Queer Experiences: How to Use the Queer Archives Project Digital Humanities Scalar Site
“Queer is a continuing moment, movement, motive—recurrent, eddying, troublant. The word ‘queer’ itself means across.” -- Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Tendencies
The Lafayette Queer Archives Project digital humanities site is designed to be a Queer experience. It mirrors a Queer perspective on knowledge, and its cross-referential structure intentionally reflects Eve Sedgwick’s insistence that Queer thought is literally “not straight.” It is shaped to pique a visitor’s interest in both expected and unexpected ways.
The Lafayette College LGBTQ+ oral history interviews are the heart of this site--and they are where you should begin. In these interviews, members of the LGBTQ+ community reflect on their time on campus. Every interview page contains the interview transcript, a parallel audio recording, and subject photos.
“Themes” are generated by oral history interviews and listed at the end of individual transcripts. Themes reflect broad topics (such as “Academics” or “Race”) that have emerged from oral history interviews so far. Themes connect across interviews and site materials, providing the “big picture” for Lafayette’s LGBTQ+ history.
“Keywords” are also generated by oral history interviews and are listed below "Themes" at the end of every transcript. Keywords are specific concepts (e.g., “AIDS Memorial Quilt”) that have emerged from oral history interviews so far. They appear on the site only when there is archival material to support them. Keywords connect across interviews and site materials.
Materials from the Lafayette College Archives saturate and enrich this entire site. Interviews, Themes and Keywords are networked with archival artifacts in ways that expand on interview content and Queer history more broadly. This rich body of materials dimensionalizes the project.
Reflective student writing appears in Interpretive Paths. Paths are shaped by a researcher critically reflecting on and writing about QAP materials. Paths thread through the site, offering new connections and insights. They are added with permission of the site administrator.
Finally, the site offers Thematic Timelines. The timelines for each theme incorporate interviews and archival materials chronologically, providing a familiar dimension for content. Timelines provide a mechanism that helps track institutional and historical change on multiple registers.
In 1992, the Princeton Review named Lafayette College the most homophobic campus in the United States. In conceptualizing, designing, and building this site, one of our goals has been to make Lafayette recognizable as an institution that is working proactively, thoughtfully and creatively to support Queer experiences.
Enjoy yours.