Gender* in the Archives

Collection

Identifier: BC16-04

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Collection Scope and Content Summary

This collection includes the audio recordings and transcriptions of four interviews, transcripts of four written interviews, one digital and two physical copies of the zine made in conjunction with this project, a methodological introduction featured in Movement Lab installation, and a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) recommendations document. All materials are in English. It was donated by Carson Stachura and Adam Johnson in 2022 after the event was held in the Milstein Center on Barnard’s campus from October 3-7, 2022.

Dates

Creation: 2022

Creator

Stachura, Carson (Person)
Johnson, Adam (Person)
Cantrell, Reed (Interviewee, Person)
Weiss, Noa Rui-Piin (Interviewee, Person)
Sissoko, Mariame (Interviewee, Person)
Elliott, Rosie (Interviewee, Person)
Berkowitz, Grey (Interviewee, Person)
Madden, J (Interviewee, Person)

Access

Carson Stachura's written interview may not be made available online. Otherwise, this collection has no access restrictions.

Reproduction Restrictions

This collection may not be used in trainings for Barnard or Columbia staff, students, alums, faculty, administration, or board of trustees, or within any promotional materials for Barnard or Columbia (for example, admissions recruitment materials). Any members of the Barnard or Columbia administration, faculty, staff, or boards wishing to reproduce materials from this collection must request permission from the Barnard Archives. Otherwise, permission was granted by all participants to be included and accessible in this archive.

Publication Rights

Permission to publish material from the collection must be requested from the Barnard Archives and Special Collections. The Barnard Archives and Special Collections approves permission to publish that which it physically owns; the responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the patron.

Historical Background

Carson Stachura (they/them, class of 2023) and Adam Johnson (they/them, class of 2025) collaboratively created this project as part of a Barnard Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Council funded 2022 summer research fellowship in the Barnard Archives.

The project involved collecting oral histories and written responses from trans and nonbinary Barnard students and recent graduates. Interview topics ranged from navigating the College as a queer and/or lesbian student, organizing on campus, feelings of community, and experiencing queer joy at Barnard.

Stachura and Johnson then used this material to create an installation in the Movement Lab of the Milstein Center; they wanted to ensure that this project included a physical space for the convergence of Barnard’s trans/nonbinary community. Additionally, they produced a zine which further details their critique of Barnard’s exclusionary admissions policy as it relates to policing the gender of trans and nonbinary students. They position this project as an archival intervention in accurately documenting trans histories and experiences at Barnard.

As they write in the zine, this exhibition is “a multimedia installation that centers trans voices with a goal of highlighting identity, community, endurance, and joy. As we have collected accounts from a handful of alumni and current students, we also acknowledge the weight of the past, present, and future of queer and trans experiences at Barnard that have evaded the archives and will continue to do so. The nuances of this archival absence can be found by way of executioner and intent. The choice to withhold one’s narrative from documentation at Barnard as an act of refusal differs immeasurably from Barnard acting to exclude trans stories.”

Stachura and Johnson explicitly undertook this project to fill the archival silences and gaps regarding trans students at Barnard and the lack of nuanced representation in the College’s Archives. This collection seeks to disrupt the violence of improper archival representation and actively works to ensure trans people are able to engage with transnesses in a celebratory way within Barnard’s archives.

Extent

.01 Linear Feet (1 folder)

.8 Gigabytes

Language

English

Additional Description

Abstract

This collection contains oral histories collected from trans and nonbinary Barnard students and alums in an effort to fill archival gaps of trans representation within Barnard's archives. The collection also includes a zine made to accompany an exhibition associated with this project, as well as supplemental materials.

Collection Arrangement

Series 1, Written and Oral Histories, 2022

Series 2, Supplemental Materials, 2022

Physical Location

This collection is located in the Barnard Archives and Special Collections, Barnard Library. To use this collection, please contact the Barnard Archives and Special Collections at 212.854.4079 or archives@barnard.edu.

Acquisition Information

Donated by Stachura and Johnson in 2022. From the inception of this project, Carson Stachura and Adam Johnson had the intention of donating this collection to the Archives.

Accurals

No accruals are expected.

Processing History

This collection was processed and the finding aid written by Mia Ciallella in November 2022. Descriptive Rules Used: Finding aid adheres to that prescribed by Describing Archives: A Content Standard. Finding aid written in English.