All good things must come to an end.

Well my friends, the 2013 spring semester has come to a conclusion, and as a result I must part ways with you all. I have truly appreciated the experience and have been completely dumbfounded at the amount of views my blog has received; to date it has received approximately 640 views!

I'd like to take this opportunity to reflect upon the past couple of months.

Going into this internship I had no idea what to expect. I just assumed I would be organizing and labeling things. Boy was I wrong. I remember first meeting Ken and Dawn (the acting president and vice president of the museum) at the storage unit, and when they opened the storage unit up I remember feeling completely overwhelmed and scared. But I took it, and I made it my own. I started by completely reorganizing the storage unit into something that made more sense. Special Collections are now on the left wall of the storage unit, Museum Exhibits take up the back left corner and the back wall, and Museum Supplies take up the back right corner and the right wall. This took approximately 2-3 weeks to do. By doing this I became extremely familiar with the entire collection in the storage unit. 

After I organized the storage unit, I then took an initial inventory of the whole storage unit. I recorded this initial inventory in my finding aid. The next step was to take each Special Collection out of the storage unit and transport it to one of the RICHES offices at the University of Central Florida. It was here that I then conducted a more detailed inventory of each collection. I went through each and every box in each collection and made note of every folder, binder, newspaper, etc that I could. All of this was input into my finding aid. Another thing I did was move things around in each collection, so that they made more sense for future researchers. The collection that had the most reorganizing done to it was The Center Collection. I combined legal documents and records into a couple of boxes, and then I combined various publications into others. After I was done reorganizing this collection, I made note of the changes in my finding aid and I was even left with an empty storage bin! I was quite proud of myself for doing that.

After my inventory I had about 2 weeks left to the semester which I spent attempting to partially rehouse the Brian Arbogast collection (I say attempt, because I really only had a week since I had a wedding in CA to attend). I learned a lot when it comes to rehousing. I learned that most of the things we all do to store our photos and documents, is pretty much wrong. Binders are a big no no, so are staples, paper clips, and even those nice little plastic document holders. Metal leads to rust, and plastic document holders lead to moisture being trapped; thus aiding in further deterioration. In the rehousing process I also learned the importance of copying newspaper articles onto acid free paper, and discarding the original prints. In addition to all of that, I also learned how to create a cost analysis report both in Microsoft Word and Excel. Prior to this, I had very little experience with Excel; now I feel as if I can do anything in Excel!

I have been extremely grateful for this experience. I have learned so much about the archival processing experience. From organizing, to categorizing, to even partially rehousing a collection, I even got a taste of the administrative side, I have gotten a taste of what it is like to be a professional archivist. Even though at times it was a bit frustrating and overwhelming I have enjoyed the entire experience. Most importantly, in the process of all of my duties, I learned about the GLBT history of Central Florida. The region I have called home since I was 3 years old,. I have learned about a history I have not really known/thought of in much detail. Because of this internship I have gained a better understanding of the history of the GLBT community, and a much greater respect for those who came before me. I have come to respect those who have made significant strides so that I can enjoy my lifestyle the way I do now. 

I'd like to thank Dr. Beiler for giving me the opportunity to apply for this internship, and being a constant guidance when I felt lost. I'd like to also thank Alan Lunin who was my acting supervisor during my internship. Though we did not meet as regularly as we probably should have, he still provided me with many words of encouragement when I needed them. Ken Kazmerski for constantly being on top of my e-mails, always quick to respond when I had a question; despite his having hip surgery. Dawn Rosendahl for also being quick to respond, and even meeting me at the storage unit. I'd also like to thank David Bain for taking time out of his schedule and meeting me to discuss the museum's digitization efforts. I would also like to send out a special thank you to Bruce Ground who provided me with information on his collection. I also would like to thank Bruce for donating his collection to the museum and giving me a chance to process his collection. It was such a uniqe collection of GLBT history that I will not soon forget. I also want to thank the rest of the GLBT History Museum of Central Florida for all that you do. I only wish the younger generation could appreciate not only our history, but the work you all have done to preserve it! Lastly, I want to thank my readers for reading my blog. I really did not think anyone would read this little thing, but I have been overwhelmed by the amount of readership, and even the students and faculty coming up to me and telling me that they enjoy my blog! It means the world to me! Thank you!. 

