Projects
M.A. Major Research Project
Title: "Beyond the Computer Centre": Exploring How Digital Resources Could Support Increased Accessibility to Records and Memory on the SGWU Student Occupation
Supervised by Laura Madokoro and Audra Diptée
This research was motivation by the desire to create a conceptual bridge between archival records at Concordia University's two archives (the Records Management and Archives (RMA), and Library's Special Collections) and counter-archival sources on the Sir George Williams student occupation of 1969 (also known as the Sir George Williams Affair). The creation of resources that promote increased access to archival records, as well as those that uplift community memory on the student occupation that exist beyond the walls of their institution, is an essential part of the RMA and Special Collections' responsibilities, as chroniclers of change and continuity at Concordia University. Archivists are political actors and through their practices they shape historical narratives in the past and present. Taking influence from critical archival studies and reparative archival theory, the goal of this research is to demonstrate how future learning on the student occupation could be supported through the creation of resources that increase accessibility, while creating a bridge of dialogue between various forms of knowledge and sources on the student occupation. This includes bridges between the records at the RMA and Special Collections, and also between the archival records at Concordia University archives as a whole and the community-based counter-archival art.
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It is important to note that the research paper, Archival Research Guide, and website were informed and shaped by the research experience of Holmes, a white, queer settler masters student. These resources and resources were created as examples how a dialogue amongst Concordia's archives and the broader community could be furthered and broadened. However, the formal development of such an initiative rests with the interested parties, namely archives and members of Montreal's Black and Afro-Caribbean communities, who are leading the conversations and demands for Concordia University to acknowledge this history of the student occupation and its legacy.
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You can read this research, as well as access the Archival Research Guide and Bibliography at the link above!
Projecting the LGBT Purge
Final Project for Digital History Course
Fall 2021
The Projecting the LGBT Purge Project is an attempt to use the technological capabilities of projection mapping to display survivors' oral history videos about the LGBT Purge upon the Department of National Defence Headquarters Building (also known as the Major-General George R. Pearkes Building). Each survivor's story speaks to the personal experiences of the LGBT Purge, and by projecting this history and these experiences of discrimination, it literally reflects this history right back onto this building, and Canadian institutions more largely, that inflicted this violence. Projection mapping technologies have the power to uplift and highlight 2SLGBTQ+ histories, voices, and experiences while also creating opportunities to foster engagements that create spaces of resistance through this history. You can view the project website, linked in the title above!
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Reflections of a Public Historian
Public History Zine
Fall 2021
This zine was created as part of my application for the Capital Heritage Connexion Mentorship program. Within the zine, I explore my experience of pursuing a degree in public history during a global pandemic, and how it has influenced reflection in our heritage institutions. The pandemic has brought upon many important changes, and has also created the space for creative innovation in what our spaces of heritage and history can become. How should our museum and heritage spaces change and evolve as we move into the future? You can view the PDF of the zine to the right, or access it through Google Drive, linked in the title above!
Jammin' with our MRP's
Collaborative Project submitted for Heritage Jam 2021
Spring 2021
Jammin' with our MRP's was a project conducted by my cohort's and I for submission to the Heritage Jam 2021 competition. This project was an opportunity to discuss our research as well as to discuss how our cohort visualized this work. Through Zoom, each colleague would take thirty seconds to describe their research, while everyone else had ninety seconds to draw an image of how they visualized their colleague's described work. Then we would share our images with each other and discuss why we drew/visualized their work in this way. You can access the project website, linked in the title above!
Museum of Ideas (Musée Des Idées)
Collaborative Final Project for Museums Course created with Natalie Cross
Spring 2021
This project was created in collaboration with Natalie Cross, a fellow colleague, for a final project in our Spring Museum course. We decided to pursue a very meta idea for this project: what type of museum would we like to see in the future? As a result of countless theoretical discussions, brainstorms, and hours spent designing, we created the Museum of Ideas. We learned how to use an architecture design app to digitally create what we would imagine the physical structure of our museum to look like, and we presented our work to the class as if we were Museum Directors, discussing how each space differently serves the communities we would hope to engage with. I have included a PDF of our presentation to the right!
Sounds of COVID
Final Project for Digital Humanities Course
Fall 2020
This project was really inspired by a specific question: What can be learned from the soundscape of a pandemic? My project is an attempt to glean a little insight into the variety of sounds that mark individual experiences during the COVID pandemic. I reached out to my community (both through social media, as well as individually) to ask those interested to share the sounds that mark their experiences of COVID, whether it be sounds they here every day, to unique, infrequent sounds. These sounds were all given titles by their creators, and were placed onto a Soundcloud album called, "Sounds of COVID." The album has several tracks, created by eighteen different individuals, located both in Canada (Montréal, QC, and Napanee, ON) to the Midwest of the United States (Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, and Michigan). This project was nominated and selected as a finalist for a Digital Humanities Award for 2020. You can listen to the album, as well as view a summary and more detailed explanation of my project, on the project website, linked in the title above!
Projects created for Brome County Historical Society
Walking Tour, Free Admission Publication, and Social Media Campaign
Summer 2020
Here are some examples of the projects I created over my summer position at the BCHS Museum. I created a Walking Tour, where I mapped out the tour, designed the signs in Adobe Photoshop, and then created and presented a proposal for this project to the Town of Knowlton. I designed an advertisement for our Free Admission Initiative, and wrote a Press Release to share this with the town. I also ran the Social Media for BCHS, creating engaging posts to bring visitors to the Museum, while also presenting moments to connect with history outside of the institution.
Published Work
"Episode 13" of the place of sound podcast (aired August 23rd, 2021):
I hosted and produced this episode about my project Sounds of COVID. You can listen to the episode here.
"Samantha Holmes interviews Joanna Joachim,": published on Black Canadian Studies website:
As part of my undergraduate seminar, African Canadian Art History, taught by Dr. Charmaine Nelson, I interviewed PhD student, Joanna Joachim. You can listen to this podcast here.
Research Interests
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Queer and Trans History
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20th century Montréal/Québec history
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Critical archival studies
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Oral history
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Art history
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Digital capabilities in promoting accessible and inclusive historical narratives
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Guerrilla digital history
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Soundscapes and sound as storytelling
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Youth engagement in public history
Conferences
History and DH Roundtable
Underhill Colloquium Spring 2021
Carleton University: Ottawa, ON
You can view the website that my colleagues and I created for this Roundtable here.