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Pretty Policeman, Multiple Paradox Net Files,

These are some of,

The Little Darlings, It's Great to Be Gay, Our favourite episode titles, Right on Sister, Please Be Gentle,

From all 3 seasons of The Logbooks,

You Might Well Be Very Angry,

So we've printed them on a t-shirt and a poster,

Crash Pad Needed, Kiss My Rump,

And our limited stock is for sale

at thelogbooks.org. Interested and willing?

With profits going to Switchboard.

Thank you for being here.

So take a look at thelogbooks.org. Hello and welcome to Nothing Concrete, the Barbican podcast here to help inspire more people to discover and love the arts.

With us, your surprise guest hosts for this episode. My name is Adam Smith and my pronouns are he him.

And I'm Tash Walker and my pronouns are she they.

And why us? Why are we taking over Nothing Concrete for this episode? Well it's because Tash and I host another podcast called The Logbooks.

Which is all about untold stories from Britain's LGBTQ plus history and conversations about being queer today.

And today we're outside the Barbican at the entrance at Lakeside looking up at the iconic concrete building that is the Barbican.

Which is celebrating 40 years this year with some special exhibitions including 1 that's on at the Curve Gallery. So let's pop inside.

Okay, let's go in. Wow, there's loads of people milling around today. People are always coming to the Barbican for exhibitions and shows.

Such a familiar space.

And then right ahead of us, we can see the Curve Gallery because they're preparing this special exhibition.

Yeah, so let's go take a look.

So from the 28th of February to the 20th of March, the Bishopsgate Institute is staging a takeover of this space, the Curve Gallery.

That's right, they're putting in an archive, installation of objects, ephemera and media highlighting 40 moments and stories in London's LGBTQ plus history.

And the exhibition is called Out and About Archiving LGBTQ plus history at Bishopsgate Institute.

We know how important the Bishopsgate Institute's collection is because we spent 3 years making our podcast, The Log Books, using 1 of the collections there.

So the Barbican has asked me and Tash to visit Steph Dickers, the archivist at Bishopsgate Institute, because he's choosing and preparing the items to move here.

So if you can't make it to the exhibition, this podcast episode will open it up for you.

Let's go to Bishopsgate and meet Steph.

Here we are. Back to good old Bishop's Gate. Feels like home, doesn't it?

Yeah, and I love this big golden sun that they have above the big giant doorway. Let's go in.

Okay, let's go. I just love this building so much. The green tiled hallways, all of these amazing pictures that you have on the walls. They're these historical pictures that can be found in the archive that they've sort of blown up and imprinted on the wall. It literally feels like you're going back into history as you walk through this corridor, this long winding corridor to get to the place that

we want to get to, which is? Yeah, the archive in

the library in Bishopsgate. Some of these pictures are great. There's like a netball team.

Glad to be gay.

There's a picture of a protest where someone's got a sign saying glad to be gay. There's a picture of amazing icons like Bernie Grant from London's history and pictures of LGBTQ ephemera on the walls just above the green tiles. It's a very old Victorian building isn't it? I think it's Victorian. Steph will tell us when we find him.

So here we go into

the archive. We have to be quiet.

I can just see loads and loads of boxes ahead of me and drawers, Drawers and drawers. So we are in a room which is lined on all 4 sides with glass and wooden cabinets filled with books and papers, magazines, and those kinds of things. And then it's got these-

stacks and stacks and stacks of these archival shelves which I've only ever seen downstairs in the basement. This is the first room I've been into at Bishop's Gate where they're actually in the room and they're as high as the ceiling which is probably about 3 times me.

I think yeah if I stood on your head.

Yeah and then maybe if Steph stood on yours.

Maybe we'd reach the top.

Speak of the devil.

Oh no Bob. Speak of the devil.

Steph it's so good to see you as always. How are you doing?

Very good Tash, how are you?

Yeah I'm not bad, I love being at Bishop's Gate. Could you just explain what Bishop's Gate Institute is?

Yeah of course, it's Bishop's Gate Institute, it's a cultural centre. It's been here since 1895. Pretty much doing the same thing. So adult education classes, events, and obviously the wonderful special collections and archives we hold here.

We've only used the logbooks here from Switchboard, Tash and I, and obviously other items in the Switchboard archive, but you have a lot more LGBTQ plus collection than that, right?

