254
10
3303
-
https://digitalexhibitions.arquives.ca/files/original/ad2b0724a8bfceffa061cf7f98e6c51b.pdf
d82841795430ed4c65ab767b2bd7ff30
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Lesbians Making History Collections
Description
An account of the resource
The Lesbians Making History (LMH) collective came together in the mid-1980s and was inspired by oral history projects of gay lives coming out of Buffalo, Boston and San Francisco. The collective interviewed 9 women about their experiences as ‘out’ lesbians in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s.
Collective members included:
Rachel Epstein
Maureen FitzGerald
Amy Gottlieb
Didi Khayatt
Mary Louise Noble
Lorie Rotenberg
Some of the women interviewed also appeared in Aerlyn Weissman and Lynne Fernie’s NFB-funded documentary Forbidden Love: The Unashamed Stories of Lesbian Lives. The 1992 film was out of print for many years until 2014, when the National Film Board released it in digital format.
Although the organizers of Lesbians Making History were committed to keeping the project a community-based initiative, and not one rooted in academic pursuit, they allowed Elise Chenier, now a professor at Simon Fraser University, to use the transcripts of the interviews for her MA thesis. Chenier’s work on lesbian bar culture in the 1950s and 60s is widely taught in Canadian universities. Interview material was also used by Cameron Duder and by Gary Kinsman and Patrizia Gentile.
In 2014 the original audio tapes were given to the CLGA via the LGBTQ Digital Oral History Collaboratory, a multi-institutional research project led by University of Toronto professor Elspeth Brown and funded by a 5-year SSRHC Insight grant.
Embedded at the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives (CLGA), Collaboratory members digitized LMH materials and created new verbatim transcriptions. Original LHM collective members assisted with editing transcripts, identifying key words and writing abstracts for each oral history interview.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Lesbians Making History Collective
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1985-1987, 2000
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
1950s to 1970s, 1985-1987
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
CLGA holds non-exclusive rights
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Maureen Fitzgerald; LGBTQ Oral History Digital Collaboratory (Elspeth Brown, PI)
Hyperlink
A link, or reference, to another resource on the Internet.
URL
<iframe src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/239007325&color=ff5500&inverse=false&auto_play=false&show_user=true" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="20"></iframe>
<iframe src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/239007324&color=ff5500&inverse=false&auto_play=false&show_user=true" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="20"></iframe>
<iframe src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/239007323&color=ff5500&inverse=false&auto_play=false&show_user=true" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="20"></iframe>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Oral History with Jeanne Healy, Lois Stuart, and Jackie, 1985
Description
An account of the resource
This interview begins as a conversation between Lois, a retired schoolteacher and activist in Southern Ontario, and Jeanne, a retired secretarial worker and activist. Partway through the interview, Jackie enters and dominates much of the discussion. Jackie was born in 1934 in Sudbury, Ontario to a large French and Native family. As a teenager, she ran away to Toronto multiple times. Following a marriage at 16, she moved to Toronto for a number of years, where she became part of the lesbian bar scene at The Continental Hotel. Jackie would have been considered a downtowner and a rounder, having spent time in and out of the Don Jail throughout her life. The majority of the interview concerns her coming out process as a butch; her work as a pickpocket and later a heroin dealer; her experiences of violence in the Lesbian bar scene; as well as her relationships with women, one of which was with an aspiring Hollywood starlet. The interview is framed by a larger conversation about police harassment, books published in the fifties featuring gay and lesbian characters, and Jeanne and Lois’ involvement in the Women’s Movement.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Lesbians Making History Collective
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1985
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Lesbians Making History Collective
LGBTQ Digital Oral History Collaboratory
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
The CLGA does not hold copyright
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
oral history
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
1950s to 1970s, 1985
bars
butch/femme
incarceration
lesbian
lesbian relationships
oral history
police brutality
Sudbury
The Continental
-
https://digitalexhibitions.arquives.ca/files/original/865221c1af9eb78788508ff99713dbc5.png
6d3f47f652f9c1808240a65dec0e7ab9
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Not a Place on the Map: The Desh Pardesh Project
Subject
The topic of the resource
diaspora, artists, South Asian, people of colour, festivals, identity, racism
Description
An account of the resource
Toronto’s Desh Pardesh festival (1988–2001) was a multidisciplinary arts festival that showcased underrepresented and marginalized voices within the South Asian diaspora. These oral history interviews with artists and organizers involved in the festival were created by the South Asian Visual Arts Centre in 2016.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
South Asian Visual Arts Centre
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
South Asian Visual Arts Centre
Relation
A related resource
CLGA holds additional records related to Desh Pardesh and Khush
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
PDF, WAV
Language
A language of the resource
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Add CLGA accession # once donated
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
1988–2001, Toronto, South Asia
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
LGBTQ Oral HIstory Digital Collaboratory, SAVAC
Hyperlink
A link, or reference, to another resource on the Internet.
