Established in 2010 this new special collection is named in honor of Neil Richards. During his years of library employment and continuing in his retirement, Richards has developed and help acquire many impressive collections of LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender)  interest for libraries and archives at the University of Saskatchewan. These include the records of many gay and lesbian individuals and organizations, magazines and newsletters published in LGBT communities, collections of lesbian and gay pulp literature, documentation about theatrical cross-dressing, and novels and nonfiction published before the Stonewall Riots of 1969 and the birth of the modern Gay Rights movement.

The newly established Library collection contains many rare and/or fragile items (both in print and manuscript forms) and unique collections dealing with many aspects of the history of sexual and gender diversity. It complements the Library’s extensive circulating collections on these subjects.  A recent statistical comparison of holdings indicates that the University of Saskatchewan Library holds more titles of LGBTQ interest than any other Canadian academic library.

Over 1,800 titles have been added to the Richards collection as of March 2012. All titles are given the searchable series note – Neil Richards Collection of Sexual and Gender Diversity. Three subseries notes have also been established to help  identify particular collection strengths – Gay, Lesbian  and Transgender Pulp Literature (presently 483 titles), Canadian Gay and Lesbian Collection (presently 633 titles by Canadian authors and publishers) and Queer Mystery and Detective Fiction (254 titles).

Our goal is to develop a collection with sufficient focus and depth to inspire and facilitate research by students and faculty. The collection aims to be distinctive to the University of Saskatchewan, and to not duplicate holding of titles likely to be found at other libraries or archives. Material illustrative of queer life in Saskatchewan is especially prized. The collection preserves many items representing the popular culture of LGBTQ communities including lifestyle and physique magazines, erotica, comic and cartoon books, posters, postcards, buttons and sound recordings.

The collection has grown rapidly through the generosity of many donors in the city and across the country. The collection’s development depends significantly on in-kind gifts and also financial support from the community. If you own or know of material of interest, either printed or in manuscript form, that needs a permanent home or if you wish to support our collecting activities please contact Special Collections Librarian David Bindle @ 966-6029 or david.bindle@usask.ca.

This collection is housed in the Special Collections Department, Third Floor South Murray Library.

To see what we have already acquired for this collection you may search the Library’s online catalogue

http://library.usask.ca under the following titles –

Neil Richards Collection of Sexual and Gender Diversity

Canadian Gay and Lesbian Collection

Gay, Lesbian and Transgender Pulp Literature

Queer Mystery and Detective Fiction

 

Other Campus Collections of LGBTQ Interest

Saskatchewan Archives Board (Saskatoon Office) Murray Building Basement

Neil Richards 1949-.  This enormous collection (over 17 meters of boxes) was one of the earliest and largest collections of LGBTQ interest to be acquired by a Canadian public archive. It was donated in parts between 1985 and 2009.  Richards has participated in many local, provincial and national gay organizations since 1973.  Inspired by a six month volunteer project at Toronto’s Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives in 1983 he has been long devoted to gathering, preserving and presenting the documentary heritage of the LGBTQ communities.

The fonds consists of many series: Newspaper Clippings; Serial Publications (Magazines and Newsletters); Pornography; Subject Files;  Records of the Gay Community Centre of Saskatoon, Gay and Lesbian Support Services, Saskatchewan Gay Coalition and  Metamorphosis; Sound Recordings; Posters; Photographs;  Other Ephemera including buttons.

Fonds description at http://sain.scaa.sk.ca/collections/index.php/neil-richards-fonds-2;rad
Biographical information at http://www.clga.ca/npc/RichardsN-093.shtml

 

Peter McGehee 1955-1991.   Records created, accumulated and used by Peter McGehee in his work as a photographic artist, performer, and writer in San Francisco, Saskatoon and Toronto.  McGehee wrote, directed, produced, and performed in the satirical cabaret acts The Quinlan Sisters and The Fabulous Sirs in the 1980s. He published a number of semiautobiographical novellas and screwball comedies including Boys Like Us (1991) and Sweetheart (1992). The fonds includes many photographs taken by McGehee, his life partner Doug Wilson and performing partner Fiji Robinson depicting their lives in Saskatoon and Toronto.