We certainly do. I mean It's been a quick 10 years and we've amassed a huge amount of material in 10 years. Archives are most of the major organisations that have been involved with LGBTQ+, politics and culture, but also lots of other stuff as well. So we archive in a slightly different way, as in we will take anyone who wants to deposit something about their own queer history, they're welcome to come and donate the stuff here. So yeah, part of this and part of doing everything I do is try and encourage people to bring in their treasures or what my colleagues sometimes say, their old junk.

Which is why it's so amazing at Bishopsgate that you're collecting not only our LGBTQ plus histories, but people's actual histories, the stories of people who've lived through those times, as well as the organisations and the bigger activist movements. And there is so much here and you're doing this fantastic exhibition at the Barbican but we haven't unfortunately got all day to sit here and go through that exhibition so can you pull us out some of your favourite items from it?

Oh definitely well it was very hard to pick 40 items which is what the exhibition is going to be. I mean we could have filled the Curve Gallery several times over but I can definitely show you some of the highlights, 10 of the best things that I picked out for the exhibition.

Okay, what's first? Tash, what have you got?

Oh my God, 1 of my favourite things that belongs in this archive. I spent years in this archive and I always go back to the badges. What we've got here is not only the badges, but Pride badges from

1982.

Is that right, Seth? And we've got an array. I've got 1994. We've got Lesbian and Gay Pride, 69 to 89, Pride 1919, they're all so colourful. You've got triangles everywhere, pink triangles, explosion signs, so much colour.

It's amazing to see them all and of course to see them all here as 1 collection.

Oh it's amazing, we get donated badges all the time, we love badges obviously they're amazing and very colourful and people come in, it's amazing because they have their own stories behind them as well, people keep badges from the prides they went to. Very much a symbol of pride as well to be worn afterwards. And what I really love is badges making a bit of a comeback. So we're getting new badges coming in as well, which is great. Cause it's a bit lull in the early 2000s, but now people are like, badges, we want more badges.

So lots more coming in.

I love that the evolution of the archive continuing as the collection keeps growing. But of course, badges are really important within the LGBTQ plus communities historically as well, because they were often a sign or a symbol that only people from within that community would acknowledge or recognise. So you could see who was part of your community by the badges that you wore. And of course that sometimes turned against people by them being excluded if they were wearing certain badges.

Definitely, definitely. They have a sense of pride in themselves to be worn. And when you look at the pictures of the pride as well, from the pride that the badge is from, everyone is wearing a badge that they can wear home and go, this is me, I've been on pride. I feel top of the world, I've been, even though people from my community. So they're essential part of the archive that we have here.

And we just love receiving badges from people. So if anyone's got any, do bring them in.

Yeah, I love that. And I've got a badge on today actually, which is from a previous Barbican exhibition and it says queering masculinity. So here we are, badges in

2022.

Okay, let's have a look at what we've got next. Well, we've got a switchboard logbook. Steph, show us this 1. I mean, I recognize this.

You probably do recognize this.

Can you describe it for us?

So we have a beautiful, well, I would say beautiful, red exercise book.

You say beautiful, it's actually very tatty and broken.

No, no, as an archivist this is beauty for me. Full of different people's handwriting, obviously recording the calls that came in to switchboard. We've log book written in large letters on the front, just in case anyone mistakes it for the telephone book, I don't know. But yeah, full of things stuck into the pages, little notes, all sorts of different messages and stuff, an ephemera as well from different organisation maps.

Why did you choose this particular logbook to go into the exhibition at the Barbican?

This is from 87 and this is the sort of period obviously when HIV AIDS was at the real crisis point and obviously 1 of the most amazing things about Switchboard was the work it did in supporting the community during this period but also seeing through the logbooks as well this amazing record of LGBTQ plus history but how Switchboard became armed and informed about HIV as well So it could offer advice to people who were calling up, scared, worried, not knowing what to do. And this logbook really exemplifies that and shows that experience through. So, I mean, it's a really powerful moving document.

It's just incredible to look through that and I've lucky enough to have seen this before and Tash we obviously made our podcast about this the logbooks but it's just still every time I see it and you open it and you see all these different volunteers handwriting And you know that every single entry reflects a different call that was made to switchboard of someone asking for help or support. And you realize, wow, these are all the voices and all of the stories from our history. And it's not that long a time ago. Like you said, this is from 1987. And it's just such an important piece of our history about this is how the community asked and this is how the community answered really.

