Author: Alisha Stranges

Sensory Portraits of Public Sex

May 15, 2023
by Alisha Stranges
Collaboratory News / Pussy Palace Project / Queer Affect

The Blackwood Gallery at the University of Toronto Mississauga recently released the latest issue of their serial broadsheet, SDUK. About the issue, The Blackwood writes: This milestone fifteenth issue, CONFIDING, addresses trust and collaboration: the tools, methods, and strategies collaborators use to build mutual confidence while working together. With an international slate of largely co-authored contributions, this issue models forms of experimental and collaborative authorship through letters, exercises, interviews, oral histories, and more. Among the […]

Pussy Palace Digital Exhibit: Coming Soon!

March 17, 2023
by Alisha Stranges
Collaboratory News / Lesbian History / Public Humanities / Pussy Palace Project / Queer History / Trans History

In 2021, the Collaboratory conducted the Pussy Palace Oral History Project (PPOHP), preserving 36 interviews with patrons, organizers, and allies of the Pussy Palace — an exclusive sex party and bathhouse event for queer women and trans people in Toronto. Interviews address not only the infamous, September 2000 police raid, but also radical sex/gender cultures in turn of the 21st century Toronto.  A desire to connect broader publics with this rich archive of oral testimony […]

We’re Hiring! Work Study Communications Assistant

July 26, 2022
by Alisha Stranges
Collaboratory News / Opportunities

Are you a @UofT student? Do you have a passion for the LGBTQ2+ past? Are you invested in reaching broader publics with historical research, through an intersectional lens? The LGBTQ Oral History Digital Collaboratory seeks a Communications Assistant with Graphic Design Skills to amplify our robust collection of oral histories across our social media platforms. Responsibilities Qualifications Position Details This is a remote position and can be completed virtually; students from any campus are welcome […]

Call for Expressions of Interest: Postdoc Fellowship

June 13, 2022
by Alisha Stranges
Academia / Collaboratory News / Opportunities

CALL FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST 2-Year Postdoctoral Fellowship in Trans History/Studies and/or Queer/Trans Oral History, Toronto, CA  AWARD OVERVIEW The LGBTQ Oral History Digital Collaboratory at the University of Toronto, Mississauga, seeks expressions of interest for candidates interested in applying for a 2-year, Canadian, Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship. The Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships, administered by CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC, are prestigious awards with a value of $70,000 CDN per year, for two years. Applicants’ research areas should be […]

The Collab at the QHC 2022

June 10, 2022
by Alisha Stranges
Academia / Collaboratory News / Pussy Palace Project / Trans History

If you’re going to San Francisco, be sure to wear some flowers in your hair… Beginning this Sunday, the Committee on LGBT History, San Francisco State University, and the GLBT Historical Society host their second queer history conference, QHC 2022. From June 12-15, historians, K12 educators, and activists come together to share, discuss, and showcase the newest directions and developments in the histories of same-gender sexuality, trans identity, and gender-nonconformity. We are delighted to announce […]

Tangible Traces: Searching for the Pussy Palace Polaroids

May 27, 2022
by Alisha Stranges
Pussy Palace Project / Traversing Temporalities

Reposted from April 16, 2021. Did you know that the 2000 Pussy Palace had an instant photo room? On the fourth floor of the Palace, a sign reading “porn/photo room” directed patrons in two equally playful directions: towards a room for screening pornography and/or towards a room for having Polaroids taken to document one’s night at the bathhouse (Blair 163; Vogels paras. 10-13). In our most recent oral history interview, Carlyle Jansen, one of the founding members of the Toronto Women’s […]