Connecting scholars, activists, and archives across Canada and the U.S. to produce a collaborative, digital history hub for gay, lesbian, queer, and trans* oral histories.
The ArQuives and The University of Toronto’s LGBTQ+ Oral History Digital Collaboratory are conducting an oral history project about the 2000 “Pussy Palace” Raid, Canada’s last major bathhouse police raid. Whether you attended the event on the night of the raid or were involved with the police action, the legal case, or related activism, we’d love for you to share your story. Interested in participating?
Lynn Conway (she/her) interviewed by Dr. Evan Taylor (they/them) Original recording using Zoom platform on February 4, 2020.
Lynn talks about her life history from her 1968 firing from IBM, to her outing and activism in the early 2000’s, as well as her enormously successful online website and organizing.
Trans Activism Oral History Project – Presented in Collaboration with the LGBTQ Oral History Digital Collaboratory (project lead, Dr. Elspeth Brown), the Transgender Archives at the University of Victoria, and The ArQuives: Canada’s LGBTQ2+ Archives. Historical and Geographical Coverage: New York; Michigan, USA; 1938-2020
Elspeth Brown on her LGBQT2+ Oral History class at the University of Toronto-Mississauga. The class, which focused on queer oral history method and production, had students create a short digital story based on a significant historical event from Toronto’s queer community. Professor Brown wanted me to send you along this information so that you could add it to the Collaboratory social media.
This project focuses on the Bathhouse Raids in 1981, where 4 gay bathhouses were subjected to a series of coordinated raids, 286 men were charged, and a series of protests ensued.
Lynn Conway (she/her) interviewed by Dr. Evan Taylor (they/them) Original recording using Zoom platform on February 4, 2020.
Lynn talks about her life history from her 1968 firing from IBM, to her outing and activism in the early 2000’s, as well as her enormously successful online website and organizing.
Trans Activism Oral History Project – Presented in Collaboration with the LGBTQ Oral History Digital Collaboratory (project lead, Dr. Elspeth Brown), the Transgender Archives at the University of Victoria, and The ArQuives: Canada’s LGBTQ2+ Archives. Historical and Geographical Coverage: New York; Michigan, USA; 1938-2020
Elspeth Brown on her LGBQT2+ Oral History class at the University of Toronto-Mississauga. The class, which focused on queer oral history method and production, had students create a short digital story based on a significant historical event from Toronto’s queer community. Professor Brown wanted me to send you along this information so that you could add it to the Collaboratory social media.
This project focuses on 1999 BIPOC Pride, where members of World Majority Lesbians drove a truck through Toronto Pride with a message to end police violence against the BIPOC community. This project also includes clips of an oral history interview with one of the organizers and long-time Toronto LGBTQ+ activists, LeZlie Lee Kam.
Join the Transgender Media Lab and Transgender Media Portal project in 2021! Carleton University / University of Ottawa (Ottawa, ON, Canada) These positions are open to students from any country. Some of the positions are also open to Ontario students who are already in graduate programs.The deadline is coming up soon—February 1.
The Transgender Media Lab (TML) at Carleton University investigates the aesthetic, political, and cultural work of audiovisual media created by transgender, Two Spirit, nonbinary, intersex, and gender-nonconforming filmmakers and artists. As part of that investigation, the lab is building the Transgender Media Portal, a collaborative digital tool that will enable new ways of analyzing these works and their circulation while making information about them available to trans arts communities and the public.This year we have 5 positions for new graduate students!
1.MA: Transgender Media Lab Fellowship (x 2!)
We are seeking two MA students to conduct original thesis research on some aspect of transgender, Two Spirit, nonbinary, intersex and/or gender-nonconforming film- and video-making in Canada or the United States and to contribute to the development of the Transgender Media Portal. Host program: Film Studies at Carleton University. For more info on this position see: https://carleton.ca/transmedialab/2020/tml-ma-fellowships/
2. MA: Contributor Experience DesignerWe are seeking an incoming MA student to lead the user experience and interface redesign for the Transgender Media Portal and to manage volunteer contributor outreach and training. We welcome applicants who are applying to these or other degree programs: Communication, Computer Science, Digital Transformation & Innovation, Feminist & Gender Studies, or Information Studies at the University of Ottawa. For more information on this position see: https://carleton.ca/…/contributor-experience-designer/
3. MA: Transgender Digital Privacy and Security AnalystWe are seeking an incoming MA student to design and analyze approaches to digital privacy and security for the Transgender Media Portal. Host program: Human-Computer Interaction at Carleton University. For more information on this position see: https://carleton.ca/…/2020/privacy-and-security-position/
4. PhD: Front End Developer & AnalystWe are seeking an incoming PhD student to lead front end development and analysis for the Transgender Media Portal. We welcome applicants who are applying to the following or other degree programs: Communication, Computer Science, Digital Transformation & Innovation, Feminist & Gender Studies, or Information Studies at the University of Ottawa, or Communication, Computer Science, Cultural Mediations, or Information Technology at Carleton University. For more information on this position see: https://carleton.ca/transmedialab/2020/developer-analyst/
Image Taken from Transgender Oral History Project of Iowa’s official Twitter Account
Oral history projects are seemingly becoming important for the Trans community. As stated by Aiden Bettine, the creator of The Transgender Oral History Project of Iowa in the Daily Iowan, “there’s something really personal about sitting and listening to an oral-history interview where you just become immersed in someone else’s story and their life in a really particular way.” In essence, oral history projects allow trans folks to document and speak of their experiences without any visual stigma. Oral history allows trans people to document their lives without the fear of whether their passability or their self-expression could be seen to limit or invalidate their stories.
In regards to The Transgender Oral History Project of Iowa, Aiden Bettine hopes to connect and document the Iowan trans experience. This project aims to “recognize, collect, preserve, and celebrate the lives and stories of transgender and gender non-conforming people across the state of Iowa.” Thus, this project is more than just historical, aiming to piece together a fragmented part of history. Rather, the Transgender Oral History Project of Iowa is vocal about being a productive space for the trans community. As a result, Bettine’s project has transgender and gender non-confirming people not only as the subject of the interviews but also as the interviewers, providing proper training. This is what makes Bettine’s project particularly unique – he not only gives queer folks to opportunity to tell their stories, but creates a safe space by giving them the ability to collect these stories. “It is a mechanism for developing new forms of cultural transmission,” Bettine says, – “That work itself is bringing trans folk together.”
More on TOPI can be found here TOPI Twitter account can be found here
Excerpt from the Trans Activism Oral History Project – Presented in Collaboration with the LGBTQ Oral History Digital Collaboratory (project lead, Dr. Elspeth Brown), the Transgender Archives at the University of Victoria, and The ArQuives: Canada’s LGBTQ2+ Archives.
Joanna Clark (she/her) interviewed by Dr. Evan Taylor (they/them) Original recording using Zoom platform on December 30, 2019
To view the full interview, visit: vimeo.com/488128536 More on The Trans Activism Oral History Project
