Seeking out queer histories at the University of Edinburgh

A roundtable to mark LGBTQ+ History month next week will showcase ongoing work such as Ash Sholz's that tracks queer histories at the University of Edinburgh.

Ash Sholz is a third-year student in History who was reading about histories of queer life in their classes. But they became curious about the histories of queer life here in Edinburgh, and especially at the University of Edinburgh. Given the visibility of current queer movements at the University, Ash began to wonder about queer life before it was visibilized. They were convinced queer life always existed and wanted to explore the University’s archives to find out more. They got in touch with archivist Rachel Hosker to find out how to explore queer pasts at the University of Edinburgh. 

This wasn’t the first time that Rachel Hosker from the University’s Centre for Research Collections had been approached to help someone trace queer histories in the archives. She led Ash to The Student newspaper as a rich site to begin their exploration. Together with a small team of volunteers who responded to a call on Ash’s personal social media, and now funded by a Student Partnership Agreement Fund, Ash began a deep dive into the University’s archives. Queer life wasn’t always present in the form we recognize it today; they found the establishment of the Gay Society in 1973 but also occasional reports on gay life through the 1970s, 80s and 90s. There were challenges that the Society faced in terms of growing and welcoming new members and sometimes the broader Student Association helped out but the Society faced backlash as well.  

Rachel helped Ash to forge a method to navigate the archives that she describes as a sort of “breadcrumb trail.” They located significant conferences and events related to queer life and then went back to The Student newspaper to track coverage around the same time. They found reportage of a major gay-rights conference—the Gay Rights Congress— in 1974 hosted at the University and organized by a student, Derek Ogg, that became a focal point for Ash’s research. That same year, the Women’s Liberation Conference was happening, and Rachel is also assisting another project that is developing an archive of that conference. Having found a significant conference hosted at the University and the mention of an organizer’s name, following the “breadcrumb trail” enabled Ash to begin to hunt for more details organized around a specific time. 

Looking at the University’s Bulletin (a staff and student monthly publication), for example, helped them find discussion around homosexuality and what it meant in terms of people’s research and their own understanding along with pushback that accompanied these discussions. Positive stories accompanied some difficult histories and for Rachel, it was important to open University archives to Ash and their team in an honest way that allowed difficult histories to be unearthed. Hunting around with specific dates and now, even names, allowed more detail to emerge. The student researchers found mentions of the Gay Rights Congress organizer Derek Ogg to be linked with Lothian Health Services Archives as a member of the Scottish Minorities Group and now they are reaching out to Alumni to see if there might be more to uncover about this key figure of the University’s queer history. 

What was challenging about this archival work, Ash said, was moving beyond the visible politics. For instance, while we may know something about organizing around queer rights, what do we know about the everyday of queer life in the past? Where did people hang out, where did they cement their friendships, where did they find and forge relations of care and solidarity? Stumbling upon names of bars brought the archives to life as Ash began to track queer geographies as well, asking whether “gay pubs” from the 70s still existed today. They found the current day Pink Triangle around St James Quarter emerging in the archives in a different form several decades ago. Queer historical archives thus weave in and out of current queer geographies as Ash and their team link past and present.  

Ash and their team have been working since late last year. Work has been a mix of remote and in-person, given that some of The Student’s archives are digitized and accessible. The team have been working on identifying themes that have emerged in their reading and have established a huge colour coded spreadsheet to organize these—queer student, life, activism, conference, queer Society and so on, helping them connect dots and establish a narrative. Once the connections are made, the team will begin presenting their research. 

For Rachel, it’s important that this work actively shapes the University’s archives. She is committed to ensuring that the work continue beyond the events organized around LGBTQ+ History month. One thing she’s considering is adding Ash’s research to existing digital platforms and creating digital narratives there. Another is to connect Ash and their team with alumni from the 70s who were involved with activism of the time or who knew Derek to add oral history narratives for context. This extends the “breadcrumbs trail” by expanding the archive to move beyond the preserved texts and to add details about everyday life and lifestyle.  

Ash and Rachel will share this research in a special roundtable organized as part of LGBTQ+ History month to share research on queer histories from different schools at the University of Edinburgh. Sign up to attend here! If you’d like to join Ash’s research team, get in touch: A.Scholz@sms.ed.ac.uk.