In a world where the internet makes history feel instantly accessible, The ArQuives reminds us why experiencing an archive in person can transform the way we discover queer stories and community.
Having been a student at university in the late 2010s and early 2020s, it’s easy to assume that doing research, finding archival resources, and studying the past is relatively easy and can pretty much be done from anywhere. Libraries, archives, and museums digitize their documents, articles, and artifacts, right? Do you really need to go into a library or archive to find what you’re looking for?
This may be true to an extent, and we certainly live in an age where it is much easier to access historical archives and documents through online databases, but that doesn’t mean everything can be found on the web—or that everything should be. The COVID-19 pandemic changed a lot of standards for digitizing materials for research and education, but you’ve probably also seen quite a turn in the past five to ten years towards the analogue. People are craving physical media despite having so much access to information online. So, this begs the question: do we need to go to archives in person, and should we?
There are many avenues for finding information online, and archives actively organize their materials for both digital and physical access. Sometimes, all you want to find is an article from twenty years ago, or even a scanned newspaper image from the 1990s, and you don’t need to leave your couch. But what if you wanted to look at a piece of artwork face-to-face? Or examine a t-shirt or button from the 1980s, or earlier? What if you were looking through a physical library and found a book you didn’t know existed, but finding it changed your entire perspective? What if there were thousands of physical artifacts you could explore within your city?
The ArQuives in Toronto, Ontario, is one of the largest 2SLGBTQIA+ collections in the world and the only archive in Canada with a mandate to collect at a national level. One of the goals of an archive is to “archive, preserve, and give public access to information and materials in any medium.” As queer people, it is often hard to see representation of our histories and elders. We’re rarely taught inclusive sex-ed in school, let alone inclusive and expansive history, which should involve queer stories. There were fewer folks out and fewer opportunities to support archiving our past, alongside prejudice and illegality of queerness throughout history, which continues to make preserving and sharing queer history challenging. Although we are incredibly lucky to have access to so much queer history and so many stories through a quick online search, there is much more to explore from our queer elders and history than can be (or should be!) done through your laptop. In this article, we’ll explore a few reasons why you should visit archives in person, particularly Toronto’s own queer archival centre, The ArQuives.
Accessibility is a big asset to digitizing archives. Having accessible digital materials helps researchers better understand what is in a collection and find material quickly. It’s possible to archive many materials in a single digital space today, making them accessible to anyone with internet access by allowing them to peruse and research archives from anywhere. Folks may also want to find materials that aren’t just physical media, like books, newspapers, or articles. This could be videos or audio recordings, which can be accessed if they’re on physical media (like a CD or cassette tape), but can also be preserved digitally, expanding their reach to more people. Accessibility is also increased through digitization by including source citations and embedded hyperlinks. Finding and attributing sources to an archived resource can be difficult if it’s only available in physical form, but digitization enables faster, easier access to citations and original sources via hyperlinks. Some archived materials may come to The ArQuives already embedded with hyperlinks, or could have hyperlinks embedded, for increased digital accessibility. Lastly, accessibility is about providing safety for everyone. Since The ArQuives is located in Toronto, having digitized materials and resources allows folks who can’t visit Toronto to explore what is available. This can include folks who can’t safely be in a queer space in person right now.
Although there are many benefits to digitizing archives and making them available to the public, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t visit archival hubs like The ArQuives in person. The simple fact that it costs money to move artifacts from physical to digital form, and also takes time, resources, and staff or volunteers to do so, all contribute to potential obstacles to digitizing materials. Depending on the resources that may need to be digitized, specialized equipment could be required (think VHS’, vinyl, or large newsprints). Digital archives need to be managed and organized as much as in-person ones. The odds are, today, there are already people trained in organizing physical archives, but fewer people working with organizations who are trained in managing digital archives. This could also very well be due to generational knowledge—it’s only in more recent years that digitizing has grown due to technological advancements. Archivists and historians entering the workforce now versus thirty or forty years ago may reveal a generational gap in digital collection knowledge and awareness.