I mean we're so privileged to have them here I mean every time I do tours all the time around the Institute and the collections and every time I talk about Switchboard someone has a story, either they volunteered on Switchboard or they called Switchboard at a moment where they needed to talk to someone and it's always amazing and amazing how much Switchboard touched people's lives and helped people through tough times. So you know it's an archive that always attracts a lot of love when I talk about it on the tours here.

And of course an organisation that's still here today which is amazing to look back in its history. So what's next? Oh my gosh I think I know what this is. Steph, hand it over.

The infamous, let's take it out of its protective archival packaging, obviously. This is the infamous Jenny Lives With Eric and Martin book by Suzanne Bosch, I think I've got that right. Yeah. Published by Gay Men's Press in the 80s. But basically a picture book full of, well some quite scary pictures of Jenny to be honest.

So effectively this is a story about Jenny who lives with her dad and his boyfriend. And am I right that it was in Haringey, in a library in Haringey, where this was held that people could actually check it out? The book is basically black and white pictures, really lovely black and white pictures actually of Jenny with Eric and Martin, a family, having tea and breakfast in bed, going for a trip, smiling, laughing. The only thing that I can see when I look at these pictures is a kid being looked after by its parents, which of course is a really shocking thing to see.

Well, also the bad hairdos on the guys.

And and the wonderful 80s outfits, which I kind of take a lot of my fashion from today.

Come back in. I think it's just its presence and the cover that terrified all these horrible Tories into reacting, but it caused such a fuss and lots and lots of press cuttings here about the furore from the tabloid media that this caused and the horror, but you know, you actually look at it now and it's, you know...

It's a kid's

book ultimately, isn't it? It's a kid's book, Yeah, which caused all the controversy in the schools where it was being sent out to schools in London and was probably 1 of the contributing factors to Thatcher's Section 28 later.

And just so we're clear, could you just explain briefly what section 28 is?

So section 28 which came into force in 1988 was the Conservative government passing legislation and a local government bill preventing the promotion of homosexuality as a normal family relationship in schools. And I can remember it being in force and the headmaster saying horrible things and thanking God that he didn't have to talk about homosexuality in class.

Yeah, of course, so it's 1988 to 2003. That's when it was repealed, which again, you know, we reflected just looking back at how recent some of this history was, but how long it took for that to be removed from legislation.

I mean, it is quite amazing, really, when you think that it lasted that long. But, uh...

It's mine and Adam's entire school education years.

Okay, next on the list, they look like some photo albums.

I think we used to have photo albums like

that when I was growing up.

I think we all did.

We all did, like with the big spiral bound thing.

Maybe there's not as many semi-naked gentlemen in your family.

Oh no. There may have been.

These are an incredible and real treasure that we got. These were being disposed of by another museum. We got in contact and said, we've got these photo albums of a guy, we think he's gay, do you want them? Knowing the collections we take.

And knowing you, Steph.

Knowing me, knowing me. And of course, I was like, yes, yes, yes, straight away. And they came in and we did a lot of research about who it was. And we found out they were the photo albums of a gentleman called Russell Watkin, who lived from about 1930 to 2000s and was a gay guy, but was also international salesman for Lion's Ice Cream. Which meant he could go around the world having fun and sleeping with quite a lot of very attractive young gentlemen who he records quite actively in these photo albums.

So it's 1 of those old photo albums where you peel back the plastic and the page is like sticky so that you can stick down the photos and then put the plastic back on to protect it.

You can probably hear the squelching

of the spiral and the glue. But yeah these photos they look like these ones are from like I don't know they look like 70s to me like they've got that sort of color and style about them and yeah they're just like people having fun.

These are the ones from, obviously we had to do after 82 for the exhibition, but the albums go from 1930s when he was at school throughout his service in the war in India, right up to when he died in 2000. But these ones are, yeah, the 80s ones. But what I really loved is it's a life that wasn't, you know, the top-level grand narrative, but this is a document of someone living their life, having fun, that is the kind of history that we love here at Bishopsgate, which tells so many stories. And already people are like, these need to be published in a book, they're so good.

They are so good. There was a picture there of someone reading a Diana magazine, And then other ones of just people just in the pub having a laugh with a pint. Oh, these are holiday ones.

Well, it goes from, you know, holiday in Disneyland to, you know, Camp. To, and scenic tours to friends to then people semi-naked in bed. So it was obviously very Russell's personal books. These ones are described as threesomes, but not the kind of threesomes maybe we mean. I think this is family photos.

