Tag Archives: Transgender Archives

Be your own queer historian!

October is queer history month in Canada. We want to highlight some local and digital queer history resources that are public and accessible. Curious historians take note!

The new Calgary Gay History Project Collection at the University of Calgary launched during Pride and are already being used by researchers. We’re planning a launch party on October 22 at 5 PM, details TBA.

Dr. William Bridel, Archivist Kim Geraldi, and the Calgary Gay History Project’s Kevin Allen exploring the collection. Image by Andy Nichols, 2024, University of Calgary Archives Photographs, Libraries and Cultural Resources.

Our colleagues at the Edmonton Queer History Project launched an online digitized queer Alberta magazine collection. Of particular interest to Calgarians are Outlooks, Modern Pink, and A.G.L.P. They’ve kindly pledged to add more Calgary publications in the near future.

The Central Library has hard copies of queer publications Outlook, Clue! and QC Magazine in their fourth-floor Local History collection (as well as circulating copies of Our Past Matters: Stories of Gay Calgary).

Gay Calgary and Edmonton magazine has their back catalogue digitized and online (2003-2019).

Cover August 2006 of GayCalgary Magazine

Many significant queer archives are digitizing some of their holdings and creating online exhibits—notably the ArQuives in Toronto and the Transgender Archives at the University of Victoria.

When you are travelling, seek out the queer histories of the places you are visiting. We just went to Spokane, Washington, last week and discovered Spokane Pride’s queer history project online—fascinating!

1950’s newspaper advert from the Spokane Pride History Project

Finally, when you have discovered something interesting, share it! You can use the social media tags @2SQHMCan and #2SQHMCan to link up with a national conversation about queer history.

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Victoria: Trans History Recap

We had a stimulating three days of exploring trans identity and trans history at the University of Victoria’s Moving Trans History Forward 2016 conference, March 17-20.Screen Shot 2016-03-31 at 10.41.55 AMThe conference was a grounding in important dates, personalties, and terminology in the transgender community. It also touched on current issues such as the need for preservation of trans histories and the status of trans materials in larger queer collections such as at the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives (CLGA).

Academics, community activists, artists and historians created a stimulating jam-packed event. And like at most conferences, some of the most interesting conversations were with the person you found yourself sitting beside at lunch. One highlight was learning about the Transvengers web comic.  A collaborative project between trans youth and researchers at the University of Exeter, that saw the youth interact fantastically with sexologists from the past.

We were delighted to learn that there will be a trans history exhibition at the Nickle Galleries at the University of Calgary this June. Called Trans Trans, the show will explore the influence of Magnus Hirschfeld on Alfred Kinsey through images found in the Kinsey archive and others in popular culture. Trans Trans is curated by U of C history professor Annette Timm, and her academic partners, Michael Taylor (Portland, Oregon) and Rainer Herrn (Berlin, Germany).

We talked to trans activist, Rupert Raj, about his time in 1970’s Calgary, and his association with the Gender Identity clinic at the Foothills Hospital. Following the conference, we found sources in UVic’s Transgender Archives about the physicians who ran the clinic as well as more on the early days in Calgary of the Foundation for the Advancement of Canadian Transsexuals (FACT).

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Researchers: Kevin, Carter, Demetrios and Son at the UVic Trans Archives post-conference

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Trans History in YYC

In June 1978, a national Trans publication was began in Calgary. Called Gender Review: A FACTual Journal, it was the publication of the Foundation for the Advancement of Canadian Transsexuals (FACT), which began in January of the same year. The non-profit organization focussed on public education of gender dysphoria.

Gender Review‘s premier issue had an article  on “Transsexual Oppression” about Montrealer Inge Stephens; information about transsexual resources; news items such as trans woman Canary Conn’s appearance on the Phil Donahue show; and a listing of books and articles by and about trans people.

The founding president of FACT was Rupert Raj, who moved the organization and publication to Toronto in July 1979.  Raj has gone on to be a leading Trans activist and  educator in Ontario and Canada and in 2013 was inducted into the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives (CLGA) National Portrait Collection.  His personal records are also housed at the CLGA as the Rupert Raj Trans* Collection.

National-Portrait-Galllery-Rupert-Raj (1)

The University of Victoria’s Moving Trans History Forward 2016 conference’s concluding event is a Founders Panel, on Sunday March 20th from 9:30 AM – noon.  Raj will be one of five panellists.  Unlike other conference events the Founders Panel is free and open to the public – we hope to see you there.

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