Gay Rodeo Oral History Project Archives, 2016-2023

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Summary

Creators:
Scofield, Rebecca, Campbell, Renae, Flaig, Saraya, Fleener, Dusty, and Fund, Court
Extent:
75.5 Megabytes (187 digital files, including digital audio/video files that total approximately 72.3 hours in duration)
Language:
English .
Preferred citation:

Gay Rodeo Oral History Project Archives, 2016-2023, Autry Museum of the American West, Los Angeles; MSA.73; [folder number] [folder title] [date].

Background

Scope and content:

The Gay Rodeo Oral History Project Archives comprises 60 oral history interviews with current and former International Gay Rodeo Association (IGRA) members. Each interview includes born-digital audio recordings and transcripts. Some interviews also include an image of the interviewee, which were either taken by the interviewer or provided by the interviewee. Most interviews were recorded on-site at IGRA rodeos and conferences, but some were recorded using the video web-conferencing platform, Zoom. Recordings were transcribed using transcription software, edited in Microsoft Word, and approved by the interviewee. Some transcripts were also coded by theme in Microsoft Excel for inclusion in the Voices of Gay Rodeo web exhibition (see Project History Note).

The interviews represent a wide range of stories from the 1940s through 2023; some only cover experiences with IGRA and gay rodeo, while others contain detailed life histories. Questions generally addressed across the interviews include: Where did you grow up? What was your childhood like? How do you identify in terms of gender and sexuality? How did you get involved with IGRA? Can you speak about the gender and racial diversity of IGRA? Do you think the larger LGBT community supports the rodeo? Have you experienced any protests or homophobia at the rodeos? Were you ever injured in the rodeo? What does it mean to be a cowboy or a cowgirl, and are you one?

Other significant topics variably represented by the interviews include the development of IGRA and its member associations; the organizational structure of IGRA; the cultures of individual member associations of IGRA; the place of IGRA in broader LGBTQ+ communities; the role of drag and rodeo pageantry within IGRA; sexual activity at the rodeos; the relationship between IGRA, professional rodeo, Black rodeo, and Indian rodeo; rural childhoods; urban migration; survival, community care, protest, and loss amid the HIV/AIDS epidemic; gay activism; coming out; gay, lesbian, and leather bar scenes; the ways in which experiences of queerness have changed over time; cisgender, transgender, nonbinary, gender non-conforming, and gender-fluid identity and expression; disability; mental health; military service; parenthood and raising children among the rodeo; television and film cowboys and westerns; experiences of racism, misogyny, transphobia, homophobia, and ableism; religion; country western dancing; professional development and work-rodeo balance; and perspectives on contemporary queer politics.

Biographical / historical:

The Gay Rodeo Oral History Project was created in 2016 by Rebecca Scofield, associate professor of history at the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho. Drawing on her specialization in gender and sexuality in the United States West and her research at the Autry Museum of the American West, Scofield became interested in the International Gay Rodeo Association (IGRA) as an LGBTQ+ community engaged with and within rural spaces, practices, and histories. With funding from a University of Idaho Seed Grant and a Whiting Foundation Public Humanities Project grant, Scofield and a team of student researchers – Renae Campbell, Court Fund, Dusty Fleener, Revulai Detiv, and Saraya Flaig – attended IGRA rodeos and conferences across the United States, conducting over 60 oral history interviews.

The interviewees include current and former IGRA members; rodeo competitors; former presidents, vice presidents, secretaries, Public Relations directors, and other administrators of IGRA and its member associations; rodeo directors, judges, arena directors, chute coordinators, auditors, and clowns; rodeo royalty, including Mr. [cisgender or transgender men and nonbinary people], Ms. [cisgender or transgender women and nonbinary people], and Miss [drag queens] (the MsTer role [drag kings] is not represented in the interviews); volunteers; archivists; photographers and disc jockeys; an IGRA University chancellor; country western dancers; and member association founders. Specific biographical information for each interviewee can be found in the transcripts. For information about IGRA and its history, please see the finding aid for the IGRA Institutional Archives.

The Gay Rodeo Oral History Project also includes a web exhibition, Voices of Gay Rodeo. Developed with the support of the University of Idaho's Center for Digital Inquiry and Learning, Voices of Gay Rodeo curates these interviews to create data visualizations highlighting themes of "cowperson, injuries, teaching, family, IGRA, race, community, parents, religion, coming out, mentor, homophobia, jobs, childhood, PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), events, and dance" across all selected interviews. Transcripts of some of the interviews in the Gay Rodeo Oral History Project Archives are available through Voices of Gay Rodeo. However, many transcripts on Voices of Gay Rodeo contain significant redactions resulting from the curatorial process.

Publications drawing from the Gay Rodeo Oral History Project include Outriders: Rodeo at the Fringes of the American West (Rebecca Scofield, University of Washington Press, 2019), Slapping Leather: Queer Cowfolx at the Gay Rodeo (Rebecca Scofield and Elyssa Ford, University of Washington Press, 2023), and That Damn Horse: The Stories of Gay Rodeo (Rebecca Scofield, Robert Caisley, Court Fund, and Kendra Phillips, 2023).

Acquisition information:
Donated by Rebecca Scofield, 2022-2024.
Processing information:

Files were received in multiple installments from 2022 to 2024. Initial processing and preliminary description done by Hunter Isenstein and Andrea Decker, 2023. Additional processing, description, and transcription completed by Ezra Loeb, 2023-2024. Processing of this collection was supported by the "Preservation and Accessibility of California's LGBTQ+ History" grant funded by the California State Library.

All docx and xlsx files were normalized to PDF for long-term preservation and access.

Arrangement:

Materials are organized by interviewee as they were received by the Library and Archives at the Autry, in multiple deposits. The interview files are ordered alphabetically according to the interviewee's first name.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

The transcripts for this collection are accessible through the Voices of Gay Rodeo website. The audio files are available for listening onsite by research appointments only. To make an appointment please visit https://theautry.org/research-collections/library-and-archives and fill out the Researcher Application Form.

Terms of access:

Copyright has not been assigned to the Autry Museum of the American West. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Library and Archives at the Autry. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Autry Museum of the American West as the custodian of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.

Preferred citation:

Gay Rodeo Oral History Project Archives, 2016-2023, Autry Museum of the American West, Los Angeles; MSA.73; [folder number] [folder title] [date].

Location of this collection:
4700 Western Heritage Way
Los Angeles, CA 90027, US
Contact:
(747) 201-8448
rroom@theautry.org
Website