URL
<iframe src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/325282645&color=%23ff5500&inverse=false&auto_play=false&show_user=true" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="20"></iframe>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Oral History with Leila Sujir (2014)
Subject
The topic of the resource
Identity Politics, Desh Pardesh, Oral History, Immigration, India Hearts Beat, Leile Sujir, arts festival, Dreams of a Night Cleaner, Quebec
Description
An account of the resource
Leila Sujir is an artist that first worked at Desh Pardesh in the late 1980s. Her work India Hearts Beat screened in Toronto, and she was invited to discuss it. She felt that Desh was a space of both validation and contention. She argues it gave emerging artists a space to present their work and gave a sense of importance to it, which was difficult in the racialized landscape of 1980s Toronto. Sujir also cites that the cultural context of Desh presented an overarching identity politics that concerned the population of Toronto. She felt that there was contention between groups, there was a competition of oppression and the rise of an “identity minefield”. Sujir also discusses her work Dreams of a Night Cleaner to conceptualize how physicality and space was a major component of her artistic work. She concludes the interview by discussing the erasure of oppression in her home province, Quebec and discusses briefly a new project in the UK.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
South Asian Visual Arts Centre (SAVAC)
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2014-11-28
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Anna Malla
LGBTQ Oral History DIgital Collaboratory (Elspeth Brown, PI)
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
PDF, WAV
Language
A language of the resource
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound, Text
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
||||osm
1980s Toronto, 2000s Quebec
Desh Pardesh
diaspora
Dreams of the Night Cleaners
Identity politics
immigration
memory
oral history
racism
Rosemary Brown
SAVAC
South Asian
South Asian Visual Arts Centre
Tony Morrison
Toronto
-
https://digitalexhibitions.arquives.ca/files/original/e3f3ec7042499edba31c38e020b3b268.png
3924e96eae46fc5131c7161bbe97c8c7
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
LGBTQ+ Oral Histories
Description
An account of the resource
A selection of oral histories from The ArQuives collections.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1970-2005
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Cassette tapes, digital video
Language
A language of the resource
English
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
LGBTQ Oral History Digital Collaboratory (Elspeth Brown, PI)
Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives
Hyperlink
A link, or reference, to another resource on the Internet.
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Brown, Elspeth
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Lee Kam, Lezlie
Location
The location of the interview
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
moving image
Duration
Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.)
1 hr 20 minutes (PT 1)
URL
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/253802550" frameborder="0" width="640" height="360"></iframe>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Oral History with Lezlie Lee Kam, PT 1 (27 April, 2017)
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Brown, Elspeth;
Lee Kam, Lezlie
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1970s-1980s
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Lee Kam, Lezlie
Brown, Elspeth
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
CLGA
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
mp4
Language
A language of the resource
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
video
Subject
The topic of the resource
dyke; lesbian; black power; Carib; Callaloo; world majority; activism; LOOT; Lesbian Organization of Toronto; Carnaval; Mas; migration; immigration; racism; Caribbean-Canadian; Trinidad; butch fem; lesbian separatism; Michigan Womyn's Music Festival; transphobia; coming out; Catholicism; York University; 1970s
Description
An account of the resource
This is the first of two oral histories with Lezlie Lee Kam, a 55+, gender-mysterious, world majority person and dyke; a Trini; a Carib; Brown; and a Callaloo-a mix of Chinese, Carib, Indian, Portuguese, and Venezuelan. She was born in Trinidad and left for Toronto in 1970. In this interview, Lezlie discusses her childhood in Trinidad with her 3 brothers with her working-class father and her more well-off mom; at age 11, when she was beginning her education in a convent school, her parents separated. Lezlie stayed with her father and 3 brothers, while her mother moved to Toronto in 1968. Lezlie was involved with Mas, as was her dad, who was a band leader; she's continued to be involved with Carnaval since. When Lezlie was 16, she moved to Toronto to be with her mother in Toronto, despite not wanting to leave. Discusses her attraction to girls from a young age, while also at the same time dating boys. Two of her brothers emigrated in 1976; she describes the debates she had with her mother around her mother's expectations that she do gendered labour in the household, while her brothers did nothing.
