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www.historyscotland.com Turning out to make history OurStory Scotland James Valentine introduces OurStory Scotland, a unique archive which aims to portray the lives of those people often regarded as marginal by mainstream society Part 1: Turning the tables belonging. Having looked at the the life stories and memorabilia of It was about time. Three things way marginalised characters were the LGBT community, and there were necessary for the archive to portrayed in media representations was a positive response. This gave be conceived: national absence, and discriminatory discourse in the impetus to fi nd out whether community interest and personal Japan and other societies, I was similar archives already existed in frustration. Scotland had no archive eager to see how we could turn the Scotland and elsewhere in Britain, Above right: Display that brought together the life stories tables and tell our own stories in whether provision could be made for of badges for Open of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and our own words. This was a matter LGBT archives in local museums Museum exhibition at transgender (LGBT) community, of urgency. Older LGBT people or libraries and what advice and Gallery of Modern Art there was manifest interest in telling in Scotland had seen momentous support could be obtained from stories of our lives and I had studied changes in their lifetime, and this existing projects. with growing dissatisfaction the fi rst-hand experience would be lost Progress was reported at each representations of our lives by others. for all time unless recorded soon. meeting of Diverse Artists, but it How OurStory Scotland came into A further reason to ask about their was clear that the archive group, as being and turned out to make history lives, needs and aspirations, was it came to be called, was a project in is inevitably a story that involves the growing awareness amongst its own right. We had an inaugural Scotland, our community and a researchers at Stirling University meeting of this group in August number of individuals who happened and elsewhere that older people 2002 and decided to constitute to be in an amenable place at an might fi nd their LGBT support ourselves separately as a voluntary appropriate time. networks disrupted by residential association. The Steering Committee At the beginning of the new care, and that assumptions made was appointed in October, and in millennium I had been researching by social services could amount to December 2002 OurStory Scotland marginality for fi fteen years. (re)enforced heterosexuality. was formally established and the People regarded as marginal by Meanwhile in Glasgow, Diverse constitution was approved. Within the mainstream tend to lack the Artists were portraying LGBT lives another eighteen months we were resources to shape the wider and loves through art, poetry and recognised as a Scottish Charity. societal representation of their lives, music. At a meeting of Diverse From the outset our aims were especially in societies where there Artists at the end of 2001, I to collect, archive and present the is an emphasis on unambiguous suggested that we should archive life stories and experiences of the HISTORY SCOTLAND - JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012 HISTORY SCOTLAND - JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012 __________________ __________________ 30 31 p30 our story scotland.indd 30 7/12/11 11:56:25 Our Story Scotland LGBT community in Scotland in LGBT community. Their experience performances of stories generated their own words and images, since and enthusiasm encouraged us to through reminiscence. This inspired representations of our community continue, while the sight of the us to include performance and have tended to be stereotyped and labour-intensive work of archiving drama in our objectives for the discriminatory, constructed about news reports and publications, and representation of LGBT stories. us rather than by and for ourselves. the concomitant space requirements, On a subsequent visit to London I Our lives have often been hidden, confirmed us in the direction of oral met with Rob Perks, Curator of Oral maligned or silenced, our stories history and storytelling. History and Director of National neglected, distorted or suppressed. To At the same time as we were Life Stories, British Library Sound tell OurStory rather than a traduced starting up in Glasgow, with Archive, who generously gave version, we aimed to establish a pretensions to cover all of Scotland, hours of his time to help ensure we history from within our community. a similar project was starting up used valid and reliable oral history We could never have done this in Edinburgh that was later to be recording and archiving techniques, without the advice and support of called Remember When. It was a and suggested we use summaries those who had already been involved joint initiative between the City of with our digital recordings, rather in archiving neglected narratives Edinburgh Council and the Living than full transcriptions: the and were willing to reflect on their Memory Association, and it was able summaries are searchable and experience and turn it over to us. to draw on oral history and archiving indicate the place on the recording expertise from the outset. The to hear the original words. He also Turning over experience existence of this project focusing on encouraged us to write about our Even before we were formally Edinburgh was both a relief and a work in Oral History, the Journal of constituted, we sought advice resource for us, as it enabled us to the Oral History Society. from organisations in Glasgow, do two things: to focus initially on Other pioneers came to Scotland. Edinburgh, Brighton and London. Glasgow and the rest of Scotland, Penny Coleman visited Edinburgh at We did not want to reinvent the rather than take on the huge task of the invitation of Remember When, The Story Tree wheel, and we knew that we should collecting stories from the capital, and we were asked to give a talk allowed workshop seek the best guidance before and to call upon the expertise of about our project. Her pioneering participants to share we embarked on collecting and the Living Memory Association in work with ‘gender outlaws whose their tales with others archiving stories. The obvious place oral history, reminiscence work and to start was our own city, Glasgow, archiving. Thus began a fruitful and one of the most important cooperation that included joint archives: the Lesbian Archive and interviews in Edinburgh, learning Information Centre (LAIC). LAIC from each other’s exhibitions, and is at Glasgow Women’s Library and a jointly conceived celebration of contains the UK’s largest and most Edinburgh’s queer stories through significant collection of materials creative writing and drama. By the about lesbian lives, histories and time our parallel projects were well achievements. We arranged to meet underway in 2005, we shared the Sue John and Adele Patrick at Jackie Forster Award for Culture at Glasgow Women’s Library, where Pride Scotia. they showed us round the archive Back in our first year, however, and gave us tea, advice and support. we needed to look further afield. Their generosity was extraordinary. By summer 2002 we had local They might have resisted another support but wanted to talk to an archiving venture, or could have LGBT archiving project that had suggested removing at least the L several years of experience. This from LGBT, but instead there was was Brighton Ourstory. We visited a sense of full cooperation, that them and Linda generously gave we were involved in valuable work us five hours of her valuable time, in the same community, and that showing us their publications, you could never envisage there exhibition materials and archiving being too many people collecting techniques. We were so inspired by narratives of our lives as there their project that we borrowed the would always be untold stories ‘ourstory’ name to apply to own to tell. This was crucial backing, enterprise. Later the same year I as we would have abandoned the visited Age Exchange in Blackheath project if there had been the sense London to meet their innovative that we were encroaching or that Artistic Director, Pam Schweitzer, we should somehow divide up the and witness her direction of theatre HISTORY SCOTLAND - JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012 HISTORY SCOTLAND - JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012 __________________ __________________ 30 31 p30 our story scotland.indd 31 7/12/11 11:56:43 www.historyscotland.com publicly. For most people there involves concurrent collection is a contrastive balance between and representation bears a double being identified and being open. benefit of archiving pleasures: it Where it comes to a choice between brings immediate gratification that disclosure of identity and visibility persuades people to turn out and of narrative, we have favoured the tell their story and/or volunteer for latter, in which an individual adopts the drier work of administering a degree of anonymity in designation the collection; and it provides a that enables them to reveal variety of storytelling methods that extensively and securely. To reach stimulate and empower people who out to the wider LGBT community lack verbal confidence to narrate. and others, it is vital for stories to be Our verbal storytelling is not readily accessible ‘out there’. From confined to traditional forms. It the outset we turned the classic has ranged from one-liners on view of archiving inside out: we luggage labels attached to a story would start with an outer display of tree, through written episodes narratives kept inside, and archive that record a significant incident, both the stories presented and the skeletons that give the bare bones occasion of their presentation. of a life story, and more extensive So we started with an exhibition. autobiographical writings, to video Our very first event was called, diaries and the sustained oral history appropriately, Becoming Visible.

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