The Transgender Archives at the University of Victoria
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The Transgender Archives at the University of Victoria is the "largest
transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through ...
archive An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials – in any medium – or the physical facility in which they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or ...
in the world". The collection is located at the
University of Victoria The University of Victoria (UVic or Victoria) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. The university traces its roots to Victoria College, the first post-secondary insti ...
Libraries, Special Collections and University Archives (Mearns Centre for Learning), in
Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...
, British Columbia, Canada. It is coordinated by founder and academic director Aaron H. Devor and managed by director of Special Collections and university archivist Lara Wilson. All holdings of the Transgender Archives are accessible to the public, free of charge, for personal research, investigation, and exploration.


History

While there are numerous lesbian,
gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...
, bisexual and
trans Trans- is a Latin prefix meaning "across", "beyond", or "on the other side of". Used alone, trans may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Trans (festival), a former festival in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom * ''Trans'' (fil ...
, or
LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term ...
, archival collections in North America, only a few exclusively feature trans,
non-binary Non-binary and genderqueer are umbrella terms for gender identities that are not solely male or femaleidentities that are outside the gender binary. Non-binary identities fall under the transgender umbrella, since non-binary people typically ...
, and
Two-Spirit Two-spirit (also two spirit, 2S or, occasionally, twospirited) is a modern, , umbrella term used by some Indigenous North Americans to describe Native people in their communities who fulfill a traditional third-gender (or other gender-variant) ...
material. The genesis of the Transgender Archives occurred in 2005 with a conversation between the founder of the archives, Aaron Devor, and Rikki Swin. Rikki Swin is a one-time Chicago manufacturer of plastic injection moulding and founder of the Rikki Swin Institute. She moved to Victoria in 2007. The discussion led Swin to donate her institute's entire material holdings to the University of Victoria Libraries' Archives and Special Collections. Swin's founding donation is one of three major donations held in the archives. The second major donation of material occurred when the daughter of Reed Erickson donated her father's extensive papers to the archives. Erickson, founder of the Erickson Educational Foundation, died in 1992. The third major donation occurred when Professor Richard Ekins donated the entire University of Ulster (Northern Ireland, United Kingdom) Trans-Gender Archive. Officially opening in 2011, the Transgender Archives at the University of Victoria has gathered other smaller donations and has grown to be "exceptional in its focus, size, and scope" due to its unique position as being one of the only archives in the world that institutionally houses material exclusively reflecting trans, non-binary, and Two-Spirit experiences.
Libraries and the LGBTQ community In the post- Stonewall era, the role of libraries in providing information and services to LGBTQ individuals has been a topic of discussion among library professionals. Libraries can often play an important role for LGBTQ individuals looking to ...
lists the Transgender Archives in their ''List of LGBTQ Archives/Libraries/Special Collections'' as one of the only archival institutions that exclusively houses trans material.


Collection

The Transgender Archives at the University of Victoria contains archival material from both large and small trans organizations and focuses on the contributions of activists and researchers working for the betterment of trans, non-binary, and Two-Spirit people. While the archive currently emphasizes collections from North America and Europe, the materials go back over 120 years, and are in 15 languages from 23 countries on six continents; if the materials were all lined up along one long shelf, the collection would stretch the length of one-and-a-half football fields. Holdings include: approximately 2,000 books, including many rare and first editions; large collection of informational pamphlets and booklets produced by advocacy organizations for educational purposes; historical and organizational records for several significant trans activist groups including personal papers from some leaders; international newsletters from trans communities; multimedia collection representing and recording trans experience; and a large collection of ephemera. At approximately of books, periodicals, and archival materials, the collection is the "largest trans-focused archival collection in the world". Approximately 25 per cent of the collection is cataloged, with 60 per cent of the collection reflecting male-to-female experiences. While the archives is accessible to the public, free of charge, key documents are slowly being made available online (see external links).


