Transgender Archives Conference

Dallas Denny writes:

There’s a conference on transgender archives next year in Victoria, British Columbia—the first ever. I'll be speaking there. I hope one thing that will come out of it will be some sort of alliance or group so the various libraries and archives can communicate with one another and share duplicate copies. There are more gay/lesbian/bisexual archives than trans conferences. I hope something similar will happen. 

I’m trying to visit the trans archives as I can. Last year I visited the LGBT community center in New York. I hope to make trips to Houston, San Francisco, and Los Angeles in the next few years, as I can afford it.

That is great good news—and glad you are speaking and visiting our community archives.  I think some rich LGBT people should set up a fund to fund someone to get groups connected—such as archives, centers.  I hope the meeting gts coverage and our media gives us the results.

Update from Aaron H. Devor and the Transgender Archives

Dear Friends,

The Transgender Archives at the University of Victoria is about to get a lot bigger! Our movers have packed up the equivalent of more than 125 bankers’ boxes (158 linear ft) of transgender books, magazines, articles, audio tapes, video tapes, photographs, artifacts, etc. in Northern Ireland, and we expect them to arrive in Victoria sometime around the end of July.

Richard Ekins, Professor Emeritus of Sociology and Cultural Studies at the University of Ulster, Northern Ireland, UK, has most generously entrusted his extensive collection of transgender materials to the University of Victoria Transgender Archives. Originally called the Trans-Gender Archive, the collection was founded by Professor Ekins in January 1986 with the collaboration of the President and the Librarian of the UK-based Self Help Association of Transsexuals (SHAFT). The ground-breaking University of Ulster Trans-Gender Archive collection ceased its connection with the University of Ulster in July 2010, upon the retirement of Professor Ekins, and it is now on its way to the University of Victoria.

The collection is focused on understanding how attitudes and representations of transgender people  have developed and changed over time. It looks at three broad aspects of transgender--biology and the body, gender expression, and erotic expression and representation--through the lenses of expert knowledge, as recorded by scientists and social scientists; transgender community member knowledge, as recorded by and for transgender people themselves; and common-sense knowledge, as recorded by and for members of the general public. It is truly a treasure and we are honoured to become its guardians.

Visit the University of Ulster TGA Collection on The Transgender Archives website.

If you would like to talk about donating your personal collection to the Transgender Archives, please contact me at ahdevor@uvic.ca.

Click here to make a financial contribution to the Transgender Archives.

Best wishes,

Aaron H. Devore