Lezlie was only one of four non-white kids in high school in 1970: she describes racism, being called a 'monkey' by the boys, and her (humorous) response, her accent, and her efforts to modulate it once in Canada. Lezlie came out, to herself, while she was at York U 1972-1976. She discusses radical student politics at York, and the expectation that all non-whites sit at the 'black table' in solidarity with black power. She learned about Cuba, South American indigenous issues, and Caribbean literature.
Discusses her first relationship with a woman, Sonia, a mixed race Trinidadian who attended Ryerson, and the physical passion that ensued after figuring it all out for the first time; they were together for 3 years, when they were caught kissing, and Sonia's family shipped her back to Trinidad.
Lezlie describes her activism with LOOT, the Lesbian Organization of Toronto (LOOT), in the late 1970s. She worked at the coffee house, on the phones, and wanted to be a person of colour for other lesbians who looked like her. Describes her work at LOOT and encountering butch-fem roles and lesbian separatism in the contemporary scene. Race and racism was not a topic of discussion among the white LOOT activists. Discusses the transphobia she encountered at the Michigan Womyn's Musical Festival, as well as how very few other women of color were there.
Night life, late 1970s: describes the 4 women of colour in the scene, who went to The Studio, a bar where gay men and lesbians mixed. They stood out, and became disco queens; they checked out the Camu (sp?) on Trinity, near Eastern. The Camu was a working class butch-fem bar, with tuxedos and ball gowns, the whole thing; they were the only people of colour. Discusses her own sense of gender then, and more recently. She was never butch or fem herself.
This interview continues in a second interview on June 16, 2017.
butch fem
Callaloo
Carib
Caribbean
Carnaval
coming out
dyke
immigration
lesbian
Lesbian Organization of Toronto
lesbian separatism
LOOT
Mas
Michigan Womyn's Music Festival
migration
oral history
racism
Toronto
transphobia
Trinidad
York University
-
https://digitalexhibitions.arquives.ca/files/original/cbecb93f0820acee62a45ab22ce2f132.png
626fda0b78f7a7e2e43a8127600a0aa8
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
LGBTQ+ Oral Histories
Description
An account of the resource
A selection of oral histories from The ArQuives collections.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1970-2005
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Cassette tapes, digital video
Language
A language of the resource
English
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
LGBTQ Oral History Digital Collaboratory (Elspeth Brown, PI)
Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives
Hyperlink
A link, or reference, to another resource on the Internet.
URL
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/254203209" frameborder="0" width="640" height="360"></iframe>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Oral History with Lezlie Lee Kam, PT 2 (16 June 2017)
Subject
The topic of the resource
LGBTQ seniors, police violence, Queers of colour, QTPOC, Alcoholism, Pride
Description
An account of the resource
Lezlie Lee Kam is a 55+, gender-mysterious, world majority person and dyke; a Trini; a Carib; Brown; and a Callaloo-a mix of Chinese, Carib, Indian, Portuguese, and Venezuelan. She was born in Trinidad and left for Toronto in 1970. In this interview, Lezlie discusses her relationship with the police in the 1970s and 1980s; in particular, she describes being the recipient of racist police violence in 1989, as well as police violence against trans women. Discusses the presence of lesbians of colour in Pride, c. 1991-1992, with the organizations Lesbians of Colour (1991) and Proud and Visible Coalition (with Anthony Mohamad, 1992). 1993-1998: World Majority Lesbians; 1999 Queer Women of Colour. 1999, they rented a big truck to put a sign up that said 'stop police violence; stop the criminalization of people of color), but the police tried to make them take the sign down. They refused, and took the sign into the parade; as a result, the police withdrew their contact with Grand and Toy, which had underwritten the truck. She discusses trying to get funding from Pride for people of colour at 1999 Pride, and having to deal with racism on the Pride organizing committee; in response, they demanded a community meeting at the 519. Discusses how Pelau Masquerade emerged after the Proud and Visible Coalition. Discusses reaching out to Caribana Mas camp people to have connections with Pride. Describes how central Mas was to her when she was a child (her dad was a band leader, and her house was a central space for Carnival preparations).
