12 Apr, 2022 A fruitful collaboration
To kick off the month of April, the Quebec Gay Archives (AGQ) participated in Concordia University’s History in the Making conference, a yearly event organized by Concordia graduate students. The conference is an opportunity for young university students around the continent and the globe to present their work and receive feedback from experts to perfect their work.
On April 1st, the AGQ opened the conference, before ceding the floor to keynote speaker Ann Cvetkovich, author of An Archive of Feelings: Trauma, Sexuality, and Lesbian Public Cultures (Duke University Press). V. Samoylenko, assistant archivist at the Quebec Gay Archives, presented our organization in French first, then followed with English.
After Ann Cvetkovich’s presentation, a first panel of four university students presented their research, among them Simone Beaudry-Pilotte, our esteemed archivist, as well as Kiersten van Vliet and Mark Hamilton, two researchers who frequently visit our collections. Simone spoke about the AGQ’s VHS collection, encouraging us not only to think about the value of the contents of the cassettes, but also about the value of the physical object itself, and the beauty of its impermanence.
The conference was a success. This first panel received 35 in-person attendees as well as around 20 more through zoom. During the two days, we distributed postcards, copies of Archigai and information sheets.
we wish to thank the organizers of the History in the Making conference for this opportunity, which offered us support and visibility. It was a lovely occasion to share knowledge and to continue shedding a light on LGBTQ2S+ communities in Quebec.
During a short but restful trip to Florida last week, Pierre Pilotte never completely stopped thinking about the AGQ. As an expert in his field, he took the opportunity to network on behalf of the AGQ by, among other things, visiting Fort Lauderdale’s World AIDs Museum. There, he received a warm welcome as well as a guided tour. One day, perhaps, the AGQ will have their own museum!