We developed the research question 'What is the state of LGBTQ+ Archives in contemporary UK society?' in order to ascertain not only what information was available to the general public but to see if that differed from less to more accessible information deposits. This question would also allow us to explore what history various archives contain and focus on.
Introduction
Our project was to designed to understand how information on LGBTQ+ history is made available to the public, and what this information focuses on. Rather than focusing on academic archives, which are often harder to access and geared towards researchers and academics, we wanted to focus on the information geared towards the average person.
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What would a young black teen from Manchester googling "LGBT UK" find? What would a mum seeking to understand her transgender child find? What would a gay refugee who had just arrived in the UK find?
Researching LGBTQ+ History in the UK
An Undergraduate Scholars Project
Our goal
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Through this project, we hoped to create a solid understanding of the gaps that exist within the documentation and presentation of LGBTQ+ life in Britain, as well as a perspective on the overarching themes and lives that these archives commonly focus on.
We hope that this research will aid in the progression of better and more comprehensive documentation of LGBTQ+ life and that it will encourage better accessibility to these critically important documents.
Considering COVID-19
Due to the Coronavirus, our project has undergone some evolutions: our group became smaller and we could only conduct our research online. In response, we altered our plans to compensate, reducing the scope of our research. Because of this, we could not produce an entirely substantive data set. Instead, we tried to highlight some general trends in our graphs and videos and produced a list of resources that we didn't study for anyone interested in more information.
What we did
In order to understand the content and accessibility of resources, we developed multiple data surveys to accrue quantitative and qualitative data. Members of the group compiled a list of available online archives and resources, etc. which we analysed using these surveys.
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To collect quantitative data for each of these documents, be it video, article, police report, we filled out the survey for each individual or event that they contained. We created a notation system that allowed us to compile the data in a way that shows the percentages of representation within a single document, as well as the canon of LGBTQ+ history overall. Every individual in the group engaged in this research.
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Qualitatively, we developed a survey that was completed for each resource, focusing on how easily accessible the resource was. In addition, we all kept notes on the noticeable common trends in the resources.
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Meet the Team
Our Final Presentation
