What we've published

The Archives Publication Series, our newsletter and other items

In its first Statement of Purpose, adopted Dec 11, 1975, the Archives set as one of its seven objectives:

To "produce or assist in the production of such reference aids as bibliographies, periodical indexes, collections of abstracts, guides to sources, and other tools related to the study of subjects in which the Archives might hold information or material, and [to] make these aids available."

The Archives launched its Publication Series in 1979, and has produced 13 titles to date. All are listed below. Many are now out of print -- but they can still be perused at the Archives or, as available, at other archives and libraries.

Also noted here is our newsletter, Lesbian and Gay Archivist. From time to time this page will also list titles not published by the Archives -- but made available here as valuable research sources.

More information is accessible online for any title highlighted as a link. You can order any title still in print. Please contact us for details.

The Archives Publication Series

1. Homosexuality in Canada: A Bibliography
   Alex Spence, 1979
   85 pages, paper. ISBN 0-920430-02-3. $6.00
   
   This was the first major bibliography to deal exclusively with Canadian lesbian and gay material, including all significant writing uncovered up to 1977. The work was updated by William Crawford in 1984 (see Publication Number 9, below).
   
   
2. The Genetic Imperative: Fact and Fantasy in Sociobiology
   Alan V. Miller, 1979
   107 pages, paper. ISBN 0-920430-04-X. $6.00
   
   "Gay" genes? This bibliography was an early compilation of scientific fact -- and sheer speculation -- on the evolutionary development of reproductive strategies, kin selection, and altruism as a side effect of "selfish" genes.
3. Ian Young: A Bibliography, 1962-1980
   Ian Young, 1981
   58 pages, paper. ISBN 0-920430-08-02. Out of print
   
   An extensive enumeration of the works of this prolific poet, critic, editor, publisher -- and bibliographer. Ian Young was co-founder of Canada's first post-Stonewall gay group, the University of Toronto Homophile Association; founder of Catalyst Press, one of the country's only gay publishing houses; and small-press columnist for The Body Politic from 1975 to 1985.
   
   
4. Lesbian Periodical Holdings in the Canadian Gay Archives
   Alan V. Miller, 1981
   15 pages, paper. No ISBN. Out of print
   
   In 1981 it took only 15 pages to list what was then the Archives' entire lesbian periodical holdings -- included many women's and feminist titles, to make the work more useful. Many more now appear in Alan's later directory, Our Own Voices (see Publication Number 12).
   
   
5. Lesbian and Gay Heritage of Toronto
   James A. Fraser and Alan V. Miller, 1982
   12 pages, paper; illustrated. No ISBN. Out of print
   
   This small but important booklet documents the contributions -- many previously unknown -- made by lesbians and gay men to the history of this city. It notes people who identified themselves as homosexual, and other who supported them, beginning with merchant and magistrate Alexander Wood in 1810 and continuing to modern times.
   
   Meeting places -- bars, clubs, hotels, bathhouses -- are noted through time (with dates provided), as well as publications and political groups. More than 30 images are included, as well as a centrespread map with numbers keyed to the booklet's 55 separate entries. It's out of print -- but if you're a lesbian or gay man in Toronto today, this one booklet alone is well worth a trip to the Archives.
   
   
6. Homosexuality in Ancient Greek and Roman Civilization:
   A Critical Bibliography with Supplement
   Beert C. Verstraete, 1982; second printing, 1989
   14 pages, paper. No ISBN. $6.00
   
   First published in Journal of Homosexuality in 1977, the critical bibliography lists -- and extensively annotates -- 21 references on Ancient Greece and 12 on Ancient Rome. The supplement includes 13 titles added after 1977.
   
   
7. Gays and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS): A Bibliography
   Alan V. Miller, Nov 1982 and May 1983
   First edition, 21 pages, paper. ISBN 0-969098-10-7. Out of print
   Second edition, 67 pages, paper. ISBN 0-969098-10-8. Out of print
   
   These were the first separate bibliographies ever done, anywhere, on gay men and AIDS. They were an integral part of efforts to formulate a community response to a crisis then widely ignored by governments. Alan Miller was one of a number of local activists whose work led to the founding of the AIDS Committee of Toronto in 1983.
   
   The first edition includes references from the gay, medical, and mainstream media through Oct 1982; the second extends this coverage to the end of Mar 1983. This material later became part of a larger work: see Publication Number 10, below.
   
   
8. Organizing an Archives: The Canadian Gay Archives Experience
   James A. Fraser and Harold A. Averill, 1983; third printing, 1989
   68 pages, paper. ISBN 0-9690981-1-1. Out of print
   
   Meant for any person or group beginning an archival collection, this guide was rooted in a decade of real-life experience at the Canadian Gay Archives. It includes sections on deciding what to collect and whom it is meant to serve; on choosing a name and developing a statement of purpose; on the art of acquisitions and the organization of various kinds of material -- and on fundraising, promotion, administration, security, and the handling and care of collections.
   
   The authors also brought to this work their knowledge as professional archivists -- James with the City of Toronto and Harold with the University of Toronto -- showing how sound archival principles could be applied even in the face of limited physical and financial resources.
   
