AGQ-F0005

Fonds Librairie L’Androgyne/Androgyny Bookstore. – [1973]-1998. – 27 cm of textual records, photos, and one object.

 

 

 

Administrative history:

 

L’Androgyne was the first gay and lesbian bookstore in Montreal. It also had a selection of feminist publications and gender-neutral children’s books. Founded in October 1973 and initially located on Crescent Street, it was run by a small team that was joined in autumn 1975 by a group of volunteers. They formed a collective made up of lesbians, heterosexuals and gays from January 1976 until 1982, when the bookstore became a private business. From 1974 to 1977, L’Androgyne shared its premises with the political bookstore Alternatives, linked to the publishing house Black Rose Books. L’Androgyne moved to a larger premises on Crescent Street in June 1975, before moving to Saint-Laurent Boulevard in 1982 and Amherst Street in 2001, until it closed in 2002. Initially dedicated to selling publications in English, the bookstore recruited French-speaking members in 1976 and adopted the name L’Androgyne in 1978.

 

 

Scope and content:                         

                                        

The fonds documents the bookstore’s activities from its beginnings and during the collective period: sales and consignment of publications, public readings and other events at the bookstore, activism and militancy.

 

The fonds contains a schedule, minutes and other meeting documents, human resources documents, purchase orders and other forms, reference material including a 1977 guide to gay and lesbian establishments in Montreal, a bookstore logo and business cards, bookstore catalogues and advertisements, press articles, logbooks and telephone message books, correspondence, photographs and a seal.

 

The fonds contains the following series:

 

  • AGQ-F0005/S1. Administrative management
  • AGQ-F0005/S2. Human resources (Collective members)
  • AGQ-F0005/S3. Financial resources
  • AGQ-F0005/S4. Property resources
  • AGQ-F0005/S5. Information resources
  • AGQ-F0005/S6. Communications
  • AGQ-F0005/S7. Bookstore
  • AGQ-F0005/S8. Correspondence received
  • AGQ-F0005/S9. Photos
  • AGQ-F0005/S10. Objects

 

 

 Notes :

 

Source of title proper: Title based on the contents of the fonds.

 

Immediate source of acquisition: The fonds was given to the AGQ in 1984 and 2001 (acquisitions 1984-01, 2001-10) by France Désilets. An addition was made in 2019 by Lawrence Boyle comprising an inventory of the books in the bookstore in 1995 (2019-023).

 

Language: The documents are in French and English.

 

Finding aids: Digital inventory of the fonds in Excel format.

 

General note: Ross Higgins and Julie Sklivas have prepared an Index to the Androgyne Logbooks held in the fonds (AGQ-F0005/S7/SS1/D8 to AGQ-F0005/S7/SS1/D11).

 

Additional accruals: Further accruals are expected.

 

 

Bibliography:

 

Higgins, R.  (1983, octobre). « L’Androgyne : 10 ans d’histoire ». Sortie, n °11, p. 30, 36.

 

Higgins, R. (1999). De la clandestinité à l’affirmation. Pour une histoire de la communauté gaie montréalaise. Montréal, Québec : Comeau & Nadeau (Lux Éditeur), p. 119.

 

Lafontaine, Y. (2002, 25 juillet). « L’Androgyne ferme ses portes ». Fugues, repéré à http://www.fugues.com/235133-article-landrogyne-ferme-ses-portes.html

 

 

 

 

 

Dernière modification : 2024-07-16