The ArQuives:

The ArQuives: Canada’s LGBTQ2+ Archives is one of the world’s largest and longest standing 2SLGBTQ+ community archives. A case-study exploration of its history shows how the act of preserving queer and trans histories builds cultural capital, while its location in Toronto offered the potential of leveraging independent print media outlets as a forum for negotiating the creation of 2SLGBTQ+ spaces of memory. A recent collection analysis, however, demonstrated a striking imbalance in its representation of Canada’s diversity. To address these historical inequities, The ArQuives launched a multi-pronged strategy to guide the revitalization and diversification of its institutional values, collections, and mandate providing a template for engaging in liberatory memory work. [This article is an expansion of a paper presented at the 52nd annual ARLIS/NA conference held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in April 2024 as part of the session “Queer Pasts & Futures: Exploring Queer Identity in Art Librarianship.”]