Course talk:ARST573/LGBTQ Archives

Hi Hannah,

I'm checking in on our pod's pages to see if I can offer some final feedback. Your page is excellent! It is a really great resource.

My one, tiny suggestion is that you could add a caption to the "gender neutral toilet" sign to add context.

Congrats on being done, by the way!

Hi Marisa,

Thanks so much! I originally had a caption but wasn't sure if I should keep it, so thanks for the feedback, the caption is back.

-H

Hi Hannah, I’ve really enjoyed reading through your page again. It’s very informative and sensitive, I think you’ve done a great job with your topic. I did a proof-read and here are a few last editing suggestions I have:

• The sentence “The term a LGBTQ archive chooses to identify itself with can be a reflection of several factors including its…” could be reworked to be a bit tidier and more concise. Something like “The term a LGBT archive identifies itself with is a reflection…”
• Starting sections with ‘While’ reads a little funny to me (personal opinion. Take editing suggestions with a grain of salt). Consider changing “While LGBTQ materials have been collected by individuals for centuries, the establishment of formal LGBTQ archival repositories is a relatively recent development worldwide.In North America LGBTQ archives began to be founded in the 1960s and 1970s.” to something along the lines of “Records relating to LGBTQ communities and individuals have been collected for centuries, however the establishment of formal LGBTQ archival respositories is a relatively recent development. The first LGBTQ archives in North America were founded in the 1960s and 1970s.” There are one or two other instances of starting sections with while as well.
• “Oral histories are increasingly being created and collected by LGBTQ archives worldwide.” I would replace ‘created’ with ‘recorded’ as it’s more specific.
• “320 linear feet” do you mean meters…?

Hi Amy,

Thanks for your comments and suggestions! I appreciate your proof-read and I made some changes.

All the best, -H

Hey Hannah!

I really enjoyed reading your page and I learned a lot from it. The only thing i was left wondering about was in the challenges section if there was any resistance from communities if these archives have had to face any battles? it was just something i was left curious about

Hi Morgan,

Thanks for your comment. That is an interesting question. I didn't find anything in my research to indicate that there was any resistance from communities but that is not to say that there might not have been some. Locations are probably chosen carefully (many LGBTQ archives seem to be located in gay villages).

All the best, -H

Hi Hannah,

Sorry I am late on sending out my feedback. I hadn't had a chance to read your page and wanted to do it justice. It is really impressive! I like the way you've organized it and the case studies you've included. I was going to suggest Ellen Greenblatt's book as another source for outreach/activism/reference but I just realized that you've already included it in your 'Further Reading' section - thorough!

I don't have any critiques for your page, just questions based on my own interest. In your research, did you find any information specifically on bisexual people and their experience with LGBTQ+ archives? Since they occupy a liminal space in the queer community (often excluded or accused of possessing 'heterosexual/passing privilege'), I was wondering if this was reflected at all in their representation in the archives.

Again, awesome wiki page!

Hi Marisa,

Thanks for your comments!

I didn't find any discussion of the experience of bisexual individuals with LGBTQ archives in my research. I think your question is a really interesting one though. There is definitely still a lot of prejudice towards and misunderstanding of bisexuality in broader society, so it would be fascinating to explore whether or not this was reflected in the representation of bisexual individuals in archives that purport to be LGBTQ in scope. However, there doesn't appear to be any literature on the topic and to examine the holdings of some archives to determine whether or not there appears to be a lack of representation would be to step outside the neutral perspective of a wiki. So I won't be looking at that here but it would be an interesting research topic!

Hi Hannah,

Thanks for your thoughtful response. It is a bit outside of the scope of the wiki page assignment. I've done some research on my own but haven't found anything yet so I was hopeful that you'd encountered some (archival) literature on the topic during your research. Hopefully I can find out more after I take the research methods course!

Thanks again :)

Hi Hannah,

This is a really interesting topic! I realize you talk about community archives a bit in one of your sections (about how LGBTQ records are available as community archives), but it might be a good idea to discuss community archives as they are defined and thought of in the profession. Andrew Flinn has written a lot about community archives, and some of his articles that are about the concept of the community archive more generally might be helpful.

Hi Kelsey,

I will add a subsection in my History and Development section in order to discuss what is meant by community archives and community-based archives more. I was wondering if I should include this, so thanks for your suggestion. I have used an article on community archives by Flinn for the wiki already, he is a good source for this topic.

Thanks for your feedback!

Hi Hannah,

Great work on the page. you have a lot of good content I liked that you included a list of definitions as well. I've don't have too many suggestions but you may want to do some re-ogranziation. You could include sub-headers in Case Studies to highlight specific areas you talk about. you may also want to include one more case study.

You touch on bit a bit but I'd also be interested in seeing more about the LGBTQ's community relation to the profession and the concept of specialty archives in general. I don't know about LGBTQ archives but for my own topic (faith-based archives) the level of interaction with the archival community often affects speciality archives, both positively but often negatively such as a lack of resources or attention.

