The Body Politic fonds
https://collections.arquives.ca/link/descriptions6218
- Data Source
- Archives
- Part Of
- The Body Politic fonds
- Description Level
- Fonds
- Material Type
- Textual records
- Graphic material
- Sound recording
- Moving image
- Date Range
- 1971-1987
- Scope and Content
- The fonds pertain to the organizational records of The Body Politic, Canada’s gay liberation newspaper which sat under the parent publishing house Pink Triangle Press. The newspaper published from 1971-1987 in Toronto out of various downtown locations. The fonds consist of 10 series with multiple s…
- Data Source
- Archives
- Part Of
- The Body Politic fonds
- Description Level
- Fonds
- Material Type
- Textual records
- Graphic material
- Sound recording
- Moving image
- Date Range
- 1971-1987
- Creator
- The Body Politic
- Fonds Number
- F0002
- Language
- English [predominant], French, Spanish
- Physical Condition
- Records are largely in good condition. There is some damage that comes from normal record use, particularly the newspaper clippings which are difficult to preserve.
- History / Biographical
- The Body Politic was Canada’s gay liberation newspaper that operated from November 1971 until February 1987, publishing 135 issues. Not only were they a newspaper but they were an activist and organizing group of individuals who initiated many rallies, conversations, participated in many conferences, and fundraising initiatives within the Canadian and international lesbian and gay communities. For almost the first four years of publication, The Body Politic operated without a formal corporate existence. The Canadian Gay Liberation Movement Archives which became The Canadian Gay Archives, then the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives, then The ArQuives, were formed out of The Body Politic records, and by the collective members in 1973 two years after The Body Politic began as an record centre for the newspaper. The archives went on to have a life of its own, however the newspaper and archives travelled together through various locations in Toronto. The founding collective included Jearld Moldenhauer, Herb Spiers, David Newcome, Paul MacDonald and several others. The Body Politic was first published on November 1, 1971 and operated out of Jearld Moldenhauer’s apartment, #8 of 65 Kendal Avenue. From approximately 1972-1973 the collective operated out of an unheated shed behind 4 Kensington Avenue along with Glad Day Bookshop. After Gerald Hannon’s article “Of Men and Little Boys” was published in 1972 (the magazine’s fifth issue), the collective was evicted due to causing a media stir. At this point Jearld Moldenhauer and John Scythes bought 139 Seaton Street in Cabbagetown as a communal house and office space used by The Body Politic, Glad Day Bookshop, and The Gay Liberation Movement Archives. During this period there was no space available for layout at Seaton Street, so meetings were held at 34 Marchmount Road, the collective house of Herb Spiers, Gerald Hannon, Merv Walker, Paul MacDonald and Edward Jackson. Layout was conducted in the “dingy” basement. 34 Marchmount Road can be seen as an adjunct address for these years in the 1970s. The collective then moved to 193 Carlton Street (at Ontario street), along with the Archives and Gay Alliance Towards Equality (GATE). Glad Day Bookshop did not follow this move and in 1974 Moldenhauer left the collective to focus on the bookstore. The publication operated as a collective but founded its parent body and sole owner, Pink Triangle Press in order to incorporate as a non-profit in April 1975. Incorporating required the collective to establish a Board of Directors, which had three members, Edward Jackson, Ken Popert, and Gerald Hannon. 193 Carlton Street was the collective’s first real public facing address, combined with the Seaton and Marchmount addresses which were still used. From Carlton the collective moved to the 5th floor of 24 Duncan Street with the archives. This is the location where the police raided The Body Politic and seized 10 boxes of materials on December 30, 1977. The Body Politic was charged twice with publishing obscene materials first in 1977 with Gerald Hannon’s article “Men Loving Boys Loving Men” and then in 1982 with Hannon’s article on fisting entitled “Lust with a Very Proper Stranger”. The newspaper was acquitted in both instances but the raid and charges caused an international backlash and protests, particularly when the police seized the newspaper subscriber lists during the 1977 raid. The collective moved again to 54 Wolseley Street (beside Theatre Passe Muraille), where the collective formally met its demise in 1987. [This information was put together with the assistance of Edward Jackson]. Structurally the collective, a term which varied in meaning over time, operated largely based on functional responsibility, unpaid labour, and having people dedicated to different aspects of producing and writing the newspaper (various writing groups responsible for particular sections of the newspaper). There was also advertising, finance, international correspondence and news, layout, subscriptions among others that were all managed by a variety of people over the years. A chronology of these groups and their members can be tracked through the years in the front pages of The Body Politic publications themselves. The Body Politic met its demise officially in 1987 with its last publication. An important document to consider is Rick Bebout’s original ‘Inventory of the Records of The Body Politic and Pink Triangle Press’ from 1988. A copy of the document exists as Appendix C at the end of this finding aid. Bebout’s words provide an administrative history as he witnessed it. It also provides an overview of who was responsible for what, as well as associated materials within The ArQuives that could not be fully identified when this fonds was processed in 2018, this begins on page 6 of Appendix C.
