistent result, it is, nevertheless, a brave move to introduce a splash of pink to the otherwise machismo-drenched brutalism of a maritime museum.<br />
<br />
The British Museum purchased the Warren Cup in 1999 after initially refusing it. Dated between AD 14-37 (2007: 46), it depicts two scenes of penetrative homosexual intercourse and the ages of the figures suggest that both of these are pederastic encounters. In 2006, the Museum held a free experimental exhibition centring on the Warren Cup, called Warren Cup: Sex and Society in Ancient Greece and Rome. The small exhibition ‘took an “object in focus” approach, using a single exhibit [...] as a way in to help visitors engage with larger themes and narratives’ (Hargreaves McIntyre, 2006: 6). It contextualised items such as the Warren Cup within Ancient Greek and Roman societies and delved into the theme of attitudes to sexuality in other cultures as well, allowing visitors to ‘draw parallels with the present day’ (2006: 6). The response was largely positive, with visitors calling it an ‘about-time’ display and hoping for more of the same. The cup now sits within a permanent display, and forms part of an LGBTI trail around the museum.<br />
<br />
To see the museum through queer eyes is not about draping our institutions in rainbow flags, but requires the removal of the heteronormative-tinted spectacles that we’ve become so conditioned to wearing that we have forgotten we’ve got them on.<br />
<br />
Archives and museums are inherently masculinised places, whose narratives present ‘others’ from the view of the white, heterosexual male. The absence of a female narrative or a queer narrative is not a new development, but is instead rooted in the patriarchy that has informed our society, our education and our institutions<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_ftn1">[1]</a>.<br />
<br />
The very nature of archiving and collecting could be viewed as a feminine act, in Western culture traits such as ‘care, creativity, nurture and preservation’ (Belk and Wallendorf, 1999: 242) are seen as stereotypically feminine, which makes our cultural institutions’ enforcement of a male-centric history even more perplexing.<br />
<br />
Perhaps the troubles lie with our institutions, both cultural and educational, as often attempts to include alternative narratives include an expansion of the stories we already know, as opposed to the ‘radical reconceptualization’ (Hein, 2010: 57) of our past that a feminist approach demands.<br />
<br />
To say that museums and archives are the driving force behind the masculinisation of our past is unfair, but they certainly ‘collude in this practice’ (Levin, 2010: 93) of enforcing a patriarchal viewpoint. They are ‘burdened by a centuries-old commitment to maintaining a master narrative that privileges white men’ (Levin, 2010: 102) and see any attempts to reassess and disrupt this narrative as a troubling and political act, perhaps these institutions believe in their own myths as neutral and unpoliticised places.<br />
<br />
A queer and feminist approach to interpretation would reject the idea of hierarchy and canonicity, any attempt to enlarge existing canons or include women and queers in a dominant narrative by simply inserting them into a male-built hierarchy would ‘tacitly reinforce its negative implications’ (Nochlin, 1989: 148), a feminist approach would instead consider alternatives to the old order ‘without assuming that either synthesis or compromise must follow’ (Hein, 2010, pp. 59-60). Instead of claiming that queers deserve to be inserted into existing historical structures, we should challenge and disrupt these structures entirely. The canon is an act of active remembering (Assmann, 2008: 99), which suggests a selectiveness, and the term itself ‘belongs to the history of religion’ (Assmann, 2008: 100), thus to be part of the canon suggest saintliness, and enforces a hierarchy of worth that feminist theories oppose.<br />
<br />
While some might argue that canons and hierarchical structures are ‘open to changes and exchanges’ (Assmann, 2008: 101), the voices who have been forgotten deserve a more rigorous rewriting of history than a simple cut-and-paste job.<br />
<br />
Clearly in recent years large strides have been made towards the inclusion of LGBTI materials and exhibitions in museums. Whether or not this is enough to help the continuing demand for the development of the LGBTI audience is a question worth asking, but either way, it is certainly a necessary step in the right direction. It is promising that the AHRC considers this research worthy and necessary to support and the LGBTI ALMS 2012 conference is a perfect place to further the dialogue.<br />
<br />
I’ll end with some questions for discussion: <br />
<ul>
<li>How do we collect and record intangible queer heritage such as events, festivals and Pride parades?</li>
<li>Are we in danger of appropriating the past with contemporary vocabulary by “outing” people posthumously?</li>
<li>How do we deal with conflicts within a queer community? Eg: how do we stop LGBT becoming a byword for ‘gay men’ and how do we give voice to the often silent ‘T’?</li>
<li>How do we create a balance between portraying queers as victims and as “trivialities” – eg: camp, partying, sex etc? How do we ensure that queer voices are heard consistently through every aspect of life, as Angela Vanegas (2002) said ‘gay men are more likely to use a steam iron than a cock ring’...</li>
</ul>
I will be documenting my research journey on my blog: <a href="http://towardsqueer.blogspot.co.uk/">http://towardsqueer.blogspot.co.uk/</a> <br />
<br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">References</span><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526">Assmann, A. (2008). 'Canon and Archive'. In A. Erll and A. Nunning (Eds), Cultural Memory Studies (pp. 97-107). Berlin & New York: de Gruyter.</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526">Belk, R. W. and Wallendorf, M. (1999). 'Of mice and men: gender identity in collecting'. In S. M. Pearce (Ed.), Interpreting Objects and Collections (pp. 240-253). London: Routledge.</a></li>
<li>Blackwell, I. (2009). 'Community Engagement: why are community voices still unheard?'. Journal of Education in Museums, 30, 29-36.</li>
<li>Butler, J. (1991). 'Imitation and gender insubordination'. In D. Fuss (Ed.), Inside/Out: lesbian theories, gay theories (pp. 13-31). London: Routledge.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526">Curran, S. (2012). A feminine touch: seeking an understanding of the potential for using women's archive collections for outreach. Unpublished MA dissertation. Institute of Education, University of London, London.</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526">Hargreaves McIntyre, M. (2006). 'Pleasure you can measure: Visitor responses to the Warren Cup exhibition'. [Online]. Available at: http://www.britishmuseum.org/pdf/Warren%20cup%20final%20online.pdf. [Last accessed 24 Feb 2011].</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526">Hein, H. (2010). 'Looking at museums from a feminist perspective'. In A. K. Levin (Ed.), Gender, Sexuality and Museums (pp. 53-64). Oxon: Routledge.</a></li>
<li>Heumann Gurian, E. (2005). 'Threshold Fear'. In S. Macleod (Ed.), Reshaping museum space: architecture, design, exhibitions (pp. 203-214). London: Routledge.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526">Levin, G. (2010). 'Art world power and incognito women: Jo Hopper'. In A. K. Levin (Ed.), Gender, Sexuality and Museums (pp. 93-104). Oxon: Routledge.</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526">Nochlin, L. (1989). 'Why have there been no great women artists?'. In L. Nochlin (Ed.), Women, Art and Power: and other essays (pp. 145-178). London: Thames and Hudson.</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526">Reeve, J. (2006). 'Prioritizing audience groups'. In C. Lang, J. Reeve and V. Woollard (Eds), The Responsive Museum (pp. 43-60). Aldershot: Ashgate.</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526">Vanegas, A. (2002). 'Representing lesbians and gay men in British social history museums'. In R. Sandell (Ed.), Museums, Society, Inequality (pp. 98-109). London: Routledge.</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526">Williams, D. and British Museum. (2007). The Warren cup. London: The British Museum Press.</a></li>
</ul>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[1]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> This part of the paper is taken from my unpublished MA dissertation
<span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">(Curran, 2012)</span></span></div>
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LGBTI ALMS 2012http://www.blogger.com/profile/16476681229383980702noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-766656158998930526.post-76607063300075711572012-07-25T00:41:00.004+02:002012-08-15T16:34:27.863+02:00Sara Rosa Espi, Utrecht, The Netherlands: Preserving Ephemeral texts: Queer Zines in the Archive<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"Zines are a form of self-publishing that preceded blogs by many decades, although personal zines cover some of the same content: intimate discussions of childrearing, accounts of heartbreaks and relationships, epic travelogues."</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-c9TdyKOdbPiicjUr1IwmxU1-R4mxetHP70aYf36TzBq7SoKoB3D1w5fDyJ1iMHpnCbrKBd6eK7nV87bouZQ7D-BIBy0OEr-5MDT3iBSkUxFkPXmRIXrKAWMSeftQ0uicx1RJs-wYOkU/s1600/pistolsstickersm.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-c9TdyKOdbPiicjUr1IwmxU1-R4mxetHP70aYf36TzBq7SoKoB3D1w5fDyJ1iMHpnCbrKBd6eK7nV87bouZQ7D-BIBy0OEr-5MDT3iBSkUxFkPXmRIXrKAWMSeftQ0uicx1RJs-wYOkU/s1600/pistolsstickersm.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Flyer of "The Queer Zine Archive Project"</td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Sara Rosa Espi is a PhD student at the University of Utrecht. In this paper, she focuses on the collection of queer zines, a form of self-published personal manuscripts, in archives, libraries and memory projects. She further analyses "how these projects use the concept of the "living archive" in the way that they collect and display the material, and structure community participation in project." </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Do you think that queer zines should be archived or do you agree with Bruce La Bruce that "Queercore fanzines aren’t supposed to be catalogued, historicised and analysed to death, for Christssake"? What do you think about the potential of the notion of the "living archive"</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">To read Sara Rosa Espi's full paper, please click on the following link: <a href="https://docs.google.com/open?id=0Bwh2PiM-S2xuNU5jclhMcGJNclU"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Sara Rosa Espi's paper</span></a> </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Enjoy, discuss, comment and share!</span></div>
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LGBTI ALMS 2012http://www.blogger.com/profile/16476681229383980702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-766656158998930526.post-34427762822180242562012-07-24T15:47:00.000+02:002012-08-15T16:38:02.627+02:00Angela Brinskele, Mazer Lesbian Archives, West Hollywood, USA: Using Social Media and Oral Histories to promote and gain support for your organization regardless of your budget.<br />
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"<span lang="EN-US">Every oral history is digitally recorded but now video clips are recorded as well, which we then use to share and promote the project online." </span></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/dboo23tO-MY?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> Mazer's "True Life Lesbian History Project" </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Angela Brinskele is the Director of Communications for the June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US">She has been working with the Archives for over five years. Angela is also a professional photographer who has been documenting the LGBT community in Southern California for over 25 years with a special focus on Lesbians. In this paper she gives an overview of how the Mazer Lesbian Archives uses social media "</span>to promote, present, inform and educate as well as gain access to new supporters."</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">How do you use social media? How do you raise funds online? </span>What projects do you use to reach out and grab people’s interest?</div>
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To read the full paper click on "read more". Share, discuss, comment and enjoy!</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Using<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Social Media and Oral Histories to promote and gain support
for your <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">organization regardless of your
budget.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">Our
use of Social Media</span></b><span lang="EN-US"> </span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">The
Mazer<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>web site</span></b><span lang="EN-US"> <a href="http://www.mazerlesbianarchives.org/">www.mazerlesbianarchives.org</a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>is generally used as our base
online.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everything we do gets on
the site and then details go out to all the social media which we use to
promote, present, inform and educate as well as gain access to new
supporters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have donation buttons
and all the necessary information about visiting, supporting and experiencing
the archives can be found here.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Wordpress and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Joomla are just two of the many free website platforms you
can use for your site.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">Facebook</span></b><span lang="EN-US"> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>is used most of all
the social media as we have found it to be the most successful of all social
media in gaining the interest of new people and getting them more involved with
our Archives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is also a place
where we can be a bit more casual with things like sharing some of our holdings
like a single photo or to promote our events.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We especially use it to appreciate others who are doing
similar work by sharing or commenting on that work.</span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">Facebook
</span></b><span lang="EN-US">accounts are free and you just need to create an
account at and add content.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>facebook.com</span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">Twitter</span></b><span lang="EN-US"> is used in a more limited way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We generally just send out a quick link to anything posted
on our site as a kind of a shout out with links to more information elsewhere.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Twitter is free and you just need to create
an account and add your content.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>twitter.com</span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">Blogger</span></b><span lang="EN-US"> is used to cross promote and show more details of something we have
posted on our site.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a
place where we are likely to share videos, photos and photo galleries and specific
stories many things that have been digitized from the archives that we think
will interest people around the world.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Blogger is free you just need to create an
account or sign in through a Google account and add your content.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>blogger.com</span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">YouTube</span></b><span lang="EN-US"> is used specifically to show only our own videos created by the
Mazer to promote and educate as well as to give an introduction to some of the
women in our Oral Histories Project.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Youtube is free and it allows you to create your own “channel” with all
your own videos. youtube.com</span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">Constant
Contact</span></b><span lang="EN-US"> is a mass email service we use for an
annual fee.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is used for every
event we have.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We send emails out to
local supporters as well as supporters and followers worldwide. This helps us keep
everyone “in the loop” and up to date about all our events and activities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We use it for fundraising by adding
live “donate” buttons into the emails that can be clicked on to make an
immediate donation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We also use
emails to announce special occasions or projects.</span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">Oral
Histories </span></b>The Mazer has been collecting oral
histories for many years but in the past these have only been available to
researchers or visitors to the physical archive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We now have a new oral histories project called, “True Life
Lesbian Oral Histories Project.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Every oral history is digitally recorded but now video clips are
recorded as well, which we then use to share and promote the project online
.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our most current entry is a clip
of two women who have been together for over 50 years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They tell the story of how they met and
how one of them ran away (went AWOL) from military service to be with the
other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here is a link to that clip:
(<a href="http://youtu.be/dboo23tO-MY">http://youtu.be/dboo23tO-MY</a>)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">How do you use social media?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How do you raise funds online?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">What projects do you use to reach out and
grab people’s interest?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">What things do you do to educate, promote
and inform folks about your collections?</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">How much time and money should you spend?</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Angela Brinskele </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Angela Brinskele is the Director of
Communications for the June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">She has been working with the Archives for
over five years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Angela is also a
professional photographer who has been documenting the LGBT community in
Southern California for over 25 years with a special focus on Lesbians.</span></div>
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LGBTI ALMS 2012http://www.blogger.com/profile/16476681229383980702noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-766656158998930526.post-33029751577355780162012-07-24T14:52:00.002+02:002012-08-15T16:43:09.377+02:00James Miller and David DeAngelis, Pride Library, London, Ontario, Canada: Too Hot to Handle: Accessibility Strategies for Culturally Sensitive Materials at the Pride Library, Western University, Canada<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"If such materials only came with clear warning labels like hazardous chemicals, we would have little difficulty detecting their dangerous contents or predicting their harmful effects on an unwary reader."</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3X7byzipmfeetlI5_iLZW7gO8CHZcf1-rRUgtxmStMGyFVrQ8106UBe6vrwXKqa7w5_Py7gDuGmItqwGdUCSKQe9uwipyH4MxHo5GE44kwoyJUfb62vv8llJpppZBt5FC2RSjKeS6imc/s1600/Bildschirmfoto+2012-07-24+um+14.48.25.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="295" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3X7byzipmfeetlI5_iLZW7gO8CHZcf1-rRUgtxmStMGyFVrQ8106UBe6vrwXKqa7w5_Py7gDuGmItqwGdUCSKQe9uwipyH4MxHo5GE44kwoyJUfb62vv8llJpppZBt5FC2RSjKeS6imc/s400/Bildschirmfoto+2012-07-24+um+14.48.25.png" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">The Homophobic Classics Collection <br />at the Pride Library in Canada</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In this paper, Professor James Miller and David DeAngelis, the Academic Director and Web Developer of the Pride Library at Western University in Canada, discuss<span lang="EN-US" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #fefefe; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: black;"> "what to do with culturally sensitive materials
deemed to be “hazardous” either to its continuity as a centre of free research
or to its credibility as a site for resisting censorship". In this paper, they focus on three red-alert donations for which special strategies have been
devised and adopted to ensure accessibility. </span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #fefefe; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: black; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #fefefe; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: black;">What do you think? What should archives do with homophobic materials, "raunchy gay polaroids, kinky sex manuals or secret journals of a closeted celebrity"? </span><span lang="EN-US" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #fefefe; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: black;">And when might a publication actually be "too hot to handle"? </span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #fefefe; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: black; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-US" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #fefefe; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">To read the full paper, click on the following link: <a href="https://docs.google.com/file/d/0Bwh2PiM-S2xuWkducnVhajJ6VDg/edit"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">James Miller and David DeAngelis' full paper</span></a></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Enjoy, discuss, comment and be inspired!</span>LGBTI ALMS 2012http://www.blogger.com/profile/16476681229383980702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-766656158998930526.post-78160837760781442302012-07-23T17:07:00.000+02:002012-08-15T16:44:21.790+02:00Brenda Marston, Human Sexuality Collection at Cornell University, Ithaca, USA: Coming full circle: Connecting communities with archival threads in the age of social media<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"I know I wouldn't have had as much fun with the American Historical Association conference this winter if it weren't for Facebook."</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3POrDEGN3yzPkF-AneeJt_zoHiKXufoQhHjUaJlrKhvOoibUAMV1a2Vqt5UMEtV8efFVh1LJV1L2WD2uQdL6aTOF8s_IlOIHYZ3Hvtjh9-j72DiJhbIFlwXpuwE5McRR82GeQqtUDIUc/s1600/1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3POrDEGN3yzPkF-AneeJt_zoHiKXufoQhHjUaJlrKhvOoibUAMV1a2Vqt5UMEtV8efFVh1LJV1L2WD2uQdL6aTOF8s_IlOIHYZ3Hvtjh9-j72DiJhbIFlwXpuwE5McRR82GeQqtUDIUc/s320/1.png" width="179" /></span></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Brenda Marston is curator at the Human Sexuality
Collection at Cornell University, "a successful collaboration between community
activists and professional archivists that has grown into a substantial
resource for research by serious scholars." In her paper, she shares some of their successful strategies in using social media over the past two years and how it changed the work of the organization. She argues that it "</span>lets us realize
some of the dreams of earlier generations who saved and protected objects of
LGBT history (and) creates paths for
these documents to be present and discussed in everyday lives."</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of social media? What works well for you in the land of tweets, foursquare, blogs, and Facebook? </span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">To read the full article, please click on the following link: <a href="https://docs.google.com/file/d/0Bwh2PiM-S2xubTczTzVyQjVSdjQ/edit"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Brenda Marston's full paper</span></a></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Enjoy, share, discuss and be inspired!</span></span></div>
LGBTI ALMS 2012http://www.blogger.com/profile/16476681229383980702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-766656158998930526.post-5211774128432403262012-07-23T11:32:00.001+02:002012-08-15T16:19:32.031+02:00Jack van der Wel, IHLIA, Amsterdam, The Netherlands: The New Homosaurus: Building a Global More Bisexual & Transgender Inclusive LGBT Thesaurus<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="NL"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"Existing classifications frequently don't fit in information of special concern to gay men, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people. As a result, this information is lumped under 'homosexuality', ‘men’ or ‘women’, or is simply inaccessible."</span></span></div>
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<span lang="NL"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Jack van der Wel is Head of the Collection and Information Services of IHLIA, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">the International Gay and Lesbian Information Centre and Archives in Amsterdam</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> that is hosting the LGBTI ALMS 2012. In his paper, he reaches out to discuss the development of the new <i>homosaurus</i>, an improved version of the original bilingual legacy thesaurus that was created fifteen years ago. Since 2010 Jack van der Wel has worked together with Ellen Greenblatt from the University of Colorado to transform "</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">the original</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Homosaurus</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">into a ready-to-use resource for community-based archives, libraries, and documentation centers throughout the world." Particular emphasis is put on making it more bisexual and transgender inclusive.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What are your ideas about making the new <i>homosaurus</i> more up-to-date and inclusive? What do you, for instance, think about adding new headings like "</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>bisexual information centres" </i>or</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i> "transgender identity"? </i></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">To read the full article, click on "read more". </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Enjoy, share, comment and discuss. </span></div>
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<span lang="NL"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>The New Homosaurus: Building a Global More Bisexual &
Transgender Inclusive LGBT Thesaurus</b></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The <i>Homosaurus </i>is a bilingual (Dutch and English) legacy
thesaurus created over fifteen years ago in the Netherlands for the
collections of IHLIA, the International Gay and Lesbian Information Centre and
Archives. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">Since 2010 Jack van der Wel, Head, Collections and Information Services
at IHLIA-Homodok, and Ellen Greenblatt, University of Colorado Denver, have
worked together transforming the original <i>Homosaurus</i> into a ready-to-use
resource for community-based archives, libraries, and documentation centers
throughout the world. The goal is to provide an LGBT-focused tool to help
colleagues enhance access to their collections. </span><span lang="NL"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Homosaurus</i>
is a controlled vocabulary originally designed to index and search for
information about lesbian & gay existence, and lesbian & gay studies.
It was published in 1997 in Dutch and English. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">Its major objective was to provide all lesbian & gay archives,
libraries and documentation centres, as well as those persons or organizations
wishing to set up a lesbian & gay archive, library or documentation centre,
with a ready-to-use international thesaurus of lesbian & gay index terms.
The absence of such an index was seen as the principal reason for the lack of
indexing of gay and lesbian materials and information about lesbian & gay
existence. Standard indexing and classification systems did and do not offer a
vocabulary sufficiently detailed and up-to-date to retrieve the wealth of resources
available. Existing classifications frequently don't fit in information of
special concern to gay men, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people. As a
result, this information is lumped under 'homosexuality', ‘men’ or ‘women’, or
is simply inaccessible. The <i>Homosaurus</i> was meant as a stimulus to the
necessary work of storage and retrieval of information relevant to LGBT people.
</span><span lang="NL"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="NL"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Homosaurus</i> started out
as a mainly gay and lesbian thesaurus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Overtime more terms relating to bisexuality, trans*, and intersex
concepts had been added – but not methodically. At the LGBT ALMS conference in
New York City in 2008, I met Ellen and I asked her for help<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>in translating a newer version of the
Homosaurus into English. I told her that she could make any comment and
suggestion she wanted to make and that is exactly what she did. I received 183
pages with comments and suggestions. For example telecommunication and media
were completely outdated and web 2.0 issues were completely missing.
Conclusion: A major revision of the Homosaurus was necessary. The first results
were presented at the 2011 LGBT ALMS Conference in Los Angeles. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="NL">All the comments and discussions leaded to the draft version of the
Homosaurus that I want to discuss with you during this years' ALMS Conference,
with a focus on building a more bisexual and transgender inclusive LGBT
Thesaurus. </span><span lang="NL"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The combined descriptors <i>gay
and lesbian ... </i>are removed (for example <i>gay and lesbian libraries</i>)
because they are a vestige of how the community was seen prior to its expansion
to the currently more inclusive LGBT or LGBTI. Only the separate descriptors –
e.g., <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">gay libraries</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">lesbian libraries</i> – are used. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">To be consistent and inclusive
more headings are added for bisexuals and transgender people (for example <i>bisexual
information centres </i>and <i>transgender information centres </i>;<i>
bisexual couples </i>and<i> transgender couples </i>;<i> bisexual identity </i>and<i>
transgender identity </i>; <i>bisexual parents </i>and<i> transgender parents</i>).
Even more headings for bisexuals and transgender people could be added (for
example <i>bisexual archives</i> and <i>transgender archives</i>).</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">One of the discussions involved
how to relate concepts regarding transgenderism and transsexuality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some folks would make transgender
people the BT or Broader Term, subsuming the term transsexuals underneath it in
the hierarchy. However, not all transsexuals feel that they are transgender,
and in this case, the prior proposal would not reflect their reality. And if we
go with the 2nd scenario, we need a larger, all-encompassing category – such
as, gender-variant people, genderqueer people, or <i>gender minorities</i> --
the last of these being the one we chose as umbrella term for transgender
people, transsexuals, and other gender variant people.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Another discussion is the term <i>gender
identity disorders (GID)</i>, former <i>gender dysphoria</i>, which is
controversial in the upcoming DSM-V. To make this term less insulting, the
original BT <i>mental disorders</i> is replaced with <i>gender identity</i>
instead of linking them as RTs.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Also the term <i>homosexuality</i>
is new in the <i>Homosaurus.</i> Is was excluded for the same reason that
heterosexuality doesn't show up in mainstream resources. Homosexuality was the
norm in the <i>Homosaurus</i>, so it didn't need a descriptor. When you want to
include gender identity issues, you can't do that any longer.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Gender-neutral terms are used whenever possible – i.e., <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">actors</i> are used rather than both <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">actors </i>and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">actresses</i> or <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">business people</i>
rather than <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">businessmen</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">businesswomen</i>. However we couldn't find
a solution for <i>cowboys</i> and <i>cowgirls</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I hope all this makes the <i>Homosaurus</i>
more up-to-date and more inclusive and want to discuss this with you at and
after the ALMS conference in Amsterdam.</span></span><span lang="NL" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
LGBTI ALMS 2012http://www.blogger.com/profile/16476681229383980702noreply@blogger.com145tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-766656158998930526.post-90529111094031679272012-07-21T18:11:00.001+02:002012-08-15T16:18:48.057+02:00Ed Madden, Columbia, USA: The Irish Queer Archive: Institutionalization and Historical Narrative<br />
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<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"If the stories of Ireland’s lesbian and gay communities and its queer cultures are now symbolically 'part of the national story,' what stories does the Irish Queer Archive tell—or more importantly, what stories does it allow to be told?"</span></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKxT7hWLkw3MnCRExLkTdWapr79c5zNvx0hIMG5uGiBIxM7QOoWlAk2KZqH8cfDf3XxIWuBdOHDqAQwwjc2FV0aGb8E1Ue9ctNTCQThyAE0ab_0YjmkJFAthEGVhSV_UpP04P9Mk1j354/s1600/reading-room-national-library-of-ireland.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="273" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKxT7hWLkw3MnCRExLkTdWapr79c5zNvx0hIMG5uGiBIxM7QOoWlAk2KZqH8cfDf3XxIWuBdOHDqAQwwjc2FV0aGb8E1Ue9ctNTCQThyAE0ab_0YjmkJFAthEGVhSV_UpP04P9Mk1j354/s400/reading-room-national-library-of-ireland.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The National Library of Ireland<br />
where the Irish Queer Archives are based in</td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Ed Madden is an associate professor for English and Women's Studies at the University of South Carolina. In this paper, </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">he points out the dangers of archives producing a certain historical narrative that excludes other parts of LGBTI histories. Examining the Irish Queer Archive, he reveals that queer history presented in the IQA, for instance, is "primarily a narrative of political and AIDS organizing, obviating the messier and more heterogeneous cultural and social histories of lesbian and gay Ireland—sex clubs and club nights, gay rugby and other forms of seemingly non-political community development, posters, zines." </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-US">What do you think about some of the questions Ed Madden raises at the end of his paper? Do you, for example, think</span> that "the institutionalization of gay history (is) part of the ongoing normalization and commodification of gay and lesbian culture—and if so, what resources does the archive offer to resist those current cultural and political imperatives?" </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span></span></div>
<a name='more'></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Ed Madden</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Department of English<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">University of South Carolina<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Columbia SC 29208<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">edward.madden@gmail.com<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">THE
IRISH QUEER ARCHIVE: <o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">INSTITUTIONALIZATION
AND HISTORICAL NARRATIVE*<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“.
