This fonds contains records related to Alan Sears’ personal thought and activism in socialist and 2SLGBTQIA+ circles during his early career, publications on those topics, and historical materials related to socialist politics in Windsor/Essex County.

Series I (Personal Files, 1982-1996) contains Sears’ personal notes, formal presentations, and article drafts, as well as agendas, membership lists, signed petitions, posters and flyers, a small amount of correspondence, and some research material in activist areas including socialism, labour, anti-racism and anti-apartheid, anti-war, Gay and Lesbian rights, AIDS, and funding for education. Most of the records relate to Windsor, with some Ottawa and Toronto items.

Series II (Publications, 1971-2002) contains periodicals and individual articles connected with Sears’ activist interests, and a history of Gay and Lesbian liberation written by Sears.

Series III (Scrapbooks & Ephemera, 1945; 1980s) includes two scrapbooks of press clippings from the 1945 Ontario provincial election, focused on the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) party and Essex County, and stickers from a 1980s job action by postal workers.

Series IV (Photographs) contains images of t-shirts owned by Sears, highlighting slogans and images used in various activist causes.

This fonds consists of records pertaining to Jim Davies’ personal life and his involvement in Windsor’s gay community and other activist circles. Series I: Papers includes material relating to the local labour movement and the local women’s movement during the 1970s, including reflections on labour theory and labour unions, as well as minutes and outlines relating to the establishment of The Women’s Place and the Lincoln Road Co-op Daycare, both of which responded to issues identified by the local women’s movement. There are two Windsor Gay Unity membership cards, several documents relating to the discriminatory firing of Jim Davies from the Wandlyn Viscount Motor Hotel, a Social Work course assignment by Davies proposing measures to reduce discrimination against gays and lesbians, and a City of Windsor proclamation of Pride Day 1998. Series II: Photographs includes images of staff involved with the AIDS Committee of Windsor, participants in several Windsor Pride parades and associated events, as well as personal photographs of Jim Davies with his friends and loved ones.