Project Description
Documentary focus: I am hoping to successfully document the ways in which religious members of the queer community have re-discovered and redefined a community from which they have been traditionally excluded. Specifically, I am looking at open and affirming Christian churches in Michigan c. 1970s to the present.
Consideration of archival concepts and practices: In designing this online archive, I wanted to emphasize a digital gathering space and active participation. Unlike traditional archives, the digital space creates a unique gathering space for community engagement. This aligns with Sheffield's concept of a "Community Archives,” defining a community as, “a group of people who come together and identify as such, with a community archive being a testament to their shared history” (Flinn, Stevens, & Shepherd, p. 75).
I wanted to work as an archivist that actively worked towards social justice, not just passively documenting items that reinforce the hegemony. Inspired by Flinn, Stevens, & Shepherd’s definition of community, I tried to actively seek out records from underrepresented communities, thereby contributing to social justice in the archives as advocated by Ricardo L. Punzalan and Michelle Caswell in their work, “Critical Directions for Archival Approaches to Social Justice.”
The concept of Participatory Archives is also central to my design. I aimed to make these records as accessible as possible, ensuring that they are not just confined to physical repositories like the Bentley, but are available to the broader community. Since my work is for people in the state of Michigan (or anywhere!), it isn’t always feasible to simply go to an archive to discover something about your community. Now, some of Jim Toy’s records, including early Episcopalean ideas about the queer community, are digitized and no longer sitting in an archive (Williams, 2015).
I also had to navigate some ethical challenges, particularly concerning privacy and consent. While curating the Jim Toy records, I consciously omitted certain personal correspondences to respect individual privacy, such as personal letters from multiple Episcopalean Bishops to Toy. This is a direct engagement with Eric Ketelaar's discussion on the right to know versus the right to forget. Additionally, while handling the Reconciliation Metropolitan Community Church records, I faced the ethical decision of whether to include identifiable images. I came to the conclusion that if I decided to publish this archive publicly, I would remove those identifiable images, however, for this presentation and educational purposes, their records will remain in the archive.
My online community archive not only adheres to but also reinterprets traditional archival practices. It champions accessibility, community involvement, and ethical considerations, particularly for marginalized groups. By doing so, it not only preserves history but also fosters a dynamic and inclusive digital space for diverse narratives and memories.
Criteria for record selection: I located my materials in the Bentley Historical Library at the University of Michigan, as well as from the Detroit Historical Society and various websites containing lists of affirming ministries in Michigan.
For the “Past” section of my website, I chose churches that were not only passively welcoming of the queer community, but were actively working towards an inclusive society and an inclusive and safe space. I first wanted to only choose churches that were created by and for the queer community, but those churches were rare and difficult to find. There were very few actively affirming ministries until the early 2010s, especially those created by and for the queer community.
Target user group: The primary users of my archive are religious queer people either looking for a safe and welcoming religious organization to join, or who are looking for history on queer religious organizations. Secondary users could be researchers studying queer history, especially history that is not historically told or is widely known. Another secondary user could be those who wish to create a safe religious organization but need inspiration or knowledge on the history of the movement.
Perspectives: The perspectives that are explicitly expressed are those who were directly part of the churches at the time, specifically church leaders, some church members and the general point of view of the churches as a whole. In terms of voices that are absent - I wish I had gotten more perspectives from everyday members, especially in the current day, however an oral history project was out of my scope.