. . the archive is first the law of what can be said.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Michel Foucault, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Archeology of
Knowledge</i> (145)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">On June 16, 2008, the National Library of
Ireland officially accepted the Irish Queer Archive, an enormous community
archive of gay and lesbian historical and cultural materials. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The IQA had long been housed as a
community archive, focused primarily on press clippings at its inception, but
growing to include organizational archives and personal collections.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Its transfer to the national archives
and the auspices of the National Library of Ireland (NLI) was a shift both
literal and symbolic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Literal</i>, as the materials are now
accessible only in the Manuscripts Reading Room—which is located just down
Kildare Street from the Main Reading Room of the National Library, itself across
the courtyard from the National Museum and adjacent to Leinster House, home of
the Oireachtas, the nation’s legislature.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">symbolic</i>, as this
auspicious location inevitably suggests, because of the authority and
legitimacy granted by the institutional home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a speech delivered at the commemorative handover of the
archives, Irish gay novelist Colm Tóibín said, “This establishes that an
understanding of our history, the history of gay women and men’s struggle for
liberation, is as essential in understanding contemporary Ireland as the
history of the women’s movement, or the labour movement, or the Fianna Fáil
party” (28).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The transfer made it
clear, he said, that the National Library “understands the importance of our
story as part of the national story” (29).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">However, if the stories of Ireland’s
lesbian and gay communities and its queer cultures are now symbolically “part
of the national story,” what stories does the Irish Queer Archive tell—or more
importantly, what stories does it allow to be told?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As the IQA has been catalogued and made available for
research, priority was given to organizational files, thus creating a version
of Irish queer history that is primarily a narrative of political and AIDS
organizing, obviating the messier and more heterogeneous cultural and social
histories of lesbian and gay Ireland—sex clubs and club nights, gay rugby and
other forms of seemingly non-political community development, posters,
zines.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Such materials are part of
the IQA collection but unrecorded in the catalogue, so unavailable for
researchers and thus absent from the possible historical narrative the archive
is imagined to enable and sustain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>To adapt Verne Harris’s useful metaphor of the “archival sliver” (an
image to which I return below), the IQA offered “a sliver of a window” into
Ireland’s lesbian and gay community and history, but the current institutional
incarnation in the National Archive offers “a sliver of a sliver”—archival
practices and processes, as Harris argues, distort and fracture the very
historical events they are imagined to reflect (65).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As Jacques Derrida suggests in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Archive Fever</i>, archives traffic in
authority as much as they do historical origins, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">producing</i> as much as recording or <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">preserving</i> history (1-3).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>What histories does the Irish Queer Archive produce? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Does the movement of community archives
into state institutions, a movement that grants new authority to marginalized
voices, also inevitably <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">contain</i> (in
both senses of the word) repositories of resistance and liberation within other
mechanisms of narrative or nominative control or structures of ideological
constraint? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Indeed, does
institutionalization and the focus on organizational history suggest the politics
of respectability (with its concomitant emphasis on the “good” citizen-queer and
the exclusion of bad queers) that Jamie Ann Lee traces in her presentation for
this conference?<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_ftn1" name="_ftnref" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;">[1]</span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As this overtly queer material commences
a new life in the official archives of the nation, what histories can it
enable, what histories will it produce? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since the archive is made available only through what portion
is catalogued, is the incomplete catalogue a mechanism of narrative control by
which Irish queer histories are produced as much as they are preserved?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I hope these questions indicate, we
must continue to think about the disparities of access and procedure between
community and institutional archives, and perhaps we should recall the wariness
lesbians and gays have demonstrated in other countries about the inclusion of
sexual and community materials in state archives.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_ftn2" name="_ftnref" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;">[2]</span></span></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>More importantly and perhaps less
obviously, we must think about the political effects of basic archival practices—the
practices of processing and cataloguing queer materials, especially when
organizational materials are prioritized over other forms of community history
and material culture. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">THE
IRISH QUEER ARCHIVE<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Developed out of the holdings of the
National Gay and Lesbian Federation (NGLF) in the late 1970s, the IQA had long
been a community archive, focused at first on press clippings and
organizational files, but growing to include a wide range of books, audiovisual
materials, ephemera, material culture (buttons, tshirts), and later donations
of personal collections. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At first
the collection was primarily used as a reference library for writers at <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Gay Community News</i> (GCN), a national
periodical affiliated with NGLF, but when both NGLTF and GCN moved into new
facilities at South William Street in Dublin in 1997, the collection was made
available for limited public use.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A
founder and driving force of the archive was Tonie Walsh, a political activist,
a community historian and journalist, and later a DJ and club promoter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Although a number of people and
organizations contributed to the archive, Walsh’s experience across a range of
political, social, and community spheres indicates and perhaps helped to shape
the archive’s inclusive energies.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Managed and curated by Walsh and other members of the IQA—academics Éibhear
Walshe, Katherine O’Donnell, and Mary McAuliffe, and NLI librarian Liz Kirwan—the
IQA was later moved to the Dublin’s lesbian and gay community center, OutHouse.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_ftn3" name="_ftnref" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;">[3]</span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">By 2008, when the National Library of
Ireland officially accepted the Irish Queer Archive, the Public Record Office
of Northern Ireland (PRONI) in Belfast already had an impressive collection of
gay and lesbian materials, including organizational records of the Northern
Irish Gay Rights Association (NIGRA) and the CARA-Friend phone counseling
service, as well as a wealth of documents donated by Jeffrey Dudgeon, the activist
who successfully challenged Northern Ireland’s sodomy laws.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The central collection of the PRONI
queer archives is the collection of organizational files and related materials donated
by NIGRA, and the heart of the PRONI collection must undoubtedly be the extensive
documentation of Dudgeon’s legal case—organizational histories and legal reform
central to Irish lesbian and gay archives in both the North and the South.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>PRONI archives also include a
relatively unused but heartbreaking and rich collection of phone counseling transcripts,
which could document a very different social history of queer experience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Further, like the IQA, early NIGRA
holdings include press clippings, which may suggest something of the deep
impulse of these collections—what we might call, after Foucault, the
insurrection of subjugated knowledges.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The PRONI archives include several scrapbook annuals filled with newspaper
stories about violence against gay men and simultaneous attempts at legal
reform.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These items seem to blur
the archival boundaries of ephemera, material culture, and grey literature—the
clippings collected and taped into colorful scrapbooks in the PRONI archives, but
in the IQA sometimes bound together by topic, as in the bound volume “File on
the Fairview Park Murder of Declan Flynn on 10th September 1982,” which contains
photocopied newspaper accounts, transcripts of video interviews, and
information about radio programs. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If, on the one hand, clippings of arrests
for public sex and accounts of anti-gay violence seem to document juridical regulation
and social condemnation, on the other their very collection together suggests a
need to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">use</i> history to ground resistance—an
impulse, that is, to document the legal, social, and political status of
lesbians and gay men, and to use of this knowledge to further political
resistance and legal reform.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Moreover, the clippings consistently include letters to the editor,
documenting the strategic importance of openly lesbian and gay voices in public
forums, and further suggesting the importance of these archival collections for
documenting not only the nature of the debates about sexuality over the decades
but also the insistent presence of marginalized voices.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The title of the IQA is also worth noting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Though based in work and holdings of
NGLF, the archive is emphatically titled <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Queer</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The IQA includes materials from
Northern Ireland as well as documents recording Irish participation in European
organizations and the international Gay Games, suggesting a transnational
element to queer archives and queer organizing in Ireland.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the use of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">queer</i> indicates an inclusivity of sexual difference beyond the
identity politics of gay and lesbian.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As K. J. Rawson has noted of the use of “transgender” in archival
descriptions, “the language an archive ‘speaks’ has wide-ranging consequences
for archival practices” (130).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For
the IQA, that means the impulse to include and preserve a wide range of
materials beyond the identity-politics-impelled and nationally-defined work of
the political organizations.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">AUTHORITY,
ACCESS, AND THE CATALOGUE<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
archive was symbolically transferred on June 16, 2008—on Bloomsday, during the
celebration of gay pride week in Dublin, a moment that combined Irish cultural heritage
(through celebrations of James Joyce) with community visibility.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Insistent in the media coverage of IQA’s
migration from community to institutional facilities was a sense of legitimacy,
as if the official auspices of the National Library granted a greater authority
to the collection of queer materials.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But also insistent in the coverage was the theme of access—both to a
greater audience and to future readers and researchers. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When Tóibín’s speech proclaiming the inclusion
of “our story” in “the national story” appeared in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Gay Community News</i> in 2008, a headnote stated that the IQA had
found “a secure home in a state institution that guarantees its accessibility
to future generations of researchers, academics, and the general public (28).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The state grants not only authority but
security or stability (the archive not subject to the vicissitudes of community
organizing, but, as it turned out, still subject to vicissitudes of funding).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I do not belittle or deny the importance
of the cultural symbolism, nor do I deny the value and ease of access to the
materials in the National Library for me as an academic researcher.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have spent a number of productive
weeks in the Manuscript Reading Room, going through the many folders that are
available.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I first had a
chance to use the archives in the spring of 2010, librarians also let me go
through a large stack of uncatalogued posters—AIDS<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>awareness campaigns, disco nights at the Hirshfeld Center
(the first community center in Dublin)—just before they were transferred to
offsite storage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Further, the NLI,
unlike many archives and indeed unlike PRONI, allows researchers to take
non-flash photos with digital cameras, much more convenient and useful for
extended research than photocopies, particularly for visiting researchers.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpLast" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">That said, I do want to suggest that
accessibility was and remains an issue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As the IQA webpage still notes, “While some materials have been made
public, much of the collection remains inaccessible pending ongoing work by HLI
to file and index the vast amount of documents spanning the best part of fifty
years.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Although one of the IQA
founders, O’Donnell, sought to enable my access to the unprocessed boxes of
materials, it was simply not possible, I was told, as the unprocessed materials
are secured in offsite storage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">access</i> is a product of archival
practice and policy and physical facilities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As budget cuts reduce funding and staff, these issues are
amplified and extended.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US">The
catalogue itself—a function of archival policy and practice—limits what
materials are available.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US">The
removal of uncatalogued materials to offsite storage makes these materials also
physically unavailable.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US">The
fact that the uncatalogued materials are unlisted in the catalogue means that
they are further unavailable conceptually as well as physically, and thus
unimaginable.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US">Budget
cuts have reduced staff available for curation of materials, so librarians have
told me it could be five or 10 or more years before the rest of the IQA is made
available.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">How vast the amount that remains
inaccessible is unclear, though it is clear—particularly from conversations
with Walsh and others affiliated with the archive (as well as former
researchers from the archive’s community incarnation)—that not only a great quantity
of materials remains uncatalogued, but also a greater range of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">types</i> of material.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The nature of queer archives is to
focus on ephemera and popular culture, as Ann Cvetkovich notes (243, 253-4);
similarly, Irish scholars Linda Connolly and Tina O’Toole noted in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Documenting Irish Feminisms</i> that
feminist and lesbian archives tend to collect materials that other textually-driven
archives would ignore, not just the ephemeral but the three-dimensional and
material, such as buttons, t-shirts, banners (9), all items presumably to be
found in the collection.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In his history of twentieth-century Irish
sexuality, Diarmaid Ferriter asks how we tell the history of Irish sex when the
only record available is that of criminalization and social stigma (9)?<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_ftn4" name="_ftnref" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;">[4]</span></span></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Similarly, Kieran Rose argues that
historical evidence for gay and lesbian lives and subcultures before the 1970s
comes from “those seeking to control homosexuality,” not from lesbians and gay
men themselves (9).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The collection
and reframing of press clippings about sex crimes as documents of social
oppression suggests that such material can be re-read as historical material,
but the range of materials and types of materials in the queer archive go much
further to address Ferriter’s question.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>To reframe his question in relation to the newly institutionalized queer
archive: how do we tell the history of Irish lesbian and gay cultures when the
only record available is dominated by organizational histories?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As the IQA has been catalogued and made
available for public research, priority was given to organizational files.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As current catalogued and available,
the Irish Queer Archive is comprised of the files of five organizations, the
National Gay and Lesbian Federation, the Gay and Lesbian Equality Network, Lesbians
Organising Together, Gay Health Action, the Women’s Education Resource and
Research Center; OUT magazine (a short-lived gay magazine, the files of which
were acquired by NGLF); extensive files of two cultural organizations,
Alternative Miss Ireland (an HIV fundraiser) and the Dublin Lesbian and Gay
Film Festival; selected materials representing a couple of years of Ireland’s
participation in the Gay Games; and the papers of Charles Kerrigan, which
include organizational files of Gays Against Imperialism and the Dublin Gay
Collective.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_ftn5" name="_ftnref" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;">[5]</span></span></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ironically, though the available film
festival materials include a large collection of films, they remain unavailable
since the reading room does not have the equipment for viewing audiovisual
materials in VHS format.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If the tale that can be told through the
IQA materials is primarily the tale of political and AIDS organizing, this is
not inaccurate, but one wonders how rich the history and how thick the
description might be were the full archive available.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Although the Gay Games are represented, for example, there
are no files available for the Emerald Warriors, Ireland’s gay rugby team (and
a subject of my own research), though materials are said to exist in the
archives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Missing, then, is a
sense of local practice as distinct from the globalizing impulses of
international gay culture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Indeed,
at the moment of this writing, the best public archive on the Emerald Warriors
is a display wall of images in the upstairs of the Dragon Bar, a gay bar on
Georges Street in Dublin and a former sponsor of the club—a display that raises
the question of what counts as an archive.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Given the centrality of organizational
histories, how can historians delineate non-statist cultural histories of the
body—the memories, imaginations, sexual practices, performances, experiences?<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_ftn6" name="_ftnref" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;">[6]</span></span></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Will there be a history of Dublin’s
controversial 1990s fetish club, G.A.G., with its live sex acts and queer
performances?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What documents exist
in the archive to detail the history of clubs and discos?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What story could be told about lesbian
and gay Ireland—its cultural productions, or the discourses of sexuality and
identity relied upon—through the books the organization gathered?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What social history could be elaborated
using the enormous collection of over 200,000 press clippings, only a sliver of
which is present in the available archive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What about the collection of zines, which could document the
countercultural and subcultural movements outside of (or resistant to) the
homonormativity of official organizations? <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Verne
Harris’s metaphor of the “archival sliver” is a useful way to conceptualize the
IQA.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Harris argues, “In any
country, the documentary record provides just a sliver of a window into an
event.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Even if archivists in a
particular country were to preserve every record generated throughout the land,”
he adds, “they would still have only a sliver of a window into that country’s
experience.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This record is
further reduced, he says, by “deliberate and inadvertent destruction,” by
processes of selection, and by the limited life spans of materials, so that “archives
offer researchers a sliver of a sliver of a sliver” (64-65).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tellingly, Harris notes, “And this
sliver of a sliver of a sliver is seldom more than partially described” (65,
n.5).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While he intends thus to
extend his critique of the partiality of the record, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">description</i> also suggests to me the practices of cataloguing—the
prioritizing, naming, coding, delineating, and summarizing of materials, and
the practices of inclusion and exclusion enabled by those practices.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“The technical structure of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">archiving</i> archive,” argues Derrida, “
also determines the structure of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">archivable</i>
content even in its very coming into existence and in its relationship to the
future” (17).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In this case, the “technical
structure” includes not just the remote storage facilities but the
catalogue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The narrowing of
historical possibility through the narrowing of access to IQA resources is
likely unintentional, driven by established NLI archival practices—specifically
issues of catalogue <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">priority</i> at both
micro and macro level.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Catalogue
prioritizing not only determines what is catalogued first in an archive
(organizations and state-related materials over social history or
countercultural materials) and how it is listed, but also determines what
collections are archived before others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Without explicit intervention, political collections and state
collections inevitably outrank community archives of marginalized voices in a
state archive—so that now the IQA is further delimited by budgetary
constraints, which have indefinitely postponed further cataloguing of the
archive materials.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Other
collections, particular state collections, will undoubtedly be seen as more
important when funding and archivists become available in the coming years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While this is not the literal or destruction
of queer materials documented in other archives, it is an embargo on these materials.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As Harris insists, the archival record
comes through many conduits—“the people who created them, the functionaries who
managed them, the archivists who selected them for preservation and make them
available for use, and the researchers who use them in constructing accounts of
the past.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a result, these
processes are complicit in the historical account, they fracture and distort
the very events they are said to record (65). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the case of the IQA, the limitations of access caused by
institutionalization further distort the possible accounts historians and cultural
theorists might construct of Ireland’s queer past—and present.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">THE
ARCHIVE AND HISTORICAL IMAGINATION</span></i></b><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Describing the destruction of homosexual
materials in South African archives, Graeme Reid argues that the archive is a
vital space for “imagining” as well as “preserving” history (206).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The archive is a source for imagining
the past, but that informs our possible imaginings of the present and the
future. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The temporality that
drives the archive, states Derrida, is not the past; it is the future, or more
precisely the possibility of meaning in the future—what Valerie Rohy calls the
temporality of “the scholar yet to come,” “the future perfect,” and the logic
of the “will-have-been” (35).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“The
question of the archive,” Derrida explains, “is not, we repeat, a question of
the past. . . .<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a question
of the future, the question of the future itself, the question of a response,
of a promise and of a responsibility for tomorrow” (36).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Soon after homosexuality was
decriminalized in 1993, Irish lesbian novelist Emma Donoghue wrote in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Lesbian and Gay Visions of Ireland</i>
(1995) that history isn’t a luxury.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>For gays and lesbians, she said, it is a form of activism:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“It is crucial advice, passed from one
generation to the next.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Scrabbling
around in libraries for glimpses of our history and literary heritage is just
as important as the more obvious kinds of activism” (169).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 2008 Tonie Walsh said of the
transfer of the IQA to the NLI, “When we talk about history, more often than
not there’s a subtext speaking of how we see ourselves in the present” (in
Finnegan 20).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not just the present
but the future—how we imagine we came to be, how we imagine we will/might
become. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If Donoghue thinks of archival work as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">activism</i> via community wisdom passed
forward, and if Walsh sees the archive as critical mirror for the present, both
recognize the possibility of the archive as a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">resource</i>, not just for histories of the past, but for identity
formation and community formation in the present, a resource for affective
pleasures and political reflection, for revised queer sensibilities and
re-engaged activisms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And as
Steven Maynard argues elsewhere, archives can ground claims of accountability
as well as history (179-180).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“While
it would be neither possible nor desirable to go back to an earlier moment in
the history of gay and lesbian life,” Heather Love states in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Feeling Backward</i>, “earlier forms of
feeling, imagination, and community may offer crucial resources in the present,”
specifically to understand and claim gay identity and “its accreted historical
meanings” in the face of normalization, and to see through the histories of
stigma, exclusion, and violence the “structures of inequality” that persist in
the present (30)—structures of inequality like the “fault lines” traced in a
recent “Queering Ireland” issue of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Canadian
Journal of Irish Studies</i>.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_ftn7" name="_ftnref" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;">[7]</span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I repeat and emphasize, I am not
suggesting any insidious intent, but I do want us to ask how archival practices
not only may limit access to some materials but also may limit the stories we
are able to tell.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I lament the
loss of funding that has halted the cataloguing of the Irish Queer Archive,
leaving boxes and boxes of materials unavailable for historians and other researchers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The result, intentional or not, is a
narrowing of historical and research possibilities, and a restricted if not
distorted version of social memory.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I should also emphasize that important queer Irish archival work has
already published, such as Connolly and O’Toole’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Documenting Irish Feminisms: The Second Wave</i>, which includes a
significant chapter of archival materials on lesbian organizing in Ireland
(171-195), and Fintan Walsh’s more recent <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Queer
Notions: New Plays and Performances from Ireland</i>, a collection of performance
pieces from the years 2000-2010.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Walsh
includes a photo essay of ephemeral design and photography by Niall Sweeney, a
visual archive of queer performance, including “important queer club nights,”
such as Powderbubble and, yes, G.A.G.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Still, as Derrida suggests, archives
traffic in authority as much as origins, and we must ask about nature of—and
the cost of—authority granted by state institutions?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What are the
risks of institutionalization?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is
the institutionalization of gay history part of the ongoing normalization and
commodification of gay and lesbian culture—and if so, what resources does the
archive offer to resist those current cultural and political imperatives? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How does the structure of the archive <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">contain</i> (in both senses of the word) history,
and how does it restructure and categorize the story of the past?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What has been remembered, what left
out, misremembered, f<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526" name="_GoBack"></a>orgotten?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What histories will the archive enable and produce? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How can it help us, as Walsh suggests,
better see ourselves in the present? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How does it enable us to imagine the future?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">*
Research at the IQA was supported in part by the College of Arts and Sciences
at the University of South Carolina, as well as the Department of English and
the Women’s & Gender Studies Program, and facilitated by a visiting
research fellowship at the Centre for Irish Studies at the National University
of Ireland in Galway, sponsored by NUIG and the Irish American Cultural
Institute.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am deeply grateful to
IQA founder and curator Tonie Walsh for the information and insight he has provided.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am also quite grateful to curator
Bethany Sinclair at PRONI, who talked through a number of these issues with me,
and although I am critical here of the institutionalization of the Irish Queer
Archive within the National Library of Ireland, I am very grateful to the staff
at the NLI Manuscript Reading Room and especially Colette Daly, who was
especially helpful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thanks also to
Sean Kennedy, Katherine O’Donnell, Tina O’Toole, Mark Phelan, Lionel Pilkington,
and Éibhear Walshe, for their questions and advice about my research work in
Irish archives; and to Mark Cooper and Santi Thompson, who steered me toward
critical resources.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Any errors in
this presentation are my own.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Works Cited<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: -36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Barriault,
Marcel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Hard to Dismiss: The
Archival Value of Gay Male Erotica and Pornography,” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Archivaria: The Journal of the Association of Canadian Archivists</i>
68 (fall 2009): 219-246.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: -36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Clarke,
Danielle, Anne Mulhall, Siobhán O’Dowd, Tina O’Toole, and Aibhe Smyth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Intersects Roundtable – Queering
Ireland 2011,” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Canadian Journal of Irish
Studies</i> 36.1 (spring 2010, published spring 2012), “Queering Ireland”
special issue:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>163-191.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: -36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Connolly,
Linda and Tina O’Toole.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Documenting Irish Feminisms: The Second Wave</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dublin: The Woodfield Press, 2005.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: -36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Cvetkovich,
Ann.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">An Archive of Feelings: Trauma, Sexuality and Lesbian Public Cultures</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Durham: Duke UP, 2003.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: -36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Derrida,
Jacques.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Archive Fever: A Freudian Impression</i>. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eric Prenowitz, trans.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Chicago: U of Chicago Press, 1996.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: -36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Donoghue,
Emma.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Noises from Woodsheds:
Tales of Irish Lesbians, 1886-1989.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Lesbian and Gay Visions of
Ireland: Towards the Twenty-First Century</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Íde O’Carroll and Eoin Collins, eds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>London: Cassell, 1995.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>158-169.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: -36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Ferriter,
Diarmaid.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Occasions of Sin: Sex & Society in Modern Ireland</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>London: Profile Books, 2009.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: -36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Finnegan,
Brian.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Path of Progress,” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Gay Community News</i> 223 (July 2008):<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>18-20.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: -36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Foucault,
Michel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Archeology of Knowledge</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>1969.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A. M. Sheridan,
trans.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>London: Routledge, 2002.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: -36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Harris,
Verne.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“The Archival Sliver:
Power, Memory, and Archives in South Africa,” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Archival Science</i> 2 (2002): 63-86.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: -36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“Irish
Lesbian and Gay Archive: IQA.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dublin,
Ireland: Outhouse, n.d.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>6pp.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: -36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Irish
Queer Archive website.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>http://irishqueerarchive.com, accessed 13 July 2012.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: -36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Lee,
Jamie Ann.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>”Queer Imaginings of
the Archive,” LGBTI ALMS: The Future of LGBTI Histories [LGBTI ALMS blog].<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>http://lgbtialms2012.blogspot.com/2012/07/jamie-ann-lee-queer-imaginings-of.html,
accessed 13 July 2012.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: -36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Love,
Heather.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Feeling Backward: Loss and the Politics of Queer History</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cambridge MA: Harvard UP, 2007.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: -36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Maynard,
Steven.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Police/Archives,” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Achivaria: The Journal of the Association of
Canadian Archivists</i> 68 (fall 2009): 159-182.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: -36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Rawson,
K. J.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Accessing Transgender //
Desiring Queer(er?) Archival Logics,” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Achivaria:
The Journal of the Association of Canadian Archivists</i> 68 (fall 2009):
123-140.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: -36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Reid,
Graeme.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“‘The History of the Past
Is the Trust of the Present’: Preservation and Excavation in the Gay and Lesbian
Archives of South Africa.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Refiguring the Archive</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Carolyn Hamilton, Verne Harris, Jane
Taylor, Michele Pickover, Graeme Reid, and Razia Saleh, eds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dordrecht, Boston, London: Kluwer
Academic Publishers, 2002.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>193-207.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: -36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Rohy,
Valerie.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“In the Queer Archive:
Fun Home,” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">GLQ</i> 16.3 (2010):<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>340-361.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: -36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Rose,
Kieran.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Diverse Communities: The Evolution of Lesbian and Gay Politics in
Ireland</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cork: Cork UP, 1994.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: -36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Tóibin,
Colm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Hidden History,” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Gay Community News</i> 224 (August 2008): <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>28-29.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: -36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Walsh,
Fintan, ed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Queer Notions: New Plays and Performances from Ireland</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cork: Cork UP, 2010.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br clear="all" />
</span><br />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<div id="ftn" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_ftnref" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;">[1]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> </span><span lang="EN-GB">See Jamie
Ann Lee, “Queer Imaginings of the Archive” on the LGBTI ALMS 2012 blog.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_ftnref" name="_ftn2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;">[2]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> On this point see, for example,
Marcel Barriault (225-226), Graeme Reid (200-201), or Ann Cvetkovich (245).</span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_ftnref" name="_ftn3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;">[3]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> This history comes from the IQA
website, irishqueerarchive.com/history (accessed 13 July 2012) and from “Irish
Lesbian and Gay Archive: IQA,” an undated 6-page guide to the archive as it was
housed at OutHouse.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_ftnref" name="_ftn4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;">[4]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> </span><span lang="EN-GB">“An over
reliance on sources relating to sexual crime,” writes Ferriter, “presents the
historian with a dilemma.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Does the
history of sex in Ireland have to be a history of criminal sexual activity” (9)?</span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_ftnref" name="_ftn5" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;">[5]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> The catalogue of the Irish Queer
Archive is Collection List No. 151, Accession No. 6813, MSS 45,936-46,054.</span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_ftnref" name="_ftn6" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;">[6]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I thank Irish theatre historian
Lionel Pilkington for foregrounding this question as a critical question for
archival work (personal conversation, 3 Feb 2010).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am also thinking here of Ann Cvetkovich’s call for “an
archive of sexuality” that “ must preserve and produce not just knowledge but
feeling” (241).</span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_ftnref" name="_ftn7" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;">[7]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">See the “Intersects
Roundable – Queering Ireland 2011,” which includes contributions by Danielle
Clarke and others.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Gill Sans';"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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LGBTI ALMS 2012http://www.blogger.com/profile/16476681229383980702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-766656158998930526.post-41766504901113357992012-07-21T17:01:00.000+02:002012-08-15T16:17:54.504+02:00Lisa Vecoli, Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies, Minneapolis, USA: The Power of a Community Advisory Board"With proper investment, Community Advisory Boards have the potential to be (...) a tool for engagement, for donor solicitation and for accountability and trust building."<br />
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The Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection in Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Studies at the University of Minnesota is is an international LGBT collection that houses over 30 000 items. Lisa Vecoli has been a Board Member for Tretter Collection for 12 years and is now the staff member of the archive. In this paper, she describes the advantages of a a Community Advisory Board to interact with LGBTI communities and society at large. </div>
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<span lang="EN-US">What do you think are the advantages and challenges of a Community Advisory Board? </span>To read the full paper click on "read more". Enjoy, discuss, comment and share.</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 20pt;">The Power of a Community Advisory Board</span></u></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">Lisa Vecoli<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">Tretter Collection
in GLBT Studies<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">University of
Minnesota<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526" name="_GoBack"></a><span lang="EN-US">One of questions
posed by conference organizers was:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">How do we as
heritage organizations interact with our society and with our LGBTI
communities? How do we build relationships with owners of the archival material,
how do we engender trust in our institutions as the place to store the memory?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">There is not a single answer to these
questions, but I would like to provide a perspective on the power of a
community advisory board/committee to an organization as they think about the
questions. We have many organizational structures among us. For the sake of
brevity and clarity, I will address the benefits and challenges I have
experienced at a collection within a large University and encourage you to
translate this in ways that make sense to your circumstances.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">For 30 years I have collected LGBT
materials. For 12 years I have been a Board member for the Tretter Collection
in GLBT Studies. For 3 years I have had the archive in my will as a
beneficiary. And for 5 months I have been the staff person for the archive. Do
not underestimate the power of a community advisory board as a recruitment
tool!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">When Jean-Nickolaus Tretter moved his
personal collection into the University of Minnesota Libraries in 2000, he did
so with caution. The University has over 50,000 students on the main campus
alone. The Libraries have over 7 million combined volumes and serve over 2
million clients every year. As part of the department of Archives and Special
Collections, the Tretter Collection joined a diverse group that includes
Children’s Literature, Rare Books, Sherlock Holmes, Performing Arts, African American
Literature and dozens of others.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">The Collection had grown beyond what Jean
was capable of storing and the University had resources to help preserve and
grow the archive while also making it more accessible. But would this large institution
be supportive of a GLBT archive? Would a promising relationship continue into
the future? From day one, the Tretter Collection was envisioned with a strong
Community Advisory Board.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">I know that the Advisory Board has
dramatically impacted my relationship with the Collection. It is not an
exaggeration to say it is what brought me here today. I also believe it is the
foundation of the strong and beneficial relationship we currently enjoy with
the University of Minnesota.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">The Collection is part of the University of
Minnesota, so the Advisory Board does not have the kinds of responsibility or
control that a Board of Directors would have over financial, staffing and other
decisions. It does have two key functions. First, the Advisory Committee serves
to connect the Collection to the community. And second, the Advisory Committee
is a built in advocacy group that holds the University accountable for their
stewardship of the Collection and promotes the Collection to the broader
community.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">The Tretter Collection is constantly
working to build awareness and relationships both on campus and in the
community. We need both kinds of relationships to meet our mission. Strong
campus relationships promote use by students and faculty, and establish a
strong rationale for University support. Among the members of the Advisory
Board we seek faculty members and by rule, we include the staff person for the
GLBTA Programs Office (the campus body working to improve the campus climate
for GLBT students and staff).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Strong community relationships are also
crucial, as the community is an important source of financial support and one
of our best resources for donations of materials. The Advisory Committee is a
natural fit for people who have collections and are interested in the legacy
they leave and the preservation of their materials. Inviting collectors to
serve on the Board increases their understanding and commitment to the archive
and is one of our best solicitation techniques. We have strong board members who
have committed to gift both archival collections and financial resources. These
members have a passionate interest in the success of the Collection. They also
provide tangible evidence to the University of the value of the Collection and
the benefits of maintaining a vital archive.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">The Tretter Collection is fortunate to have
one paid staff person. But there is work for many more and no organization can
afford to hire enough staff to reflect the full diversity of the LGBTI
community. A diverse and representative Advisory Committee is an excellent way
to bring in expertise from all parts of the community. We are constantly
seeking to expand our membership into areas of the LGBTI community that we are
under representing. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Diversity in our community can mean a lot
of different things. The Tretter Collection has been fortunate to have strong
Board participation from undergraduates to doctoral level scholars. This has
enriched the representation across generations and helped connect us with our
University student users. We have also been fortunate to have strong
participation from the transgender community and some communities of color.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Beyond the usual diversity categories, many
of us would also benefit from skills and knowledge, such as fundraising,
corporate connections and the ability to produce a newsletter. Asking community
members with these skills to join the Board can be an excellent overture. Our
experience has been that sometimes they join. Others have offered to help with
their skill set but have chosen not to formalize their role with a Board
position. And others have been honored to be asked but have politely declined. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">The Tretter Advisory Board has had some
strong successes. The Board has helped defend the collection against a decision
by the University that was not in the best interest of the Collection. Several
Board members participated in a hiring process that resulted in a much more
supportive leader being hired by the University Library. The Board has
advocated for and helped gain funding. Members watch catalogues and auctions
and recommend materials for acquisition and have organized fundraisers and
public exhibits. Board members help host the annual history display at the
Pride festival. They submit articles for the newsletter. And on occasion we
have had work days with the Board helping sort, process and re-shelve the
Collection.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">A permanent Board may not be the best fit
for every organizational need. In cooperation with the Quatrefoil Library, the
Tretter Collection co-hosted the first GLBT ALMS Conference in Minneapolis in
2006. We knew that would be a very intense task, so we established a conference
planning committee with representatives of both organizations. Although the
committee disbanded with the end of the conference, the relationships developed
during this process continue to form a strong collaborative partnership to this
day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">The formation of an Advisory Board can be
modified in many ways to meet the needs of a specific organization. New and
emerging organizations may benefit from having the name of a community
leader(s) on an Advisory Board. Existing organizations that are perceived as
being shut off from parts of the LGBTI community can gain new skills and new
standing by recruiting in areas they have not yet reached. Those within large
institutions might benefit from strong advocates to help promote the
organization both internally and in the community. And those with independent
Boards of Directors might be able to use an Advisory Board to engage those who
support the organization but have no interest managing the organization in the
formal capacity. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">None of this is to say that Advisory Boards
solve all of our problems. Or even that maintaining them are always easy.
Anyone who has worked with volunteers knows that there are challenges. And failing
to manage these relationships well can damage the reputation of the
organization and be worse than not doing it at all.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Among the challenges: not everyone wants to
commit the time required to serve on a board; some segments of the community
can be very hard to draw into volunteer positions; a lot of us are more
interested in collecting than raising the money to pay for the acquisitions;
and some people simply don’t play well with others.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">As I shift from volunteer Board member to
the staff role, I am re-assessing the work of the Board. We are facing an
organizational transition with the retirement of our founder and the remaining
original board members beginning to step away. We have strong new community and
University members and I will be working on proactive ways to keep them engaged
and take full advantage of their expertise.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">So, to return to the original questions of
how we as heritage organizations: interact with our society; build
relationships with owners of archival material; and engender trust in our
institutions as the place to store memory? With proper investment, Community
Advisory Boards have the potential to be a strategy towards each of these
goals. They can be a tool for engagement, for donor solicitation and for
accountability and trust building. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">I look forward to the LGBTI ALMS conference
as an opportunity to hear from my colleagues about creative strategies they
have used with Advisory Boards and Committees. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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LGBTI ALMS 2012http://www.blogger.com/profile/16476681229383980702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-766656158998930526.post-27140900648422794002012-07-20T19:47:00.000+02:002012-08-15T16:17:08.241+02:00Anna Borgos and Kriszta Pozsonyi, Labrisz Lesbian Association, Budapest, Hungary: Secret Years: Fragments of a Hungarian Lesbian Herstory<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 24px;">"As suggested by the title of the project, the interviewees</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 24px;"> talk about the “secret years” of their lives as lesbians: about women, love, family, work, being in the closet and coming out, and happiness and pain during state socialism and after the democratic transition in Hungary." </span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9-pWzw_w9bPefSeBYd2iIuQUvs7_T6L6MyIYG3HIeYt4zeHF0n8wQPZhojuyPF6kwPZSgfPIuqGLg1VcsWObW0YNMHX68Et9mWt_aM4DZQz2HvnDsa7qnrtUqKaQ7SZH9oj2paDqGlfU/s1600/muskatli1984.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9-pWzw_w9bPefSeBYd2iIuQUvs7_T6L6MyIYG3HIeYt4zeHF0n8wQPZhojuyPF6kwPZSgfPIuqGLg1VcsWObW0YNMHX68Et9mWt_aM4DZQz2HvnDsa7qnrtUqKaQ7SZH9oj2paDqGlfU/s320/muskatli1984.jpg" width="302" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cafè Muskátli, a meeting place <br />
for gays and lesbians in Budapest in 1984</td></tr>
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<span lang="FR"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 24px;"></span>In this paper, Anna Borgos and Kriszta Pozsonyi from the Labrisz Lesbian Association in Hungary discuss the lesbian herstory project that they introduced in 2008. They collected, archived and published the life stories of lesbians aged 45 and older. Moreover, they used some of the interviews to make the documentary "Secret Years" that premiered at the LIFT Fesival in 2009. Through their project they increased the visibility of older lesbian women in Hungary</span> and uncovered unexplored elements of Hungarian history like the "lesbian colony" Szatina or the urban lesbian underground scene during the socialist regime. </div>
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What do you find most inspiring about the lesbian herstory project? And what do you think about the idea of not only publishing the women's life stories but also turning them into a documentary? </div>
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To read the full paper, click on "read more". And like always, comment, share, discuss and enjoy!</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">Secret Years</span></i></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">: Fragments of a Hungarian Lesbian Herstory<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Ever
since its foundation in 1999, Labrisz Lesbian Association has been laying great
stress on documentation. From collecting materials about the life and history
of the organization itself, to publications, </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">books, tapes, and videos on Hungarian lesbian life, </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">our aim has been not
only to record contemporary lesbian experiences in Hungary, but also to
document the stories of older generations regarding the past, about which very
few written resources are available. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">In 2008, we started a <b><span style="font-weight: normal;">lesbian herstory</span></b>
project. We began by conducting life-story interviews with lesbians aged 45 and
older, with the aim of creating an archive, editing and publishing a volume out
of the stories, and making a documentary film. <u><span style="color: #0070c0;"><a href="http://www.uk.eltitkoltevek.hu/index.html" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: #0070c0;">Secret Years</span></i></a></span></u>, a documentary
based on 11 interviews and directed by Labrisz member Mária Takács, premiered
at the 2009 LIFT Festival (Festival of Lesbian Identities) to enormous success.
