Past Shelves: Queer Histories of Reading (Exhibition)
Thu 5 March @ 10:00 am – Sun 3 May @ 5:00 pm
Join us for the Past Shelves exhibition to explore the impact of LGBTQ+ reading, publishing, and bookselling. The exhibition is inspired by Scotland’s first LGBTQ+ bookshops, community experiences of reading and life in Scotland from 1980-2000.
The Past Shelves exhibition follows on from the Past Shelves oral history project run in 2025-2026 by the Lavender Menace Queer Books Archive. The project interviewed dozens of members of the LGBTQ+ community whose lives were shaped by books and reading. You can hear some of these interviews in the exhibition.
Lavender Menace was Scotland’s first gay and lesbian community bookshop. Co-founded by Bob Orr and Sigrid Nielsen, it opened in 1982. After five years of bookselling, the bookshop was reborn as West & Wilde (1987-1997) owned by Bob Orr and Raymond Rose. These spaces were a haven for LGBTQ+ people and sold queer books at a time when mainstream bookshops would not stock them. The bookshops were also important community spaces where LGBTQ+ people could feel welcomed and connect with each other. In 2019, Lavender Menace was revived as Lavender Menace Queer Books Archive.
Discover the world of Lavender Menace and West & Wilde with us, through books, magazines, interviews and more.
Credits
This exhibition was created by Lavender Menace Queer Books Archive in partnership with Museums & Galleries Edinburgh. Thank you to our funders, the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Awards for All.
Location & access
The exhibition takes place at the Museum of Edinburgh, 142-146 Canongate, Edinburgh EH8 8DD.
The main entrance has 1 step. Due to the historic nature of the building, there is no lift and no ramp and the upper levels are accessible by stairs only.
There is level access from the main entrance to the Foyer section of the exhibition and the accessible toilets.
Some parts of the exhibition are located upstairs, which are accessible by stairs only. Lavender Menace will produce a digital guide of the upper levels of the exhibition in order to make this part of the exhibition more accessible to those who can’t access upstairs.
