8: Orla Egan: Cork LGBT Archive

21st September 2020

We talk to Orla Egan of the Cork LGBT Archive about how she developed the archive as a volunteer to the multi-format project it now encompasses; the histories and stories of the Cork LGBT community represented in the archive material; the challenges of a community archive project; and the value of community archives as activism.

In this episode we are joined by Orla Egan of the Cork LGBT Archive. Orla founded the project in 2015, and has developed it to now encompass a digital archive available at CorkLGBTArchive.com , which is also retained as part of both the Digital Repository of Ireland  and Europeana ; a physical archive now housed in the Cork City Council Public Museum; a book entitled Queer Republic of Cork ; and a number of exhibitions.

We talk to Orla about how she developed the archive as a volunteer with limited resources to the multi-format project it now encompasses; the histories and stories of the Cork LGBT community represented in the archive material; the challenges of a community archive project; and the value of community archives as activism.

These are the open projects and tools for archives mentioned by Orla:

• Omeka  - open source platform for digital collections
• Homosaurus  - an international LGBTQ linked data vocabulary

Some materials from the Cork LGBT Archive mentioned in this episode:

• Cathal Kerrigan canvassing Michael O’Riordan at ICTU General Conference Cork 1981 
• LGBT Workers Rights and Irish Trade Unions Collection