Fonds description at http://sain.scaa.sk.ca/collections/index.php/peter-mcgehee-fonds;rad
Biographical information at http://www.glbtq.com/literature/mcgehee_p.html

 

Fiji Robinson 1955-.  This fonds consists of records created and or accumulated by Fiji Robinson in her career as a vocalist and performer in the musical revues The Quinlan Sisters (comprised of Robinson, Peter McGehee and Wendy Coad) between 1981 and 1984, and The Fabulous Sirs (Robinson and McGehee) between 1987 and 1990. Also included are records used in the development of a book proposal and subsequent film proposal on her career as a performance artist working with writer/director Peter McGehee. Research and notes for the online GLBTQ On-Line Encyclopedia entry for McGehee's life partner, human rights activist Douglas Wilson, are also included.

Fonds description at http://sain.scaa.sk.ca/collections/index.php/fiji-robinson-fonds;rad

 

Doug Wilson 1950-1992.  This fonds consists of records created, accumulated and used by Doug Wilson in Saskatchewan before 1983. The records relate to his involvement in the Saskatchewan homosexual community, his leadership in the emerging gay rights movement, and the response in 1975 when his teaching duties in the College of Education were restricted by the University of Saskatchewan after his sexual orientation became public knowledge. Included are correspondence, clippings, and publications about his involvement in the creation and administration of homosexual organizations such as the Zodiac Friendship Society / Gay Community Centre of Saskatoon, and the Saskatchewan Gay Coalition.

Fonds description at http://sain.scaa.sk.ca/collections/index.php/doug-wilson-fonds;rad
Biographical information at http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/wilson_douglas.html

 

University of Saskatchewan Archives, Murray Library 3rd Floor South

AIDS Saskatoon.  AIDS Saskatoon was founded in 1986 as a volunteer, non-profit, charitable agency with a mission to work with and provide support to those affected by HIV/AIDS and to educate and inform the public about the prevention of HIV/AIDS. This collection measuring approximately 1 metre contains organizational records, newsletters, posters and publications predominately from the period 1986 to 1997.

Fonds description at http://sain.scaa.sk.ca/collections/index.php/aids-saskatoon-2;rad

 

Don Cochrane 1940-.  This collection documents the academic career of U of S Education professor Don Cochrane. Of particular interest are files relating to the founding and the organization of the annual Breaking the Silence on Issues in Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity conference at the College of Education. Among his areas of specialization are ethics and education and gay and lesbian issues in education.

Fonds description at http://sain.scaa.sk.ca/collections/index.php/don-cochrane-fonds;rad
Biographical information at https://www.stf.sk.ca/portal.jsp?Sy3uQUnbK9L2RmSZs02CjV6+6OHjzI2FdaZijFdBhCHA=F

 

 

Cross-Dressing in Saskatchewan.  This collection was assembled between 2002 and 2004 by Neil Richards in connection with his exhibition All Frocked Up: Glimpses of Cross-dressing in Saskatchewan. The collection of programs, posters, photographs, video recordings and artifacts begins to document and preserve the development of cross-dressing as entertainment, including gay drag, in the province.

Fonds description at http://sain.scaa.sk.ca/collections/index.php/cross-dressing-in-saskatchewan-collection-2;rad

 

 

Mona Holmlund. This collection of audio-taped interviews (and transcripts) with American and Canadian lesbian couples was assembled by Holmlund,  art history professor at the U of S, as source material for the book Women Together: Portraits of Love, Commitment and Life (1991)

Book description at http://gaybookreviews.info/review/3543/510 

Finding aid available at University of Saskatchewan Archives

 

 

Don McNamee 1938-1994.  This collection documents the academic and personal life of Donald Keith McNamee who taught art for twenty years at the U of S.  McNamee was a fixture in Saskatoon's gay and lesbian community. Meetings at his house initiated Saskatoon’s first gay organization, the Zodiac Friendship Society (later, the Gay/Lesbian Community Centre of Saskatoon). In the early 1980s McNamee was one of the founding and most active members of the Coalition for Human Equality (CHE), formed to respond to perceptions of homophobia in the provincial Conservative government. McNamee was particularly active in the 1992 campaign urging the new NDP government to amend human rights legislation to protect gays and lesbians from discrimination.

