NNAQH ▰ Blog: QueerSearch - a meeting in Munich

The participants of QueerSearch's annual meeting at the entrance of LeZ
The participants of QueerSearch's annual meeting at the entrance of LeZ
Reporting from the annual meeting of QueerSearch in Munich, NNAQH's representative brings home a message of inspiration for the future of queer archive networks.

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Time is running out for the NNAQH-network, at least in its current manifestation with project funding from Nordic Information on Gender (NIKK), through the Nordic LGBTI Fund. But collaborations between queer archives, libraries and cultural heritage organisations didn't start with NNAQH, and will certainly continue in other forms in the future. An inspiration for how collaborations can be organised was shown at our October conference in Gothenburg, where Hannes Hacke held a presentation of QueerSearch. Starting in 2017 QueerSearch has brought toghether institutional and queer community archives, focusing on German language materials, and working towards creating a shared database of their holdings. In order to share experiences, representatives from the partner organisations in NNAQH were invited to QueerSearch's annual meeting, being held in Munich during the last weekend of November.

 

As it turned out, I was the only NNAQH representative able to attend. After a long train ride from Gothenburg, and being welcomed by a sudden snowfall, I made my way to LeZ, a lesbiqueer community center. There, the QueerSearch people had already been meeting for a few hours, updating each other on what's been going on, and summarising what needed to be done. Judging from all the post-its covering two big boards at the end of the table, much progress and many plans had been made! At this annual meeting, participants from nine of the 16 organisations making up QueerSearch took part, representing archives in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the Netherlands.

 

For the afternoon, the hosting archive, Forum Queeres Archiv München, invited us to their premises close to the central station for a presentation of their work and a tour through their collections. With funding from the city of Munich, active volunteers and ongoing collaborations with the city museum and city archives, FQAM seemed to be thriving. A change of name in 2019, together with a widening of the focus from gay and lesbian history to a broader scope of LGBTQI+ experiences brought with it a rejuvenation and growth of the membership base, although a few older members expressed cautions and withdrew. The work of making sure a diverse and representative history is collected is ongoing, and they talked in particular about the difficulties in making people feel comfortable in donating documents relating to personal and private spheres of life, as well as safeguading materials from businesses like bars or book stores, many of which have been closing in the last few years.

 

As a gift of gratitude for the invitation, I presented FQAM with a facsimile of "Sensationelles Flug-Blatt", a 1902 pamphlet by the Munich gay rights pioneer August Fleischmann. FQAM have published a biography of August ("Gott sei dank, dass ich so bin!"), with reprints of his many writings - but this print is missing there, and as far as I can tell the only known copy is in QRAB's collections. Well, and now a photocopy in Munich!

 

The plans for the future of QueerSearch were continued being forged during the following day, with conversations on both strategies and practicalities. Among the topics touched on were coordination of digitisations, revision of Wikidata, sharing of duplicates, translating the Homosaurus subject headings to German, and launching the shared search platform - the latter hopefully going online in a trial version early 2025. The theme of shared digital platforms was developed more in depth with a presentation of Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek, a virtual collection where some 30 000 cultural heritage and research institutions can make their holdings accessable. Making the digitised collections of the QueerSearch member organisations further accessible through DDB is an option - though it is limited to only German participators, highlighting the continued importance of cross-border cooperations like QueerSearch.

 

Of particular interest for me as a guest participant from the NNAQH network were the conversations around other forums for international contact, such as the previously organised LGBTQI+ ALMS conferences. After the 2019 event in Berlin, the plans for future conferences haven't materialised - in large parts due to the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermaths. The surge of digital meetings and events since 2019 has meant easier access in some ways, but during the meeting in Munich many raised the importance and extra values of getting together physically as well. However, the question of expanding networks and temporary events was also contrasted to the abilities of focusing and working more practically together in smaller and more continuous constellations, such as QueerSearch. No conclusion was reached, but hopefully the future could bring both international get-togethers and more local networks of queer archives.

 

Rounding off the second day were a couple of wonderful research presentations. First, Clara Hartmann spoke about Dora Richter, one of the first trans women to undergo gender-affirming surgery in the 1920's. For long, not much was known about the life of Dora, some claiming her dead following the nazi takeover of Germany in 1933. Through extensive archival research in Germany and Czechia, Clara found many traces of Dora's long and fascinating life, even speaking to some who remembered her as an old lady in the 1960's, with a bird in her handbag! Then it was time for Philipp Hofstetter and René Hornung to talk about their book "Der Urning", detailing the life and times of Jakob Rudolf Forster. In 1898 Jakob Rudolf published an autobiographical polemic against the societal oppression of same-sex love in Switzerland, and Philipp and René have put his life in a wider context of the emerging "queer" movements and self-understanings in the 19th century.

 

When the QueerSearch members spent Sunday morning electing a new board, I took a picturesque walk along the Isar river. After lunch our paths crossed, as I joined up for a guided tour of queer Munich, under the lead of Albert Knoll from FQAM. The walk started at Karl Heinrich Ulrichs-Platz, commemorating the speaker at the Association of German Jurists in Munich in 1867, calling for reforms of the laws against homosexuality. After that, we briskly marched through a history of gay and lesbian bars, local politicians, cruising and nazi persecution, before some went off to catch their trains.

 

All in all the trip was extraordinarily inspirational, and I hope that NNAQH can find ways to transform our two-year project, drawing on the experiences of QueerSearch to find sustainable and mutually supportive forms of collaboration, between the Nordic countries and beyond. There are plans to keep in touch with some of the QueerSearch archives this spring, so keep your eyes open for a queer archival future!

 

 

 

Olov Kriström (He/Him, They/Them) is a queer librarian, activist and founding member of QRAB, the Archives and Library of the Queer Movement in Gothenburg.

 

A shelf at Forum Queeres Archiv München. Photographer: Olov Kriström CC0
A shelf at Forum Queeres Archiv München. Photographer: Olov Kriström CC0
August Fleischmann's pamphlet, donated to FQAM. Photograper: Olov Kriström CC0
August Fleischmann's pamphlet, donated to FQAM. Photograper: Olov Kriström CC0