Kelly

Hi Kelly,

Thanks for your suggestions. I will take a look at adding sub-headings to the case studies. I am writing a third case study, I have a heading there for it, but have not added the content yet. The LGBTQ community's relationship to the archival profession is really interesting, I agree, but unfortunately I have not found much on the topic beyond what I have already included.

Thanks again.

Hi Hannah,

very nice wiki, you do such a great job of contextualizing each one of your sections with your opening lines and statements; I like the writing a lot. I like your section on "Materials", I learned something new there about the type of materials collected, interesting, to say the least. The terminology section is also nice. I'm not an expert in the topic in any way, but as an average reader I feel your wiki gave me everything important I would like to know about LGBTQ archives, great job of selecting areas to cover and your organization of them is spot on. Nice use of the video.

I like the fact that you're covering a topic that needs more attention, and you do it justice. A couple of more images will make it even better, otherwise hard to find any issues with your wiki.

To indirectly and shamelessly plug my wiki, it would be an honour if you connected your wiki page (Archival Advocacy) to mine, I think there's some connection, especially if you're going to be talking about outreach and activism. Either way, I really want to link my page to yours - adds credibility to my wiki if anything.

Your writing is tight and crisp, I really look forward to seeing the rest of this wiki.

Best,

V

Hi Victor,

Thanks for your comments and compliments! I will definitely add some more photographs as long as I can find more that are not under copyright.

I would be more than happy to link your wiki page to mine, there is definitely a connection between the two due to my section on outreach and activism (and your page is excellent, also).

All the best.

Your page is clearly already well-researched and thought out—a real wealth of information even at this early stage.

I hope to see your section on outreach and activism beef up over the next couple of weeks. You've made it clear that there is a strong political and social justice component to LGBTQ archives and provide general examples of activism activities, but I think more detail would strengthen your page. What are some specific recent achievements, campaigns, or initiatives? Your example of GALA in South Africa responding to criminalization of homophobia is a good example and gives us the 'what' of outreach. But I'm curious to know the 'how'. Another thing I'm curious about is if there is sufficient research out there for you to create a section on private collections of note. Have LGBTQ archives and documentary strategies developed far enough to house records of prominent figures in the LGBTQ community? If so, where are they and whose fonds? Are there fonds or parts of collections that are not part of a specifically LGBTQ archive or sub-collection? Much like there are writers' archives, is there a 'Harvey Milk fonds' or a 'Dan Savage fonds' somewhere? (Fictional examples I'm sure but you get the idea).

Hi Amy,

Thanks for your comments. I will be adding examples of outreach and activist activities, so you will begin to see those over the next week or so. There is very little research on private collections, as most of these have grown into community-based archives. Prominent LGBTQ peoples' papers may be acquired by LGBTQ archives and I will be mentioning a few examples of these in my case studies, but their papers can also be acquired by a variety of archives as with any individual's personal records. I feel that LGBTQ materials in non-LGBTQ archives is beyond the scope of my topic, the list would be exhaustive. I am writing a case study for the Transgender Archives at UVic Special Collections, so that is an example of a sub-collection in a non-LGBTQ archive. Thanks for your input, Hannah

Hi Hannah, I'm super impressed with your page. I think it's the first one I've seen that's gotten as far as adding images and video onto the page. Well done! The intricacies of this topic make it interesting and tricky and I think you're doing really well tackling it so far. I really appreciated that your start off by talking about terminology and contextualizing the complexity of any kind of labeling here. I wonder if you've thought about including any links to subject specific LGBTQ archives? I think it's telling that we're at a point now where an LGBTQ archive can focus on, for example because it's the the I thought of, LGBTQ people and religion, like in the LGBT Religious Archives Network. I also wonder, sort of going off what Amy said, if you're going to mention more intellectually constructed archives. Again, like the LGBT RAN--projects that identify LGBTQ material across many archives and gather their information digitally or intellectually in one place to create an archive that is a safe space for those records. Either way, really interesting topic and obviously there's a ton to say about it. Looking forward to seeing your page develop! Best, Allison

Hi Allison,

Thanks for your comments and compliments! I haven't come across any more subject specific LGBTQ archives other than those I have already listed and linked to (like rukus!). I didn't provide a link to LGBT Religious Archives Network as I am mainly focusing on archives, not resources or archive projects, but I will include a section titled "LGBTQ Archive Projects", so thanks for your recommendation.

Hannah

Hi Hannah,

Your page looks really good. You have a lot of useful links and even pictures and video. I was really interested in the "Access" section under "Challenges," especially about creating a welcoming physical and verbal environment. I had never considered gender-specific pronouns in finding aids to be a hindrance to access. This section has a lot to do with what the archivist can do to welcome and encourage researchers in this specific type of archives, which is not something we have discussed in class much. My only issue is that this creates two "Access" sections in your wiki, which might be confusing to the reader. Perhaps combining the two "Access" sections or providing a more specific type of access in the sub-heading might make things clearer.

I am looking forward to reading the Case Studies you plan to write as that was the section that immediately caught my eye as I was reading through the Table of Contents.

-Sarah

Hi Sarah,

Thanks for your comments. I also wondered if using "Access" twice might be confusing to the reader, so it is good to have that confirmed. I am going to rename the subheading.

Hannah