The Archives' holdings of sound recordings began with tapes -- both reels and cassettes -- of media interviews and special events. One of the earliest records reactions of the crowd on Hallowe'en night, 1969, at the then-annual (and not always well-received) flight of drag queens along Toronto's Yonge Street.
Over time, people also donated LPs, 45-RPM singles, cassettes, and CDs, usually of gay or lesbian performers, or those otherwise popular at dance clubs or music festivals. The rise of both "womyn's music" -- particularly that produced by Olivia Records -- and disco in the 1970s is well charted, as is the later rise of openly gay punk, new wave, and other alternative groups.
Tapes of gay and lesbian radio programs also make up a big part of these holdings. In 1996, David Myers of Vancouver donated 17 cubic feet of material from that city's pioneering Coming Out Show, dating from the late 1970s to 1986 and including more than 1,000 cassettes and nearly 500 reel-to-reel tapes -- as well as play lists, scrapbooks, and other organizational material.
The Archives has more than 2,000 hours of sound on tape, and more than 1,300 discs. Guides to music inventories are available below.
Inventory listing (alphabetical, by group/artist): [A
- E] | [F - P] | [Q
- Z]
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