In early 2010, UMIH Director David Churchill, along with Shelley Sweeney (Head, University Archives & Special Collections), were awarded $75,000 over two years (2009-10, 2010-11) from the University of Manitoba Academic Enhancement Fund for a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Two-Spirited (LGBTT) Archival and Oral History Initiative. 

This Initiative has dramatically enhanced the LGBTTQ resources at the University of Manitoba, and will ultimately make the University a centre for research excellence in the interdisciplinary field of LGBTTQ studies. Many of the related archival materials – currently deposited with the University Archives & Special Collections – deal with the decades long struggle by LGBTTQ people and communities for human rights, social justice, and dignity.  Collecting LGBTTQ archival materials, including the records of organizations, relevant periodicals, and individual oral histories, is all part of the larger project of witnessing and remembering, which are cornerstones for the establishment, protection, and expansion of Human Rights.

This project has two principal components.  The research team worked with a graduate student from the University of Manitoba Archival Studies Program to help assess and access the existing LGBTTQ materials that had been deposited in the University Archives & Special Collections, through which we were better able to identify areas for further collections, particular strengths of the collection, as well as key people and contacts for oral history interviews. This led to the summer 2010 phase of the project, during which three research assistants conducted new oral histories to expand and enrich the collection .In Fall 2010, having conducted far more interviews than anticipated, a research assistant transcribed the oral history interviews and began the process of transferring the materials to the U of M Archives & Special Collections.   A substantial portion of the interviews were formally transferred to the UM Archives & Special Collections during a Public Launch on March 9th 2011.  The process of transferring the rest of the interviews continued over the next two months.

This project is a way of reaching out to those whose experiences and stories have not yet been heard, moreover, oral histories are a crucial educational resource for teachers and community workers conducting outreach and public awareness around homophobia, coming out, HIV/AIDS prevention, and a host of other potential uses.  The UMIH is excited to have been a part of such an initiative.

Link to Archival Finding Aid

The research team conducted further video and audio interviews in the summer of 2011 which will be transferred to the UM Archives & Special Collections after they have been transcribed.

UPDATE: Interviews from the summers of 2010 and 2011 are currently (February to April 2012)  being transcribed by a team of graduate student researchers and will be deposited in the U of M Archives & Special Collections when the transcriptions are complete.

Please contact the Initiative's Research Team
with any questions or for more information
LGBTT_Initiative@umanitoba.ca
204-474-9599