It's so lovely to see these, and this is something Adam and I talk about a lot that so often when we look back in LGBTQ plus history, like you mentioned Steph, you just see the activists, you see the protests. And what we're looking at here is a picture of a man who is having sex and in love with other men and just living what you know, quote unquote, normal life. And actually it's so rare to see these kinds of pictures it's quite amazing looking at them.

What does that caption say?

Who was who?

He's just kissing guys in these pictures.

So good.

Woke up in the morning and went, I haven't got a clue.

Wait, is this your photo album, Adam? Ah.

LAUGHTER But once again, 80s fashion at the forefront there. Oh, yeah.

OK. So,

I think, Steph, did you say you've got a conference flyer that you wanted to show us.

We have, yes, let me reach down and grab it. This is the conference flyer from the first National Black Gay Men's Conference in This Our Lives from 1987. And obviously it's quite a significant moment that the black queer community men felt empowered to organise their own conference and discuss issues that they felt were relevant to them. There have been groups before but this is now going down as quite a legendary moment and you can see on the back it's got here all the the events that were taking place, stuff about safe sex, mental health, black and gay and lesbian history.

This is amazing. So we've got the introduction in the day, we've got speakers from the Black Lesbian and Gay Centre Project, Haringay Black Action, the Lesbian and Gay Black Group, but also we've got workshops around coming out fears and prejudices within the black community, black and lesbian and gay history. This is in

1987.

It's so fascinating looking at this now and thinking about what's happened over the last couple of years in relation to the Black Lives Matter movement.

Definitely, definitely. I mean, it's like a powerful thing. And we come across people who went to this and said it was quite a critical moment in their their identity and becoming who they were and it just you can see it obviously gave a space for black gay men to come together in a space and sort of you know be with black gay men and talk about the things that were important to them at the time. And yeah, 87, once again, doesn't seem that long ago, but it's quite a long time ago now.

And when you look back at all of these things that we're looking at today, it's only natural, right, to see this thing from history, pause and then think about what's going on right now and how much hasn't changed since 1987, especially when we're looking at black people's experiences within the LGBTQ plus communities and how that's a really important and present conversation today. And here we are with a leaflet from a conference in 1987. So much can be learned from our history and that's why all these items in the archive are so incredible and this exhibition is going to really open up the doors to your archive.

Definitely, I mean Looking at it from an archival perspective as well, I'm always very aware of the gaps and the stories that aren't in the archives. It's a very white male history that most LGBTQ plus archives are. So as much as we can do to fill those gaps and talk about experiences of the whole community, we do our best too. And it's just a pleasure to show bits like this off of the collection for people to come in and realise that there was a black gay community organising and meeting up and creating spaces back then as well as there is now.

And lunch was only 1 pound

50.

It was. You can't get much more than sausage rolls

without that.

Absolute bargain.

I know there's another item that I think Adam's got, which also links into these parts of our communities that maybe haven't been spoken about so much historically and that's the Beaumont Society?

Yes. What's the Beaumont Society?

So the Beaumont Society is the oldest support group for transgender people and they were established back in

1966.

So a long, long time ago and we were, got to donate some amazing archive material from a woman who was very involved in them called Alice Pennell. And she donated, she was the secretary and chairman for a period, and donated papers, documents, photographs, and newsletters from this organization going right back to that period. And once again, this is a sort of area where we're playing catch up again, you know, in terms of recording trans experience, non-binary, gender variant experience. And it was amazing to have this record, which she had in her house. I mean, it was like a museum, it was amazing.

To be able to fill in that gap going back and tell those stories. Yeah, because a lot

of people think that transgender people are like a new thing or that non-binary is a new thing and that actually a lot of people I think would be surprised that there was an organization like the Beaumont Society supporting people in, when did you say,

1967? 66. 66.

Yeah, and they produced all this wonderful network of stuff. So they had newsletters that were going out and organized the first conference on gender dysphoria and stuff like this. A real amazing organisation. 1 that's now moved on and is very much an older generation support group now. But they gave us newsletters, some of which we've got here, some of their membership magazines, which talk about events that people could go to, advice for people, support lines, switchboard comes up regularly in there.

So which from all of the Beaumont Society collections, what is this that you're putting into the exhibition?

Well, there was so much, I mean, once again, there was so much in the collection we could have fit in, but we chose 3 magazines, membership magazines from periods over their time. So 1 from-

Are these 3?

