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7 p.m. Queer [His/Her/Their]story Archive, Dunn Gallery co-sponsored with the Queer Resource Center QRC

9 p.m. Live music co-sponsored by KSPC featuring Moon Bandits and Sledding with Tigers

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Queer [His/Her/Their] Story Archive

The QRC houses a collection of surveys completed by LGBTQ alums with graduation dates as far back as 1929. When sitting down to read through these surveys, which ask questions like “how would you describe the climate at the colleges regarding LGBTQ issues?,” it is hard not to notice the drastic changes in peoples’ answers over time. Just a few short replies can be touching, surprising, disturbing, funny… impressions from material pieces of stories from LGBTQ individuals reflecting on their experiences at The Claremont Colleges. Reading through the surveys is its own experience – in deciphering, in learning, and sometimes in seeing respondents wrestle with the questions. Under “were you in a LGBTQ organization on or off-campus?” you can find the answer “no, there were none” followed by blank paper.

Last year, a QRC Staffer suggested we collect stories from LGBTQIA and Allied individuals on campus now, which became an opportunity for alumni returning to campus to share their stories as well. This suggestion turned into the Queer [His/Her/Their]stories Project: an archive of oral [his/her/their]stories, which adds to our growing collection of material experiences held by The QRC and soon to be preserved in the Honnold/Mudd Library’s Special Collections. This project is action. It is a celebration of LGBTQIA individuals’ unique, intersectional identities and experiences as they navigate the 7Cs today. It is also a way of remembering his, her, and their stories by initiating the process of remembering. What does it mean to remember? What does it mean to share our voices? What does it mean to engage with material [his/her/their]stories?