A Holistic Exploration of the Collecting and Connecting Experiences of LGBTQ+ Communities, Their Independent Archives and the GLAMU Sector in New Zealand

Abstract

LGBTQ+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer) activism has played a significant role in effecting legislative and social change in New Zealand and internationally, promulgating public attitudinal shifts towards tolerance and inclusion. These societal changes do not however appear to have resulted in the visible representation of the LGBTQ+ communities in New Zealand’s galleries, libraries, archives, museums and universities (GLAMU), a phenomenon recognised elsewhere. American historian Jim Downs (2021, p. 31) stated that ‘LGBT people have been the leading and often exclusive archivists of their own history; beginning in the 1970s and continuing until today’. LGBTQ+ communities have been driven to establish their own independent archives to document and preserve their stories. The lack of GLAMU institutional recognition of LGBTQ+ communities explicitly in their collections and services has been noted within the information science field. Scholars have expressed consternation at the lack of representation and visibility of LGBTQ+ communities in GLAMU institutions and the omission of LGBTQ+ historical context (Chenier, 2010; McIntyre, 2007). LGBTQ+ communities should be recognised in cultural heritage documentation and accurately represented in national and local narratives. My research will explore what is occurring in the collecting, documenting, and donating space with respect to New Zealand LGBTQ+ communities, LGBTQ+ independent archives and GLAMU institutions. My study has two research objectives. The first is to investigate what GLAMU institutions have put in place over time to document LGBTQ+ and the subsequent effects on LGBTQ+ independent archiving. The second is to explore the nature of the relationships between LGBTQ+ independent archives, LGBTQ+ donors and GLAMU institutions. These objectives will be investigated using a qualitative and interpretive approach that will draw on metamodern concepts to critically recognise injustice, inequality and exclusion. Several theoretical lenses will be applied: queer theory and affect theory around how collections are perceived, described and valued; ethics of care and radical empathy theories with respect to donor relationships.