These 3. So we've got the Beaumont Bon Motte, which is an earlier 1, and then the Beaumont Society Magazine from 2000 and 2009. Oh

yeah, look at that.

So it's, yeah, and it's 1 that you can see exactly what it would have been like to be a member of the Bi-Monthly Society in those periods.

Okay, right, let's keep moving. What is next?

Oh, I can see we've got some more magazines over here, Steph. What, is this BiFrost? Is that what that's called?

It's BiFrost, yes. We've got BiFrost, Bi-Community News, and BiMonthly. And these are just- BiMonthly. BiMonthly. BiMonthly.

These are just free magazines because increasingly we're getting lots more stuff about the bisexual plus community coming, which is very important as well. Once again another area of the community that has been neglected in archival collecting. So these are just a couple of magazines, very colourful magazines, slightly smaller from different periods, that were used by the bi community to meet up and discuss stuff. And some still go in now, some not go in now, but it gives you a view of what it was like to be bisexual plus at that period. So we thought that was important.

But once again, lots more stuff coming in now. But definitely a more modern history coming in. I think you know, we don't see a lot of very older biomaterial, which is a shame. So if anyone's got stuff, do let us know.

Yeah, definitely. I think there's a lot we are really aware a lot more now than ever about bi erasure Historically and also how present biphobia has been and still is today much like things with transphobia and also racism So it's really important to look back in the history of the wider LGBTQ plus archives and pinpoint the bisexual ephemera, you know, the different transgender experience and the black person's experience here as well today. But there is still so much that isn't in the archive. And so, you know, like you said, if people have it, let's bring it, let's get it included, let's get it shown, let's share these stories that have been hidden, really, hidden from within our communities as well as outside.

Well, this is 1 of the main reasons why we collect as we do, because I was aware, you know, that there were so many gaps in the stories that we got here. And rather than explicitly trying to go out and fill these gaps, what we create is a space where everyone's history is important. You know, whether you're bi or trans, whatever. Your history here is valued, it's celebrated. It'll be here inspiring others for generations to come.

Plus you don't have to give it away. You can just loan it to us and it can sit here. You know, if you need to downsize your house, we're more than welcome to do house clearance as well. But it's important that these stories come in. And I think that's the way to do that by knowing that, you know, all of our histories are worth celebrating and recording.

We are surrounded by boxes and racks and cases. Are you sure you've got space for all of these

amazing items? Oh yes, well

I'm not taking

you down to the basement dungeons, Adam, yet, but I will at some point. But we have lots and lots of rooms with those rolly stacks in, all environmentally controlled, very secure. So everything will last forever and be held here with loving care for posterity, don't worry.

What have you found the most challenging thing about building an LGBTQ plus archive? Is it that about finding those items from the not so represented areas of history?

It is that, it is that. And the disappointment, obviously, when people come in and want to research that history and it not being available for me to go, here it is. Particularly we're talking about bisexual arrays, you know, people say, I want to research that. And you say, well, it's there, but you have to dig through and find it, you know, and then people do enjoy doing that. But I mean, the joy of managing to fill those gaps, part increasingly is very good, but You know, it is a challenge and I always start a tour, I do it with the apologies, you know, that if your story isn't talked about today, I do apologise, but you know, there's a lovely box waiting with your name on it to put you in, that's a bit creepy.

But you know what I mean. But you know, that is the joy of doing that and I learned so many lessons about what I wanted to do in terms of building the LGBTQ plus collections here from places I'd worked before in terms of what wasn't there, how it could be accessed, you know, to me this history should be available for anyone to walk in and experience and enjoy and be inspired by, not behind walls of academia or, so yeah, I just let anyone come in any point they want, but it's wonderful to see people come in and be inspired by the stuff, As well as, you know, upset, remember things that they thought they forgot. Wonderful guy came in the other day and went, I think I DJed at a club in the 90s, but I can't remember. I didn't ask what I could remember. I did, 12 times.

But wonderful things like this happen all the time and it's great to have that.

Okay, what's next that you're going to show us?

I think it's actually 1 of my t-shirts, Adam.

Oh really? Oh okay, it's a red t-shirt. Steph's just unfolding it now. What's written on it? Okay.

Oh, gay vegetarians. And it's, so it's a logo in a circle with gay vegetarians and a dove carrying a sheath of wheat, is that? And it's flying into the sun. Wow. Gorgeous t-shirt.