As the next step of the project, a <a href="http://labrisz.hu/eltitkolt-vek-2011">volume of 16 interviews</a>, titled
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Secret Years: 16 Lesbian Life Stories</i>,
was published by Labrisz in 2011.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_ftn1" name="_ftnref" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference">[1]</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyI8jv04lxoVsrX1-Y8UZOdQRDllDyxZChWUoGv7QXvYsr1CX_YHC005_qCGw06dM_2Oc6Keq9qUb8wdfvUoKsxh6laQ7CiQ94By1WkxBMggYaUNUwN7_9563xWgkXFEeAJaWWMGYOu6A/s1600/csoportke%CC%81pSzLenke2011dec.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyI8jv04lxoVsrX1-Y8UZOdQRDllDyxZChWUoGv7QXvYsr1CX_YHC005_qCGw06dM_2Oc6Keq9qUb8wdfvUoKsxh6laQ7CiQ94By1WkxBMggYaUNUwN7_9563xWgkXFEeAJaWWMGYOu6A/s400/csoportke%CC%81pSzLenke2011dec.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A gathering of the women that helped making the "Secret Years" documentary</td></tr>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">The
interviews that we have made throughout this project present an exciting and
unique perspective on recent social history through personal lenses. As
suggested by the title of the project, the interviewees</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"> talk about the “secret years” of their lives as
lesbians: about women, love, family, work, being in the closet and coming out, and
happiness and pain during state socialism and after the democratic transition
in Hungary. These women lived their lives as lesbians during state socialism either
in complete isolation or within a small social network of lesbians. Through
their life stories, we can get a glimpse into the former regime’s power
techniques of oppressing individuals and communities and we also learn of the freedom
(as complex as it was) brought along by the democratic transition. However, as
the formerly taboo topic has become a part of the public political discourse
due to the political changes, new forms of openly homophobic discrimination and
oppression have appeared and have since been deployed relentlessly by the extreme
right movements and political forces in Hungary. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">The women we interviewed come from
diverse social and professional backgrounds, and through their stories, we can
also see the diversity of everyday experiences in the era of state socialism. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Some of the women are currently
over 70 and many of them discussing the 1970s and 1980s are<i> </i>already
retired. They used to work in academic, musical, hospitality, and blue-collar
professions. Because of their different social contexts and positions, their
views on the political system vary greatly, but there seems to be a common
denominator of them all – the repression of their identities and private lives.
Among those interviewed we can also find the artists, public personalities, and
activists who started the lesbian movement in the 1990s. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">An interesting point of junction in the
threads of the herstories in a number of interviews is a village called
Szatina. Around the time of the political transition, a significant lesbian
community gathered in this village and founded a “lesbian colony.” To these
women, this move was a symbolic exodus, a way to escape from society’s pressure
and return to nature. This way, they created a safe space for themselves and chose
their own, self-reliant ways of making a living (e.g. by breeding goats or
making wooden toys). While they found the balance between freedom and
protection in this isolated community, other women looked for the same balance in
the underground urban scene, such as in the company of alternative bands,
artist communities, pubs, and bars. The sixties saw the establishment of the
first gay venue (a cozy café called Egyetem presszó), while the first space for
lesbian meetings was set up in the eighties in a movie theater (called Ipoly).
While these locations provided lesbians and gays with a quasi-private milieu,
they also served as tools of state control. For the political regime, these
meetings proved to be easily observable. Oddly enough, such spaces satisfied
the needs of both parties: they functioned as a place of hiding away (for
lesbians and gays) and being seen (by those in power) at the same time. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">In this political context, though lesbians
and gays were not explicitly outlawed, lesbianism was indeed socially
stigmatized and often times misrepresented or not represented at all. In some
cases, the force to stay in the closet led to leading a double life. The only
(also, the oldest) interviewee in the book who chose to appear under a
pseudonym, put it as follows. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="NoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 2.0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Back here, at home, I was a decent
intellectual, and when I went to Paris, I was a different person living a
different life. The two lifestyles were geographically split as well. […]
Lesbianism was never really integrated into my life; my personality had two
separate threads […] that hardly ever crossed each other.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">As for the methodology of the herstory project, the interviewees were found via snowball method as well as through our webpage and through advertising in various papers. The interviewers were trained by an oral history expert with special emphasis on the specific knowledge and considerations required by the project. The interviews were conducted by a team including a camera operator, a director, an interviewer and (occasionally) a sound engineer. The locations for the interviews were chosen by the interviewees. The interviewers were members of Labrisz. Our herstory archive
project is unique in two respects. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">On the one hand, it explores and brings
awareness to a previously unexplored segment of 20<sup>th</sup> century history,
i.e. that of an invisible sexual minority, providing important data and a
special viewpoint in 20<sup>th</sup> century historiography. On the other hand,
it increases the visibility of older lesbians. It was already an important
achievement in itself that during the film production process, the crew found
members of these older generations who were willing to present themselves and
their life stories to the public. These generations are often closeted, hardly
visible even for the lesbian community, and for some of them, appearing in the
film was a major public coming out. Their life stories may give encouragement
to closeted lesbians to come out and become more integrated in society. Also,
non-lesbian viewers and readers have an opportunity to get familiar with a
social group with less visibility. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">The film has been
screened with great success in Hungary and abroad as well, at various festivals
and public events. We sell the book both in bookshops and online, on our
website. We regularly receive orders from women in the countryside, who have
much less access to social and cultural activities than women living in the
capital city.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="NoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.4pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Besides our plans to conduct more
interviews, we are currently continuing the work on the material that we
already have and we are taking the project to a next level. On the one hand, the
DVD version of the film is just about to be released. The DVD includes
subtitles in 13 languages, including those of Central Eastern Europe. On the
other hand, we have decided to digitalize the materials and create a website to
make available the interview transcripts with English translations and over one
hundred hours of video material. The content of the website would be accessible—and,
we hope, useful—for social scientists, cultural anthropologists, historians, archivists,
and for the wider public as well. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="NoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.4pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">We find it important to translate
the interviews in order to make them accessible for a wider, international
audience of readers. The stories open a window to the Kádár-era from the
special perspective of Hungarian lesbian women, thus introducing both the
social context of the Iron Curtain and the life of a community formerly
invisible to many. While there are several volumes of lesbian herstory in the
“West,” only a few cover East Central European herstories. A digital archive could
also contribute to establishing a virtual community between lesbians of “the
East” and “the West,” creating opportunities for further dialogue. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="NoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 35.4pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">The oral herstory archive based on a
series of life interviews will be the first of its kind in Hungary. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">We would like to
continue the collection of life story interviews of older lesbians and make the
stories available for the broader scientific and lay public. At the same time,
we are also looking to expand our collection of written, audio, and video
resources in our</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"> mission to search
for and reconstruct the roots and fragmented traces of lesbian existence in
Hungary</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">The overall purpose of the project is to develop a Hungarian lesbian herstory archive accessible for
researchers and people interested. </span><s><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></s></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;">
<br />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<div id="ftn" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_ftnref" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="HU">[1]</span></span></a><span lang="HU"> </span><span lang="EN-US">Parts of the
book launch event can be seen here: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SZc_BHJfGI">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SZc_BHJfGI</a>.
More information on the film can be found on the film’s website: <a href="http://www.eltitkoltevek.hu/">www.eltitkoltevek.hu</a></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</span></span>LGBTI ALMS 2012http://www.blogger.com/profile/16476681229383980702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-766656158998930526.post-89747900316861357502012-07-20T18:19:00.002+02:002012-08-15T16:16:25.265+02:00Kate Davison, Australia: Agents of Social Change? LGBT Voices in Australian Museums<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"It is time now for LGBT histories in Australia to take their due place not only out on the streets but also within the custodial powerhouses of our national narrative – our museums, libraries and archives."</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Kate Davison is currently a research assistant at the Centre for the History of Emotions at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development. In this paper she discusses how to make LGBTI history more visible in Australia. She explores the work of institutions like the Australian Lesbian and Gay Archives (ALGA), the Museum Victoria and the State Library of Victoria and examines how such work can be continued and improved. Complementing, the paper by Graham Willet ("Playing Well With Others"), she further examines the question of how larger institutions can "institutionalize" their support to make it more sustainable.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What do you think about the projects like the LGBT Material Survey that Kate Davison presents in her paper? And do you agree that larger institutions should get involved in "unearthing, documenting and representing LGBT history?</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">To read Kate Davison's full paper click on "read more". Please comment, discuss, enjoy and share. </span><br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Agents of Social Change? LGBT voices in Australian museums</span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL and transgender (LGBT) histories have been commonly regarded as ‘hidden’ histories. Evidence has all too often been actively suppressed or destroyed, leading to false ideas that these histories do not exist, or that LGBT sexuality and its impact on society is limited to the present and the very recent past. Even while this is acknowledged to be false by many individuals and institutions, there is still a dearth of <i>identified </i>historical material that sheds light on the place of LGBT sexualities in Australia. This has left an imbalanced, inaccurate and even dishonest picture of the country’s past, even though it has a very rich and diverse history of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender experiences, which has been predominantly recounted through oral (ie, non-material) history.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Part of this diversity and richness has been documented by the archival and public work of the Australian Lesbian and Gay Archives (ALGA) since its establishment in 1978. Other organisations, such as the Women’s Liberation and Lesbian Feminist Archives in Melbourne, the Pride History Group in Sydney and many other groups and individuals have also been collecting and documenting the material culture of LGBT people and communities. All, however, face significant challenges in both resources and broader public support and recognition. ALGA, for instance, is a self-funded community group reliant upon volunteers. Its efforts to collect and preserve material and to make it accessible to the public has been significantly limited by lack of resources, and proactive research and accumulation has proved challenging. Conversely, major museums and libraries are yet to substantially focus on LGBT histories in their collections or adequately recognize and organize relevant material within existing collections. This absence is in desperate need of correcting, but requires a level of effort, commitment and, above all, courage by management that up to now has not, regrettably, always been evident. Australian museums and libraries have the opportunity to be among world leaders in the field. Exceptional examples, such as the LGBT Material Survey jointly conducted by Museum Victoria, the State Library of Victoria and ALGA have proven that with targeted resource provision for research, we can continue to unearth important and exciting documentation.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">This article will begin by reflecting on current international trends and the theoretical grounding of LGBT material culture before moving on to a localised analysis of the LGBT Material Survey as a long awaited and yet to be repeated intervention in the Australian context. Through a discussion of past exhibitions, outcomes of the Survey, and current museum and library practices around cultural diversity, not only will the problems of LGBT historical material be explored, but also the possibilities of how past practice can be changed for the better. Finally, with a series of recommendations, it will make the case for large scale and ongoing commitment by institutional management to collaboration and community involvement, in order to finally make this important and hitherto ‘hidden’ aspect of Australia’s past known.</span></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Museums as ‘agents of social change’ – the international context</span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">The difficulties of representing a diversity of sexual identities and practices in times past have long been discussed by many historians, but in recent years this discussion has taken on a practical application in international museum, archive and library practices. Although increased attention to sexualities in these areas can be seen as part of a broader trend evident since the late 1990s, real change has been slow in coming. Mark Liddiard observed in 2004 that, despite ‘the wide variety of museum forms, with their highly diverse collecting and exhibiting policies, the theme of sexuality has long been almost uniformly ignored in museum displays and exhibitions’. The process of addressing this absence, however, runs deeper than simply the idea of social inclusion, and has more serious implications for good historical practice in general. According to Frost, the reason why sex and sexuality should be accurately represented is related to honesty, accuracy, relevance and integrity. An exhibition which did not explore the significance of sex and sexuality where this was relevant would contribute to inaccurate and misleading history.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Notwithstanding the valid caution within historiography surrounding notions of ‘honesty’ and ‘accuracy’, museums which claim for better or worse to represent histories of place and society as a whole have a corresponding responsibility to reflect the multitude of narratives thrown up under that rubric, and to actively push against old prejudices. In Australia, this challenging and often very political process is not unknown, the consummate example being the debates around the presentation of Aboriginal Australian histories in the Australian National Museum in the 1990s and beyond. Few commentators in Australia today would argue that that project of creating a more honest and nuanced national story, even if uncomfortable for some, had been in vain.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Serious reflection by major Australian institutions specifically on the representation of LGBT identities, experiences, and stories in the public domain is well overdue, but has finally begun to gather pace. Museums, archives and libraries both in Australia and abroad have undergone a gradual shift in attitude around possibilities and responsibilities for wider social inclusion, not only of sexualities but also other hitherto ‘hidden’ or excluded aspects of human society such as disability. This has been buoyed by the creation and inclusion of cultural diversity policies in research, collecting and management structures, but the inertia of the museum industry has been challenged primarily by the hard work done by grass roots LGBT community groups in pushing for it ‘from below’. Smaller, independent or specialized bodies have taken it upon themselves to initiate proactive inclusion policies, driven by a desire to correct the often obvious gaps in the public historical record, and providing an example for their larger, usually state-administered counterparts. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Internationally, the indications and effects of this groundswell can be seen in examples such as Berlin’s <i>Schwules Museum</i> (Gay Museum) – a combined museum, archive and library surviving on donations – which provides consultancy to other museums and organisations. Poland, the Netherlands, the United States, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and other countries have either had discussions about establishing museums like the <i>Schwules Museum</i>, or have had exhibitions in major public museums within the last five years. Indicating the growing impact of these efforts, there is now an internationally focused organization dedicated to the development of LGBT collecting and exhibitions. The Archives, Libraries, Museums and Special Collections (ALMS) inaugural conference was held at the University of Minnesota in 2006, the second in 2008 and the third conference is scheduled for 2011. Several organisations have also made changes to their acquisition practices, particularly in the UK. Since 2006-2007 the Museum of London has begun to include LGBT perspectives in its official collecting policies, and according to the Library of Norwich (UK) website, ‘local gay and lesbian community representatives advise on the selection and display of stock’. Here in Australia, the State Library of New South Wales has long had a special collection devoted to gathering material related to the gay liberation movement. These examples can be matched by many others from around the world.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Most importantly there are indications that major institutions are not simply bowing passively to pressure, but are beginning to recognise their powerful social role and their duty to proactively challenge prejudices and omissions. Evidence of this is reflected in books such as Richard Sandell’s <i>Museums, Prejudice and the Reframing of Difference</i>, published in 2007. As Sandell points out:</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">museums have become increasingly confident in proclaiming their value as agents of social change and, in particular, articulating their capacity to promote crosscultural understanding, to tackle prejudice and intolerance and to foster respect for difference.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Against this international backdrop, the LGBT Material Survey in Victoria in 2005-2006 (hereafter referred to as ‘the Survey’) was the first major, concentrated attempt by an Australian museum to confront the non-appearance of the LGBT community in its collections and displays. In 2003, coinciding with moves by Museum Victoria to address issues of cultural diversity in relation to sexuality, the museum was approached by members of the LGBT communities with an exhibition proposal to mark the 25<span style="vertical-align: 3.5px;"><sup>th </sup></span>anniversary of the <i>Crimes (Sexual Offences) Act 1980</i>, which decriminalised some sexual acts between men in the state of Victoria. While many broad, long-term aims were discussed, the concrete outcome was to conduct a limited pilot project to firstly tackle the issue of material documentation, and later to investigate future possibilities in the state of Victoria. This was jointly organised and directed by ALGA, Museum Victoria and the State Library of Victoria and modestly funded by Museum Victoria and the State Library. In 2006 the report of the project was published, with a range of recommendations for future work, including the need for such research to extend beyond the state of Victoria.</span></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">History on the fringes – the national and historical context of the LGBT Material Survey</span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">As a pilot project the Survey was a crucial, if tentative, intervention in the struggle to bring LGBT history out of the shadows of arbitrary will and asserting its due place in the national story. The Survey report was the first major document to be published on the subject by an Australian museum. Nationally, the only available example of previous work done in compiling a similar listing of material at the time of the Survey was a page on the Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales’ website detailing a contents overview of ‘Gay and Lesbian Life and Culture’. That pioneering list, which contains examples from across the library’s collections, was the result of a wider internal project that identified thirty-five priority areas within the library’s collection in need of resources and promotion.<span style="vertical-align: 3.5px;"><sup> </sup></span>A smaller, more local example is found in the <i>Queer </i>directory of the student union’s Rowden White Library at the University of Melbourne, a ‘comprehensive list of works by queer writers or featuring queer characters’ compiled by library staff.<span style="vertical-align: 3.5px;"><sup> </sup></span>Another brief listing on Gay Rights has since been established on the State Library of South Australia’s web page<i> ‘</i>SA Memory’.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">The ALGA website provides a list of archival resources from both within and outside Australia. However the Australian list is limited to five material repositories: the State Library of New South Wales listing and the SA Memory website mentioned above, the AIDS Action Council of the ACT library, the Victorian Women’s Liberation and Lesbian Feminist Archive in Melbourne and the Willis Collection of gay and lesbian books at the University of Melbourne, along with two electronic collections: Writings from the Australian Gay Left and a Black Wattle Press Publications list. There are also other non-listed repositories across the country such as the Gay and Lesbian Archive of Western Australia, the Lespar Feminist Library Catalogue (WA), the EROS Foundation Publications and Archives, to name a few. This overview reveals the importance of building on work already begun by ALGA.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Similarly, although many excellent, provocative and celebratory exhibitions have been held over the last three decades, they have all been temporary and have occurred at the behest of small collectives, independent museums or local councils. Between 1982 and 2010 over 25 exhibitions representing queer histories were held around Australia, including at least six in Victoria. Of those held in Victoria, four were community organised and curated, and two others were components of thematic exhibitions at the Australian Jewish Museum. Nationally, many of these exhibitions have drawn out different experiences and challenges that illuminate further how major museums could take a more proactive role. Brief consideration of three examples can illuminate.</span></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">1. <i>The Gay Museum Exhibition </i>(2003), Western Australian Museum, Perth</span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">The objects included in this exhibition were chosen for their ability to provide a ‘queer reading’ rather than a direct, proven linkage to actual queer experiences or people. One example is a die carved from bone recovered from the <i>Zeewijk </i>shipwreck (1727) off the Western Australian coast. Two of the survivors – boys – were later found having sex and were consequently marooned on coral islands. The die cannot be proven to have had a direct relation to either of the boys, nor does the object itself tell a story about sexuality, yet it provided an opportunity for the story to be told through its visual tangibility – this approach could be adopted by major museums.</span></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">2. <i>Circles and Cycles: the Australian Jewish Family </i>(1998), and <i>Under the Covers: Love, Sex and Intimacy in Jewish Life</i> (2002), Australian Jewish Museum, Melbourne</span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">These two exhibitions contained clear and identified components devoted to incorporating the experience of gay and lesbian people within the Jewish community. Both faced significant challenges. The first was regarded controversial enough for some school groups to boycott the museum due to the inclusion of lesbian and gay experiences, while the second was met with criticism by the Jewish LGBT community as failing to properly acknowledge the diversity of sexual experience due to its focus on a limited perspective of gay male sexuality. Nevertheless, the Director says the Museum is committed to continuing to build upon LGBT representation, highlighting the importance of proactive policy.<span style="vertical-align: 3.5px;"><sup> </sup></span></span></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">3. <i>Forbidden Love, Bold Passion: An Exhibition of Lesbian Stories, 1900-1990s</i> (1995-6)</span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Presented under the auspices of the ALGA and funded by Visions Australia, a Federal Government Touring Program, ‘Forbidden Love’ was a travelling exhibition curated by a small community collective, History Inverted, and was built around the narratives of nine women’s lives. It was displayed at the State Library of Victoria, as well as at other capital cities and regional centres. The material for the exhibition was collected both from the subjects of the exhibition themselves and other sources. Without government funding it would not have taken place, revealing the importance of financial resources, but it also shows the advantages of community direction. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Poor documentation and knowledge of material objects associated with minority, hidden, or excluded histories have limited the possibility of large-scale exhibitions. The primary contribution of the Survey was to dispense with the myth that the material cannot be found and to highlight the need for a more permanent commitment of resources. Although ALGA has gathered a substantial and impressive collection, it is poorly resourced, and records of community organisations, personal papers and artefacts are largely still held only in private collections.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">As such, the Survey research was made up of two major components: investigations into the holdings of public institutions and repositories, and a search for as yet undocumented personal and community collections. Concretely, the work of the project not only involved conducting database searches of publicly accessible collecting institutions, but also reached out to the community by distributing the survey flyer as widely as possible, announcements at public events such as the 2005 Midsumma Festival, and the <i>Camp As . . . Melbourne in the 1950s</i> exhibition put on by the Melbourne City Council, and radio and newspaper spots. We contacted the vast memberships of many historical or LGBT organizations, such as the ALSO Foundation and the Matrix Guild of Victoria, calling on people with relevant information to contact us. An article was published in Museum Victoria’s magazine, and we achieved successful coverage in the Melbourne <i>Age</i> with a quarter-page article, when we put the journalist in contact with some ‘real people’ who had personal collections, one of whom was in possession of material dating back to the 1950s. The major realisation in all of this, particularly with our database searches, was the <i>slipperiness </i>in defining what we were looking for, which <span style="font: normal normal normal 9px/normal Times;">Two views from the <i>Camp as. . . Melbourne in the 1950s</i> exhibition. Melbourne Town Hall, 2005. Top: Ken Lovett and Mannie de Saxe reading one of the panels. Bottom:Two of the display cabinets. </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Two views from the <i>Camp as. . . Melbourne in the 1950s</i> exhibition. Melbourne Town Hall, 2005. Top: Ken Lovett and Mannie de Saxe reading one of the panels. Bottom:Two of the display cabinets. </span></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">What, where, who and how? Developing a research methodology for museums and libraries</span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Sexuality and sexual identity is in a constant state of movement and change – the sexual and gender identity categories we are familiar with today may or may not have been conceptualised in the same way in the past. In 1992 Garry Wotherspoon observed that in order to unearth lesbian, gay and queer histories in Australia, research requires ‘a framework that allows one to look at the history of something which, at that point, did not exist’. He observed the ongoing methodological problems of finding historical material that went beyond legal records – police, court and prison – that tend toward condemnatory portrayals. At that time he came up with newspapers, biographies, letters, and oral histories. However, our work needs to be focused on finding <i>repositories </i>of material, both public and private, and not simply isolated historical objects or documents. As revealed in the example of the Gay Museum exhibition in Western Australia, often material with less-obvious associations – a bone die – can provide more evocative insights into experiences of the past. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">At the time of the Survey, there were no research models in Australia to follow. During the course of our work, we became aware of <i>Buried in the Footnotes</i>, a project on the representation of experiences of disability within museums across the United Kingdom, the aims of which, due to parallels with LGBT history, echoed ours. Their research team distributed a detailed questionnaire to 224 curators of museums and collections to ascertain the levels of awareness among curators, the details of relevant material and attitudes towards its collection, documentation and interpretation. Of those returned, a shortlist of 10 museums was selected for site visits of one to two days each, where catalogues and databases were searched extensively. That pilot project has since been followed up by a more extensive undertaking, a £5 million project involving nine museums across the UK working with a think-tank of activists, artists and cultural practitioners. Another example was a project to create a ‘virtual museum’ of lesbian and gay history containing information about material from across the UK. Curators, librarians and archivists were asked to scour their collections in search of documents and items relating to the lives of gay people, with a view to establishing a user-friendly online information source. Backed by the British museums’ documentation watchdog, MDA, the group Proud Heritage sent out a two-page questionnaire requesting that institutions throughout the country list the gay and lesbian documents and artefacts in their collections.<span style="vertical-align: 3.5px;"><sup> </sup></span>Such frameworks require significant investment of human resources and it is important to note that their research began from the assumption that <i>there would be evidence to be found</i>.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">The practical approach of the LGBT Material Survey was guided by the need to ‘cast a wide net’. Our methods were not confined to an internal museum questionnaire but encompassed a broad range of publicity methods to promote awareness of and engagement with the project. However, given the ‘pilot’ status of this project, it was necessary to delineate the boundaries of what was relevant and of interest to the aims of the project, and also to distinguish between types of material. Many of the collections found were archival in nature rather than object-based. These were all accepted as being of research relevance, though the potential for exhibitions based extensively on paper documents is limited. Similarly, often collections and objects were included for their <i>associations</i> with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender histories, rather than a direct connection. The Barry Humphreys Collection at the Performing Arts Museum is a good example – while Humphreys does not identify as gay, his characters and performance have played a crucial role in popular Australian conceptions of gender and sexuality, and have a level of symbolic importance and connection to certain sections of the LGBT community. Similarly, the Percy Grainger Museum collection contains material associated with Grainger’s sexual practices involving sado-masochism and, while there is no explicit evidence that he himself engaged in same-sex acts, the collection was included on the basis of its relevance to non-heteronormative sexuality. Further communication with the curator confirmed that Grainger had homosexual and bisexual friends, correspondence with whom appears in the collection.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Developing a research model was therefore the central task of the Consultative Committee established to oversee the Material Survey, which incorporated representatives from the project’s partner institutions, local government and key community groups as well as individuals with particular knowledge and experience, encompassing the spectrum of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender sexualities. We resolved that a multi-tiered research classification system would be an effective way to overcome problems in deciding what sorts of material to prioritise with the available resources using the following classifications as a starting point:</span></div>
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<li style="font: 11.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 6.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><i>orientation </i>– direct relevance, (eg. identified individuals, material containing the words lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or other historically specific terminology such as camp); </span></li>
<li style="font: 11.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 6.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><i>association </i>– icons or public figures, individuals associated with lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender communities; </span></li>
<li style="font: 11.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 6.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><i>sensibility </i>– symbolism, potential for subtext and LGBT readings, (eg. the die in the Western Australia Gay Museum). </span></li>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">These levels should be seen as overlapping but distinct, providing a research framework that can also be used on a national scale.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Taking this multi-tiered framework, our catalogue and database searches used a variety of keywords; however, it was evident that successful searching often rested upon one ‘knowing what you’re looking for before you start looking’. This was particularly true in the case of the state and national libraries’ manuscripts collections, the ScreenSound Australia database, the National Archives of Australia and Public Records Office of Victoria, where names and biographical information are usually required.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">For Museum Victoria and the State Library of Victoria, like the <i>Buried in the Footnotes</i> project described above, electronic searches of the database were followed up with manual surveys of objects in on-site storage. Descriptions of objects in the electronic database are often limited, and the relevance of objects to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities may not be identified in the electronic record. Standardised subject headings both within individual museums and across the museum sector (perhaps under the auspices of Museums Australia) would be of particular value and a national, publicly accessible, online list of materials and documents of LGBT relevance (in the manner of the Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales) would be a major advance.</span></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Concrete outcomes of the LGBT Material Survey</span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">The direct outcomes of the Survey have not been meagre. At the beginning of the survey Museum Victoria’s collection database listed only nine objects with ‘lesbian and gay’ subject relevance. There are now over 148 objects, and more than 80 additional objects with broader relevance to sexuality and feminism. Most of the new additions arose from our manual trawling of the <i>already existing</i> History and Technology Collections Store at the Melbourne Museum, although there were some new acquisitions, including a handsome silver teapot awarded in 1857 to the ‘lady squatter’ Caroline Newcomb, surviving life partner of pioneer farmer Anne Drysdale, by the Agricultural and Horticultural Society of Geelong and the Western District. By late 2010, a third of Museum Victoria’s LGBT collection has been loaded onto the museum’s website, and further information is available through the Culture Victoria website. Almost the entire collection has been image-captured, and narratives about the project and the gay liberation movement are now available online. The State Library of Victoria is also considering the development of a bibliography on the Library’s website, following the model of the Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales’ ‘Gay and lesbian life and culture’ web page. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Another direct outcome was more tangible in terms of changing public consciousness. One of the key permanent exhibitions at Museum Victoria is the <i>Melbourne Story</i>, a vast and engaging display of the social history of the city. An addition was made in the form of a video interview with Mac Ronan and Geoff Allingham, a gay couple who had been living in the suburbs for several decades. The interview was inserted into a collection of short videos about experiences of life in the suburbs, thereby demystifying the existence of LGBT people in the everyday life of the city. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Yet many striking absences remain in the collections. In particular there is a dearth of material pre-dating the 1970s on transgender, bisexual and lesbian histories, and on regional Victoria. It is also worth noting that the <i>silences </i>(as opposed to absences) in the material record were overwhelmingly found in nineteenth and early twentieth-century holdings in the larger collecting institutions. The major silence, however, is the overall lack of representation of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender histories in existing exhibitions – in stories of immigration, in the life of Melbourne, within Indigenous Australian histories, and in relation to scientific, biological and technological areas. Sadly, and to the frustration of many both within and outside the Museum and Library, the video interview in the <i>Melbourne Story</i> remains the sole advance on that front. At the time the survey was being conducted, for example, the scientific Mind & Body Gallery exhibition at the Melbourne Museum told a hetero-normative, reproduction focused story of sexuality. This points to the pressing need for the application of cultural diversity policies across all museum and library departments, but perhaps even more pressing need for those policies to be updated and overhauled to reflect the realities of contemporary society.</span></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Diversity within ‘Cultural Diversity’ policies</span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">It is undeniable that there are recognisable cultural groupings around sexual identities and practices both in the present and in Victoria’s past, yet until recently, practical applications of ‘cultural diversity’ have overwhelmingly excluded sexuality and gender. Deborah Tout-Smith, Curator for Cultural Diversity at Museum Victoria, noted in 2004 that ‘cultural diversity collections in major institutions in Australia still focus on ethnicity, race and nationality rather than the broader meanings of cultural diversity’.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Definitions of the term, including those in Equal Opportunity statements, have remained vague and generalised, leaving ample room for interpretation of how ‘cultural groupings’ might be understood, although this is now undergoing significant change. The <i>Equal Opportunity Act </i>now clearly includes the categories of gender identity, lawful sexual activity, sex, and sexual orientation in the grounds for equality of opportunity.<span style="vertical-align: 3.5px;"><sup> </sup></span>Within the museums and archival field, the Gay and Lesbian Policy Guidelines (1999) of the umbrella organisation Museums Australia state:</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">[s]exuality, along with many other factors, is an element of cultural diversity. The mission statements written into museum charters which guarantee the representation of cultural diversity in the collections, education programs and displays of the museum cannot be met successfully until lesbian and gay cultures and histories are included and integrated.<span style="vertical-align: 3px;"><sup> </sup></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">It has nevertheless taken much longer for these advances in policy to be reflected in practice.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">The History and Technology Collection at Museum Victoria has, since the late 1980s, been actively collecting material relating to cultural diversity. However, up until the LGBT Material Survey this material had almost entirely been collected in the context of immigration and multiculturalism. In 2004 a new Collection Development Plan (Cultural Diversity) provided the first inclusive definition of cultural diversity listing sexuality as an important feature. The stated aims of the new plan included serious consideration of cultural diversity across collection areas, support for the collection of material that would balance the material record of Victorian history. It identified that ‘virtually no material has been collected’ in sexuality and gender and, furthermore, recognised ‘that much collecting in this area needs to be proactive to ensure the experiences of minorities or minority experiences are properly documented in the collection’.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">The State Library of Victoria’s Collection Development Policy states that the library will, among other things, ‘enrich the cultural, educational, social and economic life of <i>all Victorians </i>by collecting, preserving and making available their documentary and published heritage’.<span style="vertical-align: 3.5px;"><sup> </sup></span>A definition of what constitutes the ‘cultural, educational, social and economic life’ of Victorians is unfortunately not provided, leaving room for normative (ie. <i>hetero</i>normative) interpretations. Collections of material other than published books are categorised by medium (eg. manuscripts or photographs) rather than social or technological association. Items within the overall State Library collection are catalogued using a selection of Library of Congress subject headings, selection being dependent on a range of social and administrative circumstances.