How often do you get to meet someone with the title of Historian in Residence?  Yes, it’s a real thing – in fact, it is Kevin Allen’s role at Calgary Outlink.  Calgary 2012, a foundation that helps to sustain Calgary art and culture, is currently funding him as Allen is, to put it lightly, interested in Queer Culture – specifically the history of it here in Calgary.

"I had to find a host site [for the project funding]. Outlink has been an important support organization for our community, [and] they’ve been providing services right back to the ‘70s."

Funny enough, Calgary Outlink is also a subject of his research. He notes that they were previously called The Gay Information Resource Centre (GIRC), and then became The Gay and Lesbian Community Services Association (GLCSA).  Some of this he knows from personal experience, "I was a phone line volunteer back in the ‘90s."

He expands: "The project really has two arms. One is that I’m doing a bunch of historical research, looking for primary sources like newspaper articles, programs, documents, that confirm the presence of the queer community in the 50s and 60s in Calgary. The other part is an oral history project, where I’m going to be interviewing queer seniors and getting their recollections on digital audio recordings so they can be preserved.

"This is a project I’ve wanted to do for a long time, and writing the grant application coalesced my idea. Now that I’ve applied for it and received public funding for it, I feel responsible to get it done [in a reasonable time frame]."

To that end, he has set up a website: CalgaryQueerHistory.ca and CalgaryGayHistory.ca will both take you to the same blog. That’s where he will be uploading his findings and audio clips as the project progresses, culminating in a public presentation at the Old Y Centre in February of 2013. Details of that will, of course, be on the site as well.

"Queer’s a word I use to describe the community, but not one that everyone likes," he explains, of his naming choice.

So ultimately the archived information will be digitally stored for online access, though he suggests he’ll see if the Glenbow Museum is interested in archiving the physical audio recordings for historical purposes.

The website’s states: "Calgary is a relatively young city, which from the 1950s on has become a key metropolitan centre and regional powerhouse. Throughout the exponential population growth over the next 60 years, the city’s gay community has existed as a distinct undercurrent.

However, ...Calgary was a late bloomer when it came to having a politically active gay community. Calgary’s gay community historically did not have a similar profile when compared to other Canadian cities.  Hence the impetus for this research project."

It also reiterates for us that Kevin "is the Executive Director of the Alberta Media Arts Alliance and an amateur historian, with a strong interest in local audio/visual heritage."

To broaden this profile, he tells GayCalgary Magazine that this different time, this space within which individuals really had to stand up and demand respect, really fascinates him. As we discuss, the modern concept of a ‘gay man’, let alone any of the other rainbow spectrum modalities, certainly did not exist in the public perception fifty or sixty years ago. "A man may make love to another man, but it wasn’t a concept like the way we think of it today." And of course, this would make a communal sharing extremely difficult, and probably fractured. But he wants to know what people from that time frame experienced to get a real viewpoint.

"And, of course, many people didn’t come out until later in life," which changes their experience as well.

As of ride Week, Kevin continues to be Historian in Residence at Calgary Outlink: Centre for Gender & Sexual Diversity in the Old Y Centre, conducting research and receiving interested members of the community.  Contact him to book an appointment or for more information.