The Queer Archives of
Trinidad and Tobago

The Queer Archives of Trinidad and Tobago provides an exciting glimpse of Trinidad and Tobago’s queer history (westory) from the 1960s to the present. These archives currently include two significant collections: 

1. The Cyrus Sylvester Digital Collection

The original collection includes a mixture of approximately 5,000 photographs, videos, posters, magazines, and other media collected from the 1980s to the present by queer elder and leader Cyrus Sylvester, who has provided safe space for generations of LGBTQI+ people in Trinidad and Tobago. The majority of the archive is private and restricted with a selected group of 200 items available for public engagement. The public items will be featured and available through the Caribbean IRN digital archives hosted on the Digital Library of the Caribbean (DLoC). 

2. Timeline of LGBTQI+ T&T History (Westory)

This is an interactive timeline of significant events and moments in Trinidad & Tobago from the 1960s to the present, which has been curated by the project team with contributions from many LGBTQI+ elders, leaders, and community members from Trinidad and Tobago and around the world.

These archives are blossoming into a dynamic repository that celebrates the complexity of queer experiences in T&T. We hope you enjoy navigating through the timeline and connected materials that offer glimpses into the lives of queer people and vibrant queer communities.

Explore the archives here: https://www.queerarchivestt.org/