<span style="vertical-align: 3.5px;"><sup> </sup></span>In turn, the application of these subject headings to the material being catalogued can be dependent on the knowledge and personal biases of the catalogue staff. As a result, searches of State Library subject catalogues can return meagre results, and there are significant gaps and silences where the <i>actual </i>identification of the experience of LGBT sexuality is concerned, whereas there are in fact several collections that contain potentially relevant material. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">It may be suggested that large institutions have at times been hesitant to acquire material explicitly relevant to specific groups and subcultures through desire not to ‘step on the toes’ of smaller, community-based collecting bodies. Where LGBT histories are concerned, ALGA is an obvious example. This would be a welcome acknowledgement of the important work of these groups, however it cannot be assumed that smaller organisations have the adequate resources, nor indeed that the reasons behind the low level of acquisitions in major institutions is the result of such an acknowledgement! Similarly, it is not simply acquisitions and collecting policies and practices that produce gaps in the representation of the heritage of <i>‘all Victorians’. </i>A primary reason for the establishment of the LGBT Material Survey was the absence of <i>identified </i>material relating to sexuality within these large institutions. As the Survey was able to show, relevant material can be found in existing collections with appropriate resourcing. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">It is also unfortunately still the case that an inclusive understanding and application of cultural diversity is yet to arrive in some quarters. Overall the experience of staff and volunteers on the project was positive, and we were met with openness and support by a majority of historical organisations, researchers, support teams and individuals with whom we came in contact during the six-month timeframe. Regrettably, homophobic attitudes occasionally imposed limitations on our work. This confirms how vital it is that such initiatives have the weight of public organisations behind them, thus providing momentum against old prejudice. Staff at one organisation with a large membership of older Victorians, for example, when approached about distributing the LGBT Material Survey flyer, responded that it would not be ‘appropriate’ to distribute information ‘like that’ to their clientele. This was a blow to the work of the survey, as the older generation was one of our target audiences. Fortunately responses like this were incredibly rare, though it would be beneficial for future research to establish a set of guidelines on how to respond to varying attitudes to sexuality, and how to communicate the aims of the survey to effectively counter-balance notions that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender histories are controversial.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">What remains to be seen, and what forms the central challenge posed by this article, is whether large collecting and exhibiting institutions around Australia can broaden and deepen their practices around cultural diversity, to address the issues of honesty, accuracy, relevance and integrity highlighted earlier. What is really needed is a creative and multifaceted approach, backed up by a strong infrastructure and concretely, a permanent and matter-of-fact commitment by museum management at all levels. Most importantly, it is crucial that the development of the field is characterised by a collaborative framework and community involvement at every step of the way.</span></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Future directions: commitment, collaboration and community</span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Future work in the field of LGBT histories in material culture must occur on three broad fronts. These are: a) research, acquisition and collection development; b) space, storage and resources; and c) exhibitions.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">In the first of these areas the most pressing issues are the provision of funding and infrastructure for research into the development of existing collections, a review and overhaul of cultural diversity policies, and catalogue keyword development (ideally with national synchronisation). Discussions have taken place with a view to expanding the pilot survey model into a national project, with possible joint-funding through the large institutions and an Australian Research Council Linkage Grant. Regrettably, these discussions are yet to bear fruit, due primarily to a lack of confidence in securing institutional funding, and also a lack of clarity about what the primary goal of the project would be.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">The second area concerning space, storage and resources has been an ongoing issue faced by the community-based organisations that have dedicated many years to collecting material at a grass-roots level. The Australian Lesbian and Gay Archives holds the most significant collection of material relating to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender history in Australia, but has been plagued by issues of storage space and appropriate storage conditions. ALGA has recently moved to more suitable premises, having for many years gallantly occupied the basement of the Victorian AIDS Council. However, serious discussions about the longevity/permanence of its location continue. Furthermore, the question of both human and financial resources in terms of cataloguing, sorting, provenance, acquisition, handling and access continues to loom large.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">The idea has been raised for the State Library of Victoria to ‘adopt’ the Australian Lesbian and Gay Archives under a collaborative agreement, thereby solving many of the practical problems listed above. Such a proposal throws up serious and complex problems about community access and control, which warrant careful and sober consideration. Despite resourcing problems, one of the things that has kept ALGA so strong is its almost symbiotic relationship with the grass-roots LGBT community whose history it has aimed to preserve – volunteers have a hands-on interaction with the collection, and scholars, students, researchers and other interested parties can access the collection at any time (by appointment) with a delegated committee member. The biggest problem here is how to balance institutional support and preservation of the material with the maintenance of a dynamic, community directed archive.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">The are other cases that highlight the complex issues involved. The Victorian Women’s Liberation and Lesbian Feminist Archive, for example, has an agreement with the Melbourne University Archives where control and ownership of the collection remains with the Archive Committee, but they receive support in the form of housing and appropriate storage. The collection is searchable on the University Archives’ database and can be accessed through the normal university channels. However, to a large extent this has resulted in the collection being removed from the lesbian and feminist communities, and its location in a university archive may serve as an obstacle for some. Similar issues can be seen with the Lesbian and Gay Archives of New Zealand (LAGANZ), which is housed within the main collection of the National Library and Archives New Zealand in Wellington (following a firebomb attack on the original location). LAGANZ receives not only storage and other material support, but also curatorial support from National Library and Archive staff. But rather than the material remaining under community control,<i> </i>LAGANZ<i> </i>members and volunteers are now subject to strict access restrictions as dictated by these larger organisations. The manuscript collection can only be accessed by arrangement with one of two appointed curators, while the collection of published materials is, according to the website, ‘mostly not available’.<span style="vertical-align: 3.5px;"><sup> </sup></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Through the LGBT Material Survey, we began to tackle these issues by drafting a Partnership Agreement between the three participating organisations – an important symbolic step in establishing a firm structure for ongoing collaboration between the institutions and the community. We moved from locating and documenting other collections of relevant material, to exploring how Museum Victoria and the State Library of Victoria could structurally and materially support the ALGA. As the Survey was a pilot project, the Partnership Agreement was cautious about committing to practical aspects of storage and access, and focused rather on establishing cooperative structures for expanding our initial research. Crucially, the process of developing the Partnership Agreement demonstrated the importance of a formal, official, and publicly recognised commitment by large organisations to resourcing and initiating such research projects in a collaborative framework, as research into lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, can – as we know – fall prey to normative interpretations of cultural diversity. In a similar vein, it can fall down the list of priorities without an enthusiastic and personally committed curator or staff member. This has been the case at the Mitchell Library where the Lesbian and Gay Life and Culture collection has not significantly expanded since the departure of a particularly active staff member. A more solidified management-level commitment could guard against the turnover of individual curators and staff. It would be a fantastic step to see the already enacted Partnership Agreement continue to build on the work already done, by pushing for the expansion of the Survey project on a national scale. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">The third area for future work is in the field of exhibitions. Public displays of museum and library material are well known for their educational and social value in raising popular awareness about our past – often a museum display is the only conscious interaction some people have with the history of their own society. A significant recommendation of the Survey report was the idea of mounting a large museum-quality exhibition of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender histories from Victoria and from around Australia. As the project brief was being developed, it was envisaged that the outcomes would bring us closer to a professionally-developed historical exhibition to be hosted by a major collecting institution, and which could incorporate collaboration with partner-museums and libraries in other states and territories. Such an exhibition would be a highly effective way of raising awareness of the need for these histories to continue to be unearthed and documented, and would therefore contribute to the primary aim of this project – to build into the Victorian and Australian stories the important role that LGBT sexuality, sexual experience and identity has played not only in individuals lives but also in broader society. A related issue is the pressure of time with regard to private collections and community knowledge. Many older, pre-1970s records are disappearing as their owners and collectors age and pass away. Resources are needed to ensure that their memories and experiences do not simply drift into the unknown. As yet, no progress has been made on the development of a dedicated exhibition in the major museums, and with lead-in times averaging between three and five years, we will be waiting a while longer. Yet the example of the <i>Melbourne Story</i> oral video narrative is an encouraging, albeit small, sign of how museums can and should now begin to act.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">As indicated in the introduction, one area of LGBT historical practice in Australia that has always been strong is oral history. Oral histories have formed a crucial cache of information, more often than not spurring the collection of related material culture. The centrality of oral narratives can be seen in the <i>CAMP Stonewall</i> public installation in Sydney’s Taylor Square, opened in September 2010 to commemorate the fortieth anniversary of the Campaign Against Moral Persecution movement. This temporary public art monument is an interactive <i>stone wall</i> of oral history recordings which can be heard via speakers in the wall. Artist Annie Kennedy said these stories ‘have been an invaluable contribution to completing this historical narrative that gives a glimpse of what it means to be gay in Australia’.<span style="vertical-align: 3.5px;"><sup> </sup></span>Such a creative presentation of history, echoing the Gay Museum of Western Australia in its artistic origins, shows what can be done with the information at hand, and the existence of a public monument at all is a major advance. Yet as this article has shown, it is time now for LGBT histories in Australia to take their due place not only out on the streets but also within the custodial powerhouses of our national narrative – our museums, libraries and archives.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">There still exists a level of skepticism among sections of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities towards the idea that larger institutions are becoming interested in unearthing, documenting and representing LGBT history. Not without reason, many still harbour concerns that institutional support and initiation of these projects are a flash in the pan. The only mechanism available to allay these concerns is the conduct and completion of projects like the Survey, and the carrying out its recommendations. It is an opportunity for these institutions to rise to the challenge of sustained, ongoing and increasing commitment to truly broadening the scope and practices of cultural diversity. Museums, libraries and archives, as Richard Sandell puts it, must realise ‘their potential to frame, inform and enable the conversations which visitors and society more broadly, have about difference’. In order to meet this social potential museum management, government, and funding bodies must remember that where there is a will, there is a way. Our collecting and exhibiting institutions can be bold and can contribute to the struggle for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender rights, if they are prepared to take on the challenge and really achieve the ‘honesty, accuracy, relevance and integrity’ that is demanded of them.</span></div>
LGBTI ALMS 2012http://www.blogger.com/profile/16476681229383980702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-766656158998930526.post-83449212616621753162012-07-11T11:44:00.001+02:002012-08-15T16:14:16.585+02:00Suzie Day, Australia: Subverting the system: Catering to the LGBTI community in your library when your boss says “no dough”<div style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: 16px; margin-right: 16px; margin-top: 8px; min-width: 0px; width: 653px;">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"You are showing a young teenager that you won’t laugh at them for wanting to find out about safe sex. No matter what you do, you will be inspiring hope in other, showing them that they are not alone."</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Suzie Day studies Library and Management Studies at Curtin University in Western Australia. In this paper, she gives advice on how to make school and public libraries more attractive to the LGBTI community even when there is no extra funding available. How about, for instance, labeling LGBTI literature with a small pink triangle, or organizing a special event during Pride? </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Which of Suzie Day's tips do you find most helpful? Do you have any other ideas on how to make libraries more appealing to the LGBTI community? </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">To read all of Suzie Day's tips, click on "read more". Enjoy, comment, share and discuss!</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 14pt;">Catering to the LGBTI community in your library<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 14pt;">when your boss says “no dough”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-size: 14pt;">By Suzie Day</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 19px;"> </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU">At the time of writing, the recession is taking its toll around the world. In American and the UK, libraries are “in crises”, and are being closed all the time. Funding is scarce, which means there is almost no chance of a library receiving grants to provide services to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and intersexed (LGBTI) community. This paper will provide a brief outline on the kinds of positive changes that can be made to school and public libraries, while spending little or no money. As it stands, LGBTI services in Australian libraries is still in its infancy, which means that staff are finding new and creative means of reaching out to their users, without official funding. The ideas presented here have been gathered using crowd-sourcing using various social media forms, and have been used in a number of different settings and cultural climates around Australia. Finally, it will also provide a number of practical suggestions on how to make a difference to your community, without the big bucks.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU">In recent times, economic downturn across the globe resulted in the reduction of spending, to the point where American and British libraries are said to be “in crisis” </span><span lang="EN-AU">(Hertz, 2011)</span><span lang="EN-AU">. It is in times like this that libraries become even more vital to communities, providing free services such as internet access that cannot be offered elsewhere </span><span lang="EN-AU">(Rooney-Browne, 2009)</span><span lang="EN-AU">. Libraries have a reputation of being safe and welcoming places, a sentiment which is echoed in the fiction book, <i>The God Box </i></span><span lang="EN-AU">(Sanchez, 2007)</span><span lang="EN-AU">. The author uses the school library as the setting for the one place in the school where students of diverse sexuality and gender (DSG) felt safe enough to be themselves, and eventually, form a Gay-Straight Alliance </span><span lang="EN-AU">(p. 234)</span><span lang="EN-AU">. Both school and public libraries have the potential to provide services specifically relevant to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex community (LGBTI), even when there is little or no funding. And for a community as marginalised as the LGBTI people, any and every effort for inclusion is valued and recognised.</span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-AU">Collection management</span></b><span lang="EN-AU"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU">If you have the opportunity to be involved with the ordering of new stock for your library, make sure you have titles in your collection that are LGBTI inclusive. You don’t need to set aside any specific funding, but try and introduce LGBTI titles as a matter of course. This includes adult, Young Adult (YA), and junior areas. It is also possible to do this with serials, and if funding allows, take out a subscription to a LGBTI magazine from your country. If disclosure of your sexuality in your workplace is problematic, it is still possible to order LGBTI-related stock. Try ordering items such as Laurie R. King’s <i>Kate Martinelli </i>books, which is a series of detective stories where the central character just happens to be a lesbian </span><span lang="EN-AU">(2012)</span><span lang="EN-AU">. By doing this, you are providing your users with content which is directly relevant to them, as well as showing the people who visit you library that it is a safe space where everyone is welcome.</span><span lang="EN-AU"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-AU">Story Time and Children’s Programs<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU">Why not have<b> </b>inclusive Story Time<b>?</b></span><span lang="EN-AU"> Try including some LGBTI friendly picture books every once in a while. Many parents will thank you for explaining to their kids why their Uncle Frank and Uncle Bill live together. Not to mention the fact that LGBTI parents will be thrilled, and will quite possibly spread the word within your local community that your Story Time is awesome. This can be done as part of a larger program, such as Pride celebrations, or as part of you general children’s services. Librarians and teachers must be aware however, of potential for public controversy that may arise as a result. The children’s picture book, <i>And Tango Makes Three </i></span><span lang="EN-AU">(Richardson & Parnell, 2005)</span><i><span lang="EN-AU"> </span></i><span lang="EN-AU">was the fourth most banned book of the decade in the United States, according the American Library Association </span><span lang="EN-AU">(2012)</span><span lang="EN-AU">. Yet caving to censorship is not the answer, and would likely result in more attention being draw to the topic if censorship does occur, as happened when a Western Australian public library book appeared with warning label attached </span><span lang="EN-AU">(Dorrington, 2011)</span><span lang="EN-AU">. Silence and non-involvement is also not possible, as continued silence and avoidance of the topic only becomes more and more noticeable as time passes, as proved when the soap opera <i>As the World Turns </i>went 211 days between gay kisses, despite the characters in question being in a steady relationship </span><span lang="EN-AU">(Ayers, 2008)</span><span lang="EN-AU">. Inclusive children’s programs, should they weather the controversy storm, have the potential to become a hugely positive influence in the lives of your users, and that is a reward greater than anything. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU">Most public libraries have a number of posters decorating the walls, usually themed around reading, as well as local current events. Make sure you have some that are inclusive of DSG. In Western Australia, The Freedom Centre (a drop-in centre for youth with DSG) prints some fantastic posters which state “This is a safe space in which everyone is welcomed and respected”, superimposed over a rainbow </span><span lang="EN-AU">(Wright, 2011)</span><span lang="EN-AU">. This is ideal for a school library, as it informs students that the library is a no-bullying zone, as well as assuring DSG that they are not invisible, and they have just as much right to protection as their peers. Others, such as Victoria’s Rainbow Network, take a humorous approach within a football context </span><span lang="EN-AU">(2010)</span><span lang="EN-AU">. Perfect for your Young Adult section.</span><span lang="EN-AU"><br /></span><span lang="EN-AU"><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU">It is not uncommon for public libraries to provide local community services information, as well as free publications, such as newspapers. Leaflet, pamphlets and brochures can usually be obtained from your local LGBTI organisations, as well as places such as Family Planning/Planned Parenthood, which promote free access to sexual health education for everyone </span><span lang="EN-AU">(Family Planning Australia, 2008)</span><span lang="EN-AU">. This means that if your library can’t provide the services or material within their collection, they can provide their users with referrals to organisations who can.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU">I</span><span lang="EN-AU">t may seem simple, but having an inverted pink triangle or a small rainbow sticker as a genre label can do a lot. To people who have an interest in LGBTI literature, this is a flashing neon sign. To everyone else, it is just another book (see photo from City of South Perth) Research show that the use of spine labels is often preferred by library users, because it allows them to find items of interest, while avoiding items they are less likely to enjoy </span><span lang="EN-AU">(Ooi, 2008, 84)</span><span lang="EN-AU">. The same holds true for LGBTI literature. Those with an interest in in lesbian romances are much more likely to pick up an item that had a genre label that reflects the content of the book. Whether it be a colour coded sticker, or an LGBTI symbol such as an inverted pink triangle or a rainbow, you can turn a select few library items into a flashing neon sign to those with a vested interest. This is being done in a number of Australian libraries, including the City of South Perth, with relative success </span><span lang="EN-AU">(Kelly, 2011)</span><span lang="EN-AU">.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU">Pride</span><span lang="EN-AU"> is celebrated around the world, sometimes in the face of extreme violence and opposition </span><span lang="EN-AU">(St James, 2011)</span><span lang="EN-AU"> . Most major cities will set aside three or four weeks of the year for events, lectures, fairs and celebrations, finishing in the epic Pride Parade. So why should your library miss out on the fun? In the US and Canada, more and more public libraries are providing dedicated programs during Pride Month, which is unfortunately not being replicated in Australian libraries at this point in time. Examples of this include the New York Public Library providing lectures on the history of the gay civil rights movement </span><span lang="EN-AU">(2012)</span><span lang="EN-AU">, and a web portal of LGBTI-themed picture books for children created by the Toronto Public Library </span><span lang="EN-AU">(2012)</span><span lang="EN-AU">. Set up a display, host an LGBTI themed movie night, invite queer authors in for books talks, or have a special Pride-themed Story Time If you like, you could even march in your local parade. Do anything you like for Pride, so long as you have fun!</span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-AU">Be “out”<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU">More than anything however, be out.<b> </b>Whether you identify as being part of the DSG spectrum, or you are a heterosexual ally, make sure people are aware of your beliefs and views. Blogger Emily Lloyd felt that when you show your pride, you inspire hope in others </span><span lang="EN-AU">(2010)</span><span lang="EN-AU">. Wear a LGBTI themed button, t-shirt, a rainbow headband, whatever you like. You will be showing your colleagues that they are free to share part of themselves that would normally be censored. You are showing a young teenager that you won’t laugh at them for wanting to find out about safe sex. No matter what you do, you will be inspiring hope in other, showing them that they are not alone.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU">American Library Association. (2012). Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books: 2000-2009. Retrieved June 29, 2012, from http://www.ala.org/advocacy/banned/frequentlychallenged/challengedbydecade/2000_2009<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU">Ayers, D. (2008, April 23). Gay Teens Finally Kiss Again on ‘As the World Turns’ | AfterElton.com. Retrieved June 29, 2012, from http://www.afterelton.com/TV/2008/4/lukeandnoahkiss<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU">Dorrington, B. (2011, August). Warnig label found on LGBT children’s book. <i>Out in Perth</i>, p. 5. Perth, Western Australia.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU">Family Planning Australia. (2008). Sexual health and Family Planning Australia. Retrieved July 3, 2012, from http://www.shfpa.org.au/about-us<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU">Hertz, A. (2011, July 5). Library Cuts: UK Closures Ahead Of US, And More To Come For Both. <i>Huffington Post</i>. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/05/library-cuts-uk-closures-_n_890686.html?utm_hp_ref=libraries-in-crisis<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU">Kelly, E. (2011). Hey @MissSuzieDay, looky what I did today. Retrieved November 8, 2011, from http://yfrog.com/nyifjdsj<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU">King, L. R. (2012). Kate Martinelli series. Retrieved July 3, 2012, from http://www.laurierking.com/books/kate-martinelli<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Lloyd, E. (2010, October 2). Being Visibly Queer-Friendly: Please Consider It. <i>Poesy Galore</i>. Retrieved from http://poesygalore.blogspot.com/2010/10/being-visibly-queer-friendly-please.html</div>
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<span lang="EN-AU">New York Public Library. (2012, June 4). June Happenings: ‘Victory: The Triumphant Gay Revolution’. <i>nypl.org</i>. Retrieved July 3, 2012, from http://www.nypl.org/node/168996<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU">Ooi, K. (2008). <i>How Adult Fiction Readers Select Fiction Books in Public Libraries: a Study of Information-Seeking in Context</i>. University of Wellington, Wellington, NZ. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/10063/1268<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU">Rainbow Network Victoria. (2010, July 27). Coming Out Footy Posters. Retrieved June 29, 2012, from http://rainbownetwork.net.au/resource/coming-out-footy-posters<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU">Richardson, J., & Parnell, P. (2005). <i>And Tango Makes Three</i>. Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU">Rooney-Browne, C. (2009). Rising to the challenge: a look at the role of public libraries in times of recession. <i>Library Review</i>, <i>58</i>(5), 341–352. doi:10.1108/00242530910961765<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU">Sanchez, A. (2007). <i>The God box</i>. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU">St James, C. (2011, May 29). Moscow Pride turns violent. <i>samesame</i>. Retrieved July 4, 2012, from http://www.samesame.com.au/news/international/6851/Moscow-Pride-turns-violent.htm<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU">Torronto Public Library. (2012). Rainbow Families. Retrieved July 3, 2012, from http://pinterest.com/torontolibrary/rainbow-families/<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU">Wright, D. (2011). Useful Downloads from FC. <i>The Freedom Center</i>. Retrieved August 8, 2011, from http://freedom.org.au/Professionals/Info/useful-downloads-from-fc-a-other-places/menu-id-166.html<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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LGBTI ALMS 2012http://www.blogger.com/profile/16476681229383980702noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-766656158998930526.post-52721339805148266232012-07-08T14:50:00.000+02:002012-08-15T16:13:39.566+02:00Tuula Juvonen, Tampere, Finland: Queering Archives and Museums – Raising consciousness about preserving LGBT History in Finland<br />
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<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"In order to remedy the situation, an idea rose among some of the elderly LGBT activists. Why not create a lesbian and gay museum of our own in Finland?" </span></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnrb0sCkz9N83dKJlvg-gvIrxFjJnxClyTeF120bNuA5dQw6CyEkBrkoP1YXbq8LzC-cPyCnK7eHtU-a5wxKFrtYOf3-d-yQVucQmU5_joUyAjY_ebcCDFfm4K0IG7whrTrj_YfXm_X64/s1600/tampere+pride.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnrb0sCkz9N83dKJlvg-gvIrxFjJnxClyTeF120bNuA5dQw6CyEkBrkoP1YXbq8LzC-cPyCnK7eHtU-a5wxKFrtYOf3-d-yQVucQmU5_joUyAjY_ebcCDFfm4K0IG7whrTrj_YfXm_X64/s400/tampere+pride.jpg" width="265" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Tampere Pride</span></td></tr>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Tuula Juvonen is a Senior Lecturer for Gender Studies at the University of Tampere. In this paper, she describes the development of a LGBTI community in Finland and the difficulties in establishing LGBTI archives as the small population, the lack of funding and the "limited collective consciousness about a shared history and its value" significantly impeded the process. Nevertheless, she points out how stimulating initiatives are emerging and new projects are being realized. </span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">How can the situation of LGBT archives in your country be compared to the situation in Finland? And how do you think could the awareness about LGBTI histories in Finland and other countries be further raised?</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">To read Tulla Juvonen's full paper, click "read more". Enjoy, discuss, comment and share!</span></span></div>
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<a name='more'></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Calibri;">Tuula Juvonen</span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US"><a href="mailto:tuula.juvonen@uta.fi"><span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">tuula.juvonen@uta.fi</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">A paper delivered for </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-language: FI; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">the Day 3: Collaboration at
the LGBTI ALMS 2012 Conference, Amsterdam, August 1-3, 2012. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Queering Archives and Museums – Raising c<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526" name="_GoBack"></a>onsciousness about preserving LGBT History in Finland <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">In the 1990s
it was difficult to conduct archives based research on LGBT lives in Finland.
In the LGBT community there was only a limited collective consciousness about a
shared LGBT history and its value. Tellingly enough the archives of the
chronically understaffed national LGBT organisation Seta were randomly fitted
in a cellar closet without any clear view of its content. So far only one of
the publicly funded national memory institutions had shown any interest in
collecting material about homosexuality, namely the Folklore Archives of the</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> Finnish
Literature Society. In the year 1993 it had organized a collection of memories
about homosexuality on a request of Jan Löfström, who was hard pressed to find any
materials in its collections for his Ph.D. thesis on rural homosexuality
(Löfström 1994). None of the other publicly funded archives had made an effort
to</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> cataloguing their
existing repositories in such a manner as to facilitate research on LGBT issues.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">In order to
remedy the situation, an idea rose among some of the elderly LGBT activists.
Why not create a lesbian and gay museum of our own in Finland?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">As a younger scholar
interested in lesbian history and a member of this small archival group of Seta
I attended the Know How Conference in the Netherlands in 1998, in order to
learn more about lesbian archives. My conclusions from that event were not too
encouraging. During the conference I realized that establishing a successful LGBT
archive would require one of the following: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">A political momentum, which would bring in both the political will and
public funding for such a project (like in South Africa) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">A sizeable lesbian and gay community, which would provide a host of
dedicated volunteers and enough donations to run an independent archives (like
Lesbian Herstory Archives in New York or Schwules Museum in Berlin) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">In Finland the
political momentum looked not so bright, as lesbians and gays were at that time
having hard time even to get such basic social rights as registered partnership
accepted. Likewise the small size of this Nordic Welfare state with no
fundraising and donation culture, as the state was commonly considered to be
the funding body, and a population of 5 million only, made it unlikely that
Seta would be able to raise enough resources to establish an archive of its own.
Hence that idea had to be buried. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Years passed,
and the situation remained quite the same. However, in 2002 the law on
registered partnerships passed and I got my book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Varjoelämää ja julkisia salaisuuksia</i> on the construction of
homosexuality in the post-war Finland finalized, and it seemed like a good
timing to make a new move. So I contacted Pontus Blomster, the director of
Werstas, the publicly funded Finnish Labour Museum located in Tampere. In a
meeting I suggested him that Werstas would start, as the first and only museum
in Finland, to collect materials about LGBT lives. Passing the partnership law
gave an aura of respectability to LGBT issues, and Blomster soon saw also the
benefit of the proposal for the progressive image of the museum. Moreover, he
was able to convince the </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Finnish Labour Archives</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">in Helsinki to join the idea. The plan was that the national LGBT organisation
Seta with its local chapters would initiate the necessary donations, and the
museum and archives would jointly take care of them. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">A couple of
initiatives ensued that very year: a joint training day for archivists and LGBT
activists to introduce the idea and to carry it out into the voluntary
organisations, and a couple of pep talks in local LGBT events in Helsinki and
Tampere. Some donations started to trickle, but they were not that many. Apparently
the local chapters of Seta had difficulties to make popular the novel idea among
its members of donating one’s personal materials into a museum. Yet some of the
chapters were at least animated to get their own archives organized and donated
to the </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Finnish
Labour Archives</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">, as was also
the national LGBT organisation Seta. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The first
major private donation to Werstas was that of an artist Raini Vallinharju in 2003.
She made an archival artwork called <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">1-130/130</i>,
in which she donated 130 of her diaries to the museum. They document, among
more personal reflections, her active involvement within the Helsinki lesbian
community during the late 1980s and early 1990s. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">By the year 2004
the joint donating project was more or less hibernating, when Vallinharju came
up with the idea of organizing an exhibition about LGBT history. A small
working group, containing museum staff and LGBT scholars and activists, was
established to plan the exhibition and to ensure new donations and loans. The
small exhibition <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Vaarin paketti ja
sateenkaarinappi</i> was opened in 2005 in conjunction with Tampere Pride. It was
also designed to raise awareness about the current lack of knowledge about
Finnish LGBT history and hence the importance of new donations. The exhibition
actually was able to increase to some extent the flow of donations. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">As part of the
exhibition a recently published local history of LGBT life and organizing,
written by Tarja Hautanen (2005), was on sale. In addition a writing
competition <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Näkymättömästä näkyväksi </i>was
launched as part of the exhibition. For that visitors were encouraged to send
in their own memoirs about LGBT lives. The </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Finnish Labour Archives</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">collection received only 18 written entries, but they, for the very
first time in Finland, were able to add new first hand information about the
lives of a gay BDSM couple, a transvestite, a bisexual woman, of different
lesbian communities and an elderly gay couple, among others, into the
collections of memory institutions. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">During that
same year 2005 a public Broadcasting company YLE Teema aired a four-part
television documentary about lesbian and gay history, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Homo-Suomen historia</i>. Taken together, these initiatives started to
build up, for the first time in Finland, a shared consciousness about the value
of LGBT history. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Parallel to
these events geared to LGBT community and greater audiences also the
professionals working within memory institutions were addressed in presentations
given by the new museum director Kalle Kallio in seminars organized by Werstas
or by professional organisations. I gave additional presentations to scholarly
audiences in scholarly workshops and conferences. I also taught two university
courses on queer archiving in 2006, as part of my Academy of Finland funded
research project </span><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">From Thinking Archives to Doing
Archives: Queer Action Research on Finnish Archiving Practices.</span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">In the year
2007 the City Museum in Vantaa took up the idea of a LGBT history exhibition,
and it organized a more extensive <i>Sateenkaari-Suomi</i> exhibition, which included
a web exhibition and an accompanying book edited by Kati Mustola and Johanna
Pakkanen. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">During the
past years the memory institutions have been working on their collections,
cataloguing it, and pondering about possibilities to make it more readily
accessible for the public. Werstas has included parts of its LGBT collection at
the collaborative web portal of various Finnish museums at </span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.arhjenhistoria.fi/"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">www</span></i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">arhjenhistoria.fi</i></span></a></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">. </span></i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">At that site<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>this particular collection of
photographs, items and books can be browsed with the search command “LHBT”. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">In 2013 the
local lesbian and gay organisation Pirkanmaan Seta is going to have its 40<sup>th</sup>
anniversary, and Werstas has agreed to organize a new exhibition to celebrate
the event. This time the focus will be on lived experiences of LGBT people, adding
a more personal note to the exhibition. This time Werstas plans to enrich its
collecting practices to include oral history materials, collected by scholars
and activists, and to add art work as part of the exhibition. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br clear="ALL" style="page-break-before: always;" />
</span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Archives: <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Suomalaisen
Kirjallisuuden Seuran Kansanrunousarkisto/ </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The
Folklore Archives of the </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The Finnish Literature Society</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.finlit.fi/english/kra/index.htm"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">http://www.finlit.fi/english/kra/index.htm</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Homosexuality
(1993) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">New
same-sex wedding traditions (2002–)</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Työväen
Arkisto / </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The Finnish Labour Archives</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.tyark.fi/englanti.html"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">http://www.tyark.fi/englanti.html</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Seta-collection”
(2002–)</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Työväen Museo
Werstas / </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The Finnish Labour Museum Werstas<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.werstas.fi/?q=en"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">http://www.werstas.fi/?q=en</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>LHBT
collection (2002)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Yhteiskuntatieteellinen
tietoarkisto / </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The Finnish Social Science Data Archive (FSD)</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.fsd.uta.fi/en/"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">http://www.fsd.uta.fi/en/</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Various
collections since 1999</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">References: <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">1994 Publications</span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; text-indent: -36.0pt;">
<i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Löfström</span></i><span class="st"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">, </span></i></span><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Jan</span></i><span class="st"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> (1994) The social construction of homosexuality in
Finnish society, from the late nineteenth century to 1950s. University of </span></span><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Essex</span></i><span class="st"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">.
Unpublished </span></span><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">PhD</span></i><span class="st"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">
Dissertation. </span></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">1998 </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Know
How Conference</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Know How Conference on the World of Women’s Information, Amsterdam.
