The ArQuives


The ArQuives: Canada's LGBTQ2+ Archives, formerly known as the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives, is a Canadian non-profit organization, founded in 1973 as the Canadian Gay Liberation Movement Archives, that acquires, preserves, and provides public access to material on the history of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and two-spirit communities in Canada and internationally.

History

The ArQuives were established in 1973 by The Body Politic's editorial collective. Originally named the "Canadian Gay Liberation Movement Archives", the organization became the "Canadian Gay Archives" in 1975; established a separate collective in 1976; incorporated in 1980; received charitable status in 1981; formed a Board of Directors in 1992; and adopted the name "Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives" in 1993.
Beginning as a one-cupboard reference collection co-housed with Pink Triangle Press, the ArQuives relocated to an independent location on Temperance Street in downtown Toronto in 1992.
In November 2005, the ArQuives moved to a temporary location at 65 Wellesley Street in the city's Church and Wellesley gay village, launched a fundraising campaign, and began the search for a permanent home in the same area. The historic Jared Sessions house at 34 Isabella Street, built in 1860, was donated to the ArQuives by the city's Children's Aid Society after CAS began construction on a newer, larger building next door. After major renovations to 34 Isabella Street, the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives re-opened in September 2009. In December 2016, the Archives received a $50,000 grant from Toronto City Council to improve the building's accessibility for people with disabilities.
Today the ArQuives host a reading room and rare book library, vertical file room, offices, AV room, and gallery space for exhibitions. Additional holdings remain at 65 Wellesley and in deep storage.
At their AGM in May 2018, after a year-long consultation process, they announced that they had changed their name to "The ArQuives: Canada's LGBTQ2+ Archives".

Collections

The ArQuives was established in order to "preserve, organize, and give public access to information and materials in any medium, by and about LGBT people, primarily produced in or concerning Canada". As such, the ArQuives' collections are not limited to traditional printed material, but instead contain many diverse collections.

Artifacts

In addition to traditional printed material, the ArQuives collects artifacts that would normally be considered museum objects to capture specific moments in the history of the lesbian and gay community. Such artifacts include:
The ArQuives have acquired over 500 original works of art from within the LGBT community. These are primarily paper or canvas works, and the emphasis is historical. Examples include:
Containing more than 2000 hours of sound on tapes and over 1300 discs, the ArQuives house LPs, gramophone records, cassettes, and CDs. Much of this material is vocal or instrumental recordings of lesbian and gay performers, but there is also a significant library of taped interviews and radio programs. The ArQuives also has over 150 oral histories in its collections, including the Foolscap Gay Oral History Project ; the Lesbians Making History project ; and the Trans Health Care Activism in Ontario oral history project.

Moving images

The collection's moving images collection includes more than 2200 items, in 8 mm film and 16 mm film, Betamax, VHS, and DVD formats. While there are feature films, documentaries, and erotica housed in the Archives, there are also videos shot at lesbian and gay community events. Because of its extensive video and film collection, the Archives are often used to provide source material for Canadian film projects, such as .

National Portrait Collection

Established in 1998, the National Portrait Collection honours individuals who have contributed to the growth and development of the LGBT community in Canada. Currently, the collection holds 75 portraits in various mediums, including photography, watercolour, and oil.
As of 2016, people depicted in the portrait collection include Elmer Bagares, Chris Bearchell, Rick Bébout, Anne Bishop, Persimmon Blackbridge, Nicole Brossard, Alec Butler, Bernard Courte, Harold Desmarais, C.M. Donald, Michelle Douglas, John Duggan, Sara Ellen Dunlop, Jim Egan, Gloria Eshkibok, Lynne Fernie, John Fisher, Janine Fuller, Richard Fung, Amy Gottlieb, John Greyson, Brent Hawkes, Gens Hellquist, Tomson Highway, Charlie Hill, George Hislop, Richard Hudler, David Kelley, Robert Laliberté, k.d. lang, Denis Leblanc, John Alan Lee, Bev Lepischak, Alan Li, Michael Lynch, Ann-Marie MacDonald, Jovette Marchessault, Tim McCaskell, Mary Meigs, Billy Merasty, Robin Metcalfe, Peter Millard, Bonte Minnema, Jearld Moldenhauer, Shani Mootoo, Alex Munter, Pat Murphy, Glen Murray, Nancy Nicol, Richard North, Keith Norton, Carmen Paquette, Carole Pope, Ken Popert, Kyle Rae, Rupert Raj, Neil Richards, Marie Robertson, Svend Robinson, Gerry Rogers, Jane Rule, Craig Russell, Kyle Scanlon, Shyam Selvadurai, Makeda Silvera, Mary-Woo Sims, Tim Stevenson, Douglas Stewart, Barbara Thornborrow, Shelley Tremain, Susan Ursel, Chris Vogel, Delwin Vriend, Tom Warner and Douglas Wilson.

Periodicals

The ArQuives contains the largest collection of LGBT periodicals at an independent archives in the world, with over 9500 individual titles. The ArQuives also house a general collection of periodicals not specifically produced for the LGBT community, but concerning feminism, the arts, and alternative culture that include LGBT issues and an indication of changing attitudes in mainstream media.

Personal and organizational records

The Archives holds records of Canadian LGBT organizations, as well as the personal records of prominent Canadians active in, or significant to, the lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, and two-spirit communities. This includes
Beginning as the photo files for The Body Politic, the Archives grew around the photograph collection, and while many of the items are not yet cataloged due to the high number of entries, the Archives houses over 7000 individual items in various mediums, including prints, negatives, and halftone reproductions.
In terms of scope, the photographs depict the LGBT community in a broad sense: photographs of demonstrations, conferences, social events, performances, and police harassment, as well the LGBT community's personal, domestic, and social lives.

Posters

Posters in the ArQuives are predominantly Canadian, with some international, representing film, theatre, concerts, parties, bars, and avant-garde art, within the LGBT community.

Vertical files

The ArQuives currently hold over 30,000 vertical files on people, groups, and events affecting the LGBT community. Unlike most of the Archives, the vertical files provide information about an individual or organization, rather than information produced by the individual or organization. The vertical files contain approximately fifty percent Canadian content and fifty percent international content.

Exhibitions

With an additional mandate to exhibit work that honours LGBT community and encourages dialogue, the Archives has a vibrant exhibition programme. A sample of past exhibitions includes:
The ArQuives' outreach initiatives include tours and study opportunities for undergraduates.