About us
The Transgender Archives is a part of the University of Victoria Libraries.
We believe that the history of pioneering Trans+ and other gender-diverse activists and the work they have done on behalf of their communities must be preserved. The Transgender Archives is actively acquiring documents, rare publications, and memorabilia of persons and organizations that have worked for the betterment of Trans+ people.
The Transgender Archives at the University of Victoria Libraries is open to the public, faculty, students, and scholars free of charge.
Aaron Devor, Founder & Subject Matter Expert
Dr Aaron Devor PhD, FSSSS, FSTLHE, holds The Chair in Transgender Studies at the University of Victoria, the only one of its kind in the world. He been studying and teaching about transgender topics for more than thirty years. He was one of the authors of versions 6 and 7 of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health's (WPATH) Standards of Care, and is now overseeing its translation into world languages.
He is the author of numerous well-cited scholarly articles, and the widely-acclaimed books Gender Blending: Confronting the Limits of Duality (1989), FTM: Female-to-Male Transsexuals in Society (1997, 2016), and 2015-Lambda-Literary-Awards-finalist The Transgender Archives: Foundations for the Future (2014). He has delivered lectures to audiences around the world, including more than 20 keynote and plenary addresses.
He is a national-award-winning teacher, an elected member of the International Academy of Sex Research, and an elected Fellow of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality. Dr. Devor, a trans man, is the Founder and Subject Matter Expert of the world's largest Transgender Archives, a former Dean of Graduate Studies (2002-2012), and a professor of sociology at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada.
Chair in Transgender Studies renewed for a second five-year term
The University of Victoria has approved a second five-years (2021-2025) for the Chair in Transgender Studies and reappointed Aaron Devor to the position. The initial five years were a time of building a first-in-the-world Chair from scratch. The next five years will be devoted to building on our strengths. The Chair, supported by an incredible team, will continue to build the field of Transgender Studies through research, publishing, teaching, mentoring, providing scholarships and fellowships, hosting visiting scholars, educating the public, advising policy makers, producing arts, cultural, and social events, and by organizing and hosting the Moving Trans History Forward conferences. One change that you will see is that, for internal bureaucratic reasons, the University Librarian has decided to retire the Chair’s title as Academic Director of the Transgender Archives. Rest assured, however, that nothing else has changed. Everyone on the Chair’s team will continue to do everything that we did before to make the Transgender Archives the incredible world-class resource that has made all of us proud. We look forward to serving you, growing with you, and enjoying your support over the next five years.
Lara Wilson
Lara Wilson is director of special collections and university archivist at the University of Victoria. Lara holds a master of arts degree (art history and visual studies) from UVic and a master of archival studies from the University of British Columbia. She is chairperson of the Canadian Council of Archives.
Michael Radmacher
Michael is a member of the queer community who originates from Treaty 4 territory in Saskatchewan. He relocated to UVic in 2009 to complete his MA in Political Science. In 2010 he completed his award-winning thesis and joined UVic Libraries where he began volunteering for the Transgender Archives. In 2016, Michael completed his Masters of Library and Information Science degree.
Michael now serves as the Adminstrative Officer to the Chair in Transgender Studies and works with the Transgender Archives.