Tag Archives: history

The Archives – We’ve got stuff!

Posted on May 19, 2016 by Kevin Allen | Leave a comment

For the past two years the Calgary Gay History Project has been dutifully collecting donations from community members to build a local gay history archive. The collection is diverse: we have publications, books, organization documents, news clipping, audio tapes, video tapes, clothing, buttons and other ephemera that represents the history of the LGBTQ community in Calgary.

We recently over two Sunday’s catalogued all of the donations to date. “Archive blitz days” we called them, and it proved to be a huge but rewarding task. Now we have a simple but searchable database, which already has proved helpful in solving research queries related to our history.

Calgary Gay History Project’s Rosman Valencia and Jonathan Brower finished cataloguing the archive recently.

The long-term home for the archives, will be in one of our Calgary collecting institutions, such as the Glenbow Museum, the University of Calgary or Mount Royal University – we have been in conversation with all three. However in the meantime, while the gay history book is written, the collection is slowly filling up Kevin Allen’s apartment.

If you have something that might be of interest to the Calgary Gay History Archive, please contact us. We will take just about everything as well as pick it up from your home. A few times, we have heard:

“I just threw out those old things a few months ago, because I did not think anyone would want them…”

This brings tears to our eyes!

If you are saving treasures you are not ready to donate, that is fine too. Let us know about them, and we will keep you apprised of where the gay history archive collection ends up. You may want to contribute to the archive later down the road or contribute to it as part of your estate planning.

The archive is a treasure which will become even more valuable to historians in the decades to come. Please consider donating to it.

{KA}

Calgary Gay History Project for 15 Year Olds

Posted on December 18, 2014 by Kevin Allen | Leave a comment

Earlier this year we were contacted by textbook publisher Nelson Education Ltd. They were working on a Grade 10 history publication, History Uncovered. The textbook, designed for the Ontario public school curriculum wanted to cite our article “Invisible: Queer Immigrants in the 1940s and 1950s” written by Calgary Gay History Project researcher Tereasa Maillie.

We said, “yes please!”

A few weeks ago our copies of the textbooks came in the mail, and we were delighted to learn there was a presence with regard to gay rights throughout the publication. History Uncovered reports on Everett Klippert and the decriminalization of homosexuality in 1969, same-sex marriage in 2005, as well as and the Delwin Vriend, Supreme Court verdict in 1998, which ‘read in’ sexual orientation as a protected ground in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

I recall a much different Grade 10 Social Studies class in 1985; we had no presence in the textbooks to speak of! How thrilling to see our project become part of school curriculum.

On the subject of gratitude, the Calgary Gay History Project wishes all of our readers and supporters happy holidays. We look forward to connecting with you again in 2015!

Talking Radical Radio & LGBT History Month

Posted on October 9, 2014 by Kevin Allen | Leave a comment

Tereasa Maillie and Kevin Allen from the Calgary Gay History Project are featured on Talking Radical Radio this week. Host Scott Neigh asks us about the origins of the project and the experiences we have had in doing research on Calgary’s Gay History. Talking Radical Radio is one of the podcasts on Rabble.ca’s podcast network.

The podcast is timely as October is LGBT History Month in North America. Founded in 1994, by Missouri high-school history teacher Rodney Wilson, the event was intended to highlight the lack of LGBTQ issues in the education curriculum.

October was chosen by Wilson because National Coming Out Day had already been established (October 11th), and October commemorated the first march on Washington by queer activists in 1979. LGBT History Month is intended to encourage honesty and openness about being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.

Queer history seems to be catching on. There is a new app called Quistory that showcases moments in the LGBTQ history. Check out this link to Quist on Huffington Post with 42 photos celebrating our human rights victories.

{KA}