   
9. Homosexuality in Canada: A Bibliography
   William Crawford, 1984; second printing, Jun 1986
   378 pages, paper. ISBN 0-9690981-3-8. $20.00
   
   An extensive update of the 1979 edition (Publication Number 1, above), this work includes almost twice as many references and many more annotations. It was financed by grants, totalling nearly $20,000, from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Toronto Gay Community Appeal -- and was the first Archives publication produced on a computer. Compiler Bill Crawford's bilingual skills and bibliographic detective work uncovered much more material from French Canada, and an explosion of lesbian writing after 1970.
   
   
10. Medical, Social and Political Aspects of the Acquired Immune Deficiency
    Syndrome (AIDS) Crisis: A Bibliography
    Donald W. McLeod and Alan V. Miller, 1985
    314 pages, paper. ISBN 0-969098-12-X. Out of print
    
    A continuation and expansion of Alan Miller's 1982 and 1983 bibliographies (see Publication Number 7), this work covers material published in the medical, mainsteam, and gay and lesbian press up to Sep 1984. "Excellent work," one reviewer said. "Its value lies in its inclusion of gay publications and other elusive works."
    
    
11. The Writings of Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld: A Bibliography
    James D. Steakley, 1985
    Co-published with the Magnus-Hirschfeld Gesellschaft, Berlin
    54 pages, paper. ISBN 0-969098-14-6. Out of print
    
    Magnus Hirschfeld (1868-1935) was a pioneering psychiatrist, sexologist and advocate of homosexual emancipation. He helped found the world's first activist homosexual organization, the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee, in 1897, and later the Institute for Sexual Science in Berlin -- whose collection was burned by the Nazis in 1933.
    
    James Steakley's early work on Hirschfeld, and on German gay history from 1860 to 1933, had been published in a series of articles in The Body Politic (1973 - 1974) and later became a book: The Homosexual Emancipation Movement in Germany (Arno Press, New York, 1975).
    
    
12. Our Own Voices: A Directory of Lesbian and Gay Periodicals, 1890-1990, Including the Complete Holdings of the Canadian Gay Archives
    Alan V. Miller, 1991
    704 pages, paper. ISBN 0-969098-16-2. $40.00 (individuals), $50.00 (institutions)
    
    The most comprehensive listing available, with more than 7,200 periodical titles from around the world. An updated version of Our Own Voices is available here online -- though it does not include issue-by-issue details on the Archives' holdings. The 1991 print edition remains a valuable reference tool for libraries and resource centres.
    
    
13. Homosexuality, Society and the State in Mexico
    Ian Lumsden, 1991
    122 pages, paper. ISBN 0-9690981-5-4. Out of print
    Homosexualidad, Sociedad y Estado en México
    Ian Lumsden; translated by Luis Zapata, 1991
    132 pages, paper. No ISBN. $12.95
    Both co-published with Solediciones, Colectivo Sol, Mexico City
    
    This work describes and analyzes homosexuality in Mexico from pre-Columbian times to the present, examining the role of the state in relation to the oppression of homosexuals, and the struggles to secure civil rights and transform the machismo ingrained in Mexican society. It includes, as an appendix, "A.I.D.S., Government and Society in Mexico", by Francisco Galván Díaz, Roberto González-Villarreal and Rodolfo Morales.
    
    Ian Lumsden teaches Social and Political Science at Atkinson College, York University, in Toronto. Colectivo Sol is a non-profit, gay men's collective, founded in 1981 and running a documentation centre in Mexico City.
    
    
14. Challenging the Conspiracy of Silence: My Life as a Canadian Gay Activist 
    Jim Egan, 1998
    Compiled and edited by Donald W. McLeod, Homewood Press 
15. Directory of the International Association of Lesbian and Gay Archives and Libraries
    Alan V. Miller, 1987
    178 pages, paper. No ISBN. $45.00
    
    This directory is the result of a survey by the International Association of Lesbian and Gay Archives and Libraries. Information for each library or archives includes name, address, telephone; history; nature of organization and membership; description of physical space; material types collected: papers of organizations; personal papers; audio tapes, erotica, etc.; and size of collections and finding aids; collection policy; special projects; accessibility; staff type and number; financial support; publications; affiliations; and security provisions. Concludes with an index personal names, titles, organizations, general subjects collected, and location of archive.

Our newsletter

• Lesbian and Gay Archivist
  Published irregularly, 1977 to the present. ISSN 0714-3605. $2.00 per issue
  
  Begun as Gay Archivist, our newsletter charts the story of the Archives and the growth of its collections since May 1977. The link above leads to a list of all issues, with extensive highlights from each one. Issues after Number 12, June 1996, are available here online.
  
  

Other publications available

• Lesbian and Gay Liberation in Canada:
  A Selected Annotated Chronology, 1964 - 1975
  Donald W. McLeod, 1996
  ECW Press and Homewood Books
  320 pages, paper; 18 illustrations. ISBN 1-55022-273-2. $30.00
  
  The culmination of six years' work by long-time Archives volunteer Don McLeod -- and based on the Archives' holdings, along with those of the Archives gaies du Québec and the Canadian Women's Movement Archives -- this is now the most comprehensive reference source for a critical period in the development of gay culture and politics in Canada. The link above leads to more details, and to order information.