Migrating Archives: LGBT Delegates from Collections Around the World (2013)

In 2013, I shifted the direction of migration with a polished version of the Amsterdam exhibition called MIGRATING ARCHIVES: LGBT Delegates from Collections Around the World. Once again, delegate archives traveled across borders, this time as guests of the GLBT History Museum in San Francisco. Collectively, they form a portrait of individuals and of the archive institutions where those individuals are remembered, as well as a record of relationships between archive communities. The video component of the display introduced some of the people who made it possible for the archives to migrate for this exhibition.

Migrating Archives became a traveling exhibition that was installed at the James Branch Cabell Library at Virginia Commonwealth University in Fall, 2013. In Fall, 2015, it is traveling to Bologna, Italy as guest of Il Cassero (Archivi Migranti project).

EXHIBITION STATEMENT

Migrating Archives creates connections between organizations around the world that preserve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender historical materials. It is also a glimpse into what these organizations do and collect: I invited each participant to send images and descriptions from one or two archives in their collections. Most represent individuals who have died, ranging from the famous to the totally unknown.

These individual archives have migrated from their geographical origins to become guests at The GLBT History Museum. As delegates chosen to visit San Francisco, the materials form a collective portrait of twelve international organizations and some of the histories they preserve. The video component of the display introduces some of the people who made it possible for these archives to migrate for this exhibition.

My idea is to put materials precious to each collection into motion as they become our guest archives, sometimes crossing national borders more easily than we can. For people whose traces are so often erased even by our biological families, omitted from official histories, or just lost, archives are a way of creating our own lineage. Migrating Archives is another step in this vital and very queer process of historical self-creation.

EXHIBITION CREDITS

Creator and Director - E.G. Crichton
Exhibition Designers - Elisabeth Cornu & Ramon Silvestre
Media Consultant - Gerard Koskovich
Funders

The following funders helped support this exhibition: Arts Research Institute, Arts Dean’s Excellence Fund and Arts Dean’s Research Initiative Fund at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to the representatives of the eleven participating organizations, many of them volunteers; without their enthusiasm, this show could never have come together.