OSQA is a part of the Oregon State University Libraries - Special Collections & Archives Research Center, located on the 5th floor of The Valley Library.

Please see the Guide to SCARC for more information about visiting us in-person and/or accessing content remotely.

“Co-Founding a Queer Archives: a collaboration between an archivist and a professor” in Archival Practice

This article details the creation and development of the Oregon State University Queer Archives (OSQA) as the product of collaboration between an archivist and professor. The authors provide an overview of the history of OSQA, including theoretical foundations of queer archival methods; discuss community-based initiatives that have helped to build the archive; and share lessons learned through their collaboration. They conclude by offering recommendations for others who are considering collaborations between archivists and professors on Queer Archives initiatives as well as other community-based archives in higher education settings.

OSQA has hosted a number of events and has collaborated with other groups on engagement and outreach activities; check out links to blog posts with more information:

Collaborations with OSU History Class HST 368 Lesbian and Gay Movements in Modern America

• Oral History Project 2016, 2017, 2019

Events

• Glitter in the Archives! Queer History Month 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019
• Unfurling and Documentary Screening, Pride Week, May 2015
• OSU LGBTQ+ Community Film, Queer History Month, October 2015
• The History of Queervallis Lecture, Queer History Month, October 2015
• Gender and Sexuality in Indigenous Communities, Native American Heritage Month, November 2015
• An OSQA Oral History: John Helding, Pride Week, May 2016
• OSQA at the 2016 Pride Center Connect Event, September 2016
• “Occupying Margins” A Panel Discussion on Gender, November 2016
• Remembering the Past, Queering the Present, February 2017
• Consent is A-sexy and Required: Healthy Relationships with Asexual and Aromantic People (Panel), April 2017
• Herstory and Culture of Drag (Panel), Queer History Month, October 2017
• OSQA at the Corvallis Pride Festival 2018, September 2018
• Happy Valentine’s Day from OSQA <3, February 2019

Exhibits

• “LGBTQ+ Activism in Oregon: Then and Now” July 2016

OSQA represented at Professional Conferences and Publications

• “Queering the Archives: Connecting with Your Local LGBTQ+ Communities” Northwest Archivists Annual Conference, April 2016
• "Community-Based Oral History Projects: Stories of Oregon’s LGBTQ+ and Latinx Communities" Society of American Archivists Annual Conference, August 2018
• OSQA Featured in Archival Outlook, May 2019