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A Queer History of Lesbian Media Technologies Information Activism Sign CAIT MCKINNEY A QUEER HISTORY OF LESBIAN MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES INFORMATION ACTIVISM SIGN, STORAGE, TRANSMISSION A series edited by Jonathan Sterne and Lisa Gitelman INFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATION INFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATION 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INFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATIONINFORMATIONACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISM ACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISM ACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISMACTIVISM A Queer History of Lesbian Media Technologies CAIT MCKINNEY DUKE UNIVERSITY PRESS DURHAM AND LONDON 2020 © 2020 Duke University Press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of Amer i ca on acid- free paper ∞ Designed by Aimee C. Harrison Typeset in Minion Pro, Helvetica LT Std, and IBM Plex Mono by Westchester Publishing Services Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Names: McKinney, Cait, [date] author. Title: Information activism : a queer history of lesbian media technologies / Cait McKinney. Other titles: Sign, storage, transmission. Description: Durham : Duke University Press, 2020. | Series: Sign, storage, transmission | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2019046772 (print) | LCCN 2019046773 (ebook) ISBN 9781478007821 (hardcover) ISBN 9781478008286 (paperback) ISBN 9781478009337 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Lesbian Herstory Archives. | Lesbians—Archival resources. | Lesbian feminism—Archival resources. | Digital media—Social aspects. | Archives—Social aspects. | Archival materials—Digitization—Social aspects. | Queer theory. Classification: LCC HQ75.5 .M44 2020 (print) | LCC HQ75.5 (ebook) | DDC 306.76/63—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019046772 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019046773 Cover art: Based on the cover of a call log created by the Lesbian Switchboard of New York City, 1980–81. Lesbian Switchboard Records, box 2, folder 35, The LGBT Community Center National History Archive. for Hazel ix Acknowl edgments 1 Introduction 33 Chapter One The Internet That Lesbians Built: Newsletter Networks 67 Chapter Two Calling to Talk and Listening Well: Information as Care at Telephone Hotlines 105 Chapter Three The Indexers: Dreaming of Computers while Shuffling Paper Cards 153 Chapter Four Feminist Digitization Practices at the Lesbian Herstory Archives 205 Epilogue Doing Lesbian Feminism in an Age of Information Abundance 217 Notes 261 Bibliography 281 Index Acknowl edgments This is a book about activists, caregivers, infrastructure builders, archivists, newsletter authors, telephone operators, unrelenting amateurs, queers, dykes, gender troublemakers, and feminists who have given their spare time to movements bigger than themselves. I have been given the gift of their hours, energy, and commitment to building more homely worlds out of informa- tion. I am especially grateful to the activists who took the time to speak with me about their work, some of whom I cannot name here, and some of whom I can: Anthony Cocciolo, Rachel Corbman, Deb Edel, Beth Haskell, Erin Horanzy, Ronika McClain, Teddy Minucci, Colette Denali Montoya- Sloan, Clare Potter, Kaileigh Salstrand, Saskia Scheffer, and Maxine Wolfe. This book started as a dissertation in the Communication and Culture Program at York University. I am grateful for support from my supervisor Susan Driver and committee members Kate Eichhorn and Bobby Noble. Al- lyson Mitchell and Victoria Hesford brought new energy at the defense stage. Kate and Vicky each took the time to map out for me in writing, how this proj ect could become a book that other people might want to read when I could not see the bigger picture (an incredible gift to give a new PhD). A handful of friends and colleagues read portions of the manuscript in pro gress over the years, and their words and thoughts are very pre- sent in these pages: Rachel Corbman, Jack Gieseking, Jessica Lapp, Dylan Mulvin, and Lisa Sloniowski. Rachel has read every draft without hesita- tion, and I know I’m not the only one in our tiny field who has benefited from her intellect, willingness to help others, and encyclopedic knowledge of lesbian history (even the gossipy parts). Dylan and I met fifteen years ago for reasons that had nothing to do with academia, and he has since become my most impor tant collaborator, editor, idea guy, cheerleader, and friend. Some of this work benefited from editing in preparation for other publi- cations. I thank Daniel Marshall, Zeb Tortorici, and Kevin Murphy, editors of the 2015 Radical History Review issue on Queer Archives. MC MacPhee and Andrea Zeffiro at No More Potlucks stewarded the publication of parts of chapter 3, and Carrie Rentschler and Samantha Thrift gave generative notes on chapter
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