For now I shall close the door on this chapter of my life and college career. I shall leave you all with a cheesey photo I took today as I returned the Brian Arbogast collection to the Storage Unit:

Until next time,

-Kyle the intern

Rehousing a collection

This week I started the actual process of rehousing the Brian Arbogast collection. It took me a combined total of about 11 hours to rehouse just two boxes. The process is quite tedious (as I've mentioned in my previous post). Basically what I had to do was go through each box again and make sense of what I like to call "organized chaos."

I started working on box one which contains the files concerning the ILGA (International Lesbian and Gay Association), GLAAD Florida, and the various correspondence with other GLAAD chapters in the country. This should have been an easy process, and it was for the most part. Until I got to the files pertaining to the formation of the GLAAD Florida chapter. I went through these folders and had to find like files so that the organization makes more sense for future researchers. Once I made sense and reorganized these files I put them into new acid free file folders that were purchased from http://www.hollingermetaledge.com/. I then relabeled the files and put them in new acid free boxes purchased from the same site.

The second box I went through was box two (naturally). With the exception of about two or three files, this collection was almost entirely composed of files in plastic document sleeves housed in three ring binders. These are incredibly bad to store documents in long term. They allow for moisture to get trapped which adds to the deterioration of the documents. I took a similar approach to this box as I did with the first one. I would open one of the three ring binders and take the documents out. I then sorted all of the documents while they were still in the plastic document sheets. Once I sorted the documents, I then took them out of the plastic document sheets and removed any paperclips (which along with staples, rust). I then placed the sorted documents into the new acid free files folders and into the new acid free boxes.

Overall I was nervous at first, but once I got started I found the work to be rather enjoyable, and the time seemed to fly by. At times I would hit a road block and become frustrated with certain documents, asking myself "Where on earth should this go? It doesn't pertain to this, but it kind of pertains to that." Eventually I would overcome that road block and make sense of the matter. Rehousing is a lengthy process, one which I do not know if I will be able to complete before the end of the semester. Alas, where I leave off, the next intern will pick up. I will have left detailed information pertaining to what all I have done, and what all needs to be done. Ideally this will make the next intern's job much easier.

I leave you all once again. Have a great weekend and Until next time,

-Kyle the intern

Creating an abstract for a finding aid and rehousing a collection

So this week was rather paper work intensive earlier in the week and more hands on later in the week.

Earlier in the week I started adding more to my finding aid. The inventory is just the first of many layers. The next layer, which I started this week, is an abstract of each collection. In each abstract I cover a brief biography of the creator of each collection. I then talk about the history of each collection and how that specific collection came into the hands of the GLBT History Museum of Central Florida. It is a bit tedious and takes some research. Overall, it helps me as the archivist become more intimate with the collections, and in the long run it aids researchers who want to know if that particular collection houses something of interest to their research.

Yesterday, Thursday April 4, 2013, I met with Dr. Beiler to get the guidance needed to process/rehouse am entire collection. This is a bit intimidating because it is a lot of responsibility. It involves going through a collection and deciding where to place things. There are many things to consider and it is not a decision to be made without considerable amount of thought. Things to consider are:

Did the creator of this collection place these documents in a specific order? If so, for what reason?
Do the items in a folder belong together? or were they misplaced?
Other things to consider/take note of are dates for a scope of the collection. This way I can state for certain in my finding aid the dates the collection covers.

This process is a lot of responsibility, but I know at the end of this process I will know where everything is, and it will reflect in my finding aid. I think my doubts come from me feeling like as an intern I should have my hand held through this process. However, how am I to gain the experience if I do not do it myself? I guess I am just worried about messing everything up. I just have to continue to have confidence in myself and my work. At the end, if my finding aid matches the content of each box, than I did my job correctly!

I leave for San Diego next Thursday for my significant other's sister's wedding to her partner. This is really exciting, especially more so now with the recent supreme court arguments on same sex marriage. I will try and post my blog next Thursday. If not Thursday night, than Friday.

Until then,

-Kyle the intern

It's been a while

Well hello readers! I am so sorry for neglecting you all again!
This semester has been a trying semester. Take this internship add two upper level history courses and a General Anthropology course plus my 3 days a week job at Disney (that has me working anywhere from 4-15 hours a day) plus my relationship plus my mother's health issues and you've got the perfect recipe for madness! ;)

Anyways, enough of my pity party, I suppose I should update you all on what I've been up to.

