Interested in local history? Curious to explore new and old books alike? Wanting to dive into social, political and environmental topics of the past and present? Looking for a chance to have dynamic conversations with like-minded locals? Then The Stories of Canmore Book Club is for you!
September 16 to 19 is the inaugural Canmore Pride Week. As Senior Curator and also co-chair of the new Canmore Pride Society, the museum’s own Ron Ulrich will help kick off the Canmore Pride Festival with a discussion centered on the history of the LGBTQ2S+ community in the Bow Valley and southern Alberta.
While the Canmore Pride Society is making history with Canmore’s first Pride event this year, the visibility of the LGBTQ2S+ community has steadily increased with successive generations. Ulrich will explore the Two-Spirit culture of the Stoney Nakoda and some of southern Albert’as early queer pioneers, including participants in the signing of Treaty 7. He will also explore how, from the 1940s onward, the small-town nature of communities such as Canmore forced many who were queer to travel to Calgary to find community, making the story of Calgary’s queer community also the story of Canmore’s queer community. Ulrich will also highlight the history of Pride and pride activism in Canmore and the Bow Valley since the 1980s.
In his presentation, Ulrich will incorporate stories from the book Our Past Matters: Stories of Gay Calgary, the only history book highlighting the stories of the LGBTQ2S+ community of southern Alberta. In his book, author and activist Kevin Allen walks the reader through the back alleys and underground gathering spaces familiar to the early gay community of Calgary and southern Alberta. Meet the characters, martyrs and heroes who helped forge the LGBTQ2S+ human rights we enjoy today. Allen reveals: “We were here, and we always have been.”
The Museum will be taking orders for the print copy of the book for October, but participants can order digital copies through Amazon online.
Watch the Glenbow Museum’s video interview with Kevin Allen as part of Glenbow Museum From Home series. Kevin Allen is the founder of the Gay History Project, an ongoing initiative to document the lived history of Calgary’s LGBTQ2+ community. He is also a fourth-generation Calgarian, the first historian-in-residence at Calgary’s Central Public Library and the author of Our Past Matters: Stories of Gay Calgary. Today, two days before the 51st anniversary of the Stonewall riots, which are now commemorated annually with Pride festivals around the world, Kevin helps us explore our city’s little known LGBTQ2+ history. In this conversation Kevin shares his journey to becoming a historian, highlights the importance of community gathering places like the legendary Club Carousel, reveals the nuances of language and tells a story that proves Calgary’s gay history goes all the way back to the signing of Treaty 7. You can find out more about the Gay History Project here https://calgarygayhistory.ca
