Digitizing for Underrepresented LGBT Communities in the Philadelphia Area

FAIN: PY-258616-18

Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Philadelphia (Philadelphia, PA 19107-5601)
John Anderies (Project Director: May 2017 to March 2021)

Two digitization days and three public programs focusing on groups within the LGBT community of Philadelphia that are underrepresented in the center's John J. Wilcox, Jr. Archives. The project would recruit three outreach coordinators to encourage participation from the identified communities of women, people of color, and transgender individuals. The digitization efforts would focus on personal memorabilia such as correspondence, diaries, flyers, posters, photographs, slides, scrapbooks, 'zines, artwork, ephemera, banners, t-shirts, buttons, and small objects. Oversized materials would be photographed by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and audiovisual materials would be sent to George Blood Audio and Video for reformatting. Additionally, the William Way LGBT Community Center would collaborate with staff from the Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts (CCAHA) in planning for the digitization events. CCAHA would also lead one of the public programs, a workshop on the preservation of personal collections.

The William Way LGBT Community Center seeks support for two digitization events and subsequent cultural heritage programming for underrepresented LGBT communities in the Philadelphia area, specifically women, people of color, and transgender individuals. The project will serve to further enhance our relationships with these communities, document their rich history, and promote greater understanding and appreciation for the past. It will stress the cultural value of the material owned by the communities and provide tools to help preserve it. We will offer three types of community programming: a hands-on workshop given by the Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts in personal collections preservation care; a half-day event featuring outside speakers on the topic of LGBT community archiving and heritage; and a program that features community members and material brought forth during the digitization sessions, highlighting those with particularly compelling stories.

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