Wow. Yeah, this was brought in 1 day by a wonderful gentleman who came in and said, I've got some stuff, and sometimes when people do that, it can go either way. And out of the bag came this t-shirt, and I was like, oh my God, That's possibly 1 of the best things I've ever seen. And Gay Vegetarians were a group that exists, I can't find the pinpoint, the precise date, but it was sort of late 70s, early 80s, obviously with the vegetarianism becoming a lot more of a thing. It'd have to be gay vegans now, obviously, at least.

And he had this, he had the badge of the Gay Vegetarians, and the wonderful Gay Vegetarian Gazette, which I have copies of. Wow, do

you have 1? 0, look at that.

We have, I think it only went to 2 copies.

Okay, they only did 2 editions.

You can see here the gay vegetarians out in possibly Hyde Park or somewhere

So it's a little like a5 like tight like printed and copied leaflet with gosh, it's full of text on a typewriter. And on the front is a photograph of the gay vegetarians. They're just sitting there posing like a school photo.

This is great. I mean, obviously, some of it's quite serious, global economics, factory farming. But the article that starts 1 of them is my favorite, coming out as vegetarian, which offers advice of how to tell your family you're dabbling with vegetarianism when they don't know. So I mean, really like wonderful humorous stuff as well. But once again, it's like, you know, this is a small group of people who got together and just did this because they were committed to vegetarianism.

But to me, you know, it's 1 of my favourite items because it talks about not everyone's contribution was marching or political activism. Sometimes it was just providing a group where people could get together, have fun, and eat some hopefully nice vegetarian food. There are some recipes.

I love it. I absolutely love it.

What are the recipes for?

Oh, well, let's see if we can find them. Oh, here we go. Oh, this is the 1. 0, no, we've got a little slip of compliments of the vegetarian. That's coming out vegetarian.

Oh, no, it's not in these 2, unfortunately. But I shall send on the recipes later.

That article looks good, in search of sensual cookery. Might just have a read of

that 1. And you've got another item of clothing here.

Yes, yes, it's just over here.

Oh, it's like a sports jacket or something. Tell us what this is.

Well you can tell by my demeanour I'm not the most sporty person in the world.

Here we go.

It's a tracksuit, it looks like a tracksuit top

to me in blue and white and red.

So this is a training top from Stonewall FC, Stonewall Football Club, who is archivists just come to live with us at the Institute and they were the first gay football club in Britain, formed in

1991.

And they've just donated all of their ephemera, their papers, but a lot of t-shirts, kits, training outfits and stuff like this we can hear.

What do you reckon?

Fits you perfectly, Tash, actually.

Yeah, look at that. I love it.

It's really baggy on you, so, which is the fashion nowadays, and also in the early 90s.

Well, that's what I was thinking in the early 90s, yeah. But I mean, once again, I mean, we had a wonderful launch with a lot of the guys that had been involved in the founding of Stonewall FC. And I have to say it was 1 of the most political events I've ever seen, you know, with lots of stuff about very concentrated political activism. But you think the bravery it took to get on a football pitch as an openly gay team and play predominantly straight teams and some stories, you know, about can I go out and play and you know, the strength that they gave each other to go out and play? They said at the end, you know, we're probably the only football team that guarantees success by the fact that we don't exist anymore.

And they said we're succeeded when we don't have to exist. And you just think, oh my God. And obviously sports, an area where, you know, homophobia is still rife, people's sportsmen still too scared to come out. So the fact that they're around is quite a wonderful thing. And they've now got onto great things.

They played at Wembley and all over the place. And a lot more sports club stuff coming in here because I think it's about recording the whole experience of the community's life, not just the political activism and how stuff that doesn't explicitly seem political can be very, very political as well.

I think also it's really important because sometimes the LGBTQ plus communities historically represent themselves as being in pubs and clubs alone and there's a lot of alcohol and drugs involved on those scenes And of course that is where we exist, but we exist in other places and spaces too, like in sport, for example. So it's really lovely to see that being included as part of this archive too.

Yeah, so I think it's very, very important. 1 thing I was determined to do, so We have archives here of dancing, dance clubs, as I say, sports club, poetry clubs. And as people will see in the exhibition, we've got a projected gallery of, well, we called it Going Out, and it was very easy to fill that with pictures of people mashed up at clubs. But I have slipped in, you know, a particularly favourite photo of the North London Gay Bridge Club in full force. So you'll be able to come and see that at the exhibition tonight.