Well I've pretty much wrapped up my finding aid. I need to add the historical background information on the museum as a whole, and the individual collections. Once I do this it will pretty much be complete.
I've been contacted by a graduate student wanting to do some research on the GLBT history in the mills/50 (ViMi District). I felt bad because as I've just been inventorying the collection I don't really know much information about the history. I can say that I know The Center has a relatively long history at their current location, but prior to being located on Mills, they were on 50. I can say that there was once a GLBT book store called Out and About Books located off of Mills. I know there is a store called Ritzy Rags. All these things I can say, but I do not know the entire history of each location. Nor do I really have the time to investigate the whole history of these locations. My responsibilities have had me inventorying the collection and making it more accessible for researchers, so that they can uncover the history for the public. That's not to say that I have not gathered a decent understanding of the history of our community. I certainly have, and I feel like I, myself, have gained much more appreciation for our community through this internship. Anyways, the whole point of that rant was to connect it to my finding aid. Once I've finished my finding aid (which I anticipate having completed by Sunday). I will thus make it accessible to the researcher who has inquired about the collection. I will also offer up a time to meet with her so that I can give her a basic understanding as to what items are what. Hopefully I can aid in her research!

The other thing I've been working on is a plan of action for the GLBT History Museum of Central Florida. In my plan of action I basically address certain things that I've learned about during this internship. Things such as the importance of having a acquisition policy. Should the museum accept items on loan? Or should they only accept donations? Or both? This is important because if a museum accepts an item on loan they have to consider certain issues. Issues such as "who is responsible for insuring the item? The museum? Or the Loaner?" or even "Who is responsible for storing the item? The museum? or the loaner?" These are all little details that have to be considered when creating an acquisition policy. For the most part the GLBT History Museum of Central Florida has an official policy, but they have not decided whether or not they will accept items on loan.
In my plan of action, I also include my thoughts and ideas. Such as networking with other museums throughout the state and country (even the world). I've also included ideas on obtaining more history from the community, and some other ideas and opinions.

I think the plan of action is my favorite part. I get to take all that I've learned this semester about archiving and public history, and I get to actually show what I've learned. It's one thing to have the collection inventoried and organized, but to write up my recommendations and actually have them coming from my experience and research is pretty exciting. It certainly makes me feel like I know what I'm talking about and like I've actually learned from this whole experience. I love it!

The other thing I have left to do is to actually rehouse the Brian Arbogast collection! This will be pretty exciting! I start working on that next week!

For now I leave you all to go work on some Anthropology reading before I head into my part time job at Disney! Take care and have a great weekend!

-Kyle the intern

FINISHED!

Ok, so my title may be a little misleading, I finished my inventory of the collection! My finding aid is now a beautiful 25 pages long. I spent about 16 hours this week finishing up the rest of my inventory. My time was mostly dominated by The Center Collection. the rest of my time was devoted to the Patty Sheehan, Saviz Shafaie, and the Ken Kazmerski GLBSU Collections.

The Center collection is a very large collection to go through. It was originally 9 boxes of various documents pertaining to The Center. Through the process of reorganizing, I was able to bring it down to 8 boxes.
Boxes 1-3 pertain to the actual entity of The Center. That is to say, it contains various documents dealing with The Center. Documents such as Board manuals, minutes, lease information, membership information, funding information, etc.
Boxes 4-5 deal with the various publications The Center published. The longest running of which was The Triangle. Before it was The Triangle it was once New Directions, Centerfold, The Center Fold, and a couple other titles that escape my memory. Box 4 contains documents related to the running of the publication, The Triangle. This contains documents such as ad-agreements, funding, distribution, etc.
Boxes 6-8 contain various clippings from different news sources both locally and nationally. These clippings pertain to various GLBT community issues and concerns throughout the years. These boxes also contain various newsletters from an array of local GLBT groups.
The reorganizing of this collection required extensive work. Many times I felt like I had lost my mind. But the thing that helped the most was the fact that I had originally gone through and took an inventory of every file in the collection. I would move various files in my word document by cutting and pasting. I would then actually move said document to the corresponding box. Furthermore, just when I thought I had it just right, I realized I had to renumber the box! Needless to say, post-its are my friend. However, it is one thing to simply move a post-it, I had to also make sure my word document (my finding aid) reflected accordingly.

