fethaps unsurprisingly, the emergent work in transgender rhetorics has been carefully attuned a:,... more fethaps unsurprisingly, the emergent work in transgender rhetorics has been carefully attuned a:,nsiderations of who gets to speak and under what conditions. In their introduction to a :i.tl issue of Peitho focused on "Transgender Rhetorics," GPat Patterson makes a compelling for the viability of this area of study, noting that "trans people are crafting arguments that, '3uite frankly, need listened to, because cis culture's profound lack of imagination about the ways :,ender is weaponized and racialized doesn't just result in terrible arguments-it results in danger, precarity, and soul murder for gender-expansive people" (Patterson). The creation of archives is ouc,Jj>edfic way to support trans people's stories being heard and treated with the respect and care they deserve; given the stakes that Patterson elucidates, the exigence for this work could not be J11y clearer. This is a well-worn path for many subfields in rhetorical studies, where the process of building an ma of study often includes what Royster and Kirsch, in discussing feminist rhetoric, refer to as the "three R's": "rescue, recovery, and (re)inscription" (14). The development of trans-specific archival collections can be used to support "rescue, recovery, and (re)inscription" as they allow for new and dC:l'_Per considerations of trans rhetorical practices that have been developed and enacted by trans
Buttons are strange historical objects. After they are retired from their honored place on a back... more Buttons are strange historical objects. After they are retired from their honored place on a backpack or jean jacket (or perhaps rescued out of the junk drawer), scores of buttons have found their way to queer archives where they are proudly claimed as valued queer heritage artifacts.
Marie Høeg, who lived from 1866-1949, was a Norwegian photographer and activist for women's right... more Marie Høeg, who lived from 1866-1949, was a Norwegian photographer and activist for women's rights. In this photo essay, the authors feature six photographs depicting Marie Høeg in gender transgressive scenes. These photographs are a few of more than 30 that were recovered in the 1980s from a property where Høeg once lived with her female partner, Bolette Berg. Standing out from the traditional landscapes and portraits that were common for the professional studio of Berg & Høeg, these photographs provide a glimpse into Høeg's playful self-expression at the onset of the 20th century. This photo essay explores not only the documentary value of these images, but also the important considerations of visibility, privacy, and the ethics of circulation that they elicit.
Furthering the field’s attention to the rhetoric of archives, this article offers an extended co... more Furthering the field’s attention to the rhetoric of archives, this article offers an extended consideration of archival description as an information infrastructure that provides powerful, although often invisible, orientations to the past. This article examines three stages of the archival process—selection, organization, and labeling—by focusing on a handful of historical objects, held in two separate collections, that depict transgressive gender presentations. Taken together, these examples demonstrate that archival description functions not only for bureaucratic and access purposes, but for epistemological ones as well.
A ddressing a gathering of archival professionals in 1970, Howard Zinn asserted that "[archives a... more A ddressing a gathering of archival professionals in 1970, Howard Zinn asserted that "[archives are] biased towards the important and powerful people of the society, tending to ignore the impotent and obscure: we learn most about the rich, not the poor; the successful, not the failures; the old, not the young; the politically active, not the politically alienated; men, not women; white, not black; free people rather than prisoners; civilians rather than soldiers; officers rather than enlisted men" (Zinn 1977: 21). While these observations may have been received as an indictment when he delivered this speech, our growing awareness of archival biases has catalyzed a great deal of archival activism. Indeed, those of us who champion archives of oppressed communities can rightfully claim that things have certainly improved in the decades since Zinn's address. Yet his overarching point remains no less profound: leveraging the power of archives is not "the politicization of a neutral craft, but the humanizing of an inevitably political craft" (20).
The current ubiquity of the word transgender might imply that it is an uncomplicated word.1 It ci... more The current ubiquity of the word transgender might imply that it is an uncomplicated word.1 It circulates widely—in the media, in academia, and in the titles of organizations, archives, and resource centers—to the extent that one could argue that it is currently the most common term describing people who do not neatly align with their birth-assigned gender. Yet when we scratch just below the surface, the emergences and deployments of the term are rife with complexity and even controversy. We have written this article, a collaboration between an academic and a non-academic, to intervene in the transgender coinage narrative and to more closely attend to the ways that knowledge is built among and between academic and non-academic communities.
This 20-minute video essay sets out to explore how the digital age is changing the nature of rhet... more This 20-minute video essay sets out to explore how the digital age is changing the nature of rhetorical history. Focused on online transgender-related historical materials, this video argues that online spaces can provide alternative and innovative mechanisms for preserving, accessing, and creating history while helping to broaden more traditional notions of rhetorical history and archives.
While efficient and satisfactory access may be a common goal for most archives, it is rarely achi... more While efficient and satisfactory access may be a common goal for most archives, it is rarely achieved in full. In this article, the author considers specific access barriers for both transgender patrons and transgender materials within archives. In particular, the author argues that environment and language shape the ways in which patrons encounter archives and the materials contained therein. Rather than seeking satisfactory access, the author suggests that deferred or denied satisfac- tion might also produce productive encounters for archival researchers.