A large section of this interview discussed alcoholism. Discusses her work with LGBTQ seniors, and how a black women at one of the sites accused her of sexual harassment, sending her into a health downward spiral. She began to drink more to cope with the stress; eventually she lost her job from drinking and went on EI. 2000-2006 drinking seriously; went through all her savings, and almost lost her house. Dec 31, 2006: brother and sister-in-law took her to the hospital. In the process of going to the hospital, she passed out and went into a coma for two months; they thought she'd be a vegetable if she ever woke up. When she woke up, she went to Bridgeport for 4 months for intensive physio and occupational therapy. The medication she went on caused her to gain 50 pounds, impacting her body image. Describes her decision to go public with her history of alcoholism and why, as well as her recovery process. Now she is involved with Women's Health and Women's Hands, a women of colour health clinic. Has become involved with the Senior Pride Network, as well as Indigenous activism.
Discusses 1990s club nights for queer women of colour in the city, including organizing monthly club nights on Church Street, such as "Island Spice," focused on women of colour (1999), as well as organizing at the Red Spot, which was owned by a Sri Lankan man. Discusses current queer of colour club spaces, such as the Steady, the Beaver, Glad Day;
Discusses her history of activism having to do with violence against women in the 1980s, with a focus on immigrant and refugee women of colour. This focus was controversial for the white anti-violence feminists. Lezlie eventually worked in this field for about 10 years. She describes developing a business having to with anti-violence training in same-sex contexts.
Discusses her work as a volunteer with seniors at Bridgepoint, where she often does manicures. Eventually 5 women have come out to her, but they're all closeted now that they are in care. Lezlie discusses how she's been attacked by women for using the women's restroom, because some of the residents see her as a man. She worked for over a year to get trans positive materials in the bathroom. Now she is working on Pride, and getting seniors' programming there. Describes the current politics in Pride around black activism and Black Lives Matter. Describes her experience with Desh Pardesh, where she wasn't considered Indo or South Asian enough.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Brown, Elspeth;
Lee Kam, Lezlie
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1980s-2010s
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
mp4
Language
A language of the resource
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
video
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Oral History with Lezlie Lee Kam, PT 2 (16 June 2017)
bars
Caribbean-Canadian
Chinese
dyke
lesbian
Lesbian Organization of Toronto; sex worker; the Rose; transwomen; hate crimes; Black Lives Matter; Lesbians of Colour; Proud and Visible Coalition; World Majority Lesbians; Pride; Latino; Club Manhattan; Soca; Jamea Zuberi; Mas; Carnival; seniors; sexual
LOOT
police
racism
Trinidad
-
https://digitalexhibitions.arquives.ca/files/original/424a04a779c676f3fd9e3de341330b45.pdf
d99f9b2927730763c155ce38c2f2cda1
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Lesbians Making History Collections
Description
An account of the resource
The Lesbians Making History (LMH) collective came together in the mid-1980s and was inspired by oral history projects of gay lives coming out of Buffalo, Boston and San Francisco. The collective interviewed 9 women about their experiences as ‘out’ lesbians in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s.
Collective members included:
Rachel Epstein
Maureen FitzGerald
Amy Gottlieb
Didi Khayatt
Mary Louise Noble
Lorie Rotenberg
Some of the women interviewed also appeared in Aerlyn Weissman and Lynne Fernie’s NFB-funded documentary Forbidden Love: The Unashamed Stories of Lesbian Lives. The 1992 film was out of print for many years until 2014, when the National Film Board released it in digital format.
Although the organizers of Lesbians Making History were committed to keeping the project a community-based initiative, and not one rooted in academic pursuit, they allowed Elise Chenier, now a professor at Simon Fraser University, to use the transcripts of the interviews for her MA thesis. Chenier’s work on lesbian bar culture in the 1950s and 60s is widely taught in Canadian universities. Interview material was also used by Cameron Duder and by Gary Kinsman and Patrizia Gentile.
In 2014 the original audio tapes were given to the CLGA via the LGBTQ Digital Oral History Collaboratory, a multi-institutional research project led by University of Toronto professor Elspeth Brown and funded by a 5-year SSRHC Insight grant.
