Queer and Trans Archives: Safeguarding Histories, Designing Futures’ is the launch event of the ‘Perverse Collections: Building Europe’s Queer and Trans Archives’ project, which runs from June 2023 to May 2025. ‘Perverse Collections’ involves researchers based in the Netherlands, Spain and the UK, and is funded by JPICH. The project is led by Glyn Davis (University of St Andrews), working alongside Principal Investigators Eliza Steinbock (University of Maastricht) and Juan Antonio Suárez (University of Murcia). The central question the project asks is: how can a critical understanding of the evolution of Europe’s LGBTQ+ archives be used by scholars, queer and trans community members, and cultural heritage workers to forge sustainable tactics for protecting LGBTQ+ history? ‘Perverse Collections’ aims to transform practices of collecting and protecting queer and trans materials in ways which will have widespread implications for the cultural heritage sector as a whole.

Join us on 20 June 2023 for a roundtable discussion that will begin to explore these questions – and others. Taking part in the conversation will be three leading archivists and scholars from across Europe and Scandinavia: Elahe Haschemi Yekani, Tone Hellesund, and Wigbertson Julian Isenia. They will come together to share their experiences of working with queer and trans archival collections, including creating LGBTQ+ archives and deciding where to house them. The speakers will also unpack the ways in which queer and trans materials have value as portals into broader political concerns, revealing stories of public and private practices, of migration and exile, of community debate and conflict. Ultimately, the discussion will aim to identify potential ways in which queer and trans archives, across Europe and beyond, can be sustained for posterity.

Location: Bishopsgate Bishopsgate London United Kingdom

Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2023 15:00 – 16:30 BST

More information here.