A Spotlight on Interns and Contract-Staff Who’ve Transitioned to Volunteers
By Carmen Tang
The ArQuives is grateful for the volunteers, the interns and staff who are committed to our shared values and mission to keep our stories alive. It is this commitment and the countless number of volunteer hours that have made us what we are today: the largest independent LGBTQ2+ archive in the world. Since 1973, we have collected and archived over 95,000* records, which include collections of artifacts, artworks, audio, LGBTQ2+ serials, moving images, photography, posters and vertical files!
It’s not always easy to find an organization with which we can passionately share a vision, but when we do, we can march with it. This is the case with many of our interns and contract staff who choose to extend their commitment and volunteer their time to continue to recover and preserve our histories. Here are just a few of those new volunteers – formerly staff and interns – who have found a common-ground with The ArQuives:
*Based on July 2019 InMagic Database.
Ami Powell, Communications Committee Volunteer
(Former Intern – Fall 2018)
Ami Powell is in her final year of an undergraduate degree at the University of Toronto, studying a double major in Sexual Diversity Studies and Computer Science. She is currently deciding on which master’s degree to pursue next year. In her free time, she does improv and stand-up, working to increase the representation of queer women in Toronto’s comedy scene.
“I volunteer with the ArQuives because I believe that preserving and prioritizing marginalized narratives is a crucial step in working to make the world a better place for LGBTQ2S+ people, both present and future.”
Stefanie Martin, Collections Volunteer
(Former Staff – Summer 2018)
Stefanie Martin is a recent graduate of the Master of Information program at the University of Toronto’s iSchool in the Archives and Records Management stream. Stefanie was the Young Canada Works Archives Assistant in the summer of 2018, and currently volunteers in the collections group. Her research interests include media representation, community archives, and the Filipinx diaspora in Canada, specifically the LGBTQ+ Filipinx community. Through her continued involvement with The ArQuives, Stefanie hopes to contribute to the collection and preservation of archival material from underrepresented communities to make their histories more visible and accessible.
“I chose to volunteer at The ArQuives after working as the Archives Assistant to learn more about Canada’s LGBTQ2+ histories specifically Toronto’s LGBTQ2+ community while recognizing and making visible the contributions of queer people of colour, in particular, the queer Asian community.”
Moo-Jun Kim, Collections Volunteer
(Former Intern – Summer 2018)
Moo-Jun Kim is a graduate student of the University of Toronto, Faculty of Information (iSchool), in the final year of completing the combined degree program of Master of Information (Archives and Records Management Concentration) and Master of Museum Studies. Born in South Korea and as a student, Kim was actively involved as a labour activist supporting strike actions and the peace movement. In 2011, he moved to Canada for his post-secondary studies and Kim is currently working on the arrangement and description of Canadian lesbian writer Jane Eaton Hamilton’s collection.
“My mentors in my graduate program initially recommended volunteering at the ArQuives, but I will work for the ArQuives forever like volunteers who have been here for decades.”
Renee Saucier, Collections Volunteer
(Former Intern – Summer 2018)
Renee was an intern at The ArQuives while completing a Master of Information at the University of Toronto. She has a background as a historical researcher, primarily focusing on the social history of medicine, Canadian health policy and medical migration. Her experience using archives prompted curiosity about the processes of creating archives, as well as a concern for future access to web-based content. Since 2017 she has worked as a web archiving assistant at the University of Toronto Libraries, and will soon be starting a community archives fellowship at the Ontario Jewish Archives.
“Curiosity brought me to The ArQuives, and curiosity keeps me here.”