Fonds description at http://sain.scaa.sk.ca/collections/index.php/donald-mcnamee-fonds;rad
Biographical information at http://scaa.usask.ca/gallery/art/artists-mcnamee.html

 

P. T. Millard 1932- 2001.   Peter Millard joined the University of Saskatchewan in 1961 as an Instructor in English; he eventually became head of the department. He also served a one-year term as Head of the Faculty Association.  He was an influential collector, dealer, critic and supporter of the visual arts. In the mid 1970s he took a leadership role in the emerging local gay community and became a highly visible spokesperson for gay and lesbian rights, anti-AIDS campaigns, and human rights more generally. After Millard’s death his estate gifted additional  papers  including a lengthy autobiography Or Words to That Effect that contains detailed accounts of many events in Saskatoon’s early LGBTQ history and reflections on how homosexuality affected how he chose to lead his life.

Fonds description at http://sain.scaa.sk.ca/collections/index.php/p-t-millard-fonds;rad
Biographical information at http://esask.uregina.ca/entry/millard_peter_1932-2001.html

 

 

Neil Richards 1949- .  This collection, not to be confused with the Neil Richards fonds at the SAB, or the Special Collections Neil Richards Collection of Sexual and Gender Diversity, deals with the history of theatrical transvestism and gender impersonation. It is particularly rich in images of the female and male impersonators who achieved fame on British music hall and American vaudeville stages during the first half of the 20th century. In 2010 Richards added to this fonds a very large collection of material relating to the early history of professional wrestling in Canada and the United States. Formats represented in the collection include monographs (over 160 book titles), catalogued wrestling photos (over 900 images), hundreds of fan magazines and event programs, and paper ephemera including posters, pamphlets, fan scrapbooks, and trading cards.

Fonds description at http://sain.scaa.sk.ca/collections/index.php/neil-richards-fonds;rad
Virtual exhibition at http://scaa.sk.ca/gallery/genderimpersonators/

 

Saskatchewan AIDS Network. 1995-2002.  The Saskatchewan AIDS Network (SAN) was formed in 1995 as a coalition of community-based organizations dedicated to responding to HIV/AIDS at the provincial level through the development and maintenance of community partnerships. The bulk of this fonds is material dealing with the interaction and publications of various HIV/AIDS interest groups both provincial and national.

Fonds description at http://sain.scaa.sk.ca/collections/index.php/saskatchewan-aids-network-san-2;rad

 

 

 

Special Collections, University of Saskatchewan Library, Murray Library 3rd Floor South

 

Neil Richards Collection of Sexual and Gender Diversity. Book collection described above.
Catalogue records available through series title searches of U of S Library Online Catalogue http://library.usask.ca/

Chamberlain vs. Surrey School Board #36 [2002].  Case papers donated by British Columbia lawyer Joseph Arvay concerning the litigation that led the Supreme Court of Canada in 2002 to hold that a school board cannot rely on the religious objections of some parents to justify banning books which depict families with same-sex parents. Also related papers donated by British Columbia educator Murray Corren and his partner/husband Peter Corren dealing with their participation in the  Chamberlain case as well as many other groundbreaking cases and campaigns towards LGBTQ equality in British Columbia – Partially organized.

Case description at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chamberlain_v._Surrey_School_District_No._36
Information on the Correns at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_and_Murray_Corren

Canadian Rainbow Health Coalition. 2001-2011. Organizational records presently uncatalogued.

Organization description at http://www.rainbowhealth.ca/

 

 

You may also be interested in the following web exhibits and resources produced by the University of Saskatchewan Library and Archives

All Frocked Up: Glimpses of Cross-Dressing in Saskatchewan
http://scaa.usask.ca/gallery/allfrockedup

Ambisextrous: Gender Impersonators of Music Hall and Vaudeville
http://scaa.sk.ca/gallery/genderimpersonators

Celebrating a History of Diversity: Lesbian and Gay Life in Saskatchewan, 1971-2006. A Selected Annotated Chronology
http://library2.usask.ca/srsd/chronology

Passions Uncovered: Gay, Lesbian and Transgender Pulps
http://library2.usask.ca/srsd/pulps/

Saskatchewan Resources for Sexual Diversity
http://library2.usask.ca/srsd/index.php