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KEEPING OUR STORIES ALIVE

Programs and Tours

At The ArQuives we believe in the importance of acting as an educational resource to the community. Our main avenues for providing educational support is through tours of our Jared Sessions House that The ArQuives provides our public programs in, walking tours of Toronto’s LGBTQ2+ historical neighbourhoods, and presentations about our collections.

House Tours

The ArQuives at 34 Isabella St., Toronto, ON M4Y 1N1

The ArQuives offers tours of the archive building itself, located at 34 Isabella Street. This tour allows members of your group to see how The ArQuives operates and a chance to view the wide variety of materials that The ArQuives collects. A brief presentation will accompany the house tour. We’re happy to show materials based on your group’s interest, or to provide a more general overview of the history and current functioning of The ArQuives themselves.

We offer regularly scheduled house tours twice a month: on the first Wednesday of the month in the evenings, and the third Monday of the month at lunchtime. These tours are by donation and attendance needs to be confirmed in advance. Please consult our Facebook and Twitter feeds for more information.

If your group is unavailable during our regularly scheduled tours, please send your request two months before the tour date. For specially scheduled tours, we request an honorarium and/or donation to The ArQuives.

Walking Tours

The ArQuives’ volunteer tour guide, Douglas Hanes, recounts the history of Alexander Wood and the statue to commemorate his remarkable life in 19th Century Toronto.

The ArQuives is proud to partner with Heritage Toronto to offer public walking tours about LGBTQ2+ history in Toronto. Individuals interested in tours can find more information and a schedule of upcoming tours on the Heritage Toronto website: https://www.heritagetoronto.org/what-we-do/tours/

For private groups interested in scheduling a walking tour, we currently offer two 90-minute historic walking tours. We request an honorarium and/or donation to The ArQuives. Both walking tours are only available in late spring to early fall, due to the weather conditions.

1. Church-Wellesley Village Tour covers LGBTQ2+ history after the Second World War.

2. Downtown Tour (Dundas and Bay to King and Yonge) covers early to mid-twentieth century history.

Presentations

Presentation by The ArQuives’ Outreach Coordinator, Jennifer Aja Fernandes, at University of Toronto Schools.
Photo credit: UTS

The ArQuives offers presentations to organizations interested in Canadian LGBTQ2+ history and the founding of The ArQuives. Since 2015 we have presented in many cities across Canada including Victoria, Vancouver, Thunder Bay, Ottawa, London, Guelph, Toronto, Peel Region, Durham Region, Montreal and more. If your city or town is not on that list we would like to add you so please contact us! Presentations are variable in length depending on the nature and setting of the presentation.

We request an honorarium for presentations, but middle and high school groups, charities, and community groups will be charged on a sliding scale.

How to Book Our Educational Programs and Tours

To request a house tour, walking tour and/or presentation, please complete the online Tour & Presentation Request Form.

Only one request can be made at a time – please fill out additional forms for each request.

Please have the following information ready when you make your request:

  • Estimated group size and make-up (age range, special interests, affiliated organization, etc.)
  • Location of the presentation
  • Which tour(s) you would like to go on: Church–Wellesley Village Tour,  Downtown Tour or The ArQuives House Tour
  • Any specific archival materials your group would be interested in seeing
  • Any accessibility requirement or mobility limitations. For walking tours, they consist of 90 minutes of walking and standing on flat terrain; they don’t require stairs. For house tours, our house has three stories, but only two are accessible with our lift.
  • A range of dates and times your group will be available, two months from now

If you have any questions, please send an email to tours@arquives.ca

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Please Donate

At The ArQuives we believe in the importance of acting as an educational resource to the community. Our main avenues for providing educational support is through tours of our Jared Sessions House that The ArQuives provides our public programs in, walking tours of Toronto’s LGBTQ2+ historical neighbourhoods, and presentations about our collections.

House Tours

The ArQuives at 34 Isabella St., Toronto, ON M4Y 1N1

The ArQuives offers tours of the archive building itself, located at 34 Isabella Street. This tour allows members of your group to see how The ArQuives operates and a chance to view the wide variety of materials that The ArQuives collects. A brief presentation will accompany the house tour. We’re happy to show materials based on your group’s interest, or to provide a more general overview of the history and current functioning of The ArQuives themselves.

