The Irish Queer Archives and Reference Library contains the most comprehensive collection of material in Ireland relating to homosexuality and general queer studies.
There are over a quarter million press cuttings from 1971 onwards, a library of over 250 international titles (the earliest date from 1951), a complete set of every every lesbian/gay title published since 1974 on the island of Ireland, and a fascinating collection of audiovisual material, photographs and slides, flyers, posters, badges and other ephemera.
The Archives gladly welcomes donations of material. As we are a voluntary, non profit making body we also depend on your financial generosity. All donations, no matter how small, accepted.
This group is currently negotiating a transfer of IQA to the National Library of Ireland in what many regard as a highly significant and historical arrangement due for probable completion early in 2007.
topThe good news is that the IQA (the Irish lesbian and gay archive) has finally
found a new home after a year or so of intensive searching and is now located in
Dun Laoghaire. Thanks to the goodwill of a Friend of the IQA, a beautiful new
office is being rented and the rich and varied holding of the archive taken out
of storage and prepared for display and public access.
The archive contains the most comprehensive collection of material relating to
homosexuality in Ireland and is a valuable community resource representing our
collective queer history. It has over a quarter of a million press cuttings, a
library of over 300 international titles, a complete set of every lesbian/gay
title published since 1974 on the island of Ireland and a fascinating collection
of audio-visual material, photographs, flyers, posters and badges.
IQA is at present under the management of the National Lesbian and Gay
Federation and to make the archive assessable to all, a group of interested
archivists, librarians, academics and researchers has formed a committee to
prepare the materials for vital preservation and cataloguing. It is hoped that
the IQA can be opened to the public sometime in 2004 and that the new premises
in Dun Laoighaire can open its doors later this year to visitors and friends
from the queer community and beyond. Over the past three years, the archive has
been maintained by the generosity of the Friends of the IQA and by grants from
the Heritage Council.
However, the IQA has no statutory funding and depends on goodwill and on
donations and fund raising within the community to pay the rent, to maintain the
collection and to facilitate the cataloguing and the exhibitions. After rent and
rates IQA, like any significant archive and library, has a voracious appetite
for storage and archival materials. For example, to bind the entire print-run of
a leading UK publication like Gay News/Gay Times will cost in the region €2,000.
A similar job on Ireland's GCN costs about half that figure. Even with volunteer
labour planning, designing and expediting an event such as last year's
incredibly successful "Pride & Protest" exhibition at Dublin's OUThouse costs
just over €2,000. To ensure its future, a scheme has been set up by which tax
deductible donations can be made to the IQA, a registered charity and you can
become a friend of the IQA and help preserve our history right into the 21st
century.
Eibhear Walsh / Tonie Walsh - May 2004