fethaps unsurprisingly, the emergent work in transgender rhetorics has been carefully attuned a:,... more fethaps unsurprisingly, the emergent work in transgender rhetorics has been carefully attuned a:,nsiderations of who gets to speak and under what conditions. In their introduction to a :i.tl issue of Peitho focused on "Transgender Rhetorics," GPat Patterson makes a compelling for the viability of this area of study, noting that "trans people are crafting arguments that, '3uite frankly, need listened to, because cis culture's profound lack of imagination about the ways :,ender is weaponized and racialized doesn't just result in terrible arguments-it results in danger, precarity, and soul murder for gender-expansive people" (Patterson). The creation of archives is ouc,Jj>edfic way to support trans people's stories being heard and treated with the respect and care they deserve; given the stakes that Patterson elucidates, the exigence for this work could not be J11y clearer. This is a well-worn path for many subfields in rhetorical studies, where the process of building an ma of study often includes what Royster and Kirsch, in discussing feminist rhetoric, refer to as the "three R's": "rescue, recovery, and (re)inscription" (14). The development of trans-specific archival collections can be used to support "rescue, recovery, and (re)inscription" as they allow for new and dC:l'_Per considerations of trans rhetorical practices that have been developed and enacted by trans
Buttons are strange historical objects. After they are retired from their honored place on a back... more Buttons are strange historical objects. After they are retired from their honored place on a backpack or jean jacket (or perhaps rescued out of the junk drawer), scores of buttons have found their way to queer archives where they are proudly claimed as valued queer heritage artifacts.
Marie Høeg, who lived from 1866-1949, was a Norwegian photographer and activist for women's right... more Marie Høeg, who lived from 1866-1949, was a Norwegian photographer and activist for women's rights. In this photo essay, the authors feature six photographs depicting Marie Høeg in gender transgressive scenes. These photographs are a few of more than 30 that were recovered in the 1980s from a property where Høeg once lived with her female partner, Bolette Berg. Standing out from the traditional landscapes and portraits that were common for the professional studio of Berg & Høeg, these photographs provide a glimpse into Høeg's playful self-expression at the onset of the 20th century. This photo essay explores not only the documentary value of these images, but also the important considerations of visibility, privacy, and the ethics of circulation that they elicit.
Furthering the field’s attention to the rhetoric of archives, this article offers an extended co... more Furthering the field’s attention to the rhetoric of archives, this article offers an extended consideration of archival description as an information infrastructure that provides powerful, although often invisible, orientations to the past. This article examines three stages of the archival process—selection, organization, and labeling—by focusing on a handful of historical objects, held in two separate collections, that depict transgressive gender presentations. Taken together, these examples demonstrate that archival description functions not only for bureaucratic and access purposes, but for epistemological ones as well.
A ddressing a gathering of archival professionals in 1970, Howard Zinn asserted that "[archives a... more A ddressing a gathering of archival professionals in 1970, Howard Zinn asserted that "[archives are] biased towards the important and powerful people of the society, tending to ignore the impotent and obscure: we learn most about the rich, not the poor; the successful, not the failures; the old, not the young; the politically active, not the politically alienated; men, not women; white, not black; free people rather than prisoners; civilians rather than soldiers; officers rather than enlisted men" (Zinn 1977: 21). While these observations may have been received as an indictment when he delivered this speech, our growing awareness of archival biases has catalyzed a great deal of archival activism. Indeed, those of us who champion archives of oppressed communities can rightfully claim that things have certainly improved in the decades since Zinn's address. Yet his overarching point remains no less profound: leveraging the power of archives is not "the politicization of a neutral craft, but the humanizing of an inevitably political craft" (20).
The current ubiquity of the word transgender might imply that it is an uncomplicated word.1 It ci... more The current ubiquity of the word transgender might imply that it is an uncomplicated word.1 It circulates widely—in the media, in academia, and in the titles of organizations, archives, and resource centers—to the extent that one could argue that it is currently the most common term describing people who do not neatly align with their birth-assigned gender. Yet when we scratch just below the surface, the emergences and deployments of the term are rife with complexity and even controversy. We have written this article, a collaboration between an academic and a non-academic, to intervene in the transgender coinage narrative and to more closely attend to the ways that knowledge is built among and between academic and non-academic communities.
This 20-minute video essay sets out to explore how the digital age is changing the nature of rhet... more This 20-minute video essay sets out to explore how the digital age is changing the nature of rhetorical history. Focused on online transgender-related historical materials, this video argues that online spaces can provide alternative and innovative mechanisms for preserving, accessing, and creating history while helping to broaden more traditional notions of rhetorical history and archives.
While efficient and satisfactory access may be a common goal for most archives, it is rarely achi... more While efficient and satisfactory access may be a common goal for most archives, it is rarely achieved in full. In this article, the author considers specific access barriers for both transgender patrons and transgender materials within archives. In particular, the author argues that environment and language shape the ways in which patrons encounter archives and the materials contained therein. Rather than seeking satisfactory access, the author suggests that deferred or denied satisfac- tion might also produce productive encounters for archival researchers.
Libraries and archives have long been rich sites of exploration for LGBTQ+ people in search of se... more Libraries and archives have long been rich sites of exploration for LGBTQ+ people in search of self-understanding, identification, shared experience, and community. Yet the information infrastructures that guide every quest for queer and trans information remain silently powerful mediators of our research processes. Through an extended discussion of the Homosaurus, an international LGBTQ linked data vocabulary that the authors helped to develop, this article explores how queer information activism can confront the impoverished tools available for describing queer and trans resources. By focusing on both “corrective” and “analytic” strategies, the authors argue that the Homosaurus must work to expand the queer and trans terminology available for subject description while still challenging the structure and process of classificatory systems as always in tension with our queer aspirations.
The current ubiquity of the word transgender might imply that it is an uncomplicated word.1 It ci... more The current ubiquity of the word transgender might imply that it is an uncomplicated word.1 It circulates widely—in the media, in academia, and in the titles of organizations, archives, and resource centers—to the extent that one could argue that it is currently the most common term describing people who do not neatly align with their birth-assigned gender. Yet when we scratch just below the surface, the emergences and deployments of the term are rife with complexity and even controversy. We have written this article, a collaboration between an academic and a non-academic, to intervene in the transgender coinage narrative and to more closely attend to the ways that knowledge is built among and between academic and non-academic communities.
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