Queer Zine Archive Project Explained

Queer Zine Archive Project
Coordinates:43.0719°N -87.9018°W
Established:November 2003
Location:Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Type:Archive, history museum
Website:qzap.org

The Queer Zine Archive Project (QZAP) is a Milwaukee-based community archive dedicated to preserving queer zines and queer zine culture. Part of the archive's mission is to make the collection accessible through digitizing these zines and making them publicly accessible in an online format. The archive has received zine donations from across the world.[1] QZAP has been noted by University of Milwaukie professor Joyce Latham as a powerful "response of the queer community to the history, and practice, of marginalization and disregard."[2]

QZAP was founded in November 2003 by Milo Miller and Chris Wilde. It has since maintained a physical collection in Milwaukee and a free online archive of digitized zines.[1] [3]

Collections

QZAP began when its founders digitized their personal collection of roughly 350 queer-punk zines and put them in an online database. Through donations, the collection has (as of July 2018) grown to over 2,500 zines, nearly 600 of which have been digitized and are freely accessible online. The physical collection is stored in filing cabinets in the founders' Milwaukee home.[1]

Digitized items from the QZAP collection also form part of the Zines collection at the Digital Transgender Archive.[4] Miller and Wilde have explained that they digitize zines to further diversify queer stories, stating that they want to make more public "stories aren’t being told in other ways."[5]

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Seyler . Lainey . The largest independent LGBTQ zine collection is stored in a Riverwest basement, and you can see some of it online . Journal Sentinel . jsonline.com . 7 February 2019 . 23 March 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190323020918/https://www.jsonline.com/story/entertainment/2018/07/09/there-2-500-queer-punk-zines-riverwest-basement/755636002/ . live .
  2. Web site: Latham. Joyce M.. 2017. Queered collecting: Supporting the personal within the communal: A case study of QZAP (Queer Zines Archive Project, Milwaukee, WI). en. 2020-12-06. 2020-12-02. https://web.archive.org/web/20201202184652/http://library.ifla.org/2441/. live.
  3. Web site: Hastings. Dorothy. 2020-07-07. In zines, LGBTQ creators find a place to tell their own stories. 2020-08-28. PBS NewsHour. en-us. 2020-08-28. https://web.archive.org/web/20200828043541/https://www.pbs.org/newshour/arts/in-zines-lgbtq-creators-find-a-place-to-tell-their-own-stories. live.
  4. Web site: Zines – Digital Transgender Archive. 2020-08-28. www.digitaltransgenderarchive.net. 2020-08-04. https://web.archive.org/web/20200804140851/https://www.digitaltransgenderarchive.net/col/0g354f345. live.
  5. Web site: Figa. Alenka. 2019-07-25. Our Queer Older Siblings Will Guide Us: An Interview with the Queer Zine Archive Project. Women Write About Comics. 2020-12-06. 2020-11-29. https://web.archive.org/web/20201129173341/https://womenwriteaboutcomics.com/2019/07/qzap-interview/. live.