- Call for Archival Submissions
- Student Advocacy Archive Terms & Conditions
- Frequently Asked Questions
Call for Archival Submissions
Project Description
Have you been involved in student advocacy or activism and have an object, artifact, photograph, or other protest ephemera you’d like to contribute to the archive?
We are accepting digital and material submissions to the student protest archive!
The Studio for Media Activism & Critical Thought (SMACT) at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) invites students, community members, and academics to contribute to the creation of a Student Advocacy Archive documenting the ongoing history of post-secondary student activism across Canada to be housed at the Toronto Metropolitan University Archives & Special Collections.
Our goal in developing this hybrid archive, housing both digital and material student activist ephemera, is to document how post-secondary student social justice advocacy has been, and continues to be, on the forefront of social change. Important student involvement has recently taken place in movements such as People’s Climate March, Idle No More, and Black Lives Matter. We want to document the important contributions of student activists across Canada, which will both serve as a repository for future researchers studying student protest histories, while also culminating in a related symposium, archival exhibition, and speaker series convening community activists, scholars, and students engaged in protest and advocacy efforts.
Students, community members, and activists are encouraged to contribute digital or material records of ephemera. Contributions can be submitted in a wide variety of possible formats including photographs, videos, posters, pins/buttons, signs, pamphlets, and other content related to student activism in Canada. Contributed content can be submitted for public display during a workshop and/or exhibition event in January 2023, and will eventually be made publicly available as part of TMU’s permanent archival collection.
Examples of possible content:
- Images: photographs, screen captures of social media, communications, posters, signs, other protest-related artwork, and other expressions of the movement
- Audio files, songs, spoken word performances, recordings of speeches or rallies
- Videos, gifs, or other short moving image clips
- Written documentation, fliers, pamphlets/brochures, zines, banners
- Files: protest posters, community notices, emails, announcements
- Physical submissions to the archive can include small objects such as pamphlets, posters, buttons, patches, etc.
Submission Criteria:
- Archival submissions must be related to student advocacy and activist organizing in Canada from between 1970-2020
- Content must be related to a student protest event or movement & can be submitted by anyone knowledgeable about the context of the submission
- Student organizing can have taken place across Canada, and does not need to have been directly affiliated with Canadian Universities nor have occured on campus
- File size of contributed content does not exceed 100MB
- Metadata submitted is deemed to be accurate by the administrator
- Submitted content does not infringe on any existing copyright
How to Submit
To contribute, please read our Terms & Conditions and fill out this form:
Student Advocacy Archive Submission Form
Questions? Please review our FAQ, if you don’t see your question reflected here please contact asc@torontomu.ca
Archival Exhibition/Workshop
Successful applicants to the Student Advocacy Archive will be invited to participate in an Archival Exhibit/Workshop to be held alongside the graduate student symposium in 2023. If you are interested in participating in the Archival Exhibit/Workshop please indicate this in your application.
SMACT Student Activism Archive –Terms and Conditions
You are being asked to contribute your documentation of post-secondary student activism in Canada between 1970-2020 to the Studio for Media Activism (SMACT) and the Toronto Metropolitan University Library, which is creating a hybrid digital and physical archival record of the history of post-secondary student activism in Canada.
Documentation can include photographs, screen captures of social media, posters, signs, protest-related artworks; audio files such as songs, spoken word performances, or recordings of speeches or rallies; videos, gifs, or other short moving image clips; written documentation such as fliers, pamphlets/brochures, zines, and banners; or other files such as protest posters, community notices, emails, announcements, etc. While there is a preference for digital submissions to the archive, there is some capacity to house small physical archival submissions at the University Library. For physical submissions, please fill out the Submission Form to the best of your ability and email asc@torontomu.ca to determine whether we have the capacity to accept your submission.
You may only submit material created entirely by you, or material that you have received permission to submit from its creators, and not copied from our based, in whole or in part, upon any other photographic, literary, or other material, except to the extent that such material is in the public domain, or you have permission of the copyright owner, or its use is allowed by “Fair Dealing” as prescribed by the terms of Canadian copyright law.
You must be 18 years of age or older to submit material. By submitting content through this form, you are granting Toronto Metropolitan (formerly Ryerson) University permission to disseminate, preserve, and use that content in connection with its educational and research mission, including promotional purposes, in all media in perpetuity.
You retain ownership of and copyright in the material you share, and all submitted material will be used in the manner you indicate on the submission form. Submitted material must not violate any confidentiality, privacy, security or other laws.
Toronto Metropolitan (formerly Ryerson) University is not obligated to your include your content in this project or preserve it in perpetuity.
Submit content to the Student Activism Archive.
Student Activism Archive FAQs
What can I submit?
We are looking for any materials related to the history of student activism and protest across Canada from 1970-2020. This can include photographs, videos, screenshots, posters, social media posts, community notices, pamphlets/brochures, zines, banners, protest or activist documents, emails, announcements, songs, speeches, or other activist materials – whatever captures your personal or organizational experience.
What is the archive for?
We hope to record and document the vibrant history of post-secondary student protest across Canada for future research and to preserve the activist legacies of student activism. Documents in the archive will be primary sources for future researchers looking at this time period.
Why do you ask how I would like my work to be used?
We will make the items you upload available to researchers, who may want to use them in papers, presentations, articles, documentaries or other academic or creative works. You can select the level of use you feel comfortable with (for instance, you may be ok with only non-commercial uses) by selecting one of the 6 Creative Commons licenses. All creative commons license require that you are credited for your work. If you would like your submission to remain anonymous, please attribute your submission to an organization or collective. For more information on Creative Commons Licenses, visit their website.
Can I submit more than one file?
Yes, absolutely! The submission form is set up to accept only one file at a time, but if you would like to submit a series or several files, just email asc@torontomu.ca
