York History MA student Lex Flavelle joined public history students from across Ontario and Quebec in a panel titled “Becoming a Public Historian: Student Experiences in Canadian Public History Programs” at the 2025 Annual Meeting of the Canadian Historical Association (CHA). Students commented on their experiences working with community partners as part of their undergraduate, MA, and PhD Public History programs.
Lex presented on her fourth-year undergraduate work placement experience at the Arquives. Founded in 1973 in Toronto, the Arquives is the world’s largest independent LGBTQ2+ Archives in the world. For her placement, Flavelle developed the digital exhibition, Coming Up Aces, which juxtaposes Progressive Era feminist spinster histories with 21st-century asexual-spectrum zines. The exhibition asserts the presence of asexual subjectivities in the archive beyond the scope of current terminology.
The CHA hosts an annual meeting in May/June in coordination with the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences which is held in a different Canadian city each year. Between 350-500 historians gather to share their research on themes representing the full diversity of the discipline and to network with colleagues.