Embedded at the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives (CLGA), Collaboratory members digitized LMH materials and created new verbatim transcriptions. Original LHM collective members assisted with editing transcripts, identifying key words and writing abstracts for each oral history interview.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Lesbians Making History Collective
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1985-1987, 2000
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
1950s to 1970s, 1985-1987
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
CLGA holds non-exclusive rights
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Maureen Fitzgerald; LGBTQ Oral History Digital Collaboratory (Elspeth Brown, PI)
Hyperlink
A link, or reference, to another resource on the Internet.
URL
<iframe src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/239007316&color=ff5500&inverse=false&auto_play=false&show_user=true" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="20"></iframe>
<iframe src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/239007321&color=ff5500&inverse=false&auto_play=false&show_user=true" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="20"></iframe>
<iframe src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/239007320&color=ff5500&inverse=false&auto_play=false&show_user=true" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="20"></iframe>
<iframe src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/239007317&color=ff5500&inverse=false&auto_play=false&show_user=true" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="20"></iframe>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Oral History with Lois Stewart, 1985
Description
An account of the resource
Born in 1920, Lois Stewart is a political activist and retired schoolteacher who grew up in Victoria, British Columbia. After teaching in Victoria during World War 2, Lois moved to Southern Ontario, where she taught in a number of cities and towns outside of Toronto. At the time of the interview in 1985, Lois is 65 years old and living in Toronto. The interview’s themes and topics vary widely, spanning Lois’ life from roughly 1943 to 1985. She recounts her long- and short-term relationships with women her experiences in the Toronto lesbian bar culture, primarily around The Continental Hotel; her connection to and thoughts on socialism, feminism and the Co-Operative Commonwealth Federation/New Democratic Party; and her perspectives on lesbian and same-sex intimacy, sex, and love in the 1950s and 1960s.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Lesbians Making History Collective
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1985
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Lesbians Making History Collective
LGBTQ Digital Oral History Collaboratory
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
The CLGA does not hold copyright
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
1950 and 1960s, 1985
activism
feminism
lesbian
lesbian relationships
socialism
teacher
The Continental
Vancouver
-
https://digitalexhibitions.arquives.ca/files/original/fea05f1e57feb7c87a46f45cbcca2508.pdf
a4794bd2b03d98a68b796c50c82b054b
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Lesbians Making History Collections
Description
An account of the resource
The Lesbians Making History (LMH) collective came together in the mid-1980s and was inspired by oral history projects of gay lives coming out of Buffalo, Boston and San Francisco. The collective interviewed 9 women about their experiences as ‘out’ lesbians in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s.
Collective members included:
Rachel Epstein
Maureen FitzGerald
Amy Gottlieb
Didi Khayatt
Mary Louise Noble
Lorie Rotenberg
Some of the women interviewed also appeared in Aerlyn Weissman and Lynne Fernie’s NFB-funded documentary Forbidden Love: The Unashamed Stories of Lesbian Lives. The 1992 film was out of print for many years until 2014, when the National Film Board released it in digital format.
Although the organizers of Lesbians Making History were committed to keeping the project a community-based initiative, and not one rooted in academic pursuit, they allowed Elise Chenier, now a professor at Simon Fraser University, to use the transcripts of the interviews for her MA thesis. Chenier’s work on lesbian bar culture in the 1950s and 60s is widely taught in Canadian universities. Interview material was also used by Cameron Duder and by Gary Kinsman and Patrizia Gentile.
In 2014 the original audio tapes were given to the CLGA via the LGBTQ Digital Oral History Collaboratory, a multi-institutional research project led by University of Toronto professor Elspeth Brown and funded by a 5-year SSRHC Insight grant.
Embedded at the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives (CLGA), Collaboratory members digitized LMH materials and created new verbatim transcriptions. Original LHM collective members assisted with editing transcripts, identifying key words and writing abstracts for each oral history interview.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Lesbians Making History Collective
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1985-1987, 2000
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
1950s to 1970s, 1985-1987
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
CLGA holds non-exclusive rights
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Maureen Fitzgerald; LGBTQ Oral History Digital Collaboratory (Elspeth Brown, PI)
Hyperlink
A link, or reference, to another resource on the Internet.