List of the archives' largest collections

* Rikki Swin *
Ari Kane Ariadne "Ari" Kane is a crossdresser, activist, educator, and one of the founders of the Fantasia Fair. She runs Theseus Counseling Services which specializes in gender issues and remains open currently in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Kane identifi ...
/
Fantasia Fair Fantasia Fair (also known as FanFair) is a week-long conference for cross-dressers, transgender and gender questioning people held every October in Provincetown, Massachusetts, a small Portuguese fishing village and largely gay and lesbian tourist ...
* barbara findlay. Q.C. / Kimberly Nixon * Betty Ann Lind * International Foundation for Gender Education * Merissa Sherrill Lynn * Reed Erickson * Stephanie Castle / Zenith Foundation * University of Ulster TGA collection *
Virginia Prince Virginia Charles Prince (November 23, 1912 – May 2, 2009), born Arnold Lowman, was an American transgender activist. She published '' Transvestia'' magazine, and started the ''Foundation for Personality Expression (FPE)'' and later the Society ...
* Aiyyana Maracle


Publications

In 2014, founder and academic director Aaron H. Devor published the book ''The Transgender Archives: Foundations for the Future'', featuring the collection of the Transgender Archives. The publication was a finalist in the
27th Lambda Literary Awards The 27th Lambda Literary Awards were held on June 1, 2015, to honour works of LGBT literature published in 2014.
("Lammys") in the category of "LGBT nonfiction".


Moving Trans History Forward conferences

Moving Trans History Forward conferences are a series of international conferences, founded and led by the chair in Transgender Studies and the academic director of the Transgender Archives. The conferences draw community activists, researchers, educators, artists, service providers, and allies of all ages from around the world. Conferences consider the history of trans activism and research, and the issues which impact trans, non-binary, and Two-Spirit people today locally, nationally, and globally. The first conference, held at the University of Victoria, March 21–23, 2014, was entitled "Moving Trans* History Forward". Researchers and activists gathered to retrieve and preserve the stories and records of transgender pioneers of the early 1960s onwards. The second conference, entitled "Moving Trans History Forward: Building Communities – Sharing Connections", took place at the University of Victoria, March 17–20, 2016. It has been hailed as the largest transgender conference in Canadian history. Trans and gender non-conforming (GNC) community-based scholars and activists, academics, archivists, librarians, family members, and allies of trans and GNC people explored preserving and recounting the history of trans and GNC people and communities in all eras and regions of the world. Events included: keynote speakers Jamison Green and
Martine Rothblatt Martine Aliana Rothblatt (born October 10, 1954) is an American lawyer, author, entrepreneur, and transgender rights advocate. Rothblatt graduated from University of California, Los Angeles with J.D. and M.B.A. degrees in 1981, then began to wor ...
, oral presentations, posters, art exhibits, feature-length trans-themed film ''
Two 4 One ''Two 4 One'' is a 2014 Canadian comedy-drama film"Two 4 On ...
'', panel discussion with founders of trans activism and research. The third conference, entitled "Moving Trans History Forward: From Generation to Generation", took place at the University of Victoria March 22–25, 2018. The conference registered 300 people from 11 countries in Asia, Europe, North America, and the Middle East, and drew 600 people to the largest event.
Kent Monkman Kent Monkman (born 13 November 1965) is a Canadian First Nations artist of Cree ancestry. He is a member of the Fisher River band situated in Manitoba's Interlake Region. He is both a visual as well as performance artist, working in a variety ...
, a Canadian Cree Two-Spirit artist, delivered one of the keynote addresses, with
Andrea Jenkins Andrea Jenkins (born May 10, 1961) is an American politician, writer, performance artist, poet, and transgender activist. She is known for being the first black openly transgender woman elected to public office in the United States, serving sin ...
, the first openly transgender black woman elected to public office in the U.S., presenting the second keynote address. The fourth iteration of the Moving Trans History Forward conference was held online, from March 11 to 14, 2021. Originally, the conference was scheduled to take place in Victoria, BC, from April 2 to 5, 2020, at the
Victoria Conference Centre The Victoria Conference Centre is a conference centre located in the downtown core of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. In January 2008, the centre received a upgrade through the Canada-B.C. Municipal Rural Infrastructure Fund, making it the s ...
but was moved online due to the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
. 379 people from 23 countries were registered for the conference. Miss Major, a long-time activist and trans women of colour, was the first keynote speaker. She was followed by Blas Radi, the cofounder of the world's second Chair in Transgender Studies. There were both youth and elder panels where speakers discussed issues faced by their respective age groups.


References


External links


Official Transgender Archives websiteOfficial Moving Trans History Forward conference website
{{Authority control LGBT museums and archives Transgender-related mass media University of Victoria LGBT organizations in Canada Archives in Canada