See below for a call for papers from the International Archives, Libraries, Museums and Special Collections Conference on the Future of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans* and Intersex Histories, to be held in Amsterdam from 1-3 August 2012. The deadline for submissions is 31 March 2012.

Sue Donnelly, Archivist,

Archives Services Group

Library, London School of Economics and Political Science

Tel: 020 7955 7947

Beatrice Webb’s diary goes on line at LSE Digital Library

LGBTI ALMS 2012

CONFERENCE

The Call For Proposals is Now Open

IHLIA, the International Gay and Lesbian Archives and Information Centre, invites colleagues and friends to submit proposals for the International Archives, Libraries, Museums and Special Collections CONFERENCE on the Future of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans* and Intersex Histories, to be held in Amsterdam from 1-3 August 2012.

LGBTI ALMS 2012 Vision

Collaboration between LGBTI ALMS organizations and other local and national heritage organizations makes the history of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans* and intersex (LGBTI) citizens visible and accessible. By 2020 the heritage of LGBTI individuals and the LGBTI community is collected and recognized in Europe and globally as part of the cultural wealth of society.

LGBTI ALMS 2012 Mission

THE LGBTI ALMS 2012 mission is to bring together for three days the parties and stakeholders that have the capacity to realize, and are committed to realizing, the LGBTI ALMS 2012 vision.  The conference will share valuable information, expand present knowledge and set goals for achieving the LGBTI ALMS 2012 vision.

LGBTI ALMS 2012 Goals

·         To consolidate our knowledge of archiving as a tool in building democratic and free societies, making LGBTI histories accessible to all

·         To strengthen the pan-European and global network of LGBTI organizations that collect our histories and make them available to the public

·         To exchange and share the bountiful knowledge of LGBTI archives from other continents with European actors

·         To advance the practice of collecting oral histories, an invaluable way of recording the life stories of LGBTI people, in Europe and the world, as well as other new methods of making our histories accessible

·         To build ongoing collaboration between LGBTI ALMS organizations as well as with cultural heritage institutions and to strengthen ties between stakeholders

·         To showcase IHLIA, as inspiration for participants.

The conference will use English as the language of communication.

Social Program

LGBTI ALMS 2012 takes place during Amsterdam Canal Pride, with many cultural and social opportunities for participants.

International Advisory Group

Ajamu rukus! Black LGBT Archives, UK; Andreas Pretzel, Invertito, Germany; Angela Brinskele, Mazer, USA; Bart Hellinck, Fonds Suzan Daniel, Belgium; Bryan W. Knicely, Stonewall National Museum Fort Lauderdale, USA; Don McLeod, Canadian Lesbian & Gay Archives, Canada; Ellen Greenblatt, USA; Joseph Hawkins, One Archives, USA; Karen Sundheim, James Hormel Collection, San Francisco, USA; Linda Pointing, Brighton Our Story, UK; Sandor Nagy, Háttér Archívum, Hungary; Sue Donnelly, Hall-Carpenter Archives, UK; Tatjana Greif, SKUC-LL, Slovenia; Vanina Maso, Master’s student, The Netherlands; Zvonimir Dobrovic, Program Director of Queer Zagreb, Croatia.

Call for Proposals

IHLIA is seeking proposals that are informative and relevant, influenced by experience and desire, encourage opportunities for learner engagement and/or demonstrate the application of the following five activities to the work of collecting and making available the histories of LGBTI people. We acknowledge that the LGBTI community has many layers of diversity, including gender, ethnicity, religion, abilities, emigrant and immigrant. 

We are particularly interested in presentations that will * Cultivate professional skills F Contain new ideas  * Stimulate and provoke discussion * Share tools that others can work with.

Feel free to offer an artistic presentation, such as dance or a play or other living material, where the senses are stimulated for extra learning.

Submission process                                     Dates to Watch Out For

DEADLINE for proposals:  31 March 2012

Participants

We expect the many layers of our lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans* and intersex community, which of course includes ethnic minorities, to attend as well as our straight allies (M/F):

· National and local heritage institutions Europe and global

· LGBTI Euro-parliamentarians

· European public policy makers

· LGBTI ALMS organizations and ALMS organizations with LGBTI component, Europe and global

· Researchers Europe and global

· Young LGBTI movements, particularly from Eastern European countries and former CIS, where archives can potentially be developed

· We aim to find funding to allow 20 participants from Eastern Europe to receive a scholarship to attend.

Structure of the Conference: Background information

Pre-conference

Preceding the conference, IHLIA will establish a discussion list where people can exchange information, ask questions of each other, share best practices. There may be a series of online discussions using skype or other share-ware.  The intention is to use the digital sharing as the basis for substantial, deeper sharing when participants meet, thus increasing the value of face-to-face time and the learning it brings.

Conference overview 1-3 August 2012

An exciting part of the conference will take place in an auditorium, where presenters are given 10 minutes – or in some cases 20 – to present their story. The ‘story’ or presentation will be like the TED talks: engaging, inspiring and capturing the unique experience of the presenter. All presenters will have provided a paper beforehand, so that all participants will have had an opportunity to read the paper prior to the conference, and certainly will have the possibility of reading it after. Breakout sessions will allow participants to enter into greater detail on ways to work together, ways to share tools, and so on. There will be structured breaks where people find out more about what other participants are doing and how people can learn from each other.

Day 1

After registration, the program will begin in the morning. The intention of the first day of the conference is MEET. Through the preceding online activities, people will already know each other. People can begin discussing shared interests at a deeper level as soon as they meet in person.

At the same time, the first day will have as theme PAST as we look back on achievements of the LGBTI ALMS community in the past. We will note where centers already exist, who has access, how they are funded, what they collect, what forms of collaboration already exist.

The focus of the plenary is Collecting.

All speakers in this session will have 10 minutes to present a paper. There will also be two keynote speakers.

Day 2

The intention of the second day is Listen and Learn. We will have a sizeable, organized morning break where people can discuss the presentations to date. We will then move on to theme:

The present – changing retrieval and making accessible Strategies. Again, a series of 10-minute contributions with one keynote. The breaks will have the purpose of allowing people to engage with each other, in small groups.

The Day 2 theme recognizes that the world of collecting and making the cultural heritage accessible is changing at a rapid pace.  Paper-based archives are needed, yet technology dictates that we digitize archives. We are presented with fabulous materials – like donations of the LGBT films screened at Rainbow festivals – but how do we manage this gift? Do we digitize? How do we pay for that? IHLIA will present the outcome of its Eastern European LGBTI digitization project 2011-2012.

Day 3

The intention of the third day is collaboration.  We will have a plenary and then breakout sessions on Collecting, Retrieval, and Making Accessible. We will do this in the context of The Future - working towards collaboration. This theme leads the thinking of the participants into working towards the vision of collaboration between LGBTI ALMS organizations, and collaboration with other heritage organizations and institutions. A keynote will share ideas on how to treasure our LGBTI ALMS organizations while working with heritage institutions to have LGBTI histories recognized as part of the cultural heritage of our societies.