</span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.aletta.nu/aletta/eng/projects/know-how-community"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">http://www.aletta.nu/aletta/eng/projects/know-how-community</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">1999 Publications <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span lang="FI" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: FI; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Löfström, Jan (1999)</span><span lang="FI" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: FI; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> ”Se
nyt vaan on semmonen” </span><span lang="FI" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: FI; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">. </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Sukupuoliero agraarikulttuurissa [”He is like that” Gender difference in
agrarian culture. </span><span lang="FI" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: FI; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">SKS: Helsinki.</span><span lang="FI" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: FI; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="FI" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: FI; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">2002 Publications<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; text-indent: -36.0pt;">
<span lang="FI" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: FI; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Juvonen, Tuula<i>
(2002) Varjoelämää ja julkisia salaisuuksia. </i></span><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Homoseksuaalisuuden rakentuminen sotienjälkeisessä
Suomessa</span></i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[Shadow Lives, Public Secrets: The construction of homosexuality
in post- World War II Finland]. </span><span lang="FI" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: FI; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Vastapaino: Tampere. [Dissertation]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="FI" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: FI; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">2003 Archival artwork <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span lang="FI" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: FI; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Vallinharju, Raini (2003) <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">1-130/130</i>. </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">A documentation of the
donation of Raini Vallinharju’s diaries to the <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Central Museum of Labour </span>for her BA in environmental arts at the
School of Art and Media, Tampere, Finland. The work consists of 130 diaries
covering the years 1981-2001, displayed in a showcase, and of archiving folders
put on view in storage shelving, moreover framed documents about the donation,
such as release and consent forms on the walls of the exhibition room, and an
illustrated catalogue for visitors to take home.</span><span lang="FI" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: FI; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="FI" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: FI; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">2005 Exhibition</span></i><span lang="FI" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: FI; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Vaarin paketti ja sateenkaarinappi<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span lang="FI" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: FI; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Jaskari, Ulla & Juvonen, Tuula &
Vallinharju, Raini (eds) (2005): <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Vaarin
paketti ja sateenkaarinappi [Grandpa's Parcel and Rainbow Badge]</i>. Työväen
keskusmuseo Werstas: Tampere. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="FI" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: FI; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Juvonen, Tuula
(2005) <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Näkymättömästä näkyväksi</i></span><span lang="FI" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: FI; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> <i>- Muistitietokeruu lesbojen, homojen, bi-
ja transihmisten elämästä</i> [Becoming Visible – Reminiscence collection about
LGBT lives]. Työväen arkisto. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.tyark.fi/leshobit.htm"><span lang="FI" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: FI; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">http://www.tyark.fi/leshobit.htm</span></a></span><span lang="FI" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: FI; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="FI" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: FI; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">2005 Publications <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span lang="FI" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: FI; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Hautanen, Tarja (2005) <i>Yksityistilaisuus</i><span class="st">. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Turkulaisten homojen ja
lesbojen kulttuurihistoriaa</i>. </span></span><span class="st"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[Private only. Cultural history of lesbians and gays
in Turku. </span></span><span class="st"><span lang="FI" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: FI; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Seksuaalinen tasavertaisuus SETA: Helsinki. [MA thesis]</span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<i><span lang="FI" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: FI; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Sorainen,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Antu</span></i><span class="st"><span lang="FI" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: FI; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> (2005) <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Naisten keskinäistä
haureutta koskevat oikeudenkäynnit 1950-luvun Itä-Suomessa</i> [Accidental
Criminals? </span></span><span class="st"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Women’s same-sex fornication
trials in Eastern Finland during the 1950s. </span></span><span class="st"><span lang="FI" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: FI; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">University of Helsinki. Yliopistopaino: Helsinki. [Dissertation] </span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="FI" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: FI; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">2006 Television documentary Homo-Suomen historia<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span lang="FI" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: FI; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Homo-Suomen historia (2006) Tarinatalo Oy and
YLE Kulttuuri, 120 min. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://yle.fi/cgi-mod/tallennemyynti/tm.pl?page=tallenne&id=1575"><span lang="FI" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: FI; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">http://yle.fi/cgi-mod/tallennemyynti/tm.pl?page=tallenne&id=1575</span></a></span><span lang="FI" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: FI; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.tuseta.fi/arkisto/YLEhomohistoria.html"><span lang="FI" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: FI; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">http://www.tuseta.fi/arkisto/YLEhomohistoria.html</span></a></span><span lang="FI" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: FI; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span lang="FI" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: FI; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">2007 Exhibition Sateenkaari-Suomi</span></i><span lang="FI" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: FI; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="FI" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: FI; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Mustola, Kati & Pakkanen, Johanna (eds)
(2007) <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">Sateenkaari-Suomi
- Seksuaali- ja sukupuolivähemmistöjen historiaa. </span></i></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[Rainbow
Finland. History of sexual and gender minorities]</span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Like: Helsinki. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span lang="FI" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: FI; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Sateenkaari-Suomi</span></i><span lang="FI" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: FI; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> web exhibition </span><span lang="FI" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: FI; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">http://www.vantaa.fi/fi/kulttuuri/museot/_kaupunginmuseo/nayttelyt/sateenkaari-suomi_verkkonayttely<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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LGBTI ALMS 2012http://www.blogger.com/profile/16476681229383980702noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-766656158998930526.post-59064717481818818712012-07-06T19:41:00.001+02:002012-08-15T16:13:00.021+02:00Jamie Ann Lee, Tucson, USA: Queer Imaginings of the Archive<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"For those of us
committed to critically intervening in and opening up the traditional archival
constructs while developing queer/ed archival practices, we can see that these
traditional practices run the risk of reproducing sexual normativities and
social divisions that reflect instead of intervene in social hierarchies."</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgag4Y2SZG3ZcYxuD7RXFXUSPcBVgnXKFBAgEehXxKb1Gu6pX7keCM_TS9ZME_6OqtOj5xUYDshQKsTDgFQ2d6NjsjYQuSgcx9L5OrQJfD6-1f7WKH8NowgZzw3pz7hsVxTyFwMTTx3vQ0/s1600/university+of+arizona.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="113" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgag4Y2SZG3ZcYxuD7RXFXUSPcBVgnXKFBAgEehXxKb1Gu6pX7keCM_TS9ZME_6OqtOj5xUYDshQKsTDgFQ2d6NjsjYQuSgcx9L5OrQJfD6-1f7WKH8NowgZzw3pz7hsVxTyFwMTTx3vQ0/s640/university+of+arizona.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Institute for LGBT Studies at the University of Arizona</td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Jamie Ann Lee is a doctoral
student in Information Resources and Library Science with a Gender &
Women's Studies minor at the University or Arizona. In this essay
she talks about the possibilities of queering LGBTI archives and lirbraries. Drawing from </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">her experiences at the "The Arizona LGBTQ Storytelling Project", s</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">he argues that
"in considering a queer/ed archive, we must first recognize our
complicated and contradictory ways of being, knowing, and living in order to
create a space of access that can be creative, fertile, ambivalent, fearful,
and hopeful while still holding onto its complexities."</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">How do you think could and
should archives be queered? And what do you think of the Jamie Ann Lee's use of
the concept of <i>haunting</i>, "an animated state in which a
repressed or unresolved social violence is making itself known, sometimes very
directly, sometimes more obliquely"?</span></div>
</div>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;"> </span><br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16pt;">queer imaginings of the archive</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;"> </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Jamie Ann Lee<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">jalee2@email.arizona.edu<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">University of Arizona<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Spring 2012<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">“Since variants desire to be accepted by society,
it behooves them to assume community responsibility… For only as they make
positive contributions to the general welfare can they expect acceptance and
full assimilation into the communities in which they live.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Mattachine Society, 1956<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">“Respectability, on a straight society’s terms,
was the price for admission.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Deborah Gould, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Moving Politics</i></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;"> Over
the past four years while meeting and interviewing lesbian, gay, bisexual,
transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people for the “Arizona LGBTQ Storytelling
Project,” I have had to take a closer look at my line of questioning and how I,
too, am implicated in what I have come to understand and experience as a shared
storytelling process. As archives
and archivists become the stewards of our individual and collective memories,
our conformity to archival norms and practices can be treacherous. For those of us committed to critically
intervening in and opening up the traditional archival constructs while
developing queer/ed archival practices, we can see that these traditional practices
run the risk of reproducing sexual normativities and social divisions that
reflect instead of intervene in social hierarchies. In this paper, I will incorporate Avery Gordon’s concept of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">haunting</i> to critically engage oral
history interviews and interviewing practices from the “Arizona LGBTQ
Storytelling Project” to consider those in-between spaces where <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ghostly matter</i> linger within our
re-memberd (re)constructions as each of us, when narrating our lives, selects
and deselects what we feel needs to be remembered and what needs to be
forgotten. I will argue that,
although we may not consciously recognize the force and function of “the
politics of respectability at play,” our aspirations to be “normal” are informed,
at least in part, by normativizing strategies to regulate our bodies, desires,
and the spaces and things through which we make meaning. Understanding bio-politics as the
state’s strategies and practices to regulate bodies and peoples and how the dominant
societal structures that are in place actually maintain this regulation, how
then is it different if the state controls archives or if society’s core values
and the dominant structures shape them?
Therefore, in considering a queer/ed archive, we must first recognize
our complicated and contradictory ways of being, knowing, and living in order
to create a space of access that can be creative, fertile, ambivalent, fearful,
and hopeful while still holding onto its complexities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: 252.0pt; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 200%;">on
what terms?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;"> Before
proceeding, I will introduce the two concepts that will set the groundwork for
this paper. First, I will define
the concept of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">haunting</i> through
Gordon’s work and consider its application in other queer literature. I will then define <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">queer </i>and how it relates to practices and methodologies in and out
of the archives. Later in this
paper, I will define the concept of “the politics of respectabilty” and offer a
brief tracing of this concept to consider the implications of the force and
function of these politics. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Haunting</span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">, according to Gordon (1997), “is an
animated state in which a repressed or unresolved social violence is making
itself known, sometimes very directly, sometimes more obliquely” (p. xvi). For the purpose of this paper utilizing
the oral history interviews as primary practices and sites of inquiry, haunting
can exist in the archives by filling the empty spaces – the pauses and gaps in
our storytelling and then the archival artifact as it is being preserved. Looking closely at the discourse of
Gordon’s haunting, we can recognize movement and animation, but it might be
there for just a fleeting moment.
Haunting is a relationship that we enter into, an experience, a
connection. Puar (2007), in her
book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Terrorist Assemblages:
homonationalism in queer times</i>, draws from the concept of Gordon’s haunting
throughout her work relating it to the smoothing out of the binary between past
and present arguing that “indeed the becoming-future is haunting us” (p.
xx). For me, this temporal
collapse urgently shines a light into the deep crevaces of the archives to see
how we might frame and re-frame our community stories and artifacts to better
understand our human complexities as we look toward the future. Puar notes: “Haunting is a very
particular way of knowing what has happened or is happening. Being haunted draws us affectively,
sometimes against our will and always a bit magically, into the structure of
feeling of a reality that we come to experience, not as cold knowledge, but as
a transformative recognition” (p. xx).
More importantly, haunting emerges when we come into contact with one
another, whether through bodily contact or through our spaces and
artifacts. This haunting may feel
external as it nudges our remembering and knowing, but more importantly, this
haunting exists in each of us as an embodied (conscious) and deeply embedded
emotion (non-conscious). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">To better explain this idea and how it
relates to the queer/ed archive and its oral history interviews through their
capture by the digital video camera to their dissemination by projection or in
virtual online spaces, I call on Laine’s (2006) article “Cinema as Second Skin”
to open up how we see and know by shifting the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">optical visuality</i> to the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">haptic
visuality</i>, in which there is no optical point of view or perspective
because we can ‘see’ with our body, our skin, and through touch. The idea of the haptic may seem
unrelated to the materiality and the virtuality of an audiovisual oral history
archive accessible in cyberspace, but as I will note throughout this paper, the
body and all of its emotions, desires, and vulnerabilities are a part of
developing a queer/ed archive, especially as LGBTQ bodies have always been
regulated. Furthermore, Laine uses
Benthien’s description of emotions as “’atmospheres poured out into
undetermined expanses and often perceptible in spatial directions’” to
highlight how cinema, or oral history interviews on video in this case, touches
us by means of emotion and that the affect is situated in the skin, but its
effects reverberate through the body (p. 101). It is the skin that leads the eye and the body so that this
kind of ‘proprioceptive perception’ that is being stumbled upon through
emerging media as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">feeling</i> the
relationship to one’s environment instead of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">visualizing</i> it. This
sort of inventory-taking of the body and psyche together, in breaths and
pauses, falls into the realm of Gould’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">affect</i>
</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_ftn1" name="_ftnref" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US">[1]</span></span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">and Bourdieu’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">habitus</i></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_ftn2" name="_ftnref" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US">[2]</span></span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;"> as we begin to recognize, see,
understand, and know how to be, how to feel, and how to be in the world. Through visualization only, we can
become too quick to name. However,
through haptic and bodily encounters, we can also feel and sense in ways that
can connect our full selves to our experiences, which I believe include our
memories.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Queer,
</span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">for my purpose here,
can be understood as Somerville (2000) defines it: “pointedly critiquing
notions of stable lesbian and gay (or “straight) identification” (p. 6). Therefore, with the oral history
archive project in mind, queer/ed approaches may also bring into question
notions of truth, evidence, and authenticity as storytelling takes place in
front of the camera and then is shared through the computer screen. According to Puar, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“queerness</i> challenge a linear mode of conduction and
transmission: there is not exact
recipe for a queer endeavor, no prirori system that taxonomizes the linkages,
disruptions, and contradictions into a tidy vessel” (p. xv). The “preference for ‘queer’ represents,
among other things, an aggressive impulse of generalization; it rejects a
minoritizing logic of toleration or simple political interest-representation in
favor of a more thorough resistance to regimes of the normal” (Smith quoting
Warner, p. 41). Therefore,
challenging assumptions and questioning what has been taken for granted as
“natural” or “normal” must necessarily carry into archival methodologies.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: 216.0pt; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 200%;">our
stories as evidence</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 72.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">“Interest in notions of a single past, an
unattainable but real sense of historical truth, has been displaced by a sense
of past plural and of past imperfect, a past that emphasizes the ‘becoming’
rather than the ‘became.’ History, then, is a series of spaces where each
individual is free to determine a past – some based on archives and some not.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent">
<span lang="EN-US">Francis X. Blouin, Jr.,
“Archivists, mediation, and constructs of social memory”</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">In my research on and work with
archives, I have noticed a taken-for-granted and certainly a normalized
rigidity that has existed in their constructions, collections, and
accessibility. In his article
“What is Past is Prologue: A History of Archival Ideas Since 1898, and the
Future Paradigm Shift,” Cook (1997), Canadian archival theorist, analyzes the
history of archival thought since the publication of <u>The Dutch Manual of
1898</u></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_ftn3" name="_ftnref" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US">[3]</span></span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">. The trends that emerged since that time suggest a shift from
a records-focused activity to a process-oriented activity to preserve the
collective memory of nations and peoples.
What stands out to me through this research is the discourse of “the
official” and how the archivist has played the role of gatekeeper – letting
some things (and peoples) enter the archive and keeping some things (and
peoples) out. English theorist Sir
Hilary Jenkinson</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_ftn4" name="_ftnref" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US">[4]</span></span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;"> also defended archives as impartial
evidence and pushed his vision of the archivist as the state guardian of
evidence. Controversy bubbled up
in the archives circles as there was concern about the state ideology tainting
and distorting the archival legacy, in which the archives would <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">only</i><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">
</b>reflect the “official” view of history as approved by the state. Not long after Jenkinson’s push, Hans
Boom, German archivist, became the first major voice for a new societal
paradigm for archives. He pushed
for society to define their own core values, and argued that these values
should be mirrored through archival records. Even as archives consciously move away from the state,
archival theorist, Blouin, Jr. asked how we are to determine what in the
archives is authentic and true when archives and archivists generally align
with dominant cultural and political aims as defined by evolving attitudes
within the constructs of the nation-state. This question moves me to consider the promise and
possibilities of queering archival practices in order to instantiate our human
complexities and not just tailor our performances to highlight the “good” while
leaving the “bad” deeply embedded in ourselves and out of reach. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 216.0pt; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16pt;">being ‘good’ citizens<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent3">
<span lang="EN-US">“History is an ongoing process
through which we understand and define ourselves and our lives.”</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 180.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Michael Bronski, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Queer History of the United States<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent3">
<span lang="EN-US">“It was very dangerous at that
time because of our jobs, of course.
That’s why we were very cautious, but we did go to gay bars, but in
general, we met in each other’s homes and there was a lot of entertaining and
always cocktail parties on Saturday nights and Sunday afternoons with a lot of
drinking. In fact, so drinking
that we both became alcoholics, but we quit… That was a way of socializing and,
of course, we did go to gay bars.
We sneaked in and we hoped that they didn’t raid it. It was quite dangerous and they would
post your name in the papers if you were picked up. And you lost your jobs. There were no ifs, ands, or buts.” </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 144.0pt; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Don Sullivan (age 86) interview<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Arizona LGBTQ Storytelling Project<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">15 March 2010<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">In the case of an LGBTQ archive that
is developed for and with the LGBTQ communities it is representing, I consider
what of the dominant ideology haunts LGBTQ peoples and their archival
collections. The “invention” of ‘homosexuality’</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_ftn5" name="_ftnref" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US">[5]</span></span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;"> was a key moment for those of us who
fall into the non-normative, “abnormal,” or “deviant” categories relating to
our bodies and/or our desires. This invention haunts LGBTQ archives which are,
by defintion, </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">complex, messy, and in need of critical attention beyond the
standard archival practices of digital preservation or media migration. Although we have been taught to see
archives as pillars (imagine: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">solid and
unmoving</i>) of historical evidence, archives are not static, but in constant
and fluid motion within a spectrum of pasts, presents, and futures. Understanding the queer/ed archive, then,
as always mobile and forming and re-forming itself as we member and re-member
its collections can be a part of the queering process, practice, and
methodology. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">As we each enter the queer/ed archive
as artifact and as researcher, we should question the spaces that are
privileged and those that are silenced.
Science medicalized and pathologized sexuality so that non-normative
peoples saw themselves through these pathologies – diseased, ill, abnormal, and
less than. As Bronski (2011),
Eaklor (2008), and Stryker (2008) have noted, controlling bodies through
cultivating good traits while eliminating the bad traits became a part of the
state project to normalize populations.
Through these social purity movements and bio-political strategies,
bodies and their non-normative desires and identities continue to exist, but
they are disciplined and managed and such discipinings are implicated in the
stories that speak our histories. In the process, shame, guilt, fear, and other
self-effacing emotions have permeated the process of telling by those of us in
these non-normative communities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">In order to help me understand the
production of queer archives and the queering of archival practices, the
concept of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">politics of respectability</i>
set out in Gould’s book, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Moving Politics:
Emotion and ACT UP’s Fight Against AIDS</i>, pulled me into the oral history
interviews I have collected since 2008 to look and listen closely to the
stories that were told. Gould
defines a politics of respectability as “almost always deeply ambivalent;
concerned above all with social acceptance, it entails efforts of some members
of a marginalized group both to disprove dominant stereotypes about the group
and to regulate and ‘improve’ the behavior of its members in line with socially
approved norms” (p. 89).
Generally, these socially approved norms are heteronormative, which
Berlant and Warner (2003) define as: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent2">
<span lang="EN-US">“the institutions, structures of
understanding, and practical orientations that make heterosexuality seem not
only coherent – that is, organized as a sexuality – but also privileged. Its coherence is always provisional,
and its privilege can take several (sometimes contradictory) forms: unmarked, as the basic idiom of the
personal and the social; or marked, as a natural state; or projected as an
ideal or moral accomplishment” (p. 179-80). </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">I would even consider the politics of respectability as the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ghostly matter</i> that Gordon argues
continues to animate the hauntings, but I would add that this ghostly matter is
embedded and permeates much more than we can even identify when we look
closely. A queer/ed archive, then,
must complicate and intervene in the force of such politics, but the search for
the tactics to do so will necessitate the reconsideration of the history of the
politics of respectability. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">During the 1950s and 1960s, the
politics of respectability as well as heteronormativity were at play in the
development and growth of the early homophile organizations such as The
Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis. As Boyd (2003) highlights in her book, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Wide Open Town: a history of Queer San Francisco to 1965</i>, there
existed a tension between bar owners/bar goers and the homophile activists
because the former were concerned with securing the right to public space for
lesbian and gay people while the latter were concerned with acceptance and
especially assimilation. Although
they shared the public space of bars and found mutual interests empowering, the
homophile activist organizations in San Francisco were working towards an “assimilationist
project of social uplift, using language of integration and often time
expressing disdain for queer and gender-transgressive qualities of bar-based
communities” (p. 162). Gay and
lesbian visibility at this time produced high levels of fear and stress for
those who were visible as well as those who were not visible. One of the main concerns for the
Daughters of Bilitis was how they each would build their own self-esteem and
self-worth while trying to build a community. These homophile activists worked to project respectable
images of lesbians and gay men into the eyes of public opinion and at times
turned their backs on the diversity of the lesbian and gay community in order
to be accepted into the mainstream.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">In his oral history interview for the
Arizona LGBTQ Storytelling Project, Don Sullivan tells his story of ‘coming
out’ and he shares the fact that he had had a same-sex encounter that
frightened him and made him move back to his parents’ ranch in northern
California. He said that he “didn’t
know what homosexuality was, but he was unable to cope with it.” During the 1950s he had been in the
military and received care from the VA hospital, which he said he could not
stand. He did not say why he did
not like the care from the VA, but through reading about how non-normative men
were treated in the military after WWII, I can better understand these gaps and
silences as haunted by historic practicers were threatening especially in their
pathologizations. Don goes on to
account for his first trip to a gay bar in the bay area. He was appalled by how terrible the gay
bar was, but that was where he met his long-term partner, Gene. Don was intentional when he told me
that he did not go home with Gene that night, obviously dispelling the stereotype
of the promiscuous gay man.
Overall, they were together for nearly fifty years as Gene had passed
away just two months shy of their anniversary. Such a declaration is itself haunted by the politics of
respectability that mark all of the interviews I have conducted thus far for
the archives. The interview
excerpt that leads this section highlights, for me, the need to demonstrate
respectability as well as the fear that the police and their surveillance had
instilled in the lesbian and gay communities as they tried to connect with one
another at bars and then in more private settings like someone’s home. The fear of losing your job and having
your name placed in the paper as a social stigma was a real fear with
significant material consequences that was embodied by many people in the
lesbian and gay communities at that time and that continues to haunt LGBTQ
communities today. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">The politics of respectability
underpinned this ‘good gays/bad gays’ dichotomy, in which those who fit the
norms or could work to reach the norms were considered ‘good citizens’ and then
would have more access to rights given by the state. Canaday (2009) in her book, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Straight State: Sexuality and Citizenship in Twentieth-Century
America</i>, explains how citizenship is two-pronged: 1) as practice and 2) as status. Therefore, citizen as status and identity “seeks to identify
the attributes of good citizens, and to determine the way in which individuals
are incorporated into the status of citizenship” (p. 8). Along these lines, it is necessary then
to establish parameters of citizenship that consider questions of nature and
quality so that some are included and some are excluded. By establishing the insider/outsider
binary, the dominant groups can then entice the non-dominant groups to join the
insiders by fitting their established norms or they can remain the “outlaws,”
as Puar calls them. Puar goes on
to explain how “some homosexual subjects are complicit with heterosexual
national formations rather than inherently or automatically excluded from or
opposed to them” (p.4). Therefore,
control by the nation, state, dominant groups and their ideological hegemony
seems to take place easily through Gramscian notions of spontaneous consent
because those who are being “Othered” often demonstrate a longing for
respectability, therefore, they consent without recognizing what they are
consenting to. “Respectable gays
like to think that they owe nothing to the sexual subculture they think of as
sleazy. But their success, their
way of living, their political rights, and their very identities would never
have been possible but for the existence of the public sexual culture they now
despise” (Berlant & Warner, 2003, p. 177). Set apart as binaries and opposites, the 'good gays’ always
exist in relation to the ‘bad gays’ so that when one segment is lifted, it
shifts in opposition to another being further marginalized. This production of exceptionalism can
produce not only the gay or non-gay citizen but functions also to maintain and
support dominant ideological structures.
As Puar and Smith both argue, the exceptional subject is a “white queer
subject who reinscribes a U.S. homornormativity by positioning himself/herself
in an imperialist relationship to those ethnic subjects deemed unable to transgress”
(Smith, p. 49). Understanding the
exceptionalism of what it means to be a good gay citizen, and the ascension of
whiteness that accompanies that social location, may be helpful in
understanding who the first group of LGBTQ people to come forward to tell their
stories for the “Arizona LGBT Storytelling Project”: gay middle-class white
men.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: 252.0pt; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 200%;">being
‘normal’</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 72.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">“We have not had a ceremony. We have talked about having a ceremony
once we have a child and doing kind of a family ceremony. We’re – we’ve both been married. Neither of us are interested
necessarily in getting married again, although I think we’ve changed a little
over time. At this point, we’re
not interested in having a ceremony in the state of Arizona. If we want to get married, then – and
we’re also not interested in going to a state, getting married there, and
coming back to Arizona. I think
that if we, um, I think that if things don’t change in the state of Arizona
within the next three to five years, then we probably will leave and move to a
place that recognizes same-sex couples as real human beings.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 144.0pt; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Eve Rifkin (age 39) interview<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 144.0pt; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Arizona LGBTQ Storytelling Project<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: 144.0pt; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">30 September 2009<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 72.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">“Gordon and I have been together twenty
years. I mean, how more married
can you be? Juan has been with us
now for four years. Um, and the
same would be true for Juan. He is
a very kind, gentle, loving person.
It works for us and it works very well. If you saw our master bedroom, I mean, we have probably the
biggest bed you’ve ever seen because it’s a bed for three.”
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 144.0pt; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 144.0pt; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Les Krambeal (age 60-something)
interview<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 144.0pt; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Arizona LGBTQ Storytelling Project<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: 144.0pt; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">10 April 2010<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Often contributors to the oral history
archive appeared to want to demonstrate how “normal” and respectable they
were. I have come to better
understand this storytelling practice through what Duggan (2003) has called
“the new homonormativity… a politics that does not contest dominant
heteronormative assumptions and institutions but upholds and sustains them,
while promising the possibility of a demobilized gay constituency and a
privatized, depoliticized gay culture anchored in domesticity and consumption”
(p.50). As you can see in
Eve Rifkin’s oral history interview excerpt above, she and her partner have
been contemplating marriage, but feel thwarted by the anti-gay legislation in
the state of Arizona. She runs
through a number of options as some states offer legal same-sex marriage. Her final sentence spells out the
haunting of the dehumanizing bio-political strategies that have been regulating
LGBTQ bodies since the late 19<sup>th</sup> century. Being recognized as a “real human being” is important to her
as she feels like a second-class citizen without the right to marry. The haunting here shows traces of the
liberal respectability and rights-based movement that started in the 1970s and
also extended backward into the earlier ideas of assimilation during the
development of the homophile movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Today, this aspiration for normalized
civil rights has become deeply embedded in our LGBTQ lives and we have become
inculcated in these desires for acceptance so that many from these communities
embody this homonormativity. In
creating this desire for “gay equality” and the subsequent LGBTQ communities’
investment into this civil rights agenda, the gay public sphere is contained
and becomes, therefore, manageable by the dominant mainstream publics and
capitalist enterprise</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_ftn6" name="_ftnref" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US">[6]</span></span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">. Through exercising a gay moralism, our own LGBTQ communities
self-regulate and attack the non-normativities that exist and are visible
within our own groups.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Canaday, calling on the Gramscian
notion of hegemony through coercion, explains how ‘homosexuality’ became a
legal category in similar ways to how it became a medical and psychiatric
one: “To uncover those processes
is to challenge the law’s own tendency to authorize homosexuality as somehow
pre-given or even natural in its constitution. ‘The power exerted by a legal
regime consists less in the force that it can bring to bear against violators
of its rules,’ writes the legal historian Robert Gordon, ‘than in its capacity
to persuade that the world described in its image and categories is the only
attainable world’” (p. 4).
Furthermore, this development of the “good citizen” works for our
nationalist agenda. The formation
of the homonational subject and rights discourses works in tandem with the
patriotic propaganda to produce and reproduce even further this rigid binary
where the outsiders and “outlaws” become even further marginalized as “queer
terrorists.” Duggan’s
homonormative ideologies go hand-in-hand with this invitation to “good
citizenship” and the US nation-state formation, but in this, there becomes an
even narrower threshold for racial, class, and gender national ideals and an
extension of the applied eugenics from the late nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries that Bronski and Eaklor comment on in their historical accounts about
the social purity movements that were working on establishing the “sanitary
utopia” (Bronski, p. 91). The
social purity movements of the early twentieth century haunt the LGBTQ
communities as self-regulation becomes a dominant form of normalizing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;"> In his oral history interview, Les Krambeal talked
about his work in politics especially for LGBTQ rights. He also told stories of growing up on a
ranch and how today he was active with the gay rodeo. His desires revolved around forms of masculinity as defined
through cowboys and rodeos, both of which have held a strong place in
mainstream culture in terms of the image of the rugged individual conquering
the west. For me, the emphasis on
what gay rodeos produce in terms of fundraising for the LGBTQ community and
organizations dedicated to serving LGBTQ people and the gay rodeo’s mission to
‘break stereotypes’ while also attending to the well-being of the rodeo animals
certainly challenges assumptions on a number of levels – the cowboy, the gay,
and the rodeo. In the
interview excerpt above, he mentions marriage, but goes on to explain his
relational and sexual configuration as three men. For the archives, this contradictory positioning about LGBTQ
“coupling,” marriage, and relationships opens us up to recognizing that “queer
culture constitutes itself in many ways other than through the official publics
of opinion culture and the state, or through the privatized forms normally
associated with sexuality” (Berlant & Warner, p. 175). Many in the LGBTQ communities seem to
have found comfort in the stability that living according to the
heteronormative/homonormative ideologies provides. This complicity affords them a dependable life that does not
have to be explained or reinvented, shifted, and changed on a continuous basis
and can therefore be legible as worthy of rights and respectability. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: 144.0pt; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 200%;">conjuring
the queer archives</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 72.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">“I identify as gender-queer. I identify as queer. And maybe even more than those things,
as a poet and a teacher. So, in
terms of my gender-queer identity, for me, that’s really about feeling very
happy to have been born in the body that I was born in, which is female, and
incredible grateful for my experience as a woman – growing up as a woman,
living as a woman. And really
feeling like my transition, which has just been taking testosterone, has just
allowed me to foreground another part of myself without, hopefully without
erasing what came before. And so,
for me, I feel pretty comfortably situated in both genders, even though I know
the world sees me as a guy. To me,
that’s a little bit funny because even when I look in the mirror, I am still a
little bit surprised that folks see just a guy because of the facial hair and
things like that. So, yeah,
gender-queer and queer in terms of my sexuality because it has not been stable. [LAUGHTER.] And, um, I like that. It feels fluid. And that fluidity, I think, has also
been a result of my transition and becoming and accepting that my own comfort
in my body changes and moves in and out as well.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 144.0pt; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 144.0pt; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">TC Tolbert (age 30-something)
interview<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 144.0pt; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Arizona LGBTQ Storytelling Project<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: 144.0pt; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">29 April 2010<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 72.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">“I just feel that every day when I look in the
mirror, [LONG PAUSE. CRYING.] I
think about when my father committed suicide, they didn’t call me for three
weeks. No one entered that home
because they knew he had AIDS. His
pets ate him. And I had to scrape
him from the floor. That is not
the way society should be.
[CRYING.</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_ftn7" name="_ftnref" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US">[7]</span></span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">] And every day I look in the mirror, I’m like ‘I’m gonna be
the best damn person I can.’”
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 144.0pt; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 144.0pt; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Jim Leos (age 50-something) interview<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 144.0pt; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Arizona LGBTQ Storytelling Project<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: 144.0pt; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">21 March 2012<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Roque Ramírez’s article, “Gay Latino
Histories/Dying to Be Remembered: AIDS Obituaries, Public Memory, and the Queer
Latino Archive,” informs our ability to see how bodies are further regulated in
and out of the archives. To find
and imagine an archive or collection of historical traces in spaces that have
often been overlooked ties into Gordon’s use of the verb <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">to conjure</i> as a “particular form of calling up and calling out the
forces that make things what they are in order to fix and transform a troubling
situation” (p. 22). As a method of
uncovering these lost and missing pieces of history, Roque Ramírez carries on
this verb usage to explain the potentials within the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">queer archive</i>: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent2">
<span lang="EN-US">“To conjure the practice of queer
archives opens up exciting epistemological possibilities, such as queering the
Latina archive or racializing the queer archive. Also, however, queer archiving practices stir a host of
theoretical debates, with empirical claims for historical knowledge production
receiving postmodern critiques of the hegemonic, essentialist, and exclusionary
practices in history writing, museum collections, and archival
repositories. Simply put, some
bodies and their representations – white, male, middle-class, heterosexual, and
Anglo – have been much more present than all others in the official halls,
drawers, and pages of ‘evidence.’ Yet despite these critiques of what counts as
history, evidence, and archival importance, there have also been activists and
academic movements for recognizing precisely the missing, neglected, and
largely undocumented cultures, bodies, and histories of entire communities,
usually within the same logics of historical rendition and archival
practices.” (p. 105).</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Even within a queer paradigm and the
embodied push towards difference or sameness, this regulation of bodies
of-color is problematic leading me to wonder about the possibilities of
developing an archive that is queer(ed).
Smith in her article titled “Queer Theory and Native Studies: The Heteronormativity
of Settler Colonialism” argues that “queer culture and queer politics does not
obey the member/nonmember logics of race and gender” (p. 45). She pulls in Warner’s argument that “if
queerness is dominated by whiteness, then it follows a logic of belonging and
non-belonging. It also relies on a
shared culture – one based on white supremacy. As Perez notes ‘Queer theory, when it privileges difference
over sameness absolutely, colludes with institutional racism in vanishing,
hence retrenching, white privilege.
It serves as the magician’s assistant to whiteness’s disappearing act’”
(p. 45). Perez is arguing that
when we conflate all difference it becomes a sameness still entrenched with the
hierarchies that are societally in place.
