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LGBTQ+ people did not always have a public life, so the majority of historical records focus on crime, punishment and negativity. It is vital that we redress the balance... – Surrey History Centre
GBTQ+ narratives have often been defined by those outside the community, resulting in a lack of control
over our own histories. But the examples below highlight how some library, knowledge and information organisations have taken steps towards giving LGBTQ+ people the power to tell their own stories.
The Surrey History Centre Within its county of Surrey collection, the Surrey History Centre holds an LGBTQ+ archive. It includes personal archives and documents of former Surrey residents, but more recently they have encouraged current residents to play a part in the archive by adding their own “anecdotes, personal memoirs, records of community groups, and local LGBTQ+ facts and stories...” via the Exploring Surrey’s Past site. This was developed from the recognition that “
...not everyone is represented in the archives and the importance of LGBTQ+ histories has been neglected because of past attitudes, prejudice and judicial persecution. LGBTQ+ people did not always have a public life, so the majority of historical records focus on crime, punishment and negativity. It is vital that we redress the balance...” Find out more via:
https://tinyurl.com/ LGBTQIPNov24.
Goldsmiths, University of London,
Liberate Zines collection This collection is primarily focused on ensuring that the narratives of the most maginalised groups are included within the University’s Library via an expanding collection of zines. Zines are defined as “... DIY publications made by individuals or groups of people rooted in a history of radical political self-publishing.” (Queer Zine Library site definition). As well as including zines representing black, Asian, minority ethnic, and people of colour, disabled, women, class-oppressed and otherwise institutionally oppressed groups, the Liberate Zines collection includes LGBTQIA+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer or Questioning, Intersex and Asexual) representation.
October-November 2024
As well as including these narratives in the collection, the library also catalogues and classifies the zines using the zine creators own subject or keyword terms, alongside more traditional subject classification terminology. By doing this, the creator’s original intention and framing of their zine narrative is kept and librarian subjectivity can be reduced.
Find out more:
https://libguides.gold.
ac.uk/zines.
Bishopsgate Institute The Institute has a large LGBTQ+ archive and has regularly organised and supported the collection and archiving of LGBTQ+ themed personal histories. One of these initiatives focused on the People’s Pride Archive, which, as part of the 50th anniversary of Pride, encouraged anyone to contribute their Pride photos and stories to a “dedicated archive that celebrates the struggles and celebrations of the past 50 years... And we’re not only interested in the big events, such as those in London, Brighton or Manchester. Whether it’s a party in your back garden, balcony or street, a memory from the 80s or 90s or from a recent Trans Pride or UK Black Pride, your story matters.” The emphasis being on individual lives and personal narratives, rather than Pride from a corporate or formal organisation perspective. Find out more at
www.bishopsgate.org.uk/peoples- pride-archive.
Ash Green (@ciliplgbtq,
cilip.lgbtqnetwork@cilip.
org.uk) is a CILIP LGBTQ+ Network Steering Group Member.
The Museum of Transology Founded on personal items donated from the trans community, the museum continues to build its collection around them – the collection highlights the broad spectrum of unique trans lives. Items in the collection are archived with a label from the donator and archived together “
...in a deliberate strategy to ensure the experiences surrounding trans, non-binary, and intersex people’s everyday lives are recorded in their own words, in perpetuity.”
As part of this it has also collaborated with Bishopsgate Institute (where the collection is housed) through the Archiving Lates programme, and the Trans Pride UK Collective to encourage trans, nonbinary and intersex people to contribute to the collection and assist in its cataloguing. Find out more:
www.museumoftransology.com/ One of the key things to highlight in these examples is that the individuals are given and are taking the opportunity to share their own unique experiences, which helps ensure broadly diverse perspectives from within the LGBTQ+ community are also visible, recorded and celebrated.
And all these initiatives continue to remain active, so if you would like to contribute, contact details can be found via the links above in this article. For more updates and news follow us on:
Facebook
www.facebook.com/ciliplgbtqnetwork;
LinkedIn
www.linkedin.com/company/cilip-lgbtq-network;
Picture © mixogyny CC BY-NC 2.0
Bluesky
https://bsky.app/profile/ciliplgbtq.bsky.social. IP
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