Taken about mid-day Thursday 3/7/2013. I simply felt like I had lost my mind! Completely surrounded by boxes and files!

I finally wrapped up work on The Center Collection this morning, Friday March 8, 2013. I was then able to go straight into the much smaller collections of Patty Sheehan, Saviz Shafaie, and Ken Kazmerski.

As I was going through the Patty Sheehan Collection I realized, I had finally found the "missing" Arbogast box! This box has been quite the frustration for me, as the Brian Arbogast collection is labeled as "Box 3 of 5" So earlier in my work when I couldn't find "Box 1" I had given up hope! Alas, the Sheehan Collection is housed in what used to be Box 1 of the Arbogast collection! It seems to me that this box was condensed into one of the other boxes in the collection so that it could make room for the Patty Sheehan Collection. Alas this mystery has been solved.... At least I hope so.

This is the box that currently houses The Patty Sheehan collection, but was once Box 1 of 5 in the Brian Arbogast collection.

The Saviz Shafaie Collection consists of 4 albums with various clippings of newsletters, news papers, photographs, etc. It also has a bag filled with buttons and pins pertaining to various GLBT events.

The Ken Kazemerski Collection, more specifically The Ken Kazmerski's GLBSU Collection, is in two bins. It consists of albums, files, shirts, awards, photos, and other items pertaining to the UCF Gay Lesbian Bisexual Student Union which was started in 1976. The items chronicle the rich history of this originally closeted club. It even includes the files of the 1995-1996 president. It is truly an interesting collection to look through. Though I have to say, honestly, every collection is really interesting to look though. Maybe that's because I'm just naturally nosy!

After I finished inventorying the collections I also took note of approximations on how many boxes and file folders would be needed for future rehousing of each collection in archival quality boxes and file folders. This is information I will include in my final recommendations for the GLBT History Museum of Central Florida. Throughout the current semester I have learned valuable information that I can pass along to the museum and its board. All of this information I will apply to a final recommendation for the future of the museum's archives, which is my next step!

Until next week,
-Kyle the intern

Digitizing history and continual inventorying!

This week I continued work on The Center collection. I have about three boxes left to inventory. I should note that I've been saying "processing" when in all actuality I've been taking a detailed inventory of each collection. The only collection I will hopefully fully process is the Brian Arbogast Collection, and that is because I will be rehousing the whole collection as well. Most of the work I've been doing with the other collections is making it easier for the next intern to pick up where I leave off so that they can better process the collection.

With that being said, I suppose I should inform you all as to what all I was up to this week. Well on Tuesday I met with David Bain whom is responsible for pretty much all the technological aspects of the museum. Ie. the online museum. We discussed the efforts made by the museum to digitize the collection. We discussed things such as the efforts to scan in all the publications and "tag" them with all the headlines from each issue, thus making it searchable. One of the things I really found interesting was he makes it a point to extensively tag articles dealing with political figures and their views on GLBT rights. He hopes that by doing so, people who do their research on voting for political figures will be able to see both past and present views. This way people can be educated voters.

Another thing we talked about was the fact that there are thousands of photos that had been uploaded to a yahoo group site. Unfortunately though, this site is not compatible with recent technology anymore. As a consequence all these photos will be lost. This is unfortunately a problem within the Public History realm. When creating a digital component to a museum, one must consider the longevity of the technology they are using. Not only must one consider the longevity, but they must also consider the compatibility with future technology.

Thursday I finished up inventorying box 6 of 9 Center boxes. It has been interesting going through these items, mostly because I did not know just how extensive the history of The Center was. It started off as the Gay and Lesbian Community Services, and eventually ended up as The Center. They also issued a monthly newsletter called The Triangle. It has been most interesting coming across this stuff simply because I had forgotten what it was like to create a news letter in the "olden days." We are talking about having templates that you stick pictures and what not on, and then having to send it off to a publisher! It reminded me of when I was in high school and I was pretty much the only one on the yearbook committee one year. It was left to me to cut the pictures and glue stick them onto pre-printed templates. What a task! It is simply amazing how much technology has changed in just 10-15 years! Everything is done with computer programs now, and with a click and a drag, you've got your published work!