Considering the two ends of this spectrum, one pushing difference and
one pushing sameness, and how it impacts the archives through selection,
appraisal, classification, and making accessible, the queer/ed archive can
exist as long as it is flexible, fluid, and open to mobility and shifting
spaces that it then creates for more stories as well as more silences and
hauntings. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">The oral history interview excerpts
from TC Tolbert and Jim Leos highlight the complexities of our own individual
histories, but more importantly, for the greater queer/ed archive, they shine a
light on the unique stories and the nature of our collective memory as always
becoming. Our collective memory is
one and many that cannot fit nicely into the spectrum, but encompasses this
spectrum. Muñoz offers his model
for political engagement “whereas assimilationism seems to identify with the
dominant society, and whereas counteridentificiation seeks to reject it
completely, disidentification ‘is the third mode of dealing with dominant
ideology, one that neither opts to assimilate within such a structure nor
strictly opposes it; rather, disidentification is a strategy that works on and
against dominant ideology’” (Smith, p. 55). Disidentification is not a middle ground between
assimilationist and contestatory politics; rather, it is a tactic that
recognizes the shifting terrain of resistance. More importantly, the queer(ed)
archive can become an embodied strategy to recognize the hauntings that exist
in each of us and in our memories, as well as in our tellings, so that we can
then look more closely at the silences to not necessarily fill them with
something else, but to find the ghosts that already reside there. It is in these spaces and moments that
the archive can be mobile, moving, animated, while also open for contested and
contradictory histories; fear and tension; creative and fertile exploration;
and certainly a messy yet generative spirit. Being attentive to these hauntings and all of the ghosts
gets at the potential for queerness and queer politics. In the queer/ed archive we will find
those who are not or may not want to be respectable – a bed for three and a
body that is both/and and so much more that it insists on a recognizable
history of girl. Imagine what we
can learn and document outside of normativizing the politics of respectability.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;"> </span></div>
<h1 style="line-height: normal;">
<span lang="EN-US">WORKS CONSULTED</span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Berlant, L.
and Michael Warner. (2003). Sex in public from <u>Queer Studies: An <o:p></o:p></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Interdisciplinary Reader</span></u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;"> edited by Robert J. Corber and
Stephen Valocchi. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Blackwell Publishing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Blouin,
F.X.jr. (1999). Archivists, meditation, and constructs of social memory. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Archival Issues</span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">, (24) 2, 101-12.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Bronski, M.
(2011). <u>A Queer History of the United States</u>. Boston: Beacon Press.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Canaday, M.
(2009). <u>The Straight State: Sexuality and Citizenship in the <o:p></o:p></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Twentieth-Century America</span></u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">. Princeton University Press.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Cook, T.
(1994). Electronic records, paper minds: The revolution in information <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">management and archives in the postcustodial and
postmodernist era. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Archives and
Manuscripts, </i>22, 315-20.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Cook, T.
(1997). What is past is prologue: A history of archival ideas since 1898, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">and the future paradigm shift. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Archivaria 43,</i> 17-63.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Cook, T.
(2001). Archival science and postmodernism: new formulations for old <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">concepts. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Archival
Science, </i>1 (1) 3-24.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Duggan, L.
(2003). <u>The Twilight of Equality? Neoliberalism, Cultural Politics, and <o:p></o:p></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">the Attack on Democracy</span></u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">. Boston: Beacon Press.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Eaklor, V.L.
(2008). <u>Queer America: A People’s GLBT History of the United <o:p></o:p></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">States</span></u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">. New York:
The New Press.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Eastwood, T.
and Heather MacNeil (eds). (2010). <u>Currents of Archival Thinking</u>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">ABC-CLIO, LLC.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Freeman, E.
(2010). <u>Time Binds: Queer Temporalities, Queer Histories.</u> Duke <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">University Press.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Gilliland, A.
(2010). Afterword: in and out of the archives. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Archival Science,</i> 10, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">333-343.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Gordon, A.F.
(1997). <u>Ghostly Matters: Haunting and the Sociological <o:p></o:p></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Imagination.</span></u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;"> New University of Minnesota Press.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Gould, D. B.
(2009). <u>Moving Politics:
Emotion and ACT UP’s Fight Against AIDS.</u> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">University of Chicago Press.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Jimerson,
R.C. (2009). <u>Archives Power: Memory, Accountability, and Social <o:p></o:p></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Justice.</span></u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">
Society of American Archivists.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Laine, T.
(2006). Cinema as second skin: under the membrane of horror film, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">New Review of Film and
Television Studies</span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">, 4
(2) August 2006.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Murphy, K. P.
(2010). Gay Was Good: Progress, Homonormativity, and Oral <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">History. <u>Queer Twin Cities: Twin Cities GLBT
Oral History Project.</u> University of Minnesota Press.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Puar, J. K.
(2007). <u>Terrorist Assemblages: homonationalism in queer times.</u> Duke <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">University Press.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Roque
Ramírez, Horacio N. (2010). Gay Latino histories/dying to be <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">remembered: AIDS obituaries, public memory, and
the queer Latino <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">archive from <u>Beyond El Barrio: Everyday Life
in Latina/o America</u> ed by Gina M. Pérez, Frank Andre Guridy, and Adrian
Burgos. New York University Press.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Sandoval, C.
(2000). <u>Methodology of the Oppressed</u>. University of Minnesota <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Press.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Smith, A.
(2010). Queer theory and Native studies:
the heteronormativity of <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">settler colonialism<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">, GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies</i>, 16 (1-2) 2010.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Somerville,
S.B. (2000). <u>Queering The Color Line: Race and the Invention of <o:p></o:p></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Homosexuality in American Culture</span></u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">. Duke University Press.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Stryker, S.
(2008). <u>Transgender History.</u> Seal Press.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;">
<br />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<div id="ftn" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_ftnref" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;">[1]</span></span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 10pt;"> Gould uses the term <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">affect</i> “to indicate nonconscious and
unnamed, but nevertheless registered, experiences of bodily energy and
intensity that arise in response to stimuli impinging on the body” (p.
19). In her footnote she credits
Brian Massumi’s discussion of what is at stake politically in this rendering of
emotion. And here Massumi draws
from Spinoza and Deleuze. What
stands out for me here is the use of the word <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">nonconscious</i> rather than <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">unconscious</i>
to explain this in order to reference that which is outside of conscious
awareness. This relates to my
earlier inclusion of haptic visualtiy and our bodily ways of knowing and being
outside of the optical perspective of the world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_ftnref" name="_ftn2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;">[2]</span></span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 10pt;"> Pierre Bourdieu’s
concept of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">habitus</i> is defined as “the
socially constituted, commonsensical, taken-for-granted understandings or
schemas in a social grouping that, operating beneath conscious awareness, on
the level of bodily understanding, provide members with a disposition or
orientation to action, a ‘sense of the game’ and how best to play it” (Gould,
p. 34).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_ftnref" name="_ftn3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;">[3]</span></span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 10pt;"> This is the first
formal articulation of core archival principles, 100 archival rules debated by
the Dutch Association of Archivists.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_ftnref" name="_ftn4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;">[4]</span></span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 10pt;"> Jenkinson’s stance
was that the role of the archivist was to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">keep</i>
the archive, not <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">select</i> the
archive. This canon of rules and
procedures helped to create the identity of objectivity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_ftnref" name="_ftn5" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;">[5]</span></span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 10pt;"> “Introduced into
English through the 1892 English translation of Krafft-Ebing’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Psychopathia Sexualis</i>, the term
‘homosexuality’ stimulated a great deal of uneasiness. In the 1915 edition of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sexual Inversion</i>, Ellis reported that
‘most investigators have been much puzzled in coming to a conclusion as to the
best, most exact, and at the same time most colorless names [for same-sex
desire]” (Somerville, p. 31-32).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_ftnref" name="_ftn6" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;">[6]</span></span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 10pt;"> See: Jasbir Puar’s
article “Circuits of Queer Mobility: </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #111111; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 10pt;">Tourism, Travel, and Globalization in<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 48.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -48.0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 10pt;">GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies</span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 10pt;"> (2002) 8(1-2): 101-137; and Rosemary Hennessy’s<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 48.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -48.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 10pt;">2002
book, </span><u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 10pt;">Profit and pleasure: Sexual identities in late capitalism</span></u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 10pt;"> and
her 1994 article, “Queer<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 48.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -48.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 10pt;">visibility in
commodity culture” in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Cultural Critique</i>,
(29), 31-76.</span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_ftnref" name="_ftn7" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 10pt;">[7]</span></span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 10pt;"> Through the
transcription of the oral history interviews for this paper, I chose to include
the pauses and the emotion production that takes place in front of the camera
because I will not be providing the actual video segments themselves. I believe that understanding the
emotion here is helpful in truly imagining the materialiality and force through
which the politics of respectability work within each of us. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
</div>
LGBTI ALMS 2012http://www.blogger.com/profile/16476681229383980702noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-766656158998930526.post-48812336853034509862012-07-06T17:25:00.004+02:002012-08-15T16:12:22.748+02:00Phan Bigotte and Thomas Leduc, Académie Gay et Lesbienne, Paris, France: LGBT archives in France<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"They refuse to help us under the pretext that we have some documentation about certain controversial subjects like pornography, BDSM or prostitution."</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrimF7Xc6olcQTsA1eGLNTvhQMPGGBgOO2ed23pqhmdj7aa9zBNnHGYwVAwdsrx8k2CI0OYsfBTlnkBWPHcndq1j5nB6hJDkjZa7oYDXA0GLo0H3cTR5C6XWf52ojOGJ1DmM82XrR7Vdo/s1600/academie+gay.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrimF7Xc6olcQTsA1eGLNTvhQMPGGBgOO2ed23pqhmdj7aa9zBNnHGYwVAwdsrx8k2CI0OYsfBTlnkBWPHcndq1j5nB6hJDkjZa7oYDXA0GLo0H3cTR5C6XWf52ojOGJ1DmM82XrR7Vdo/s1600/academie+gay.jpg" /></a></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Phan Bigotte and Thomas Leduc the president and vice-president of the Académie Gay et Lesbienne in Paris, one of the largest LGBTI archives in France. In this paper, Phan Bigotte and Thomas Leduc tell the story of their archive, the fight against AIDS and the difficulties and discrimination they encountered in creating their library. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What do you think about the questions Thomas Leduc and Phan Bigotte pose in their essay: Should "LGBT archives be managed exclusively by salaried professionals, and directed by scientists or celebrities?" And should archives also include materials such as pornography or homophobe pamphlets or "should LGBTI archives only serve to tell a beautiful legend?</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">To read the full paper, click "read more". Comment, share, discuss and enjoy.</span><br />
<h1>
<span lang="EN-US"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<div>
<div style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px; font-weight: bold;"></span></div>
<a name='more'></a><h2 style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">
LGBT archives in France</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">
<span lang="EN-US">1 - Contrary
to the fact that some claim, there are initiatives in LGBT archives in France. Their
story is underestimated, even not visible.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">
<span lang="EN-US">2 - Our self-financed
association is active for more than eleven years. We have collected tens of thousands
documents (among which of the historic archives fonds). But we have never
managed to obtain neither place to warehouse, nor public subvention under
diverse pretexts.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">
<span lang="EN-US">3 - We were
slowed down by preconceived ideas and prejudices which continue in France. Finally
what is the model of archives which public authorities wish to promote?</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">1) LGBT resources in France</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">
<span lang="EN-US">From the beginnings
of our association, we examined the history of the existing and past
initiatives. These informations helped us a lot in the management of our own
archives but also for the visibility and the public awareness on this subject.
We also established a specific documentation on LGBT archives, libraries,
documentation centers and museums in France and in the world (</span><span lang="FR"><a href="http://www.archiveshomo.info/pmb/opac_css/index.php?lvl=categ_see&id=38&main=1&id_thes=1"><span lang="EN-US">see our catalog for example</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US">).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">
<span lang="EN-US">In France,
the initiatives are very rarely evoked, even less named. They are even glossed
over by certain persons to be able to justify their project or emphasize their
work.</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">
<span lang="EN-US">Some of
disappeared associations, today forgotten, led nevertheless bravely diverse
actions in a difficult context: collection and put at the disposal of
documents, creation of documentary products (bibliographies and catalogs),
organization of events (colloquium, exhibition, festival), interventions with
media and with public institutions …</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">
<span lang="EN-US">That is why
we think useful to be able to make known and recognize the work pioneer of
those who preceded us and which "made the contribution". You will
find </span><span lang="FR"><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span lang="EN-US">in annexe</span></span></span><span lang="FR"> </span><span lang="EN-US">a historic panorama of LGBT archives, libraries
and documentation centers in France (see also our website </span><span lang="FR"><a href="http://www.archiveshomo.info/annuaire/france.htm"><span lang="EN-US">a version with more details</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US">).</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span lang="EN-US">2) Académie Gay et Lesbienne
</span><span lang="FR">[Gay and Les<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526" name="_GoBack"></a>bian Academy]</span></span></div>
<h3 style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">
<span lang="EN-US">At the beginning, a personal
collection<o:p></o:p></span></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">
<span lang="EN-US">In 1975,
Phan Bigotte, a young political refugee of twenty years, discovered upon his
arrival in France a new much more meaning, homosexual universe in all his
variety, very different of its youth in the South Viêt Nam. He began to collect
all the documents which he found on the homosexuality.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">
<span lang="EN-US">In 1989, after
having discovered his HIV-positivity, he sold his bookshop. The money of the
sale allowed him to buy by auction of the French State a big house for a better
storage of it more and more voluminous collection. He got back all the books of
his former gay shelf to complete his personal library.</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">
<span lang="EN-US">Then he was
simultaneously an activist in two big associations of fight against AIDS, Act
Up-Paris and AIDeS. He preserved numerous documents of these associations (in
particular internal documents).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">
<span lang="EN-US">During the
years of discouraged fight against this mortal pandemic, the prevention and the
treatments were focused on the survival. He attended powerless in the premature
disappearance, with all hands, of numerous homosexuals. Indeed, often families
threw away everything, trying to clear out any trace of the homosexuality of
their parent died from the AIDS. What motivated him to plead for the necessity
of the conservation of their archives: for their memories which are also ours.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">
<span lang="EN-US">After the
success of the multitherapies with protease inhibitors, numerous historic
homosexual activists left organizations of fight against AIDS which had
professionalized. The tiredness, the bitterness or the choice to reorganize their
life on the other concerns had caused these departures. Then, many documents
were taken and/or thrown away causing the loss of an important part of the
history of the fight against AIDS in France.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">
<span lang="EN-US">In 2000, after
having waited in vain for supports, he decides to create with friends
collectors an organization with their own money and funds.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">
<span lang="EN-US">On March
1st, 2001, the Académie Gay & Lesbienne is officially registered in the
Prefecture in the form of non-profit organization.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">Today, one of the most
important LGBT fund in France</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">
<span lang="EN-US">The name
given to our fund is Conservatoire des Archives et des Mémoires LGBT [Conservatory
of LGBT Archives and Memories]. It’s today doubtless the biggest gathering of
documents on the LGBT in France by its volume and its diversity.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; page-break-after: avoid;">
<span lang="EN-US">Indeed, we collect any document concerning the
LGBT: </span>of any format and on any medium :
including the short-lived (free intended to be thrown away); in all their variety: including on
the prostitution, the BDSM, the pornography (excluding pedophile kind); <span lang="FR" style="font-family: Symbol;"><span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US">from</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="FR">any countries; </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Symbol;"><span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US">of any opinion: including documents
anti-LGBT (homophobic pamphlets, caricatural articles).</span>We are also
interested in the related themes of the AIDS, the sexuality, the sex and the gender.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-US">The fund contains
today:</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US">More than 1700 titles of </span><span lang="FR"><a href="http://www.archiveshomo.info/archives/presse-lgbt/presse.htm"><span lang="EN-US">LGBT periodicals</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US"> (since 1909) ; </span><span lang="EN-US">1100 issues of </span><span lang="FR"><a href="http://www.archiveshomo.info/archives/presse-diverse/straight.htm"><span lang="EN-US">non-LGBT periodicals</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US"> ; </span><span lang="EN-US">2400 books (among which 1400 </span><span lang="FR"><a href="http://www.archiveshomo.info/pmb/opac_css/index.php?id_thes=1"><span lang="EN-US">non-fictions</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US">) ; </span>One thousand of audiovisual materials
in VHS and DVD (fictions and documentaries); <span lang="FR"><a href="http://www.archiveshomo.info/archives/fonds/fonds.htm"><span lang="EN-US">Archives fonds</span></a></span><span lang="FR"> </span><span lang="EN-US">of people (historic activists and anonymous) and
from organizations; </span>Press clippings and several hundreds
of files: on organizations, persons and themes; Various objects (stickers, matchboxes, bottles, condoms packaging, signs, pins, bags, T-shirts, tickets); Diverse collections;</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 72pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Courier New';">o<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';">
</span></span><span lang="EN-US">of
</span><span lang="FR"><a href="http://www.archiveshomo.info/pmb/opac_css/index.php?id_thes=6"><span lang="EN-US">guides, directories, plans and maps</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US"> ;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 72pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Courier New';">o<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';">
</span></span><span lang="EN-US">of
</span><span lang="FR"><a href="http://www.archiveshomo.info/pmb/opac_css/index.php?id_thes=7"><span lang="EN-US">pamphlets and prevention material</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US"> ;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 72pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span lang="FR" style="font-family: 'Courier New';">o<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span lang="FR">of <a href="http://www.archiveshomo.info/pmb/opac_css/index.php?id_thes=11">calendars</a>
and diaries ;</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 72pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Courier New';">o<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';">
</span></span><span lang="EN-US">of
</span><span lang="FR"><a href="http://www.archiveshomo.info/pmb/opac_css/index.php?id_thes=8"><span lang="EN-US">special events documents</span></a></span><span lang="FR"> </span><span lang="EN-US">(shows, festivals, parties) including flyers
(26 years of collection among which 11 years of systematic weekly collection)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 72pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Courier New';">o<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';">
</span></span><span lang="EN-US">of
</span><span lang="FR"><a href="http://www.archiveshomo.info/pmb/opac_css/index.php?id_thes=12"><span lang="EN-US">advertising documents</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US"> (catalogs, leaflets) ;</span><br />
<br /></div>
<h3 style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">
<span lang="EN-US">In when an adapted warehouse
for archives?<o:p></o:p></span></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">
<span lang="EN-US">The Académie
Gay et Lesbienne is a small association of less than about ten persons, certain
more active than the others according to their availability.</span>It is
self-financed because it doesn’t still perceive a subsidy. We develop the
Conservatoire des Archives et des Mémoires LGBT, from day to day, thanks to the
work of the volunteers, their collections, their purchases, the donations (of
persons and organizations) and the exchanges with the other LGBT resources centers
in France and abroad.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">
<span lang="EN-US">Archives
are at present accommodated in the house of the president of the association,
whom they occupy in more than half. This building allowed a long-lasting
preservation of more and more voluminous documents. Regrettably we can’t
receive the public, for lack of real premises in the standards of security.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">
<span lang="EN-US">That is the
reason why we insure, as far as our means, a remote service : supply of
information, copies and digitalizations of documents; rerouting towards persons
and resources places.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">
<span lang="EN-US">And we
enrich </span><span lang="FR"><a href="http://www.archiveshomo.info/"><span lang="EN-US">our website</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US"> : </span><span lang="FR"><a href="http://www.archiveshomo.info/pmb/opac_css/"><span lang="EN-US">funds catalog</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US"> (not exhaustive, current
computerization since 2008), digitalization of documents (</span><span lang="FR"><a href="http://www.archiveshomo.info/documents/akademos/couverture.htm"><span lang="EN-US">n° 1 of Akademos review</span></a></span><span lang="FR"> </span><span lang="EN-US">dating 1909), documentary resources (</span><span lang="FR"><a href="http://www.archiveshomo.info/doc/presse/arcadie.htm#som"><span lang="EN-US">summaries of issues of the Arcadie
review</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US">)…<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">
<div style="font-weight: normal;">
<span lang="EN-US">Our procedures
to make accommodate archives, obtain a warehouse or a public subsidy failed
under diverse pretexts.</span></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">3) Difficulties: brakes
and prejudices</span></div>
</div>
<h3 style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">
<span lang="EN-US">Homonormativity and « dirty
» archives <o:p></o:p></span></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">
<span lang="EN-US">They criticized
us about the kind, the subjects and the origin of the documents which we keep.
Some politics use this criticism emanating from some gay personalities to
refuse to help us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">
<span lang="EN-US">They think
ridiculous and not at all scientist that we keep flyers for example. They
consider that it’s only vulgar commercial advertisements without interest,
unworthy of "noble" archives.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">
<span lang="EN-US">As our
archives also cover the AIDS, they blamed us for contributing to the mixture
between AIDS and homosexuality and for encroaching on the domain of the
organizations of fight against AIDS. They refuse to help us under pretext that
we have some documentation about certain controversial subjects like pornography, BDSM or prostitution. They consider useless, even
counterproductive, to keep traces of the intracommunity conflicts.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">
<span lang="EN-US">They disapprove
that we agreed to preserve archives of controversial or politically incorrect
persons.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">
<div style="font-weight: normal;">
<span lang="EN-US">Should LGBT
archives only serve to tell a beautiful legend: pink (a community still united
and exemplary) and black (still victim of persecutions and discriminations)?</span></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal;">
<br /></div>
Reserved domain</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">
<span lang="EN-US">In France, some support that archives should be conducted only by
scientists and "celebrities", and not by simple collectors like us.</span><span lang="EN-US"> Some have even deeply recommended
to the president of our association (French with Vietnamese origin) to militate
in an association of Asian user-friendliness rather than to take care of LGBT
archives.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">
<span lang="EN-US">Furthermore
these people insinuate that the work of volunteers qualified as amateurs would
put in danger the safety of the collected funds: it would be better to use only
salaried professionals.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">
<span lang="EN-US">Who
exploits this argument? Persons who have no professional skills on archives,
nor no experiences as volunteers! What is their goal? Compromise any voluntary
work, of which ours, to be able to ask for a budget important to fund their own
project.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">
<span lang="EN-US">In France, the work of the volunteers allowed the rescue and the valuation
of many archives. These amateurs become more and more experimented, due to working
day after day. Some have very useful skills in the other domains (for example
in computing). There are also professionals (librarian or information officer)
who make some voluntary work.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">
<div style="font-weight: normal;">
<span lang="EN-US">Should LGBT archives be managed exclusively by salaried professionals, and directed
by scientists or celebrities?</span></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal;">
<br /></div>
Strategy</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">
<span lang="EN-US">Our organization is independent and apolitical. But then, in France,
political relays are often necessary to obtain public aids to LGBT
associations. We created our association and collected archives without any
outside help. Others choose to wait for the election of new gay-friendly
leaders to start their project thanks to subsidies.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">
<span lang="EN-US">To our demands of help and premises, they answer us to give our archives to
a controversial project of big LGBT center of archives (see </span><span lang="FR"><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span lang="EN-US">annexe</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US">). This one is always unfinished and failed ten
years after the launch and 100 000 euros of public subsidy from the City of
Paris. Its hegemonic positioning and its setbacks blocked the financing of quite
other initiative.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">
<div style="font-weight: normal;">
<span lang="EN-US">We think that the monopoly harms the pluralism. It’s necessary to be able
to have different structures of archives which have different policies of
acquisition, selection, management and valuation. Furthermore this diversity
offer the choice to the donors to entrust their archives according to their
affinities and their convictions.</span></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal;">
<br /></div>
Conclusion</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">
<span lang="EN-US">Despite
these difficulties, we pursue our work of enrichment and development of our
fund. Our ambition still remains to open our archives to the public: for it, we
especially need a big warehouse.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">
<span lang="EN-US">We have
tried to explain to you the problems with which we are confronted. Don’t
hesitate to give us your advice and tell us about your experiment which can
help us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">By<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b>Phan
Bigotte and Thomas Leduc (president and vice-president of the Académie Gay et
Lesbienne)<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">Translation by Olivier P.<br clear="ALL" style="mso-special-character: line-break; page-break-before: always;" />
<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; line-height: 14pt; margin-top: 24pt; page-break-after: avoid; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526" name="Annexe"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526" name="_Annexe_:_Panorama"></a><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt;">ANNEXE<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<h2 style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">
<span lang="EN-US">Historic panorama of LGBT archives, libraries and documentation centers
in France</span></h2>
<h3 style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">
<span lang="EN-US">1 - Non-profit
organizations<o:p></o:p></span></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">1975 : Association Laïque pour l’Étude du
Problème de l’Homosexualité (ALEPH)</span></b><span lang="EN-US"> [Laic Association for the Study of the Problem
of the Homosexuality], created in Paris, in particular by Claude Courouve. It
became in 1977 the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Centre d’Information
et de Documentation de l’Homosexualité (CIDH)</b> [Information and Documentation
Center of the Homosexuality]. It collected a historic documentation, put question
to the politics and published in the press various documents on the legal
situation of the homosexuals. Stop of the activities in 1981.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="FR"><br /></span></b>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="FR">1981 :</span></b><span lang="FR"> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Association pour un centre
d’archives homosexuelles </b>[Association for a center of homosexual archives],
created in Paris by Anne Marie Grélois, Gilles Barbedette, Frank Arnal et
Claudine Bouretz.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></b>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">1984 :</span></b><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="FR"><a href="http://arcl.free.fr/"><span lang="EN-US">Archives
Recherches Cultures Lesbiennes (ARCL)</span></a></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="FR"> </span></b><span lang="EN-US">[Archives Research Lesbian
Cultures], created in Paris, in particular by Claudie Lesselier. Initially in an
apartment, they are accommodated since 1994 in a premises at the Maison des
Femmes de Paris [House of the Women of Paris] (single-sex place). They propose
a lending library, a media library and archives of the feminist and lesbian
movements. They managed to obtain subsidies of the City of Paris since 2004.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></b>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">1984 :</span></b><span lang="EN-US"> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Association
Mémoire des Homosexualités </b>[Memory of the Homosexualities], created in
Paris. It became in 1987 <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Association
Mémoire des Sexualités</b> [Memory of the Sexualities]. His goal was the
creation of a foundation. It collected documents (in particular Daniel Guérin's
archives) and organized several public debates.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">
<span lang="EN-US">Since 1989,
his subsidiary the association of management <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Mémoire des Sexualités</b> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">–
Marseille</b> [Memory of the Sexualities – Marseille] took over, pursuing the
collection and the debates. The initial fund results from archives of Christian
de Leusse, President and founder of the association. Archives are accommodated
in his apartment in Marseille.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></b>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">1994 :</span></b><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="FR"><a href="http://www.archiveshomo.info/pmb/opac_css/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=4912"><span lang="EN-US">Résister-Vivre la Mémoire (RVLM)</span></a></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="FR"> </span></b><span lang="EN-US">[Resist-Live
the Memory], created in Paris. In June and December, 1994, it organized
exhibitions, movies festivals, debate and published a miscellany about
homosexuality and AIDS.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></b>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">1996 :</span></b><span lang="EN-US"> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Janet
& Co</b>, created in Paris, has for objective to protect, to preserve, to
buy the written or iconic documents and the objects having belonged to
lesbians.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></b>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">2001 (march) :</span></b><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="FR"><a href="http://www.archiveshomo.info/"><span lang="EN-US">Académie Gay & Lesbienne</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US"> [Gay & Lesbian Academy], created in
Parisian suburb, after one year of prefiguration. Our fund is called Conservatoire
des Archives et des Mémoires LGBT [Conservatory of LGBT Archives and Memories].<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></b>
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526" name="APCADHP"></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">2001 (december) :</span></b><span lang="EN-US"> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Association de Préfiguration du Centre d’Archives et de Documentation
Homosexuelles de Paris (AP CADHP) </b>[Association of Prefiguration of the
Center of Homosexual Archives and Documentation of Paris]<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b>created in particular by Jean Le Bitoux, following the election of
the new Mayor of Paris, the socialist Bertrand Delanoë. The City of Paris
attributed him in 2002 one hundred thousand euros subsidy "to make a
feasibility study" of the project of center.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">
<span lang="EN-US">Personalities,
associations (ours in particular) and collectives (of whom </span><span lang="FR"><a href="http://coalition.lgbtq.pagesperso-orange.fr/"><span lang="EN-US">Archilesb! et VigiTrans</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US">) protested against: the
sub-representation of the lesbians and the trans, the lack of transparency and
communication, the absence of dialogue, the hiding of the existing initiatives,
the eclipse of archives on the AIDS and the prostitution, an conception of the
archive elitist and anti-militant…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">
<span lang="EN-US">The project
sank and the AP CADHP closed its Website in 2004, dismissed his promoter <br />
(Jean Le Bitoux) and gave back its premises (obtained from the City of Paris).
