Prof. Elspeth Brown receives a SSHRC-funded Insight Grant for the LGBTQ+ Oral History Digital Collaboratory

Professor Elspeth Brown, along with two leading specialists in LGBTQ+ history, trans studies, and oral history, has been awarded a SSHRC Insight Grant of $359,573. As Principal Investigator, Prof. Brown will collaborate with Raegan Swanson, Executive Director of The ArQuives, and K.J. Rawson, Director of the Digital Transgender Archive at Northeastern University.

The four-year grant will support the LGBTQ+ Oral History Digital Collaboratory as it launches a new oral history initiative and develops a community-embedded oral history program. This work includes producing new video interviews focused on the history of drag kings in Canada and the U.S., and creating a community-based oral history program in partnership with The ArQuives: Canada’s LGBTQ2+ Archives in Toronto. LGBTQ+ community members will receive training in oral history methods and will then conduct and produce new video interviews.

The grant will also support the expansion of the  Collaboratory’s Oral History Hub, in partnership with The ArQuives and the Digital Transgender Archive, to make a curated selection of digital oral histories more accessible and discoverable.

You can learn more about the LGBTQ Collaboratory, The ArQuives, and the Digital Transgender Archive on their websites.