URL
<iframe src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/239007314&color=ff5500&inverse=false&auto_play=false&show_user=true" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="20"></iframe>
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<iframe src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/239007308&color=ff5500&inverse=false&auto_play=false&show_user=true" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="20"></iframe>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Oral History with Pat Murphy, 1986
Description
An account of the resource
Pat Murphy was born in 1941 to an Irish-Catholic working-class family in Toronto, Canada. Murphy trained as a nurse and worked initially at Lakeshore Psychiatric Hospital in 1964, where she had her first lesbian relationship with a co-worker. The interview covers Murphy’s transition to activism and community work initially through Canadian Homophile Association of Toronto. The interview examines dissensions between lesbians and gay men in the political movements of the 1970s and 1980s. Murphy outlines her role as a public figure of the lesbian movement; her activism in WAVAW (Women Against Violence Against Women); and the opening of the bar, The Fly-By-Night. Murphy also details her involvement as one of the Brunswick Four, a popularly-reported series of arrests which informed the Royal Commission on Toronto Police Practices.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Lesbians Making History Collective
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1986
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Lesbians Making History Collective
LGBTQ Digital Oral History Collaboratory
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
The CLGA does not hold copyright
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
oral history
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
1950s to 1970s, 1986
activism
Canadian Homophile Association of Toronto
catholic
Irish
lesbian
lesbian relationships
Royal Commission on Toronto Police Practices
The Fly-By-Night
Women Against Violence Against Women
working-class
-
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
LGBTQ+ Oral Histories
Description
An account of the resource
A selection of oral histories from The ArQuives collections.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1970-2005
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Cassette tapes, digital video
Language
A language of the resource
English
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
LGBTQ Oral History Digital Collaboratory (Elspeth Brown, PI)
Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives
Hyperlink
A link, or reference, to another resource on the Internet.
URL
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/204247890" frameborder="0" width="640" height="360"></iframe>
<p><a href="https://vimeo.com/204247890"> </a></p>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Oral History with Philip McLeod (July 1991)
Description
An account of the resource
Toronto-based gay liberation activist and community organizer Philip McLeod, interviewed by historian David Churchill in July 1991, at the University of Toronto. The first fifteen minutes of the tape features still shots of gay liberation ephemera filmed by Churchill prior to the interview with McLeod, and shots of the University of Toronto campus.
This is an interview with Philip McLeod, a gay liberationist. In this interview, Mcleod describes his early life. He was born in Montreal in 19XX, the son of Mae Moreash. He was raised in the city's Protestant Infants' Home, where his mother worked. In 1943, Mcleod enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force. Mcleod describes his time in the Second World War, framing the war as a critical juncture in the rise of homoerotic sentiments, but not behaviours, for many men who were conscripted or enlisted.
McLeod discusses his move to Southern Ontario following the war in the early 1950s, where he worked at the Ajax Public Library, Ryerson Polytechnic, the Toronto public school system, the London (Ontario) public library system and eventually for XYZ. He retired in 1982 and resided in Toronto, where he owned a number of houses, which he rented out to supplement his income.
Mcleod recounts the social life of gay men in Toronto at mid-century in some detail. His experience as a professional offers insight into the restrictions that working life placed on cruising. The interview documents the bars, clubs, parks, and neighbourhoods gay men congregated in during the 1950s onwards.
The interview documents various strategies of signification for gay men. McLeod recounts being cruised as a librarian in London, ON public library system, as well as the role bodybuilding periodicals played in gay life at mid-century.
The interview documents McLeod’s own shift in political consciousness following the 1981 police raids on gay bathhouses in Toronto. He offers a discussion of how the coming out process for men coming of age in the 1970s was shaped by the political movements.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Churchill, David;
McLeod, Philip
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1940-1970
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Churchill, David (interviewer)
McKinney, Cait (digitizer)
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Churchill, David
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
mp4
Language
A language of the resource
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
video
community organizing
cruising
gay history
gay liberation
Hanlan’s Point
Hart House
oral history
physique magazines
Ryerson University
The Plaza
Tomorrow's Man
Toronto
University of Toronto
-
https://digitalexhibitions.arquives.ca/files/original/7ebe2be6b415bdce939c25d50e90035f.png
9650314b4431bf8a5e48d420a2500499
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Not a Place on the Map: The Desh Pardesh Project
Subject
The topic of the resource
diaspora, artists, South Asian, people of colour, festivals, identity, racism
Description
An account of the resource
Toronto’s Desh Pardesh festival (1988–2001) was a multidisciplinary arts festival that showcased underrepresented and marginalized voices within the South Asian diaspora. These oral history interviews with artists and organizers involved in the festival were created by the South Asian Visual Arts Centre in 2016.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
South Asian Visual Arts Centre
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
South Asian Visual Arts Centre
Relation
A related resource
CLGA holds additional records related to Desh Pardesh and Khush
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
PDF, WAV
Language
A language of the resource
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Add CLGA accession # once donated
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
1988–2001, Toronto, South Asia
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
LGBTQ Oral HIstory Digital Collaboratory, SAVAC
Hyperlink
A link, or reference, to another resource on the Internet.
