(Be)Longing in the Archives: Family, Affect, and Loss in the Jack Nichols Papers

Although the archival turn has included increased interest in a variety of historical figures and time periods, little rhetorical attention has been given to the leaders of homophile liberation in the era immediately preceding Stonewall. This article explores the archival materials of Jack Nichols, one such figure, to explore the ways that affective desire circulates within and between its component materials. The recovery of historical GLBTQ figures offers its own intervention into the silences of the early twentieth century. However, using queer rhetorical and archival theory, this article opens space for rethinking historical silences, desires, and the resonance of ambience within archival spaces as well. Beyond material and affective recovery efforts, the troubling of provenance and determinacy in the archive offer a future avenue for rhetorical archival scholarship.