All posts filed under: Trans History

Public Event! Trans Histories in Canada and Germany: A Roundtable Discussion

September 13, 2023
by Alisha Stranges
Academia / Collaboratory News / Trans History

Did you know that October is Canada's official LGBTQ2S+ History Month? To mark the occasion, we invite you to join us on Monday, October 2, 2023 for a moderated roundtable discussion about current trends, challenges, and interventions in the research and study of trans histories in both Canada and Germany, featuring visiting historical scholars from Freie Universität Berlin and graduate students in history at the University of Toronto.

ONSTAGE/OFFSTAGE: A Conversation with Curator Jordan King

September 8, 2023
by Juan Carlos Mezo-González
Activist Histories / Public Exhibition / Public Humanities / Queer History / Trans History

An upcoming multi-media exhibition at the The ArQuives — Canada’s LGBTQ2+ archives — brings a new lens into the queer history of 20th century Canadian nightlife. Titled “ONSTAGE/OFFSTAGE,” the exhibition explores “the ways stage performance in nightclubs, cabarets, and drag venues offered opportunities for self-actualization for gender fluid, trans, and gender non-binary individuals in the second half of the 20th Century.” The curator, Jordan King, is a multi-disciplinary artist, performer, and writer who is currently […]

A Conversation with Dr. Alex Ketchum about her Directory of LGBTQ+ Archives

July 21, 2023
by Juan Carlos Mezo-González
Archiving Oral History / Gay History / Lesbian History / Public Humanities / Trans History

Having a good sense of the LGBTQ+ archives and resources available in North America has been crucial in my scholarship. My doctoral project on the history of gay periodicals led me to a number of these repositories, which included both physical and online spaces. Yet the increasing number of queer archives and the occasional changes...

Dignified Lives: A Digital Archive for Preserving Trans Memory in Mexico

June 23, 2023
by Juan Carlos Mezo-González
Activist Histories / Collaboratory News / Digitization / Trans History

The Mexican trans community recently launched a digital archive that will play an important role in reconstructing, documenting, and preserving the memory of this community. Named Archivo Memoria Trans México (Trans Memory Archive Mexico), this digital platform and its related social media will also play a significant role in bringing the community together, engaging trans Mexican folks in the process of writing their history in their own terms. In this regard, Archivo Memoria Trans México […]

NOW OPEN! The Pussy Palace: An Instagram Story

June 12, 2023
by Alisha Stranges
Collaboratory News / Lesbian History / Oral History / Pussy Palace Project / Queer History / Trans History

If you find yourself in Toronto’s East end this Pride season, drop by Gallery 1265 at the University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC) to experience The Pussy Palace: An Instagram Story. Commissioned by UTSC’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Office and the Positive Space Committee, this interactive, self-led exhibit blends digital art, narrative text, and interview soundbites from the Collaboratory’s Pussy Palace Oral History Project, immersing patrons in an “average night” at the Palace. The Pussy Palace […]

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 […]