Co-creating a “usable past” for LGBTQ+ people in the present.
Founded in 2014 by Professor Elspeth Brown and based at the University of Toronto Mississauga, the Collaboratory is a public and digital humanities research initiative. We preserve gay, queer, and trans life stories, using new methodologies in digital history, collaborative research, and archival practice.
Our Blog
The Collaboratory blog space features reflections on LGBTQ2+ public and digital history projects, creative interventions, and the people behind them. Follow the research team’s current activities, read our latest reflections from the field, browse our special interest series, or search our complete archive by content category.
LATEST POST
Remembering the Sugar Shack: A Sneak Peek Q&A
Remembering the Sugar Shack offers a powerful look back at a radical, QTBIPOC-led bathhouse night that redefined Toronto’s queer pleasure politics in the early 2000s. Through intimate reflections from organizers and attendees, this Q&A unpacks how the Sugar Shack challenged white dominance in queer spaces and centered joy, consent, and erotic freedom. A teaser for the June 10 event, this post invites readers to remember—and imagine—what liberatory sex-positive space can look like today.
RECENT POSTS
FEATURED SERIES
Curated by archival scholar, doctoral candidate, and history nerd Atticus Hawk (they/he), this blog series ran from October 2023 to July 2024. “The Gays Did What Now?” featured forgotten tidbits of Toronto queer history and outrageous stories of what the gays did for fun in the land before apps. Learn about the tradition of Halloween drag balls, butch icons, and the world’s first accessible map of Toronto Pride. Strap in, strap on, and enjoy the hottest gay Toronto tea from 40 to 60 years ago.
Curated by Collaboratory Oral Historian, Elio Colavito, this blog series ran from March to December of 2022. Posts featured a mix of external and internal contributors. As the series evolved, Colavito transitioned from the traditional blog format to reflective forewords introducing short video interviews with fellow scholars and community narrators. Each entry emphasizes critical reflections on queer and trans* oral histories beyond the scope of their focus in time, shifting analysis to the multiple meanings that arise out of historical research, community archiving, and public history.
ALL POSTS
Browse our complete archive of blog posts.
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