We offer regularly scheduled house tours twice a month: on the first Wednesday of the month in the evenings, and the third Monday of the month at lunchtime. These tours are by donation and attendance needs to be confirmed in advance. Please consult our Facebook and Twitter feeds for more information.

If your group is unavailable during our regularly scheduled tours, please send your request two months before the tour date. For specially scheduled tours, we request an honorarium and/or donation to The ArQuives.

Walking Tours

The ArQuives’ volunteer tour guide, Douglas Hanes, recounts the history of Alexander Wood and the statue to commemorate his remarkable life in 19th Century Toronto.

The ArQuives is proud to partner with Heritage Toronto to offer public walking tours about LGBTQ2+ history in Toronto. Individuals interested in tours can find more information and a schedule of upcoming tours on the Heritage Toronto website: https://www.heritagetoronto.org/what-we-do/tours/

For private groups interested in scheduling a walking tour, we currently offer two 90-minute historic walking tours. We request an honorarium and/or donation to The ArQuives. Both walking tours are only available in late spring to early fall, due to the weather conditions.

1. Church-Wellesley Village Tour covers LGBTQ2+ history after the Second World War.

2. Downtown Tour (Dundas and Bay to King and Yonge) covers early to mid-twentieth century history.

Presentations

Presentation by The ArQuives’ Outreach Coordinator, Jennifer Aja Fernandes, at University of Toronto Schools.
Photo credit: UTS

The ArQuives offers presentations to organizations interested in Canadian LGBTQ2+ history and the founding of The ArQuives. Since 2015 we have presented in many cities across Canada including Victoria, Vancouver, Thunder Bay, Ottawa, London, Guelph, Toronto, Peel Region, Durham Region, Montreal and more. If your city or town is not on that list we would like to add you so please contact us! Presentations are variable in length depending on the nature and setting of the presentation.

We request an honorarium for presentations, but middle and high school groups, charities, and community groups will be charged on a sliding scale.

How to Book Our Educational Programs and Tours

To request a house tour, walking tour and/or presentation, please complete the online Tour & Presentation Request Form.

Only one request can be made at a time – please fill out additional forms for each request.

Please have the following information ready when you make your request:

  • Estimated group size and make-up (age range, special interests, affiliated organization, etc.)
  • Location of the presentation
  • Which tour(s) you would like to go on: Church–Wellesley Village Tour,  Downtown Tour or The ArQuives House Tour
  • Any specific archival materials your group would be interested in seeing
  • Any accessibility requirement or mobility limitations. For walking tours, they consist of 90 minutes of walking and standing on flat terrain; they don’t require stairs. For house tours, our house has three stories, but only two are accessible with our lift.
  • A range of dates and times your group will be available, two months from now

If you have any questions, please send an email to tours@arquives.ca

CONTACT US


Telephone: 416-777-2755
Email: queeries@arquives.ca

Street Address:
34 Isabella Street
Toronto, ON M4Y 1N1

Mailing Address:
The ArQuives
P.O. Box 699
663A Yonge Street
Toronto, ON M4Y 1Z9

PUBLIC HOURS

6:30 pm - 9:00 pm Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday

1:00 pm - 5:00 pm Friday

NOTE TO RESEARCHERS:

Some of our materials are stored off site. Before visiting the archives, please send us an email at queeries@arquives.ca listing in detail the topics and sources that you wish to consult and we will let you know when they will be available. We aim to respond to email inquiries within 4 business days.


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The ArQuives is located on the lands of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, Haudenosaunee, the Anishnaabe and the Huron-Wendat. Today, Toronto is still the home to many Indigenous people from across Turtle Island and we are grateful to have the opportunity to work on this land.

The ArQuives strives to gather the stories of the unheard and silenced voices of the 2SLGBTQ+ first peoples of this land. We acknowledge that some stories have already been lost, and we aim to ensure that those that remain and those that are to come are preserved for the future.