The only concrete result of 100 000 euros of subsidy is a report of
prefiguration (which is not a feasibility study) returned to the City of Paris
in 2005: 80 pages of generalities for a renamed project <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Centre des Mémoires LGBT<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>Paris Île-de-France </b>[Center of the
LGBT Memories Paris Ile-de-France]. To be able to request new subsidies, the
association organized meetings to establish a new scientific council. The
invited personalities (of whom we were a member) finally decided to interrupt
their works in front of the refusal of the association to allow to subscribe
and to communicate its accounts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">
<span lang="EN-US">In 2007,
the project is taken back by Louis-Georges Tin. This one claims that the mayor
of Paris entrusted to him a mission concerning the LGBT memory and that in
2009, the City of Paris requested him to manage the future center. He wrote a
report intended to complete the one of the AP CADHP, where the project is
renamed <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Institut Arc-en-Ciel </b>[Rainbow
Institute]. This new report always claims an ambitious project, with in
particular 750 000 euros of annual overheads and maintenance charges and ten
employees. Louis-Georges Tin pays there tribute in the work of the former team
but declares to wish to restart "on new bases, to get over the various
controversies" by the creation of a new association. He so constituted a
team with persons not belonging to the AP CADHP. Since the end of 2011, he
organized meetings to prepare the creation of his new association which still
not exists officially.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<h3 style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">
<span lang="EN-US">2 - Archives and libraries
within LGBT organizations<o:p></o:p></span></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">
<span lang="EN-US">Numerous
associations created within them a library (see below some significant
examples). Besides there are archives held by trading companies: so the
archives of the newspaper </span><span lang="FR"><a href="http://www.archiveshomo.info/archives/fonds/gai_pied/historique_journal.htm"><span lang="EN-US">Gai Pied</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US"> (1979-1992) were acquired by
Webscape, publishing company of portal </span><span lang="FR"><a href="http://www.gayvox.fr/"><span lang="EN-US">Gayvox</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US">, which keeps them in a storage
warehouse.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></b>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">1983 :</span></b><span lang="EN-US"> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Fédération
Nationale des Lieux Associatifs Gais (FLAG) </b>[National Federation of the Gay
Associative Places]<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b>which gathered
gay places of associative type obtained from the Ministry of Culture a subsidy
which allowed to equip every place of a lending library, where more than 200
books were accessible to the members and the visitors of the association
organizer of the place. She published then the catalog.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></b>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">1991 :</span></b><span lang="EN-US"> Obtaining of a 50 000-franc subsidy of the
Ministry of Culture for the documentation department of the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Maison des Homosexualités</b> (de Paris) [House
of the Homosexualities of Paris].<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></b>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">1995 :</span></b><span lang="EN-US"> Creation, within the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Centre Gai et Lesbien de Paris</b> [Gay and Lesbian Center of Paris] become
the <b>Centre Lesbien, Gai, Bi et Trans de Paris et Île de France</b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b>[Lesbian, Gay, Bi and Trans Center of
Paris and Ile de France], a </span><span lang="FR"><a href="http://www.centrelgbtparis.org/spip.php?rubrique5"><span lang="EN-US">library</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US"> which is one of the most important
places-resources in France today, thanks to the work of the volunteers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="FR"><br /></span></b>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="FR">2000 :</span></b><span lang="FR"> Opening in Lille by Patrick Cardon (<a href="http://www.gaykitschcamp.com/">Gay Kitsch Camp</a> association) of the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Centre Européen de Recherches, d’Études et
de Documentation sur les Homosexualités </b>[the European Center of Researches,
Studies and Documentation on the Homosexualities]. Become the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Centre Européen de Recherches, d’Études et
de Documentation sur les Sexualités Plurielles et les Interculturalités –
CEREDSPI </b>[European Center of Researches, Studies and Documentation on the
Plural Sexualities and the Interculturalities]. </span><span lang="EN-US">The center was a room of archives and
consultation within the premises of the Gay Kitsch Camp association, which also
served as bookshop and as working room for the festival Question de Genre and
the Publishing Question de Genre / GayKitschCamp. Because of the decrease of
subsidies, the premise was closed in 2005. Patrick Cardon moved in Montpelier
in a social housing where he keeps archives by hoping for a help of public
authorities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<h3 style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">
<span lang="EN-US">3 – Archives and
documentation within public institutions<o:p></o:p></span></h3>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">2005 :</span></b><span lang="EN-US"> The City of Lyon announced the opening of a <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Centre de ressources documentaires gays et
lesbiens </b>[gay and lesbian documentary resources Center]<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b>inside the Municipal library of Lyon (BmL). This initiative is the
outcome of the work led by Michel Chomarat, project leader “Memory” in the City
of Lyon and organizer since 2002 of the Assises de la mémoire gay (become Assises
de la mémoire gay et lesbienne). The fund of the center consists of present
books in the various departments of the BmL and present documents within the
Archives fonds of the BmL (in particular the fonds Chomarat). At the end of
2006, becomes </span><span lang="FR"><a href="http://www.bm-lyon.fr/lepointg/"><span lang="EN-US">Centre de ressources sur le Genre :
identités, sexualités, mémoire gay et lesbienne</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US"> [Center of resources on the Gender:
identities, sexualities, gay and lesbian memory].<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></b>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">2012 :</span></b><span lang="EN-US"> The Association </span><span lang="FR"><a href="http://www.revuemasques.fr/index-site.html"><span lang="EN-US">Les Amis de Masques et Persona</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US"> [the Friends of Masques and
Persona] announced the deposit in June of the archives of the magazine </span><span lang="FR"><a href="http://www.archiveshomo.info/pmb/opac_css/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=1055"><span lang="EN-US">Masques</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US"> (1979-1986) and publishing Persona
to the Bibliothèque nationale de France (Bnf) [National Library of France].<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<h3 style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">
<span lang="EN-US">4 – Internet<o:p></o:p></span></h3>
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<span lang="EN-US">There
existed and are real centers of on-line resources, as these three sites
pioneers:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span lang="FR" style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';">
</span></span><span lang="FR"><a href="http://www.france.qrd.org/">la France Gaie et Lesbienne</a> (since 1994)
of the association Gais et Lesbiennes Branchés;</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span lang="FR" style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';">
</span></span><span lang="FR"><a href="http://semgai.free.fr/">le
Séminaire Gai</a> (since 1997) by Olivier Jablonski ;</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span lang="FR"><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20020423132731/http:/membres.lycos.fr/jgir/index1.htm"><span lang="EN-US">Kademos</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US"> (created in 1998, regrettably
disappeared since) by Jacques Girard, the author of “Le mouvement homosexuel en
France : 1945-1980” [The homosexual movement in France: 1945-1980].<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</span></h1>
LGBTI ALMS 2012http://www.blogger.com/profile/16476681229383980702noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-766656158998930526.post-15435214397120322902012-07-03T14:22:00.003+02:002012-08-15T16:11:09.213+02:00Sabine Balke Estremadoyro, Spinnboden Lesbenarchiv und Bibliothek, Berlin, Germany: Spinnboden, the lesbian archive and library in Germany and i.d.a. the umbrella organisation of German-language lesbian/women’s libraries, archives and documentation centers<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"An important reason why the lesbian archives was founded in Berlin, was that at that time, history was seen only through men's eyes and lesbian culture was totally invisible."</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGc2U1niZO9IO7Cxzj9Kg32b69UoPbJdpRwEAy2Ykxh4CGYK-3CkSJr51XncZr1g6jljE7yrRMYDRbXtY7-w7Y575SNoFwYP0MkIEedc7B8W2QIcCz4DALCXYNbZ32Uvre2No09noIMic/s1600/Spinnboden+Logo+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGc2U1niZO9IO7Cxzj9Kg32b69UoPbJdpRwEAy2Ykxh4CGYK-3CkSJr51XncZr1g6jljE7yrRMYDRbXtY7-w7Y575SNoFwYP0MkIEedc7B8W2QIcCz4DALCXYNbZ32Uvre2No09noIMic/s320/Spinnboden+Logo+1.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Spinnboden is the largest collection of Lesbian documents in Europe. It was established in the context of the gay and women's liberation movement in Germany in the beginning of the 70s. In this paper, the sociologist and director of Spinnboden Sabine Balke Estremadoyro gives an overview of the archive. She illuminates the digitalization process of the library and asks if "a common data base (could) also be an opportunity for LGBTI archives in Europe to open our collections to a general public"?"</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What do you think about the possibilities of data bases? Should we work toward creating international LGBTI- databases or cooperate with large mainstream data bases?</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">To read Sabine Balke Estremadoyro's full paper, click "read more". Enjoy, comment and share. </span></div>
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<a name='more'></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Spinnboden, the lesbian
archive and library in Germany and <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">i.d.a. the umbrella
organisation of German-language lesbian/women’s libraries, archives and
documentation centers<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"The history of all times, and
particularly the history of the present, teaches us that whoever forgets her
own story will be forgotten by history."<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Louise
Otto-Peters<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">in: Frauen-Zeitung, Nr. 1 vom 21. <span lang="EN-GB">April 1849, S. 1<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In the
context of the new women and homosexual movement in Germany at the beginning of
the 70s, the women section of the HAW (Homosexual action in West Berlin)
decided in June 1973 to found an archive with their records, letters and
documents.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">An important
reason why the lesbian archives was founded in Berlin, was that at that time,
history was seen only through men's eyes and lesbian culture was totally
invisible.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">At the end
of the 70s, approximately 20 of the folders with records and letters of the
meetings from the women section landed at the publish company were Gudrun
Schwarz worked for the lesbian magazine LESBENPRESSE. She took the folders home
to her apartment, where they were housed until 1995, when the archive moves to
the “Weiberwirtschaft”, a woman economy place. In 1982 the association with the
name Spinnboden was founded. The word Spinnboden means the attic floor of the
house where the women in the Middle Ages used to tell each other stories while
they were spinning the wool. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Now we have
one of the largest collections of materials and documents from lesbian
existence in Europe. We have approximately 14.000 documents, books and
periodicals. Starting with the “Skorpion”, the first lesbian novel from A. E.
Weihrauch in 1919, to the documents from the lesbian action centre LAZ
(Lesbisches Actions Zentrum) from the 70s.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">We have
1.500 films with homosexual content. For example, we have more than 20 hour’s
material of the discussion about same sex marriage in 2000.
(Lebenspartnerschaftgesetz) </span>Our
collection of periodical and magazines has about 1000 different covers from all
over the world. One of our greatest collections is the magazine “Liebende
Frauen” (Loving women), from 1926 to 1931. The magazine was an important
document about the lesbian culture during the period of Weimar with his exciting
lesbian clubs and nightlife.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9xcQuH9V9labJ3i7yVTt0NtQGwBGgnPP6SPId3Wy2VsFAAm3QPH30_OIND88ptg2rllDDtoYuxGxKELLXdX9qsxlAXeQHTq2mRnzXAtngaMwWlgMFG0zPlyhNSnevuQI_HwiI4BhdX-o/s1600/Der+Skorpion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9xcQuH9V9labJ3i7yVTt0NtQGwBGgnPP6SPId3Wy2VsFAAm3QPH30_OIND88ptg2rllDDtoYuxGxKELLXdX9qsxlAXeQHTq2mRnzXAtngaMwWlgMFG0zPlyhNSnevuQI_HwiI4BhdX-o/s320/Der+Skorpion.jpg" width="238" /></span></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPdgnuN-Lr5NVlSetn2V0bBJw6UZW4nfpXXXj_a4QynDURxhutaV0bbtD0dclJnj8E9R4m97uWg28UxHMqlH-AB-w3BDoemYt76Mma9C4jJUjgoGcsK-tVJieaLaJmNwMvCbEho0gDCJk/s1600/Liebende+Frauen.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPdgnuN-Lr5NVlSetn2V0bBJw6UZW4nfpXXXj_a4QynDURxhutaV0bbtD0dclJnj8E9R4m97uWg28UxHMqlH-AB-w3BDoemYt76Mma9C4jJUjgoGcsK-tVJieaLaJmNwMvCbEho0gDCJk/s320/Liebende+Frauen.JPG" width="240" /></span></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Important documents from the Spinnboden collection</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">All our
materials are now searchable through our online catalogue. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The archive
uses the FAUST database which allows data exchange with other women’s and
lesbian archives. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Since 1994
German, Austrian, Swiss and Italian organisations have joined the umbrella
organisation of German-language lesbian/women's libraries, archives and
documentation centres. The Spinnboden is a member of ida.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">At the
moment there are about 36 institutions associated in the umbrella organization.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The goals
are networking, regular professional and personal exchange of knowledge and
ideas, further education as well as the development of joint public relations.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We have
annual meetings to discuss our problems and to learn from each other.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> ida is especially engaged in gaining
financial and political support for its member organisations. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Actually we
are working to get financing from the government to create a lesbian and
women’s history Website. The Website includes a common data base with the stocks
from all ida organisations.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">These
common data base allows us for the first time to show a general public the
great diversity of the complete collections from the members of ida.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The
concentration of each data base in one common data base is also a requirement
to get in national and international Web catalogues like europeana, the
professional knowledge-sharing platform.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I want to
discus the question, if such a common data base also be an opportunity for
LGBTI archives in Europe to open our collections to a general public? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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LGBTI ALMS 2012http://www.blogger.com/profile/16476681229383980702noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-766656158998930526.post-34980208726679154352012-07-02T13:29:00.001+02:002012-08-15T16:10:10.072+02:00Don McLeod, Canadian Lesbian & Gay Archives, Toronto, Canada: Serendipity and the Papers of Magnus Hirschfeld: The Case of Ernst Maass<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: normal;">"I decided to try to solve the mystery of Ernst Maass." </span></b><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF2b-igUL8KMn9Nt6oGnQ_idI4RQ3wwF8_7YfuyYxfPUvg-q0-M4dA4_R5rNWPU_cvVuv0HfLlx2785pQjyCTlcrVbCK4XRKJJSIPcUBwMdtIpF0QMBlWy6UoLY4eFqn0ZO3E3B7t4eeQ/s1600/leod6.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF2b-igUL8KMn9Nt6oGnQ_idI4RQ3wwF8_7YfuyYxfPUvg-q0-M4dA4_R5rNWPU_cvVuv0HfLlx2785pQjyCTlcrVbCK4XRKJJSIPcUBwMdtIpF0QMBlWy6UoLY4eFqn0ZO3E3B7t4eeQ/s400/leod6.png" width="298" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> Ernst Maass, the only relative present at Magnus Hirschfeld's death.<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Maass/Mann Papers, Brooklyn, N.Y. Credit: Don McLeod</span> </td></tr>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: normal;">Don McLeod is a librarian, the acquisitions coordinator at the University of Toronto Libraries, and has been a volunteer at the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives for more than twenty-five years. In this paper, he discusses his research about Ernst Maass, the grandson of Hirschfeld's maternal uncle Dr Julius Mann, who was the only relative present when Hirschfeld died in 1935. Don McLeod wonders what happened to Ernst Maass. Did he survive the war? Did he receive any of Magnus Hirschfeld's possessions? </span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What do you think about that "with the advent of modern research tools such as Google, Ancestry.com, online phonebooks and directories, and the instant communication afforded by e-mail, with good luck important forgotten research materials may be uncovered with a few clicks of the keyboard"? What are the chances and downfalls of these new possibilities of online research?</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This paper should be read together with Ralf Dose's paper "Thirty Years of Collecting Our History- Or: How to Find Treasure Troves" about the belongings of Magnus Hirschfeld that we already published on this blog on the 18.06.2012. You can find it further down this page.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Click "read more" to read Don McLeod's complete paper. Discuss, comment, enjoy and share. </span><br />
<a name='more'></a></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: normal;"></span></b><br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-CA">Serendipity
and the Papers of Magnus Hirschfeld: The Case of Ernst Maass<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-CA">Donald
W. McLeod</span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-CA">Introduction<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA">The German sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld
(1868–1935) was one of the most important figures in the history of the
liberation of LGBTI people. He was co-founder in 1897 of the </span>Wissenschaftlich-humanitäre
Komitee (WhK) [Scientific
Humanitarian Committee], <span lang="EN-CA">the first organization to
advocate for homosexual and transgender rights. Hirschfeld was a prolific
researcher, writer, and lecturer. In 1919 he founded the Institut für
Sexualwissenschaft [Institute for Sexual Science] in Berlin, which became
world-famous for providing medical consultations and educational services
concerning sexuality; the Institute also contained Hirschfeld’s large library
and a museum of sex.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_edn1" name="_ednref" style="mso-endnote-id: edn;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference">[i]</span></a></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA"> By
the time Hirschfeld embarked on a world lecture tour in 1930–32, he was at the
peak of his career and was hailed in America and elsewhere as the “Einstein of
sex”. Whether he also knew that this tour marked the beginning of the end of
his career in unknown. Hirschfeld likely knew that he was facing several
problems. For example, in a letter to Harry Benjamin he joked that he might not
survive the tour.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_edn2" name="_ednref" style="mso-endnote-id: edn;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference">[ii]</span></a> Although he
was only sixty-two, Hirschfeld’s health was poor. He was plagued by heart
disease, obesity, and diabetes. His health worsened after he contracted malaria
on the tour. And, there must have been some thought as to what he would do
after the tour. The situation in Germany<b> </b></span>was particularly unsettling. As early as
1920, because of his work Hirschfeld had been attacked in the street by thugs
and left with a fractured skull.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_edn3" name="_ednref" style="mso-endnote-id: edn;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference">[iii]</span></a>
Increasingly, his public lectures were disrupted. The rise and strength of the
National Socialist (Nazi) party in Germany by 1932 made it too dangerous for
him to return to Germany; he remained in exile, mostly in France, for the rest
of his life. Hirschfeld’s fate was sealed on May 6, 1933, only fourteen weeks
after Adolf Hitler became <span lang="EN-CA">chancellor of Germany, when the Nazis
arranged for the destruction of the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft and the
subsequent burning of its </span>library.</div>
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<span lang="EN-CA"> In
November 1934, Hirschfeld finally settled in Nice, on the sunny Mediterranean
coast, which at that time was a centre for German intellectuals in exile. In February
1935 he moved into an apartment at the luxurious Gloria Mansions I, 63,
promenade des Anglais. Built in 1924, the six-storey building contained
apartments of about 130 square metres, with three large windows on the front
and a balcony. We do not know for sure which apartment was Hirschfeld’s other
than that it was on the fifth floor and that it had a southern exposure,
overlooking a large garden with exotic plants and palm trees, and the sea.
Hirschfeld settled in, with the remainder of his library and collection, and
continued to research, write, and receive visitors. For exercise, Hirschfeld
liked to walk along the promenade des Anglais, often in the company of friends
or guests.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_edn4" name="_ednref" style="mso-endnote-id: edn;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference">[iv]</span></a></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA"></span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAWZxPzcdcokqJk1iL0t3AAer3B-VksKLzgs9p23wDM0lcetdEXS_UUCz0Si7FIUmt5Tv3H6F378mjDQnCD624uXFWlP3I_-UmD-7rl7XvZrwAvua67CyyFLRN_VpbIi95_KfytgVwMfM/s1600/Leod1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAWZxPzcdcokqJk1iL0t3AAer3B-VksKLzgs9p23wDM0lcetdEXS_UUCz0Si7FIUmt5Tv3H6F378mjDQnCD624uXFWlP3I_-UmD-7rl7XvZrwAvua67CyyFLRN_VpbIi95_KfytgVwMfM/s1600/Leod1.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoCaption">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span lang="EN-CA">Gloria Mansions 1, Nice, France, ca 1930. </span>Credit: Collection of Hans Soetaert.</span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjjZP40hrJJhKdrVXR4aFDAi0fWBzHoHHhvvgWkgz9k6edMfwa0njBn9KTeB9nqTFTVercnPd_UalXqoxpDKhic6ksMmO96WkG7jMhGYZxgoLtCrEq22AqRcmLalG3vjsuhEWXepMV4C4/s1600/Leod2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjjZP40hrJJhKdrVXR4aFDAi0fWBzHoHHhvvgWkgz9k6edMfwa0njBn9KTeB9nqTFTVercnPd_UalXqoxpDKhic6ksMmO96WkG7jMhGYZxgoLtCrEq22AqRcmLalG3vjsuhEWXepMV4C4/s1600/Leod2.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoCaption">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: x-small;"> Hirschfeld walks along the promenade des Anglais with friends, ca 1935. His student and companion, Li Shiu Tong, is at right. Credit: Magnus Hirschfeld, Exil-Gästebuch 1933–35, in the collection of the Deutsches Literaturarchiv Marbach.</span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-CA">May
14, 1935</span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA">Magnus Hirschfeld began the morning of his
sixty-seventh birthday at the Gloria Mansions I, in the company of Robert Kirchberger,
a secretary, and Ernst Maass.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_edn5" name="_ednref" style="mso-endnote-id: edn;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference">[v]</span></a> Maass, the
grandson of Hirschfeld’s maternal uncle Dr Julius Mann (1853–1931), lived in
Milano and had come down to visit and to help celebrate Hirschfeld’s birthday. Maass’
own twenty-first birthday was later in the month. The trio spent time opening
the birthday mail, and then went for a brief walk. They returned to Gloria
Mansions I, where Hirschfeld suddenly collapsed and died before noon.</span><br />
<span lang="EN-CA"><br /></span>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsPX8gZcv8VZt9Y1avlL3hpunQQZseDLbMXS6B3ugDLyWWbHOxyoq8sbb7jBTXonyFDbrvqW9Z1e4skw38_g9sbBcAgDxNZDUuyMsfCTa6XKT9J-mJ1v60ejeoxgdXeUpljglp1vNrEMg/s1600/Leod3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsPX8gZcv8VZt9Y1avlL3hpunQQZseDLbMXS6B3ugDLyWWbHOxyoq8sbb7jBTXonyFDbrvqW9Z1e4skw38_g9sbBcAgDxNZDUuyMsfCTa6XKT9J-mJ1v60ejeoxgdXeUpljglp1vNrEMg/s1600/Leod3.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> Photos in the Exile Guestbook show Hirschfeld, Kirchberger, and Maass on May 13–14, 1935. Credit: Magnus Hirschfeld, Exil-Gästebuch 1933–35, in the collection of the Deutsches Literaturarchiv Marbach.</span></td></tr>
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<span lang="EN-CA">The shock of Hirschfeld’s sudden death must
have been considerable, especially to Ernst Maass, who was suddenly thrust into
the spotlight. As the only relative present in Nice at the time, it fell to him
to arrange Hirschfeld’s funeral. A service was held at the </span><span lang="EN-CA">Cimetière Israélite du Château</span><span lang="EN-CA"> on May 21, 1935; Hirschfeld was later cremated, and his remains
were placed in the</span><span lang="EN-CA"> Cimetière
de</span><span lang="EN-CA"> Caucade. His simple, elegant tombstone, completed in
1936, was designed by </span><span lang="EN-CA">the
sculptor Arnold Zadikow (1884–1943)</span><span lang="EN-CA">.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_edn6" name="_ednref" style="mso-endnote-id: edn;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference">[vi]</span></a></span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiP90bda__TgWnYhpmx3sQK3IJRJWAwrH3Esh93n-Jzq5nIV4fjUEI9RLVnEjXKnuRFO9Ewt2EA2KTbOnUhBWCLBJLhr2wSLQ6lAToVk80cQGpuhdR4n-j7P3APwY-FuOIKET7t9aMaqY/s1600/Leod4.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiP90bda__TgWnYhpmx3sQK3IJRJWAwrH3Esh93n-Jzq5nIV4fjUEI9RLVnEjXKnuRFO9Ewt2EA2KTbOnUhBWCLBJLhr2wSLQ6lAToVk80cQGpuhdR4n-j7P3APwY-FuOIKET7t9aMaqY/s1600/Leod4.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoCaption">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">Hirschfeld, dead at sixty-seven. The plaster death mask, right, was saved by accident from the possessions of Li Shiu Tong after Li’s death in Vancouver, Canada, in 1993. Credit: Magnus Hirschfeld, Exil-Gästebuch 1933–35, in the collection of the Deutsches Literaturarchiv Marbach.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA"> After
his death, Hirschfeld’s possessions, including books and papers, were removed
from his apartment at Gloria Mansions I. We know from article five of Hirschfeld’s
final testament that Li Shiu Tong (1907–1993), Hirschfeld’s student and
companion, was to receive all books, papers, artwork, etc., located in
Hirschfeld’s apartment in Nice.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_edn7" name="_ednref" style="mso-endnote-id: edn;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference">[vii]</span></a> Karl Giese
(1898–1938), Hirschfeld’s assistant, was at that time living in exile in Brno,
Czechoslovakia. He arrived in Nice to attend Hirschfeld’s funeral and deliver a
eulogy; Giese likely also took some material back to Brno, including the Exile Guestbook.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_edn8" name="_ednref" style="mso-endnote-id: edn;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference">[viii]</span></a>
And what about Ernst Maass? Do we know if he received any of Hirschfeld’s
papers or possessions?</span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4oMjvwWtKd845G5uKdMgGW8yiX8hjewEuK2i3Kr9FkhaJrpdi3RbnUgUgf0xWGFkdXILVkqhCHhGEi5MgQYBb49m0n6-NGFHoB0Fjgq7wmbJ18BtqcaqyxDTpPVinzDVQnxbd72kB7SI/s1600/leod5.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4oMjvwWtKd845G5uKdMgGW8yiX8hjewEuK2i3Kr9FkhaJrpdi3RbnUgUgf0xWGFkdXILVkqhCHhGEi5MgQYBb49m0n6-NGFHoB0Fjgq7wmbJ18BtqcaqyxDTpPVinzDVQnxbd72kB7SI/s1600/leod5.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Li Shiu Tong, Karl Giese, and an unidentified man stand in front of Gloria Mansions I, perhaps around the time of Hirschfeld's funeral. Credit: Magnus Hirschfeld, Exil-Gästebuch 1933–35, in the collection of the Deutsches Literaturarchiv Marbach.</span></td></tr>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-CA">Who
Was Ernst Maass, and What Became of Him?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-CA">Hans Soetaert, a Belgian archivist and
researcher, and I were able to visit Nice in October 2009 and pick up the trail
of Hirschfeld. We were particularly interested to see where he had lived and
the details of his life in Nice, where Hirschfeld was buried, the details of
his funeral, and so </span><span lang="EN-CA">on. We published our findings in<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> Mitteilungen der
Magnus-Hirschfeld-Gesellschaft</i>, the publication of the
Magnus-Hirschfeld-Gesellschaft </span>(M-H-G) in Berlin.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_edn9" name="_ednref" style="mso-endnote-id: edn;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference">[ix]</span></a>
As we were preparing the article, we were in e-mail contact with Ralf Dose, the
director of the M-H-G, trying to tie up loose ends. One question that kept recurring concerned the fate of Ernst Maass. He was very young when Hirschfeld
died. What happened to</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF2b-igUL8KMn9Nt6oGnQ_idI4RQ3wwF8_7YfuyYxfPUvg-q0-M4dA4_R5rNWPU_cvVuv0HfLlx2785pQjyCTlcrVbCK4XRKJJSIPcUBwMdtIpF0QMBlWy6UoLY4eFqn0ZO3E3B7t4eeQ/s1600/leod6.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF2b-igUL8KMn9Nt6oGnQ_idI4RQ3wwF8_7YfuyYxfPUvg-q0-M4dA4_R5rNWPU_cvVuv0HfLlx2785pQjyCTlcrVbCK4XRKJJSIPcUBwMdtIpF0QMBlWy6UoLY4eFqn0ZO3E3B7t4eeQ/s400/leod6.png" width="299" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoCaption">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: x-small;">Ernst Maass, ca 1935. Maass/Mann Papers, Brooklyn, N.Y. Credit: Don McLeod.</span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-CA">him, subsequently? Did he survive the war?
Ralf said that there were few clues, including the fact that Maass had been
born in 1914 and that it was known that he had emigrated to America in 1938.
This was not much to work with, but I decided to try to solve the mystery of
Ernst Maass.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_edn10" name="_ednref" style="mso-endnote-id: edn;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference">[x]</span></a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-CA">Technology
Comes to the Fore</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-CA">I began the search in earnest on December
1, 2009. The first place I looked was Ancestry.com, the world’s largest online
family history resource. I’m keen on genealogy, have searched my own family
history extensively there, and have a personal subscription to this resource.
It is international in scope and includes databases with access to millions of
records relating to immigration and emigration, births, deaths, marriages,
census and military files, border crossings, and passenger lists. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-CA"> I
went to the “Search All Records” tab and filled in the search terms Ernst [first
name] Maass [last name] 1914 [estimated birth year]. The first hit in the list
was an entry for an Ernst Maass, born about 1915 in Germany, part of the “New
York Passenger Lists, 1820–1957” database. This was a digital copy of the
microfilm of the “List or Manifest of Alien Passengers for the United States” kept
by the United States Department of Labor. The manifest was a detailed list of
“all aliens arriving at a port of continental United States from a foreign port
or a port of the insular possessions of the United States, and all aliens
arriving at a port of said insular possessions from a foreign port.” I examined
the manifest carefully. It was for passengers sailing on the Ile de France from
Le Havre, France, on March 9, 1938, arriving at the port of New York on March
16, 1938. The entry for Ernst Maass stated that he was a twenty-three-year-old
single male working as a clerk in a travel agency, that he could read and
write, that he was familiar with German, English, French, Italian, and Hebrew,
that he was a German national of the Hebrew race, that he had been born in
Stettin, Germany, that his visa had been issued in Jerusalem on December 18,
1937, and that his last permanent residence had been in Jerusalem, Palestine.
And, he was travelling with his widowed mother, Lotte Maass, aged forty-nine;
her entry was directly below his in the manifest. Surely this was a good
candidate for our Ernst Maass, but additional evidence was needed to remove all
doubt.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-CA"> The
other results in the search for “Ernst Maass” under “Search All Records” proved
to be disappointing. From my previous experience with family records I knew
that personal names on records are sometimes misspelled, or that people
sometimes slightly change the spelling of their names over time. I decided to
use “Search All Records” again, but for the anglicized name “Ernest Maass”.
Incredibly, the first five entries in the results list related to an Ernest
Maass, born May 29, 1914. The first two entries, from the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">U.S. Public Records Index, Volume 2</i>, listed Maass’s date of birth,
and an address: 15076 Village Road, Jamaica, NY, 11432-1013. The third entry
was from the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">U.S. Department of Veterans
Affairs BIRLS Death File, 1850–2009</i>, which listed for Ernest Maass a birth
date (May 29, 1914), a death date (January 24, 1975), a social insurance number
(055121215), an enlistment date (June 10, 1943), and a release date (October
30, 1944). The results from the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Social
Security Death Index</i> confirmed that Ernest Maass, S.I.N. 055121215, was
born on May 29, 1914, died in January 1975, and that his last residence had
been in Jamaica, Queens, New York. The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">U.S.
World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938–1946</i> provided more information
about Maass’s service record: that he was born in 1914 in Germany, had enlisted
on June 10, 1943, as a private, that he was single, with dependents, and that
at that time he had completed four years of college education and that his
civil occupation was as a library assistant and attendant. Finally, the search
for Ernst Maass took a fascinating turn with the search results for “Ernest
Maass” from the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Biography and Genealogy
Master Index (BGMI)</i>, which listed citations to biographical entries for an
Ernest Maass, born in 1914, in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Who’s Who
in Library Service: A Biographical Directory of Professional Librarians in the
United States and Canada</i> (1966), and in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A
Biographical Directory of Librarians in the United States and Canada</i>
(1970).<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_edn11" name="_ednref" style="mso-endnote-id: edn;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference">[xi]</span></a>
I found these books at the University of Toronto’s iSchool Inforum library collection,
and they revealed that Ernest Maass became a distinguished professional
librarian, eventually working at the Dag Hammarskjöld Library at the United
Nations in New York City.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_edn12" name="_ednref" style="mso-endnote-id: edn;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference">[xii]</span></a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-CA"> It
was December 2, 2009, one day after the search began, and I felt positive now
that this was the Ernest Maass we were looking for, the young man who had visited
Hirschfeld on his birthday and who had been present at his death.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_edn13" name="_ednref" style="mso-endnote-id: edn;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference">[xiii]</span></a>
But, where to go from here? The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">U.S.
Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File, 1850–2009</i> had listed a
death date of January 24, 1975. Through my account at the University of Toronto
Library I was able to enter the online <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ProQuest
Historical Newspapers: </i>The New York Times<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> (1851–2008)</i>, and in particular the New York Times<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> (1923-Current file)</i>. I limited the
search to the Obituary section, for the period January–February 1975 only, under
the name “Maass”. There was one result, for January 25, 1975:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-CA">MAASS —Ernest,
beloved husband of Ann, devoted father of David and Bobby. Sunday, 9:45 A.M.,
Schwartz Brothers. Service “Forest Park Chapel,” Queens Blvd. and 76th Rd.,
Forest Hills.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_edn14" name="_ednref" style="mso-endnote-id: edn;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference">[xiv]</span></a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-CA">This led me to search the current telephone
White Pages online (<a href="http://www.whitepages.com/">www.whitepages.com</a>)
for the name Maass in New York City. One of the people listed in the results
was a Robert D. Maass, 158 E. 7th Street, Apt E4, New York, NY 10009-6282, who
was said to be 50–54 years old. A button for “Additional Information”
redirected me to PeopleFinders (<a href="http://www.peoplefinders.com/">www.peoplefinders.com</a>),
which listed a Robert D. Maass, age 53, who had lived in New York, NY,
Brooklyn, NY, and Jamaica, NY. There was no doubt that this Robert Maass was
the son of Ernst Maass.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-CA"> I
did a Google search (<a href="http://www.google.com/">www.google.com</a>) for
“Robert Maass” “New York” and the first entry to come up was the website for
Robert Maass (<a href="http://www.robertmaass.com/">www.robertmaass.com</a>).
Robert Maass is a distinguished photojournalist who worked on contract for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Newsweek</i> magazine for ten years and is
now a freelancer. He is also a film maker (his feature-length documentary <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Gotham Fish Tales</i> was released in 2003),
and has authored and illustrated more than ten books for children. His website
lists a contact link for sending messages to Maass.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-CA"> While
I was conducting these searches I was in regular e-mail contact with Ralf Dose
at the M-H-G in Berlin. I have known Ralf since 2006, and have been able to
visit Berlin and the M-H-G once per year since then. It was at this point of
the search for Ernst Maass that I became nervous. I felt that it would be inappropriate
for me to approach Robert Maass directly to ask him about his father, or to
inquire about any Hirschfeld memorabilia that might have survived in his
father’s papers. I was worried that such questions, asked by a stranger, might
seem like an invasion of privacy, and that the Maass family would not react
well. By December 7, 2009, I had sent all of my search information to Ralf
Dose, including the e-mail contact information for Robert Maass, and encouraged
him, as a representative of the M-H-G, to contact Maass.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_edn15" name="_ednref" style="mso-endnote-id: edn;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference">[xv]</span></a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-CA"> Ralf
did not hesitate, and sent an e-mail to Maass asking if he was related to Ernst
Maass, born in Stettin in 1914. Robert (known as Rob) Maass replied that he was
the son of Ernst Maass. Ralf asked if the family had any memorabilia relating
to their distant relative Magnus Hirschfeld. Rob replied that they had plenty
of family records, going back to the nineteenth-century, and that there was
some material relating to Hirschfeld, including photographs, letters, and so
on. Ralf, of course, was ecstatic that a new trove of Hirschfeld material had
been found. He continued a friendly e-mail correspondence with Maass.
Unfortunately, Maass could not provide a list of items, as the large amount of
material needed sorting, and Ralf was handicapped in that he could not easily
fly from Berlin to New York to view the collection. I consulted with Ralf, and
volunteered to go to New York to see the collection on behalf of the M-H-G.
