Brett Lougheed
University Archivist & Digital Curator; Director, Oral History Centre
Originally from Treaty 2 territory in western Manitoba, Brett (he/him) is a settler of Scottish, Irish, and Swedish heritage and is grateful to now live, work, and raise a family on Treaty 1 territory. He is a proud ally of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, whom he centres in his work. In his role as University Archivist, Brett leads the University’s archives in selecting, acquiring, arranging, describing, preserving, providing access to, and developing user communities for the historical records created by the University, as well as non-University records relevant to supporting the teaching, research, and community mandates of the University. As Digital Curator, Brett ensures that records created in or transferred to digital formats are reliably and authentically preserved over time and made freely accessible online wherever possible. Finally, as Director of the Oral History Centre, Brett leads one of the more prolific research centres at the University in offering consultation, training, and support for oral history projects on campus and throughout the community.
Brett has been active in efforts to decolonize archival practice including playing a leadership role in the development of the Two-Spirit Archives and leading a working group to develop culturally appropriate subject headings to describe Indigenous archival records in Manitoba. He has published and presented internationally on these and other topics. He has previously volunteered his time in various governance roles for provincial and national archives organizations, and is currently a member of the Technical Working Group of the Respectful Terminology Platform Project. His service roles to the Library include being past chair of Librarian’s Committee and the Departmental Processes Committee, and brief terms as Acting Dean and Acting Associate Dean of the Library.
Credentials
- Master of Arts, History and Archival Studies (MA), University of Manitoba/University of Winnipeg (2005)
- Bachelor of Arts, Honours (BA), University of Manitoba (2000)
Expertise and Research Interests
Decolonizing archival practice; community archives; 2SLGBTQIA+ archives and allyship; archival description and descriptive standards; archives and oral history; impacts of stress on digital preservationists; popular culture.
Featured Scholarly and Professional Work
- Lougheed, B. (2024), Exhibition Review: “The Undead Archive: 100 Years of Photographing Ghosts,” Archivaria 97 [in press]
- Lougheed, B. (2024), “Stress and Its Impacts on Digital Preservationists in Canada”, Society of American Archivists Conference: Chicago, IL [accepted]
- McLeod, A. and Lougheed, B. (2024), “In Our Own Words: Two-Spirit Oral Histories”, Global Audiovisual Archiving Conference: Exchange of Knowledge and Practices; Toronto, Ontario [accepted]
- McLeod, A. and Lougheed, B. (2024), “Two-Spirit Archives: Addressing the Symbolic Annihilation of the Indigenous 2SLGBTQIA+ Community Through Inclusion, Collaboration, and Responsible Access”, Owning History: Indigenous Histories and Records Access Conference; Winnipeg, MB
- Lougheed, B. (2022), “Reckoning, Representation, and Resurgence: Two-Spirit Archives”, plenary panel “Reckoning: Preserving Native American and Indigenous Histories” for ACRL Rare Book and Manuscript Section (RBMS) Conference
- McLeod, A. and Lougheed, B. (2019), “Two-Spirit Rising: Overcoming the Archival Erasure of the Two-Spirit People of Canada”, Queering Memory ALMS Conference; Berlin, Germany
- Bone, C. and Lougheed, B. (2018), “Library of Congress Subject Headings Related to Indigenous Peoples: Changing LCSH for Use in a Canadian Archival Context,” Cataloging & Classification Quarterly, 56:1, 83-95
- Lougheed, B., Moran, R., and Callison, C. (2015), “Reconciliation through Description: Using Metadata to Realize the Vision of the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation,” Cataloging & Classification Quarterly, 53:5-6, 596-614