URL
<iframe src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/341822904&color=%23ff5500&inverse=false&auto_play=false&show_user=true" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="20"></iframe>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Oral History with Punam Khosla (2015)
Subject
The topic of the resource
Political organization, misogyny, Politics, Homophobia, oral history, Desh Pardesh
Description
An account of the resource
Punam Khosla was the coordinator of the Desh Pardesh festival from the second festival in 1991 to 1993. She headed the festival with clear political goals, which often clashed with other organizers of the event but she was not willing to compromise the vision of Desh Pardesh. She discusses the immense amount of misogyny and homophobia she encountered, which were a couple of the principle reasons of her departure. She also touches on her work prior to Desh and the resentment she felt towards her in these spaces as well.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
South Asian Visual Arts Centre (SAVAC)
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-02-27
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Anna Malla
LGBTQ Oral History DIgital Collaboratory (Elspeth Brown, PI)
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
PDF, MP3
Language
A language of the resource
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound, Text
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
||||osm
1990s Toronto, 1980s Toronto
Desh Pardesh
homophobia
Identity politics
Khush
misogyny
oral history
politics
SAVAC
South Asian Visual Arts Centre
-
Hyperlink
A link, or reference, to another resource on the Internet.
URL
<iframe width="100%" height="300" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" allow="autoplay" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/1909629461&color=%23ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true&visual=true"></iframe><div style="font-size: 10px; color: #cccccc;line-break: anywhere;word-break: normal;overflow: hidden;white-space: nowrap;text-overflow: ellipsis; font-family: Interstate,Lucida Grande,Lucida Sans Unicode,Lucida Sans,Garuda,Verdana,Tahoma,sans-serif;font-weight: 100;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/thearquives" title="The ArQuives: Canada's LGBTQ2+ Archives" target="_blank" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;">The ArQuives: Canada's LGBTQ2+ Archives</a> · <a href="https://soundcloud.com/thearquives/oral-history-interview-bisexual-activist-dana-shaw" title="Oral history interview: bisexual activist Dana Shaw" target="_blank" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;">Oral history interview: bisexual activist Dana Shaw</a></div>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Oral history: Dana Shaw (BIWOT & TBN)
Description
An account of the resource
Oral history interview with BIWOT and TBN activist Dana Shaw
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Gabryelle Iaconetti
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
April 7, 2022
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
m4a
Language
A language of the resource
English
-
Hyperlink
A link, or reference, to another resource on the Internet.
URL
<iframe width="100%" height="300" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" allow="autoplay" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/1862299530%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-SOHh61KN4a2&color=%23ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true&visual=true"></iframe><div style="font-size: 10px; color: #cccccc;line-break: anywhere;word-break: normal;overflow: hidden;white-space: nowrap;text-overflow: ellipsis; font-family: Interstate,Lucida Grande,Lucida Sans Unicode,Lucida Sans,Garuda,Verdana,Tahoma,sans-serif;font-weight: 100;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/thearquives" title="The ArQuives: Canada's LGBTQ2+ Archives" target="_blank" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;">The ArQuives: Canada's LGBTQ2+ Archives</a> · <a href="https://soundcloud.com/thearquives/oral-history-bisexual-activist-margaret-robinson/s-SOHh61KN4a2" title="Oral history: bisexual activist Margaret Robinson" target="_blank" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;">Oral history: bisexual activist Margaret Robinson</a></div>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Oral history: Margaret Robinson (BIWOT & TBN)
Subject
The topic of the resource
Interview with bisexual activist and scholar Margaret Robinson (formerly involved in Bisexual Women of Toronto and Toronto Bisexual Network)
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Gabryelle Iaconetti
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
April 14, 2022
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
M4A
Language
A language of the resource
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Interview