"Since this is a naming time": Queer/ing (Re)Description in Institutional Archives

The ways in which records of queer history are described in institutional archives can limit their visibility and accessibility. Records of queer history are often described using vague, euphemistic, archaic, or pejorative language. This makes it challenging for queer people to find and access histories that are relevant to them and their community. This research uses a variety of methods—interviewing, surveying, a case study, and the researcher’s own relfections and experiences—to explore this issue, and presents a framework for doing queer descriptive work in institutional archives.