- Scope and Content
- The fonds pertain to the organizational records of The Body Politic, Canada’s gay liberation newspaper which sat under the parent publishing house Pink Triangle Press. The newspaper published from 1971-1987 in Toronto out of various downtown locations. The fonds consist of 10 series with multiple subseries. The fonds contains research notes, newspaper clippings, notes, meeting minutes, article drafts submitted, correspondence (international, national, local, prisoner), memos, financial, employee, advertising, and legal records.
- Notes
- There were accessions that could not be located at the time of processing, therefore they have not been included in this iteration of the finding aid. They are listed in the appendix.
- Storage Location
- /21, /25: 4.9.7 /26, /17: 4.9.8 /121: 6.5.5 /42, /35: 4.9.3 /46, /38: 4.9.4 /41, /20: 4.9.5 /04, /27: 4.9.6 /21, /25: 5.2.1 /12, /13: 5.6.1 /01, /02, /09: 6.1.2 /03, /06, /48: 6.1.3 /07, /08, /53: 6.1.4 /10, /11, /54: 6.1.5 /14, /19, /21, /55: 6.1.6 /22, /23, /56: 6.1.7 /24, /33, /57: 6.1.8 /29, /39, /58: 6.2.2 /40, /43, /59: 6.2.3 /44, /45, /60: 6.2.4 /47, /49, /61: 6.2.5 /51, /62, /63, /64, /77: 6.2.6 /65, /66, /67, /69, /76: 6.2.7 /70, /71, /72, /73, /74, /75: 6.2.8 /82, /83, /84, /85, /86, /87: 6.3.3 /19, /78, /79, /80, /81, 18: 6.3.2 /88, /89, /93, /94, 92: 6.3.4 /90, /91, /94: 6.3.5 /96, /97, /98, /99, /114, /115: 6.3.6 /100, /101, /116: 6.3.7 /102, /103, /117: 6.3.8 /16, /17, /104, /105, /119: 6.4.2 /106, /107, /127: 6.4.3 /108, /109, /129: 6.4.4 /110, /111, /131: 6.4.5 /112, /122, /133: 6.4.6 /123, /124, /134: 6.4.7 /125, /126, /137: 6.4.8 /128, /130, /136: 6.5.2 /132, /113: 6.5.3 /18, /135: 6.5.4 /15, /121: 6.5.5 /21, /25: 4.9.7 /26, /17 4.9.8 /118, 120 : Artifacts shelf (range 6) MC : 4.19 MC : 4.22 Art : 12.3.3
- Access Restrictions
- There are restrictions throughout the fonds, largely consisting of restrictions of personal information (i.e. names, addresses, banking information) from publication. Please refer to the “access” column at the individual file level for further details. Researchers are asked to, consider copyright and privacy before choosing to publish. As an overarching rule, personal information such as banking information, personal home addresses, and the names attached to classified ads are restricted from publication, however may be accessed by researchers. If there is additional personal information uncovered in the fonds then that is restricted from publication as well, such as SIN numbers, if discovered an archivist should cull this material. Researchers wishing to publish materials must obtain permission in writing from the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives as the physical owner.
- Conservation
- The vast majority of paper clips have been removed. Archival clips and paper separators were added where determined necessary. Or no division has been marked if determined unnecessary. Users need to be mindful that records should not be shuffled, or else records may lose their adjoining pages.
- Arrangement
- The fonds contains the following series: 1- Administration 2- Correspondence 3- Writing 4- Research 5- Advertising 6- Finances 7- Legal 8- Artifacts/Ephemera 9- Audio-Visual 10- Published materials The Body Politic was divided as an organization into various groups based on functional responsibility. These groups changed over the years. Some files clearly indicated the group they were used / created by, whereas others did not. They were also divided by record type. These distinctions have largely been maintained within the file titles, if they were labelled as such by the creators. The iterations of these groups which partially pertained to the section of the newspaper the group was responsible for, are located and can be tracked over time in the front pages of The Body Politic publications themselves. The fonds has been divided into series and subseries to increase accessibility, mirroring groupings evident throughout the accessions. Due to folder conservation during rehousing, files sitting next to one another were amalgamated into single folders. These are distinguished in the finding aid and on the folders themselves, largely though dashes (“-”) separating the file titles. Within the folders they are separated with blank paper. Some original file titles listed contents as they sat under the principal subject of the folder. Content was sometimes listed as a singular keyword, with subtitle or without. Files sometimes had a consistent header for a series of files, with subtitles that varied, sometimes not. These have been maintained. Original order, Rick Bebout notes on page 6 of his “Inventory”, was largely scrapped by the Canadian Gay Archives when records were first transferred. Since the archives were being used as more of a record centre for The Body Politic, and there were so many different filing structures and people involved. Rick admits that materials moved to the archives in “a sporadic flow of largely unsorted paper. The order of many records was largely imposed by the Archives, especially in earlier years.” Please see page 6 in Appendix C for more details.