Dec 30, 2022 Eliza McKinney, Fall 2022 DM Graduate Fellow

Briefly describe your project and the challenges, lessons learned, and obstacles overcome in the execution of it. What were the professional, academic, and personal motivations underlying your project?

I’m currently working on a digital, comprehensive archive of Womyn’s Community News, a Lesbian newsletter based in Salt Lake City that ran from 1991 to 1995. I received the corpus of Womyn’s Community News randomly: an acquaintance put out a social media call wondering if anyone had a good purpose for the lesbian newsletters sitting in her storage. Once I obtained them, I knew I had received something special. Their pages detail a dynamic, complex community that I had heard so little about. They brought to life so many different aspects of lesbian culture in Salt Lake: political organizations, sports teams, hobby enthusiasts, bar and music scenes, and dozens of community events. I wanted historians to have this valuable resource.

I also knew that it could be useful to so many other people seeking out Utah’s queer past. As a queer Utahn myself, I am aware of how much of this history has been erased or forgotten, particularly queer women’s history. I didn’t want them to sit in an archive, visited only by a handful of grad students. I knew that digitizing them would increase access for any interested person of any age or location. As a historian,  I could use my skills to flesh out this history more fully for those unable to do this work themselves. To make a comprehensive archive, I have done further research to share the full context of what I am terming “Womyn’s World.” I hope that when it is published, the website will spark new research in queer history in Utah and create intergenerational dialogue for all queer Utahns.

How did the Digital Matters Faculty Grant dovetail with your academic pursuits? What interested you in applying for this grant?

I am currently pursuing a Master’s degree in 20th-century US history with an emphasis on gender and sexuality. While I never intended to do local history, all of my projects have somehow brought me back here to Utah. We live in a fascinating state, with so much of its history unexplored. Once I received Womyn’s Community News, I knew it needed to be shared with as many Utahns as possible. I’m so grateful that Digital Matters took an interest in this project and saw this as a valuable community resource, worthy of a digital home.

What insights have you gained in regard to your specific field as a result of your project and grant experience?

I have done a fair bit of research in queer history, specifically queer history in Utah. I was shocked to discover that there were so many aspects of the local queer community in Salt Lake that I had never heard about. Did you know that Utah had an LGBTQ Christian church? Did you know there used to be a local feminist bookstore? Did you know that hundreds of lesbians used to gather every year for an annual Halloween dance? Did you know that KRCL used to have a weekly radio program called Concerning Lesbians and Gays? Did you know that Utah still has a gay rodeo and gay bowling league? It has been such a delight to discover all of these pockets of queer culture. Having the privilege to conduct oral histories with women who lived rich and fascinating lives right here, I am saddened by how much of our past can fade away from public knowledge. It is such an honor to share these women’s legacies.

We tend to have a narrow view of what history matters, but I believe that “small,” local history is the best at changing a person’s heart. It has certainly changed mine. I hope that anyone who uses the Womyn’s World archives feels inspired to engage more with their own community, learn from their elders, and find new strategies toward social justice that build upon the many efforts of those who came before.

What would you tell potential faculty grant applicants to help them shape their own digital scholarship project?

Start with what you truly feel passionate about; the logistics will follow. I didn’t know if anyone in Digital Matters would care about lesbian history, but I knew that it really mattered to me. Sometimes as scholars we feel pressured to follow every academic trend, grasping for relevancy. I believe that the best work comes from the work that feels vital to you.

What do you see as the upcoming important issues surrounding digital scholarship in your field? What areas/issues could students and scholars investigate to extend the knowledge in this area?

Queer history contains many ethical dilemmas for archivists. They must balance public access with protecting scarce, often sensitive content. Many queer archives are built on materials that the makers did not ever expect (or sometimes even want) to be public. Their freedom to share the details of their lives so plainly came before the internet age, so it can be tricky to honor a person’s privacy while providing broad access to digitized materials. Unfortunately, I believe that historians and archivists often err too much on the side of caution and so much of queer history remains locked behind institutional barriers. I believe that some of this caution comes from a deep sense of responsibility and care. I also believe this caution is in part driven by latent homophobia and an underlying belief that queerness is shameful. I hope that academics are questioning our own assumptions about privacy (or secrecy) and that we strive harder to provide greater access to marginalized histories to those who need it most.

An exciting aspect of this problem is that digital tools offer accessible resources for collecting and preserving our own history. We do not need to wait to begin collecting: start recording conversations with the people in your community. Save ephemera from your life. Little things like flyers, emails, and photographs can mean so much for historians of the future. You do not need an institution to deem your history worthy: start establishing your own archive now.