Ghost in the archives? The Search for Feminist and Queer Archival Materials in Sweden

Practical work on feminist and queer metadata systems has exploded in the past few years, spurred by the development of Homosaurus, a linked open data vocabulary for queer cultural heritage. However, archival description practices are quite different from indexing practices for printed or digitized materials. There has been little development of archival metadata that facilitates thematic searches for “hidden” or “ghostly” materials and themes within physical collections. Even less attention has been paid to the role of platform design and search functionality in making that metadata visible and usable. This paper aims to fill these gaps by analyzing the visibility and findability of materials related to feminist and lesbian histories within the three largest Swedish archival platforms. This analysis lays the groundwork for development of women’s and LGBTQI+-friendly platforms that make visible materials that have haunted the archives, materials central to the feminist and queer historiographies that have yet to be written.