This Saturday I will be attending a History Harvest up at the Sanford Public History Museum. I hope to learn more about overall efforts and techniques to digitize history. Next week I will be technically on Spring break. However, I will be at the University continuing work on my internship, as I will be missing about a week in April due to a wedding I have to attend in San Diego. My partner's sister is getting married to her partner, so it is kind of relevant don't you think?

Until next week,

-Kyle the intern

Excuses, THATCamp, Metadata, The Center, And More Archiving!

Hello readers! My apologies, again, for the delay in posting! I worked a lot of hours last week, plus school, so I have not really had time to sit down and write! So here we are now, nearly 5 days late. I'm a terrible person!

Let's recap shall we?  

Saturday February 16, 2013 I had the opportunity to attend THATCamp (The Humanities and Technology Camp) which was held in downtown Orlando. THATCamp is an "Unconference" where "humanists and technologists of all skill levels learn and build together in sessions proposed on the spot." It was really interesting! They had several time slots and three rooms. At any given point and time there was essentially three presentations being held. I unfortunately was only able to attend two presentations because I had to be at work at 2:30pm. The two presentations I was able to attend were: The UCF Center for Humanities and Digital Research Projects and H-Net 2.0.

The UCF Center for Humanities and Digital Research presentation discussed two particular sites. The first was The Charles Brockden Brown Archive. This presentation discussed the creation of an electronic archive. From the conception of the idea to the creation of the archive, and all those involved in between. The whole archive was created by a small group of researchers, but required national collaboration. This gave me the idea of having the GLBT History Museum of Central Florida look into ways of possibly collaborating with other national GLBT history museums. Who knows, maybe one day there could be an online archive for the history of the GLBT Community on a national level!

The second presentation I attended was the DAIS- Digital Archiving Information System. This one was created by graduate students in the UCF Text and Technology Program. Basically this site serves as a one stop shop for digital archives. It not only informs on how to create a digital archive, but it provides access to numerous digital archives throughout the country. Instead of serving as a simple directory to other digital archives, this site provides abstracts of each digital archive in their database. This provides the researcher with enough information to make a decision as to whether or not a particular archive would serve them properly. It is quite the feat and seems very promising!

The other presentation I attended was that of H-Net 2.0. Dr. Cassanello skyped the creator of the site, and he gave us an overview of the history and evolution of the site. This site has peer-reviewed essays, discussions, book reviews, etc. all on a scholarly level. In the past it was primarily updated by e-mail. By doing this, it provided access to people in countries that would normally not be able to contribute due to limited internet. For example, countries in Africa. Unfortunately though, as technology has changed, the site had to change as well. E-mail has become a dying form of communication and the site realized they were loosing subscribers and thus had to revamp their means of procuring information. It is now a site that is no longer updated by e-mail, but set up more like social media. The new site looks to be very promising.

Tuesday February 19, 2013 I met with Laura Cepero who is a metadata editor for RICHES of Central Florida. She gave a presentation about metadata, OMEKA, and the RICHES Mosaic Interface. 

Metadata at first seems complicated, but is actually pretty interesting and I'm sure easy once you get the hang of it. It is essentially a means of describing digital items (documents, letters, photos, etc) with key words so that researchers can easily find them. I like to think of it as more of an advanced form of the hash tags used on Twitter. 

OMEKA is a site that you can host your own archives on. Many of the University's digital archives are hosted by OMEKA (The university however, has their own servers, thus they have more storage space than OMEKA provides). OMEKA provides different templates and all the tools one needs to create their own digital archive. It's pretty much amazing! 

Speaking of amazing, let's talk about the RICHES Mosaic Interface! This is really an awesome feat! "The RICHES Mosaic Interface is the central internet location for content created through the RICHES projects and links to sources on Central Florida available from other repositories around the state." Basically, it displays a satelite image of Central Florida, and as you zoom in, and click around, you can discover the history of the different areas of Central Florida! One of the more complete areas on the site is Sanford. It is still relatively new and has a lot of room to grow. One of the cool features of the site is that it is able to "harvest" information from other repositories with compatible sites!

