House proud: an ethnography of the BC Gay and Lesbian Archives

Queering the Community Music Archive

“…The DIY institutions discussed in Baker's research are part of a broader movement in community-based ownership over archival and historical material which has been identified by Flinn (2007). The recent archival turn in popular music studies can also be observed in feminist and queer scholarship (Reitsamer 2015;Cooper 2015;Eichhorn 2010 and an increased focus on queer and feminist archiving is also evident in the field of information studies (Keilty & Dean 2013). The interest of this article begins at the point where these grassroots initiatives/institutions with a focus on affective communal/community histories converge.…”

“…As the scholarly interest in DIY and community-based archiving grows -of which music archiving and heritage is a subset -so has a body of literature emerged focusing specifically on queer and feminist archives. Our review of this literature is not exhaustive, but includes several books (see Kumbier 2014;Halberstam 2005;Cvetkovich 2003), edited collections (see Keilty & Dean 2013; Bly & Wooten 2012), journal articles (see Caswell & Cifor 2016;Chenier 2016;Cooper 2015;Taavetti 2015;Samer 2014;Sheffield 2014Sheffield , 2016McLeod et al 2014;Eichhorn 2014;Manalansan 2014;Madden 2013;Wakimoto et al 2013;Boulay et al 2012;Darms 2012), and special issues by journals such as Radical History Review ('Queering Archives: Historical Unravelings', 2015) and Archivaria ('Special Section on Queer Archives', 2009).…”

“…Marginalised groups, such as women and queer communities (gay, lesbian and bisexual; trans* and intersex; and various other sub/cultural groupings of sexual/gender dissidents), have traditionally been excluded altogether or had their minoritarian status erased from mainstream historical narratives and heritage institutions (Cooper 2015;Taavetti 2015;Wakimoto et al 2013;X et al 2009;Cvetkovich 2003). As a consequence, they have been responsible for establishing their own collections, archives and museums to preserve their histories, to save what is at risk of being lost.…”

“…The functions, practices and motives of community-based archives may be seen as more closely aligned with the values and ideologies of queer communities and feminists and their methods of cultural production. That is, there is a common desire for autonomy, independence and self-determination -to do it themselves, on their own terms (Cooper 2015;Withers , 2015aKumbier 2014;Freedman 2012;DiVeglia 2012). There is widespread distrust towards capitalist, patriarchal institutions (whether that be the publishing industry, music industry, or the academy) because of how these establishments have so rigorously excluded, oppressed and marginalised them (Mitchell 2015;Cooper 2015;Kumbier 2014;Wakimoto et al 2013;DiVeglia 2012;Eichhorn 2010;Cvetkovich 2003;Thistlethwaite 1998;Nestle 1990).…”

“…Queer and feminist cultural production has traditionally used DIY methods to produce large quantities of ephemera , often by re-making, re-using or re-tasking the ready-made products of the dominant (patriarchal, heteronormative) culture. These archives collect anything ranging from zines, posters, VHS tapes and DVDs, to oral testimonies, personal photographs, letters, journals, and transcribed or filmed interviews, to born-digital content like emails, Facebook groups or blogs (Cooper 2015;Kumbier 2014;O'Meara 2012;Cvetkovich 2003).…”