The ArQuives

In addition to traditional printed material (over 3000 books, diaries, booklets, leaflets, programmes, zines, press clippings, etc.), the ArQuives collects artifacts that would normally be considered museum objects to capture specific moments in the history of the lesbian and gay community.[9] Such artifacts include:

Sample of buttons from the Archives' collection

• Banners and flags
• Buttons and pins
• Leather items
• Matchbooks and matchboxes
• T-shirts
• Trophies
• Uniforms

The ArQuives has acquired over 500 original works of art from within the LGBT community. These are primarily paper or canvas works, and the emphasis is historical.[10] Examples include:

• Costumes, drawings and photographs by Ronald McRae
• Paintings by JAC, the artist collective of John Grube, Alex Liros and Clarence Barnes
• Works exhibited by Gallery Without Walls
• Submissions for Toronto's AIDS Memorial

Containing more than 2000 hours of sound on tapes and over 1300 discs, the ArQuives houses LPs, gramophone records, cassettes, and CDs. Much of this material is vocal or instrumental recordings of lesbian and gay performers, but there is also a significant library of taped interviews and radio programs.[11] The ArQuives also has over 150 oral histories in its collections, including the Foolscap Gay Oral History Project (over 125 interviews with gay men, conducted in the 1980s, about gay life in Toronto before Stonewall);[12] the Lesbians Making History project (approximately eight interviews with lesbians, conducted in the 1980s, about lesbian life in Toronto in the decades before 1985);[13] and the Trans Health Care Activism in Ontario oral history project (eight interviews about activism from the late 1990s through 2008).[14]

The collection's moving images collection includes more than 2200 items, in 8 mm film and 16 mm film, Betamax, VHS, and DVD formats. While there are feature films, documentaries, and erotica housed in the Archives, there are also videos shot at lesbian and gay community events.[15] Because of its extensive video and film collection, the Archives are often used to provide source material for Canadian film projects, such as Forbidden Love.[16]

Established in 1998, the National Portrait Collection honours individuals who have contributed to the growth and development of the LGBT community in Canada. Currently, the collection holds 75 portraits in various mediums, including photography, watercolour, and oil.[17]

As of 2016, people depicted in the portrait collection include Elmer Bagares, Chris Bearchell, Rick Bébout, Anne Bishop, Persimmon Blackbridge, Nicole Brossard, Alec Butler, Bernard Courte, Harold Desmarais, C.M. Donald, Michelle Douglas, John Duggan, Sara Ellen Dunlop, Jim Egan, Gloria Eshkibok, Lynne Fernie, John Fisher, Janine Fuller, Richard Fung, Sky Gilbert, Amy Gottlieb, John Greyson, Brent Hawkes, Gens Hellquist, Tomson Highway, Charlie Hill, George Hislop, Richard Hudler, David Kelley, Robert Laliberté, k.d. lang, Denis Leblanc, John Alan Lee, Bev Lepischak, Alan Li, Michael Lynch, Ann-Marie MacDonald, Jovette Marchessault, Tim McCaskell, Mary Meigs, Billy Merasty, Robin Metcalfe, Peter Millard, Bonte Minnema, Jearld Moldenhauer, Shani Mootoo, Alex Munter, Pat Murphy, Glen Murray, Nancy Nicol, Richard North, Keith Norton, Carmen Paquette, Carole Pope, Ken Popert, Kyle Rae, Rupert Raj, Neil Richards, Marie Robertson, Svend Robinson, Gerry Rogers, Jane Rule, Craig Russell, Kyle Scanlon, Shyam Selvadurai, Makeda Silvera, Mary-Woo Sims, Tim Stevenson, Douglas Stewart, Barbara Thornborrow, Shelley Tremain, Susan Ursel, Chris Vogel, Delwin Vriend, Tom Warner and Douglas Wilson.

The ArQuives contains the largest collection of LGBT periodicals at an independent archives in the world, with over 9500 individual titles.[18][19] The ArQuives also houses a general collection of periodicals not specifically produced for the LGBT community, but concerning feminism, the arts, and alternative culture that include LGBT issues and an indication of changing attitudes in mainstream media.[20]

Trans material display

The Archives holds records of Canadian LGBTQ2+ organizations, as well as the personal records of prominent Canadians active in, or significant to, the lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, and two-spirit communities.[21] This includes the following fonds:

• AIDS Action Now![22]
• AIDS Committee of Toronto[23]
• Alliance for South Asian AIDS Prevention
• Anthony Mohamed
• Bernard Courte
• Billeh Nickerson[24]
• Cabbagetown Group Softball League[25]
• Campaign for Equal Families
• Carroll Holland[26]
• Community One Foundation (Previously "Lesbian & Gay Community Appeal" or "The Appeal") [27]
• Charlie David[28]
• Community Homophile Association of Toronto
• Danny Cockerline
• David Pepper[29]
• Duane "Andy" Anderson[30]
• Egale Canada
• Gay and Lesbian Alliance at Stanford[31]
• Gay and Lesbian Organization of Bell Employees (GLOBE)[32]
• Gregory Pavelich[33]
• Harold Desmarais[34]
• Helen Lenskyj[35]
• John Alan Lee[36]
• Khush: South Asian Lesbian and Gay Association[37]
• Kyle Rae[38]
• Lesbian Outdoor Group[39]
• Mary Woo Sims[40]
• Mirha-Soleil Ross
• Nancy Nicol
• R. Douglas Elliott[41]
• Ron Rosenes[42]
• Rupert Raj[43]
• Shirley Shea[44]
• Supporting Our Youth
• Tim McCaskell[45]
• Tony Farebrother[46]
• University of Toronto Homophile Association
• Valerie Dugale[47]
• William Atkinson[48]

Beginning as the photo files for The Body Politic, the Archives grew around the photograph collection, and while many of the items are not yet cataloged due to the high number of entries, the Archives houses over 7000 individual items in various mediums, including prints, negatives, and halftone reproductions.

In terms of scope, the photographs depict the LGBT community in a broad sense: photographs of demonstrations, conferences, social events, performances, and police harassment, as well the LGBT community's personal, domestic, and social lives.[49]

Posters in the ArQuives are predominantly Canadian, with some international, representing film, theatre, concerts, parties, bars, and avant-garde art, within the LGBT community.[50]

Vertical Files at the CLGA

The ArQuives currently holds over 30,000 vertical files on people, groups, and events affecting the LGBT community. Unlike most of the Archives, the vertical files provide information about an individual or organization, rather than information produced by the individual or organization. The vertical files contain approximately fifty percent Canadian content and fifty percent international content.[51]