Thursday February 21, 2013 I stopped by the storage unit and picked up 6 of the 9 boxes of The Center collection. I was able to go through 5 of the 6 on Thursday alone! Which was quite an accomplishment if I do say so myself! My finding aid is now about 17 pages long, and it keeps growing! I've made a lot of progress, but still have much to do! I am almost done processing the special collections, the next step will be to process the exhibits. I also need to rehouse the Brian Arbogast collection. I hope to get a lot of work done during spring break which is apparently next week! I am currently sitting in the RICHES office and about to get to work! I will post another update on Friday (for real this time!)

Until then,

-Kyle the intern

Access vs. Censorship

Well hello readers! My apologies for not posting last week! I kinda fell into a slight depression of sorts. I started feeling very overwhelmed with my internship, classes, and work. This was also amplified by the fact that one of my roommates is moving out which means my rent is increasing. Needless to say I had a slight panic attack. Oh and it did not help that I started an entry for last week, and my phone wiped it! Alas, my sap story is over, let me fill you all in on what I've been up to!

So last week was a pretty eventful week. I sent the board my report on how much it would cost to rehouse the Arbogast collection. It was approved, and the supplies were ordered. They even shipped surprisingly fast! They shipped on Monday the 11th and were there yesterday when I was processing the Bruce Ground collection!

This week I started the processing of the Bruce Ground collection. Bruce Ground was the owner and operator of Out and About Books and Gifts off of Mills Avenue in the ViMi district of Orlando. His collection is very unique, in that it is not just a bunch of files and correspondence. His collection is a myriad of things. There are books, posters, photos, scripts, invoices, etc. I must say though the most haunting thing I found in his collection was a binder of medical records. I found this to be quite odd until I started flipping through it. As I flipped through it, I soon came to realize the significance of this binder. It became clear when I reached a portion of notebook paper that had a daily log of medicine. It was essentially the chronicle of one living with AIDS. I literally got goosebumps browsing through it. It was.... so haunting. As I proceeded deeper into the collection I came across another binder, but this one was filled with documents pertaining to a discrimination lawsuit. I opened this binder and realized that this was a discrimination lawsuit filed by the same person who had AIDS. He had informed his employer that he had AIDS and was thus fired soon after.

Upon reflection about these two items I realized how significant they could be to a researcher  If one wanted to know what it was like living with AIDS in the mid 1990s, they can go through the medical records of one who did. Furthermore  if a researcher wanted to know what the attitude of the general public towards those living with AIDS was, one can look at the binder with the documents pertaining to the discrimination lawsuit filed against his employer. Information like this is incredibly valuable to not only researchers, but to everyone. It helps bring an awareness to the general populace about HIV/AIDS. Hopefully with such an awareness, people will be encouraged to practice safe sex, and get tested regularly.

Now, you may have been wondering why I did not produce a name with this case. It is simply because I do not feel entirely comfortable posting a name. That is until I have a conversation with Bruce Ground (the creator of the collection) and the museum. This is something that actually came up in my meeting with Dr. Beiler yesterday, and that is the issue of Access vs. Censorship. Ultimately what it boils down to is, museums need to have a policy regarding issues of censorship. They must decide what they display, and how to display it. I met with my acting supervisor from the museum, Alan, yesterday (Thursday 2-14). Alan is a lawyer and informed me of some things regarding censorship. He told me that when it comes to documents pertaining to people, if it is a document spouting negative remarks towards an individual, then you would censor that persons name (the one receiving the negative remarks). Unless, that person is a public figure, then you would not censor their name. That being said, for now out of respect for the individual, and those close to him, I will keep the name anonymous until I know further details, and hear otherwise.


I think that about sums it up! I need to revise my finding aid, present that to Dr. Beiler on Tuesday, and do a quick overview of what all I have in the RICHES office. After that, I will return the Bruce Ground collection to the archives (storage unit). I will then start processing The Center collection on Thursday. That collection will probably take the most amount of time, because it is in about 6-8 boxes!


Until next time,
-Kyle the intern

Creating a Finding Aid

Greetings readers! My apologies for not getting this up sooner! I managed to get a sinus infection and an ear infection, which caused me to fall behind a bit!

