Michael Johnstone saw himself as the unofficial archivist for the queer community in Hamilton.

The McMaster graduate and meticulous collector, who died in 2018, bequeathed more than 50 boxes of materials to the Hamilton Public Library (HPL) — materials that are now helping to educate a new generation about the struggles faced by the 2SLGBTQ+ community in this city in recent decades.

Johnstone’s collection is also playing a part in a course that examines lesbian and gay writing, art and activism in Canada from 1969 to 1989 that was created by Amber Dean, an associate professor in English & cultural studies.

Through the course, which Dean first taught in the fall of 2020, students have been engaging with and helping the HPL to catalogue the Michael Johnstone Collection. The collection will be used as the basis for the building of the Hamilton 2SLGBTQ+ Community Archive.

“I’m not an archivist,” says Dean. “But as a cultural studies scholar, I’m really interested in ‘What can we do with those historical records to think about the ways that the past lives on in the present state of the community? How might it inform the kinds of visions we have for community today, the kinds of activism that people are engaged in?’”

Johnstone’s vast collection includes photographs, meeting notes, VHS tapes and more.

“It’s pretty remarkable really,” says Dean.

Johnstone graduated from McMaster in 1969 and served as the student cultural affairs commissioner and president of the McMaster Students Union. His collection includes copies of newsletters from student groups like the McMaster Homophile Association and the Gay & Lesbian Association at McMaster, amongst others.

“It’s really interesting to look back at what student activism was like in the 1970s and the 1980s in these newsletters,” says Dean.

Johnstone’s records from his involvement with the Hamilton United Gay Societies (HUGS), Hamilton AIDS Network for Dialogue and Support (HANDS) and the Hamilton Gay and Lesbian Alliance (HGALA) throughout the 1980s and 1990s also offer a window into the activism of the wider community.

“It’s a really extensive collection of organizations’ histories in Hamilton that’s been really well preserved,” says Dean.

Critical engagements with 2SLGBTQ+ archives

Dean is also part of a group that has been engaged in critical conversations about what the Hamilton 2SLGBTQ+ Community Archive should look like as it expands beyond Johnstone’s collection.

“A big issue that has come up around gay and lesbian archives all across North America has been the fact that they’ve tended to centre around the records of white, gay men. And then, to some degree, white lesbians,” says Dean.

“I think that there’s real interest and commitment to ensure that the local archives represent the racial diversity of the LGBTQ community, the gender diversity of LGBTQ community.”

The work McMaster student Matthew Aksamit is doing as a summer researcher under Dean’s supervision is part of that push to capture a wider range of perspectives in the archives.

The English student intends to publish a series of zines highlighting the past, present and future state of the Hamilton 2SLGBTQ+ community with a focus on trans non-binary and gender non-conforming histories.

“These histories have kind of been suppressed. So, I really wanted to work to give an opportunity to have them sort of resurface,” says Aksamit.

“Even when visiting the archive at the Hamilton Public Library, you can physically see that, for example, there’s more material on gay histories because it’s been more recorded, because those stories have been more listened to throughout time, as opposed to, for example, trans histories. And especially, for example, trans women of colour.”

Building Hamilton’s 2SLGBTQ+ Community Archive

The Michael Johnstone Collection recently opened to the public and Dean says she is excited about the work students will take on this fall as they get to fully engage with the materials in person.

Students will continue to support HPL staff in cataloging the collection, help with the creation of a digital video series and contribute to the HPL’s efforts to appeal to the wider community to help build the Hamilton 2SLGBTQ+ Community Archive.

Dean also welcomes the learnings that will come with a younger generation being exposed to these archival materials.

“I think it can really help build solidarities across different generations which is really important because we can see, in the queer community — as with all marginalized communities — a lot of tensions arise across generationally.” 

The professor points to police involvement at Pride celebrations as an issue the 2SLGBTQ+ community has been engaged with since the 1970s, but that a younger generation of activists might not fully appreciate.

“I actually think there’s a lot of potential for building relationships and having conversations across generations that will inform the work that activists are doing today,” says Dean.

Read more about Michael Johnstone and his involvement with the Hamilton 2SLGBTQ+ community here.

For more information about plans for the Hamilton 2SLGBTQ+ Community Archives, please visit this site.