Ralf agreed, and on December 16, 2009, I was introduced into a three-way e-mail
correspondence with Ralf and Rob.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-CA">A Scouting
Trip to New York <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-CA">On February 5, 2010, my fifty-third
birthday, I arrived on the doorstep of Rob Maass at his brownstone in Brooklyn,
New York. He had taken </span>time out from his busy schedule to allow me
to poke through his family papers. Rob was a perfect host, and was
somewhat bemused that anyone would be interested in these old papers. He knew a
bit about Hirschfeld, and we talked about Hirschfeld and Ernst Maass and Li
Shiu Tong and others as we spent the next five hours looking through the
material. This was not actually enough time to see everything, as there was one
suitcase stuffed with material, several boxes, and also loose items. We
concentrated on the photographs and the suitcase, which Rob placed on</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-CA">the dining room table. I made some notes,
and also took photographs.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtlSdS-2F_q5Z-JVOVqRctlzHNT3E_7RDmBsPJKFdfO7lBmEnvJGZywBkcvLK1edHka_sfy38Pd_fRYGEP18KkjfI24T926btTuSstjk_nfMgeP8ElZTh6ZSXAjt3xOI2Wu6jK6yq6k9k/s1600/leod7.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtlSdS-2F_q5Z-JVOVqRctlzHNT3E_7RDmBsPJKFdfO7lBmEnvJGZywBkcvLK1edHka_sfy38Pd_fRYGEP18KkjfI24T926btTuSstjk_nfMgeP8ElZTh6ZSXAjt3xOI2Wu6jK6yq6k9k/s1600/leod7.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Rob Maass and the Maass/Mann Papers, Brooklyn, N.Y., February 5, 2010. Credit: Don McLeod.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-CA">The more we looked through the material,
the more excited I became. There was an inscribed copy of Hirschfeld’s doctoral
thesis from 1892; family photographs; letters from Hirschfeld and also
postcards sent during his world tour; original photographs (and negatives) of
Hirschfeld’s funeral taken by Ernst Maass; letters from Hirschfeld’s assistant
Karl Giese to Maass; correspondence from Hirschfeld’s executor Franz Herzfelder
concerning the disposition of Hirschfeld’s estate (Maass received a bequest);
Hirschfeld’s passport from his world tour; and on and on. Rob confessed that
the material had only recently come into his possession, as it had been stored
in a closet at his mother’s house.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_edn16" name="_ednref" style="mso-endnote-id: edn;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference">[xvi]</span></a> His mother
was still alive and was clearing up her home in preparation for moving. She had
wanted to dispose of the suitcase and </span><span lang="EN-CA">other materials.</span> Rob insisted that he wanted to look though the material first, and moved the things to his home in Brooklyn. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi3jeqOTli9TrDiv5vtzqKImJC67j-np-AK33Stse_WPgkfC4uSQhfMDQ29uNt3XdvlZjReIxxHtY5lDSei0NU2qHFXTYgqXY4d0EhcD9mVbwhJoGkGM0ckJzK_ICgQLG1OP-G8hq-sPo/s1600/leod8.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi3jeqOTli9TrDiv5vtzqKImJC67j-np-AK33Stse_WPgkfC4uSQhfMDQ29uNt3XdvlZjReIxxHtY5lDSei0NU2qHFXTYgqXY4d0EhcD9mVbwhJoGkGM0ckJzK_ICgQLG1OP-G8hq-sPo/s1600/leod8.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoCaption" style="font-size: medium;">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span lang="EN-CA">A copy of Hirschfeld's thesis from 1892, inscribed to his maternal uncle Dr Julius Mann, found in the Maass/Mann Papers, Brooklyn, N.Y. Credit: Don McLeod.</span> </div>
</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-CA">Reaction
in Berlin, and a Second Site Visit</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-CA">Unfortunately, I was only able to visit
with Rob Maass for the one day. In our conversations, I stressed how important
the Hirschfeld material was for scholarship, and hinted that it should really
be repatriated to the M-H-G in Berlin. We said goodbye, and promised to
correspond further by e-mail. As soon as I arrived back in Toronto I loaded the
photographs</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipsIcjGCn5RckB4NoRy9_4XSoxvZqFVRffslrb-Dd4LOrHlJGSGbVRjk_jxbnIsmIaYD8fsKBaYH3GYdbBeFT833i28jggLHK29kYCFQluaZN8EffRRh2QqVpV2dlD0WpoRUDUsCAtjmw/s1600/leod9.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipsIcjGCn5RckB4NoRy9_4XSoxvZqFVRffslrb-Dd4LOrHlJGSGbVRjk_jxbnIsmIaYD8fsKBaYH3GYdbBeFT833i28jggLHK29kYCFQluaZN8EffRRh2QqVpV2dlD0WpoRUDUsCAtjmw/s1600/leod9.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">A postcard from Hirschfeld to his uncle, Dr Julius Mann, sent during his world tour, 1931. From the Maass/Mann Papers, Brooklyn, N.Y. Credit: Don McLeod.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="page-break-after: avoid;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUZq2nYpBkvYV4GtH1edTdLOsBpj7LCby7peH43oJEPmgoeQfYRZ6PhP_RBpSgTs8cu57YqQF-kh-9P_-1DlUiUkKqZlPpi_sN4aoZH9nlXHYZbNMVgbpHK_BNx9q30zJSIMPFq2kLnF0/s1600/leod10.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUZq2nYpBkvYV4GtH1edTdLOsBpj7LCby7peH43oJEPmgoeQfYRZ6PhP_RBpSgTs8cu57YqQF-kh-9P_-1DlUiUkKqZlPpi_sN4aoZH9nlXHYZbNMVgbpHK_BNx9q30zJSIMPFq2kLnF0/s1600/leod10.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Karl Giese to Ernst Maass, January 21, 1938, less than two months before Giese committed suicide. From the Maass/Mann Papers, Brooklyn, N.Y. Credit: Don McLeod.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-CA">I’d taken onto my computer and sent them as
e-mail attachments to Ralf at the M-H-G. Ralf and others at the M-H-G were very
excited to see </span>this material, which had been unknown to
them.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_edn17" name="_ednref" style="mso-endnote-id: edn;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference">[xvii]</span></a>
We continued our three-way correspondence, and later in 2010 Ralf Dose was able
to visit Rob Maass in Brooklyn himself, to have a closer look at the material
and to negotiate for its possible donation to the M-H-G. Rob was entirely
amenable, agreeing that the material should be preserved and made available for
research purposes. He agreed to begin donating the papers and other materials
relating to Hirschfeld and his circle to the M-H-G. In May 2011, Rob and his
partner Carroll Bogert were able to visit Berlin for a conference, and also
took time to visit the M-H-G. They brought a portion of the collection with
them, which they donated to the M-H-G.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_edn18" name="_ednref" style="mso-endnote-id: edn;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference">[xviii]</span></a>
Some of this has already been displayed at the Schwules Museum in Berlin.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_edn19" name="_ednref" style="mso-endnote-id: edn;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference">[xix]</span></a>
Additional donations will be forthcoming as the material is examined and
sorted.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_edn20" name="_ednref" style="mso-endnote-id: edn;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference">[xx]</span></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-CA">Conclusion<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-CA">The rediscovery of material relating to
Magnus Hirschfeld in the papers of Ernst Maass involved straightforward
research and considerable good luck. The story also has a happy ending. In some
ways it seems incredible that so few clues could lead to this result, and so
quickly. It was also remarkable that virtually all of this information was
found through my home computer. I didn’t have to leave home to do this
research. Until a few years ago, the level of manual research required to find
these papers would have been overwhelming, and perhaps impossible. But with the
advent of modern research tools such as Google, Ancestry.com, online phonebooks
and directories, and the instant communication afforded by e-mail, with good
luck important forgotten research materials may be uncovered with a few clicks
of the keyboard. What is more remarkable is that we are only in the infancy of the
development of online research tools and databases. In the future, online
searching will be much more powerful. There are likely many more forgotten
suitcases and trunks filled with historical documents and materials of interest
to LGBTI history, just waiting to be rediscovered. Someday, with research and
serendipity, we may find them. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-CA">Donald W. McLeod is a librarian, the
acquisitions coordinator at the University of Toronto Libraries, and has been a
volunteer at the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives for more than twenty-five
years. He is the author or editor of several books and articles on Canadian gay
history including <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Lesbian and Gay
Liberation in Canada: A Selected Annotated Chronology, 1964–1975</i> (1996),
and its successor volume for 1976–1981, currently in preparation.<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div style="mso-element: endnote-list;">
<br />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<div id="edn" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_ednref" name="_edn1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn;" title=""></a><span lang="EN-CA">The author would like to thank Ralf
Dose, who made helpful comments on a previous draft of this paper. The images
from Hirschfeld’s Exile Guestbook on pages 3–6 have been reproduced with the
permission of the Deutsches Literaturarchiv Marbach.</span></div>
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<span lang="EN-CA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-CA">[i]</span></span><span lang="EN-CA"> The standard biography of Hirschfeld in English is by Charlotte
Wolff, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Magnus Hirschfeld: A Portrait of a
Pioneer in Sexology</i> (London: Quartet Books, 1986). Other important
book-length studies include Ralf Dose, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Magnus
Hirschfeld: Deutscher – Jude – Weltbürger</i>. </span>Jüdische Miniaturen 15 (Berlin: Hentrich & Hentrich, 2005), Manfred
Herzer, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Magnus Hirschfeld: Leben und Werk
eines jüdischen, schwulen und sozialistischen Sexologen</i>, Second ed., rev. (Berlin:
MännerschwarmSkript Verlag, 2001), and Elena Mancini, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Magnus Hirschfeld and the Quest for Sexual Freedom: A History of the
First International Sexual Freedom Movement</i>. Critical Studies in Gender,
Sexuality, and Culture (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010).</div>
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div id="edn" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_ednref" name="_edn2" style="mso-endnote-id: edn;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-CA">[ii]</span></span></a><span lang="EN-CA"> Magnus Hirschfeld letter to Harry Benjamin, February 25, 1931. </span>Magnus Hirschfeld Archive for Sexology, Humboldt-Universität
zu Berlin. <span lang="EN-CA">(</span><a href="http://www2.hu-berlin.de/sexology/GESUND/ARCHIV/TRIP.HTM"><span lang="EN-CA">http://www2.hu-berlin.de/sexology/GESUND/ARCHIV/TRIP.HTM</span></a><span lang="EN-CA">), viewed May 23, 2012.</span><br />
<span lang="EN-CA"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_ednref" name="_edn3" style="mso-endnote-id: edn;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-CA">[iii]</span></span></a><span lang="EN-CA"> See Wolff, 196–98.</span></div>
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div id="edn" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_ednref" name="_edn4" style="mso-endnote-id: edn;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-CA">[iv]</span></span></a><span lang="EN-CA"> Hirschfeld’s life in Nice is examined in detail in Donald W. McLeod
and Hans P. Soetaert, “« Il regarde la mer et pense à son idéal »: Die
letzten Tage von Magnus Hirschfeld in Nizza, 1934–1935,” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mitteilungen der Magnus-Hirschfeld-Gesellschaft</i>, no. 45 (July
2010), 14–33.</span></div>
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div id="edn" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_ednref" name="_edn5" style="mso-endnote-id: edn;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-CA">[v]</span></span></a><span lang="EN-CA"> Little is known about Robert Kirchberger. Ralf Dose of the
Magnus-Hirschfeld-Gesellschaft (M-H-G) has suggested that he served briefly as
Hirschfeld’s secretary in 1935. Ralf Dose e-mail message to Don McLeod,
September 9, 2009.</span></div>
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<span lang="EN-CA"> </span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_ednref" name="_edn6" style="mso-endnote-id: edn;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-CA">[vi]</span></span></a><span lang="EN-CA"> Hirschfeld’s death and funeral are covered extensively in McLeod
and Soetaert, , “« Il regarde la mer et pense à son idéal »: Die letzten
Tage von Magnus Hirschfeld in Nizza, 1934–1935”.</span></div>
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div id="edn" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_ednref" name="_edn7" style="mso-endnote-id: edn;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-CA">[vii]</span></span></a><span lang="EN-CA"> </span><span lang="FR">Hirschfeld’s
testament is published in its entirety in “Erstveröffentlichung des Testaments
Magnus Hirschfelds,” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mitteilungen der
Magnus-Hirschfeld-Gesellschaft</i>, no. 4 (October 1984), pp. 7–12, and online
at: <a href="http://www.hirschfeld.in-berlin.de/frame.html?http://www.hirschfeld.in-berlin.de/testament.html">http://www.hirschfeld.in-berlin.de/frame.html?http://www.hirschfeld.in-berlin.de/testament.html</a>
(viewed May 23, 2012). </span><span lang="EN-CA">The accidental rediscovery in
1993 of Hirschfeld’s possessions held by Li Shiu Tong is detailed in Ralf Dose,
</span>“In Memoriam Li Shiu Tong (1907–1993)
Zu Seinem 10. Todestag am 5.10.2003,” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mitteilungen
der Magnus-Hirschfeld-Gesellschaft</i>, no. 35/36 (2003), 9–23.<span lang="EN-CA"> </span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-CA">[viii]</span></span><span lang="EN-CA"> Giese committed suicide in Brno, Czechoslovakia, in March 1938. The
Exile Guestbook, currently in the collection of the Deutsches Literaturarchiv
Marbach, had been rescued from a dustbin in Brno in 1942. The fact that it was
found in Brno strongly suggests that it had once been in the possession of Karl
Giese.</span></div>
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<span lang="EN-CA">
</span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_ednref" name="_edn9" style="mso-endnote-id: edn;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-CA">[ix]</span></span></a><span lang="EN-CA"> See McLeod and Soetaert, “« Il regarde la mer et pense à son
idéal »: Die letzten Tage von Magnus Hirschfeld in Nizza, 1934–1935.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div id="edn" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_ednref" name="_edn10" style="mso-endnote-id: edn;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-CA">[x]</span></span></a><span lang="EN-CA"> Ralf Dose, e-mail message to Don McLeod, December 1, 2009.</span></div>
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div id="edn" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_ednref" name="_edn11" style="mso-endnote-id: edn;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-CA">[xi]</span></span></a><span lang="EN-CA"> Lee Ash and B.A. Uhlendorf, eds., <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Biographical Directory of Librarians in the United States and Canada</i>,
fifth ed. (Chicago: American Library Association, 1970); Lee Ash and B.A. Uhlendorf, eds., <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Who’s Who in Library Service: A Biographical
Directory of Professional Librarians in the United States and Canada</i> ([Hamden,
Conn.]: Shoe String Press, 1966).</span></div>
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div id="edn" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_ednref" name="_edn12" style="mso-endnote-id: edn;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-CA">[xii]</span></span></a><span lang="EN-CA"> See the entry for “Ernest Maass” in Ash and Uhlendorf, eds., <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Biographical Directory of Librarians in
the United States and Canada</i>, p. 679.</span></div>
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div id="edn" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_ednref" name="_edn13" style="mso-endnote-id: edn;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-CA">[xiii]</span></span></a><span lang="EN-CA"> Don McLeod, e-mail message to Ralf Dose, December 2, 2009.</span></div>
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div id="edn" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_ednref" name="_edn14" style="mso-endnote-id: edn;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-CA">[xiv]</span></span></a><span lang="EN-CA"> “Maass, Ernest,” obituary, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">New
York Times</i>, January 25, 1975, Sports section, 24.</span></div>
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div id="edn" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_ednref" name="_edn15" style="mso-endnote-id: edn;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-CA">[xv]</span></span></a><span lang="EN-CA"> Don McLeod, e-mail message to Ralf Dose, December 7, 2009.</span></div>
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div id="edn" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_ednref" name="_edn16" style="mso-endnote-id: edn;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-CA">[xvi]</span></span></a><span lang="EN-CA"> Rob Maass, e-mail message to Don McLeod, February 1, 2010.</span></div>
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div id="edn" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_ednref" name="_edn17" style="mso-endnote-id: edn;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-CA">[xvii]</span></span></a><span lang="EN-CA"> Rob Maass later continued to find incredible items relating to
Hirschfeld in the papers, including a diary from his exile in Ascona and his
graduation diploma from medical school. </span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-CA">[xviii]</span></span><span lang="EN-CA"> “Schenkung Rob Maass,” in “Chronik,” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mitteilungen der Magnus-Hirschfeld-Gesellschaft</i>, no. 48 (December
2011), 5.</span></div>
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div id="edn" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_ednref" name="_edn19" style="mso-endnote-id: edn;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-CA">[xix]</span></span></a><span lang="EN-CA"> The exhibition “Hirschfeldforschung Fundstücke aus neuester Zeit
Objekte, Bücher, Dokumente” was held at the Schwules Museum, Berlin, December
7, 2011, to March 31, 2012.</span><br />
<span lang="EN-CA"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div id="edn" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=766656158998930526#_ednref" name="_edn20" style="mso-endnote-id: edn;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-CA">[xx]</span></span></a><span lang="EN-CA"> Ralf Dose has written about the discovery of the Maass papers in
“Es gibt noch einen Koffer in New York — eine vorläufige Bestanssaufnahme,” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mitteilungen der
Magnus-Hirschfeld-Gesellschaft</i>, no. 46/47 (May 2011), 12–20.</span></div>
</div>
</div>
LGBTI ALMS 2012http://www.blogger.com/profile/16476681229383980702noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-766656158998930526.post-37945866376882182322012-06-29T13:41:00.001+02:002012-08-15T16:09:37.090+02:00Danielle Cooper, Toronto, Canada: “’Big Gay Library:’” An exploratory ethnography of the Pride Library at the University of Western Ontario”<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"I observed that the archives were not only valued by users for the information they housed, but also for providing a welcoming, social environment that fosters information exchanges of a less material nature."</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiidL5VHrJANfljMsSVFFBmNCoffhzStvuuLJrugXx64-07LDliGFoYINnj_E-suX5h1le1vT7qDG76EMooUdvli5Y08uzxDnwz7XcNcx582fd8m_NrqvcSrK7YvMvf-ujbx_Sudrm5K1o/s1600/pridelibrary.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiidL5VHrJANfljMsSVFFBmNCoffhzStvuuLJrugXx64-07LDliGFoYINnj_E-suX5h1le1vT7qDG76EMooUdvli5Y08uzxDnwz7XcNcx582fd8m_NrqvcSrK7YvMvf-ujbx_Sudrm5K1o/s1600/pridelibrary.jpg" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">The Pride Library at the University of Western Ontario</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Danielle Cooper is a doctoral student at the School of Gender, Feminist and Women's Studies at York University. At the LGBTI ALMS 2012 she will present on LGBTI archives and libraries as spaces that are not only notable sites for collecting, organizing and disseminating information but also provide room for socializing, networking and community building. We publish the introduction of her master thesis</span><span class="Apple-style-span"> “’Big Gay Library:’” An
exploratory ethnography of the Pride Library at the University of Western
Ontario” in which she focusses on the Pride Library in London, Canada that she describes as a refuge from the rather conservative University of Western Ontario and the surrounding city.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.1pt; text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span">What do you think about Danielle Cooper's observation that LGBTI archives are also valued for "</span><span class="Apple-style-span">providing a welcoming, social environment that fosters information exchanges of a less material nature."? How do you think could this aspect of archives and libraries be further increased?</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">To read Danielle Cooper's introduction to her thesis click "read more". If you would like to read her whole thesis click on the link provided at the end of the document. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span></div>
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<a name='more'></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">By Danielle Cooper <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1.1 Chapter Overview<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This
chapter introduces the thesis, which is an ethnographic research project
located at the Pride Library at the University of Western Ontario. The chapter
includes background information on the Pride Library, the University of Western
Ontario and LGBTQ grassroots information organizations. The chapter also
highlights the research project’s underlying concerns and objectives and
provides a brief survey of the upcoming chapters. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1.2 Background <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
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<i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">You’re on the
University of Western campus, it’s a huge campus, it’s not an exceptionally
open campus, I would say, it’s a very conservative town...So the fact there is
a big gay library is appealing for people from a community aspect – that they
can come here and meet others.</span></i></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.1pt; text-align: left;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">(“Aidan,”
Interview Transcript) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.1pt; text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">To other
undergrads, or to people that I know better ... I call it “the big gay
library.” And if someone then followed up with that, then you know “what we do
is carry Weldon’s selection of LGBTQ materials”...I [also] like “LGBTQ archive”
because it sounds very official and stuffier than the place actually is, it
makes the place sound more professional...but it really is more like “the big
gay library” because it’s more convivial than “the LGBTQ archive” makes it
sound. </span></i></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">(“Caspar,”
Interview Transcript)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Taking up a mere seventeen hundred square feet within a large academic library
of over two hundred thousand square feet, “big” may not be the initial
characteristic that comes to mind when imagining the Pride Library. In other
respects, however, the Pride Library looms large: the space is aesthetically
striking and represents a functional and symbolic purpose towards serving
previously neglected LGBTQ community information needs.</span>
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.1pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> In
addition to size and stature, “big gay library” is also a term of endearment
and reflects Pride Library users’ affection towards the organization. Pride
Library users feel a sense of endearment because the library not only functions
as an LGBTQ resource but also as a “convivial” for community gathering. As a
result, the Pride Library not only looms large symbolically but also
emotionally in the hearts of those who use the library on a regular basis.</span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.1pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-US">The
Pride Library is located within D.B. Weldon library at the University of
Western Ontario (UWO) in London, Ontario. With over 32, 000 full-time students,
UWO is the second largest university in Ontario. D.B. Weldon is one of the
university’s eight “information hubs” but also the largest: the collection
contains over eight million items in print and microfilm and is considered the
fourth largest academic library in Canada. UWO is also considered one of
Canada’s top ten research-intensive universities and consistently performs
highly in university rankings. For example, as Mayne (2009) notes, </span><i><span lang="EN-US">The Globe and
Mail </span></i><span lang="EN-US">placed
UWO first for “overall quality of education” in 2005, 2007 and 2008. </span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Although
UWO is a large academic university, the Pride Library’s presence is
particularly remarkable because of the university’s reputation as a site of
white, heteronormative privilege. For example, my informant Riley characterized
UWO as having a “vehemently heterosexual agenda.” At the most extreme, UWO
harbours a reputation as a “party school:” in April 2011 Playboy magazine
ranked UWO fourth in their top-ten party schools’ list. As the quote from my
informant Aidan above highlights, many of informants view the Pride Library as
both a refuge from these UWO cultural “norms” and one of the few places on
campus they can actively seek out other LGBTQ people. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.1pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Beyond
UWO proper, the Pride Library is also a major signpost in a city otherwise not
known as a hub of LGBTQ activity. Although the London’s census metropolitan
area ranked #10 for population in the 2006 Statistics Canada census, the city
currently has only one gay bar. There are notable exceptions and LGBTQ activity
pockets, such as the London Lesbian Film Festival, which recently celebrated
its twentieth anniversary and the local chapter of International Court System,
which is a royal-theme LGBTQ fundraising organization (see Chapter VII). In
recent history, however, London has served more as a source of LGBTQ
oppression: in 1997 an Ontario Human Rights tribunal found the city and former
mayor Dianne Haskett guilty of human rights violations after refusing to issue
a Gay Pride proclamation in 1995. 1995 also marks the year of the Project
Guardian police crackdown on child pornography, which has been subsequently
characterized as a “gay witch hunt” with sixty-one, primarily gay male “suspect
offenders” but no child pornography charges ever laid. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Despite
the overall “conservative” culture in London and on the UWO campus, the Pride
Library flourished into a significant Southern Ontario LGBTQ activity site. As
the section on the library’s history below details, the library’s existence can
be explained due to a “small” organizational framework, support from the
greater LGBTQ community and tireless activist energy, particularly from Pride
Library founder and “head volunteer” Professor Miller. Yet, the Pride Library’s
success can also be credited, in part, to the vision of several key UWO
leaders, generosity from UWO and growing LGBTQ </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.1pt; text-align: left;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">visibility
more generally. As a result, the Pride Library not only represents the struggle
for but also the subsequent recognition of the LGBTQ community within UWO,
London and beyond - which is, perhaps, the “biggest” feat of all. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.1pt; text-align: left;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1.2.1 A Brief History of the Pride Library<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.1pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The
Pride Library’s history begins in the nineties amidst the backdrop at UWO and
London, Ontario described above. The Pride Library had a relatively “small”
beginning in 1991 as source of supplementary course materials. That year,
Professor James Miller created UWO’s first-ever class exclusively on LGBTQ
issues. Professor Miller is a medieval literary scholar by trade but was
inspired to create the course through his personal experiences as a recently
out gay man and his uniquely flexible appointment as a “Faculty of Arts”
professor. In preparation for the course, he surveyed UWO’s library holdings
for LGBTQ content and deemed them inadequate. In response, he made his personal
collection of about 80-100 books available to his students for browsing and
lending through his University College office and lovingly dubbed the
collection, “The Michel Foucault Memorial Library.” </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.1pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-US">By
the mid nineties, Professor Miller stopped teaching his course but continued
dedicating LGBTQ activist energy toward the Michel Foucault Memorial Library.
The library grew gradually through private donations from the LGBTQ community.
A notable early donor was Ed Phelps, a UWO archivist who not only provided an
entire run of </span><i><span lang="EN-US">The Body Politic </span></i><span lang="EN-US">but also provided free appraisal services.
In 1996, Richard Hudler and Joseph Couture offered Professor Miller the
archival holdings of HALO on the pre- condition that the collection achieved
official recognition. As a result, that year Professor Miller created the “UWO
Research Facility in Gay and Lesbian Studies” with help from UWO’s
Vice-President of Research. At the time of the official opening in February
1997, however, the facility adopted the less-cumbersome name, “The Pride
Library.” During this period, the library had one volunteer and one work/study
student and the space was open one day a week as a reading room. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.1pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Between
1997 and 2004 the Pride Library expanded with ever-increasing speed. In 1999,
with a collection of approximately 1000 books, the library moved to the “Old
Russian Reading Room” during a University College renovation project. This
marked the first time that the library had a space autonomous from Professor
Miller’s office and the introduction of the Pride Library’s distinct colour
palate. In 2000, due to initiative from UWO’s head of technical services, Wendy
Kennedy and University Librarian, Joyce Garnett, the library transitioned from
a modified Dewey Decimal cataloging system implemented by volunteers and
work/study students to full integration within UWO’s online public access
catalogue (although the library remained non-circulating). In order to do so,
the Pride Library secured funds to cover the cataloging fees for the then
approximately 2000-volume collection via grants from UWO’s Committee for the
Safety of Women on Campus. The UWO library system donated all subsequent
cataloging at through a weekly quota, currently at ten entries per week. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.1pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The
Pride Library’s donations and popularity continued through publicity from UWO’s
online catalogue. In 2004, with a collection of over 4000 titles, the Pride
Library was deemed a safety hazard. Through help from UWO’s provost, Roma
Harris, the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities Kathleen Okruhlik and
Joyce Garnett, the Pride Library was allocated a space in D.B Weldon Library
along with $65 000 in funds for renovations. Along with the re-opening in fall
semester 2006 (the grand re-opening, however, was in February), the library
became a circulating collection while maintaining access and borrowing
privileges for the general public. The library currently holds over 5,000
circulating books, over 1, 000 rare non-circulating books and the Richard
Hudler Archives and relies on a staff of approximately fifteen to twenty
volunteers and four work/study students. </span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1.2.2 The Pride
Library as an LGBTQ Grassroots Information Organization </span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Although
the Pride Library currently enjoys official recognition and has received some
financial support from UWO in the past, the library continues to run as a
primarily volunteer-operated, grassroots institution. For example, the library
acquires all materials through private donation and employs only four part-time
staff through the university’s work/study program that are supervised directly
through Professor Miller. The Pride Library’s history and current mandate also
suggest a grassroots impetus: the library was created and continues to provide
a haven for LGBTQ information materials otherwise ignored by the institutional
and professionally-dominated library realm. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The
Pride Library represents a legacy of within LGBTQ history for creating
community- based information entities in response to the disinterest and
deliberate acts of information erasure by the general public. These
organizations include: the Lesbian Herstory Archives, the Canadian Lesbian and
Gay Archives, the June Mazer Lesbian Archives, the Gerber/Hart Library and ONE
National Archives. According to Cvetkovich (2003), these collections have
uniquely “queer” strategies, which are increasingly important to remember in
the wake of increasing popularity for LGBTQ studies within the academy and the
subsequent creation of academic LGBTQ collections. A major aim of this research
project, therefore, is to articulate the unique qualities of an LGBTQ
information- based organization located outside out of strict institutional and
professional bounds. The Pride Library, represents a particularly compelling
case study because the library is located within an academy but maintains a
grassroots orientation. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1.3 Statement
of the Problem </span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Although
Library and Information Studies (LIS) addresses LGBTQ information needs, the
focus of these discussions remain exclusively in the realm of uncovering
information seeking behaviour and creating solutions for LGBTQ patrons within
the conventional, professionally bound library realm. This thesis shifts focus
towards a specific LGBTQ grassroots information organization – the Pride
Library – in order to examine an LBGTQ community and organization-level
response to LGBTQ information needs. </span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1.4 Research
Objectives and Personal Statement </span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The
main objective of this study was to explore and articulate the environment and
activities taking place at the Pride Library. In order to do so, this study
utilized the ethnographic method, which relies on immersion into a specific
social context toward developing rich, community-specific insights. Due to
ethnography’s position as an “emergent” method (see Chapter III for further
detail), this study did not have a specific hypothesis, but rather, guiding
research questions. These questions included: how do users perceive the setting
and what activities do users engage in within the setting? More specifically,
is this a space valued particularly for the concrete LGBTQ information
resources provided or more abstractly as an information-rich site for
networking and more social opportunities – or both? </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.1pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Although
the study did not have a specific hypothesis, it is important to note that the
research questions and overall direction for the study were informed by my
personal and previous research experiences. My curiosity about LGBTQ
information activities can be traced back to my dual identity as a lesbian and
a library school student. In order to satisfy both needs, I pursued Sexual
Diversity Studies in collaboration with my Master of Information degree, which
included a graduate seminar course in queer theory. From June to August 2010, I
also participated in an internship and completed a preliminary ethnographic
research project at the Lesbian Herstory Archives (LHA) in conjunction with an
ethnographic research course offered at the Faculty of Information by Professor
Jenna Hartel. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">My findings
from tmy ethnographic project at the Lesbian Herstory Archives (Cooper, In
Press) directly inspired and deeply informed this thesis project. Over the
course of my research at the LHA, I observed that the archives were not only
valued by users for the information they housed, but also for providing a
welcoming, social environment that fosters information exchanges of a less
material nature. I also discovered that the LHA has a “queer” relationship to
information, such as their “all-over” organizational approach and their value
of “real live lesbians” and ephemeral materials. In order to understand these
findings within a larger context, I decided to pursue another study with
similar designs and concerns over a longer period of time. The resulting study
about the Pride Library of Western Ontario, therefore, follows Stebbins (2006)
concept of the “concatenated research approach,” where a series of field
studies are linked together toward creating grounded theory. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1.5 Outline of
the Thesis <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Moving
from the introductory chapter (Chapter I), this thesis surveys the relevant
literature (Chapter II), outlines the project’s research method and design (Chapter
III) and presents notable findings from the project (Chapter IV – VII). Chapter
IV articulates the unique physical and aesthetic qualities to the Pride
Library. Chapter V examines the Pride Library’s information materials. Chapter
VI discusses the Pride Library’s labour dimension. Chapter VII focuses on the
Pride Library’s users and the ways in which their use is made manifest. The
final chapter (Chapter VIII), summarizes the major findings from the thesis and
relates these findings to more general issues surrounding community autonomy
and different spheres of library activity ranging from private to public. The
final chapter also provides a meta-commentary on thesis, including reflections
on methodology and outlining outstanding issues and questions.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1.6 Chapter
Summary <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This
chapter introduced the thesis project, including relevant background on the
project and project’s location, the objectives and research questions guiding
the project, and a survey of the subsequent chapters that comprise the thesis
proper. The following chapter will explore relevant literature pertaining to
thesis project.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.1pt; text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">CLICK HERE TO READ DANIELLE COOPER'S COMPLETE THESIS: <a href="https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/bitstream/1807/30559/1/Cooper_Danielle_201111_MI_thesis.pdf">https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/bitstream/1807/30559/1/Cooper_Danielle_201111_MI_thesis.pdf</a></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>References</b></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.1pt; text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.1pt; text-align: left;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Cooper, D. (In
Press). "Welcome home:" An exploratory ethnography of the information
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.1pt; text-align: left;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">context at
the Lesbian Herstory Archives. In P. Keilty and R. Dean (Eds.). <i>Feminist and queer information studies reader<b>.</b></i><b> </b>Los
Angeles, C.A: Library Juice
Press. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.1pt; text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Chidley, J.
& Steele, S. (1993). The pub report. </span><i><span lang="EN-US">Maclean’s Magazine,
106(46), </span></i><span lang="EN-US">249-250.
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.1pt; text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Cvetkovich,
Ann (2003). </span><i><span lang="EN-US">An archive of feelings. </span></i><span lang="EN-US">Durham, NC: Duke
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.1pt; text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.1pt; text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Lorrigio,
Paolo (2001, April 14). Playboy ranks UWO: It’s party time! </span><i><span lang="EN-US">The Toronto
Star. <o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.1pt; text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Retrieved
from: </span><span lang="EN-US">http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/975102--playboy-</span><span lang="EN-US">
ranks-uwo-it-s-party-time </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.1pt; text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.1pt; text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Mayne, Paul
(2009, October 22). Western tops globe survey for eighth year. </span><i><span lang="EN-US">Western <o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.1pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i><span lang="EN-US">News. </span></i><span lang="EN-US">Retrieved from: </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.1pt; text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-US">http://communications.uwo.ca/com/western_news/stories/western_tops_globe_sur</span><span lang="EN-US">
vey_for_eighth_year_20091022445031/ </span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.1pt; text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.1pt; text-align: left;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Statistics
Canada. "Population and dwelling counts, for census metropolitan areas and
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.1pt; text-align: left;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">census
agglomerations, 2006 and 2001 censuses - 100% data". Retrieved from:
http://www12.statcan.ca/census-recensement/2006/dp-pd/hlt/97-
550/Index.cfm?TPL=P2C&Page=FLTR&LANG=Eng&T=203&GK=CMA </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.1pt; text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.1pt; text-align: left;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Stebbins, R.
(2006). Concatenated exploration: Aiding theoretic memory by planning <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.1pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-US">well
for the future. </span><i><span lang="EN-US">Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 35 </span></i><span lang="EN-US">(5), 483-494.
</span></span></div>
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