Are they mashed up as well?

1 looks like maybe the bridge has gone too far, maybe, I don't know.

It's so

good, and I know in the collection we've also got the Portchester Hall Drag Balls, and of course Ducky, which is still going today at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern in London, their scrapbooks, which is amazing. But bringing it right up to date for the last item that we're going to look at today. It comes from the Museum of Transology, a relatively new museum now housed in, well, the archive is here, but they did have a stint in Brighton, and there framed black trans life matter placards from the protests. Just amazing to have that as part of this collection?

Incredible. I mean the Museum of Transology is 1 of the most amazing collections we hold here, put together by curator E.J. Scott, determined that when trans, non-binary, gender variant people have been talked about, it was about them rather than by them, so it's a collection of items collected from the community and put into here and this is a collection that's still catalogued and being added to. So EJ went out with volunteers and collected a lot of these placards from the Black Trans Lives Matter protests which are here and will be on display in the exhibition, amazing colourful stuff, very powerful placards, a very important thing to keep about how our protests have been represented. But also how important it is to collect stuff that's taking place now, because these placards would have gone home, they would have sat on the floor and chucked out.

But you know, they're now here being preserved for people to come and see. So we're very conscious of collecting stuff that's taking place now, as well as stuff that might be deemed as history as it took place a while ago.

Yeah, I love the idea that the protests live on in the archive. I love that 1 over there, Black Trans Lives Matter. It's just so powerful.

Yeah, and it's great stuff. And things, you know, that really inspire when people come in and see these things, and the whole wall is going to be covered with them. It's going to be really powerful to see.

Steph, I have a question before we go. I want to know what is the weirdest thing that you've got in your LGBTQ plus collection?

Well, there's weird X rated weird and then there's normal weird. But so I don't know the part.

We want all of it.

Okay.

Normal weird is my Twitter bio.

Well, we do obviously, as it's Switchboard connected, we do have a double-ended dildo. I thought after it had featured so largely in the logbooks, I had to have 1 in the collection. So 1 has now been amassed. I won't tell you where from.

You know what 1 of my favourite items is, it's the recreation of the Last Supper, maybe you could tell us a bit about that?

Yes, yes, so we also have the UK Leather Archive here so a lot of the records of the leather clubs and particularly leather men and yeah we've got a rather large picture which is a recreation of The Last Supper, put together by Manchester Leathermen to celebrate their president leaving. They thought we won't buy a cake and a gold watch, we'll recreate The Last Supper as you do. But 1 of the conditions of it coming here was it had to be displayed. So it's now in our grade 2 Victorian listed library a huge about a meter plus long picture of the Last Supper in the hardcore leather.

Amazing. It's

quite hard to explain to family historians but I'll get round it.

Steph it's just, you know I love spending time here it's been absolutely amazing to be here with you today looking through some of the amazing items that are going to be part of the Barbican exhibition thank you so much.

Yes thank you so much we can't wait to see them all in full glory at the Barbican.

Oh you will I must mention 1 more thing though. Do look out. There'll be a rather interesting puppet on

display Wow, okay

Yes, I'm not saying anymore just look out for it. It'll definitely catch your eye if it doesn't take your eye out

It's as dangerous. Right? Well, thank you so much. We'll see you soon.

Yeah, take care. Bye. Bye.

Tash, that was great, spending time with Steph and

looking through all those items before he puts them in the exhibition.

Oh yeah, it was so great. I love being in the archive and it's just it's just fantastic to be able to look at every single item and have that wonderful explanation from Steph who knows so much about our LGBTQ plus history.

That's right and well all of these items and more are going to be in this Barbican exhibition, Out and About, archiving LGBTQ plus history at Bishopsgate Institute.

Yeah, and don't forget it's free, which is amazing. And it runs from the 28th of February to the 20th of March.

And it's part of the Barbican's 40th birthday celebrations, the main weekend of which is going to be on the 5th and the 6th of March, so there we go.

Yeah I can't wait, oh how do I realise I'm still wearing the jacket?

You better give that back, they need it in the exhibition. Thanks for listening to this special takeover episode of Nothing Concrete from here at the Barbican in London with me, Adam Smith.

And me, Tash Walker, host of the Logbooks podcast. Subscribe to Nothing Concrete on ACAR, Spotify, or wherever you find your podcasts.

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