All this to say, that doesn’t mean that digitizing archives is bad or impossible. It just poses an additional hurdle or task in terms of digitally archiving these materials, and making them available to researchers and the public. As well, some materials need copyright permission to be made public digitally, as opposed to physically, so accessing these materials in person can actually be easier and also less expensive for archives. Lastly, many materials available in archives just aren’t digitized because of the cost to digitize them, the time it takes, or the lack of the right people or enough people to make it possible. Attending archives in person can often be the best way (and sometimes the only way) to access these historical materials.
Places like The ArQuives are special not only for the deep history and educational materials available to the public, but also for the diversity of what they hold. By visiting The ArQuives in person rather than just searching for a specific archived resource online, you may discover artifacts you didn’t know existed or learn something totally new. As mentioned, some artifacts can’t be digitized and can only be used as educational and research tools in person. Not only could this offer you further inspiration in your research or educational journey, but it’s also an opportunity to learn about something you may not have realized beforehand, or even just to find something cool! There are also some materials at The ArQuives that might not translate well to digital formats, such as buttons, t-shirts, or paintings. Some archived resources need to be viewed on microfilm or another specific tool (tape cassettes or other film that requires a dated player), which may only be accessible at that archive. Beyond just challenges of digitizing certain archived materials, some materials may have restricted access or can’t be reproduced, and therefore, by attending the archive in person, you can see original historical materials and primary sources. It’s also an opportunity to connect with the materials physically, as well as with their history. Although viewing materials digitally can still be impactful, sometimes connecting with archived materials in person can have a significant emotional impact on you. Think about if you’ve read a Wikipedia article about Anne Frank or Anne Frank’s diary, versus then attending the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, and how different the impacts of those experiences can be. You can be experiencing that in Toronto with The ArQuives and all its queer history!
To focus on The ArQuives itself, another important reason to visit in person is to connect with queer spaces and community. Whether you’re from Toronto or even Canada, The ArQuives is a space for connecting with queer past, present, and future. Although queer folks are coming out now more than ever, it is still so important to recognize what our queers elders’ experiences were like, and could present an opportunity to learn from and engage with them. Even through artifacts, historical documents, and items, you could be connecting with queer community in a totally new and sensorial way. An added bonus, you might (and probably will) run into some queer folks visiting The ArQuives too! Not to mention, The ArQuives is located in Toronto’s Church-Wellesley Gay Village, so you can support other queer businesses when visiting! Take a walk around the iconic Barbara Hall Park, grab a snack along Church Street, and skip across the beautiful rainbow crossings on your way to learn about queer history at The ArQuives.
While visiting The ArQuives, professional archivists and researchers can recommend additional files or materials to help you in your learning journey, and they may show you items or even whole aspects of queer history that you didn’t know about at all before the visit. You can chat with our Reference Archivist while deciding what you want to explore, and they may be able to offer some additional recommendations based on what research you want to pursue. You might also meet other researchers or curious-minded people who are interested in the same topics as you, which could lead to conversations and learning from your peers. Remember, you don’t have to be researching something specific—you can go to just learn for yourself, and connect to physical material in a new way.
And a final reminder about visiting The ArQuives, or any archive, in person: you’re supporting the archive and its staff. It takes time, money, and effort to map out exactly what was collected and what the archive holds, decide how to order and preserve that material, and write a guide to the collection. By going in person, you’re using the resources created by fellow researchers and queer folks, and contributing in your own way to important educational spaces. So next time you think to yourself, “It’d be easier if I just looked it up online,” maybe book an appointment to visit The ArQuives first.
Author bio: Hélène Crowley (she/they) is a queer writer, editor, musician, and maker. Educated at the University of Oxford and Wilfrid Laurier University, she lives in Toronto. They volunteer on The ArQuives’ Communication Committee.