Well this week was rather slow in the world of my internship. I primarily did a lot of reading on shared authority (which is very interesting!) and on how to create finding aids for a collection. I also spent a significant amount of time researching approximately how much it would cost to rehouse the Brian Arbogast collection. It's a lot of work, and at times can be a bit overwhelming, but I am enjoying every moment. I have my weekly meetings with Dr. Beiler that help me stay calm and focused.

Thursday I went through the rest of the Brian Arbogast collection and made notes of possible series for my finding aid. Basically it's divided up a little something like this: 

Repository:     The GLBT History Museum of Central Florida

     Record Group:     Brain Arbogast collection

          Series:     GLAAD

              

                 File Unit:     LA chapter correspondence

                                      WA chapter correspondence

           Series:     ILGA

                            1991 Pride Parade

And so on. I will present my initial finding aid to Dr. Beiler sometime next week. I will also have a full report of approximately how much it will cost to rehouse this collection in archivist quality materials. I have been given a budget of about $150. Which is doable, I just have to make sure I find the right materials.

Digressing back to the finding aid, this is one of the most frustrating things about the internship. It is frustrating in that it is constantly being revisited and edited. It is also frustrating because I have to keep the mentality that this is for future researchers use, not mine. So though things may make sense to me, the archivist, I need to constantly bear in mind the researchers use. So it ends up being a constant battle of checking myself; making sure I am not doing what I want, rather that I am doing what the future researcher needs. It is also difficult because I am constantly second guessing myself. I find that I ask myself, "Should I make that a series? Or, should it be a file unit to GLAAD?" Fortunately Dr. Beiler is there to help me when I do this. She is able to go over my work and help me see things that I am doing right and the things that need to be done differently.

I apologize for no epiphanies or anything of the sort in this week's entry, I am into the more tedious work now and as much as I'd love to, I can not really go through all of the finer details of the collection. Though it was interesting to come across things pertaining to Disney offering protection against discrimination to the GLBT community (which would not have happened had it not been for GLAAD, which would not have happened had it not been for Brian Arbogast). I also came across documents pertaining to the first Gay Days at Disney, the first pride parade in Orlando... all of these things that Brian Arbogast had his hand in. At the end of the day, as I was putting the boxes away, I found myself thanking him for all that he has done for our community in Orlando. He is truly an inspirational figure in the Central Florida GLBT community.

Until next week,

-Kyle the intern

"...not all research experiences are 'happy' ones."

You know that feeling you get when you wake up and your head feels like it is the size of Mt. Rushmore, and your body feels like you've been hit by a bus? Yea, that's how I felt Wednesday morning. I could feel the symptoms starting on Tuesday, but they really took over on Wednesday. Thus, the only day I got anything pertaining to my internship done this week was on Tuesday. So let me tell you about that!

Tuesday morning I brought the Brian Arbogast collection out of the storage unit and to my work space in RICHES. I started processing the first box, getting an idea of its contents. Brian Arbogast created the first chapter of GLAAD (Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) to Florida. The documents I inventoried and processed were amazing! He was able to get the Florida chapter of GLAAD registered with the ILGA (The International Lesbian and Gay Association) in the early 1990s! Making the Florida chapter the first American chapter of GLAAD registered with the ILGA! Most of the contents in this box consisted of newsletters and correspondence between the FL GLAAD chapter and other chapters of GLAAD throughout the United States. It also included newsletters and correspondence between the FL GLAAD chapter and the ILGA. 

Going through this box really paralleled with one of my readings for my History and Historians class. We had to read some selections from a book called Beyond the Archives: Research as a Lived Process edited by Gesa E. Kirsch and Liz Rohan. (for all intents and purposes this is my citation for what follows). The book is a bunch of essays written by various authors. "The collection on the whole addresses what inspires our work, what attracts us to our research subjects, how they attract us, and the role of serendipity, place, and cultural memory in making knowledge." In reading the introduction I came across this section that really resonated with me (albeit not at the moment of reading, but later):

     "...not all research experiences are "happy" ones. Archives can re-inscribe power structure and imperialist discourse, particularly when the researcher is both the object and the subject of research."

This portion of my assigned reading resonated with me later when I was going through the Brian Arbogast collection. I was going through two of the folders that contained the documents from the ILGA. In it there was correspondence and newsletters about a ILGA conference to be held in Mexico (I forget the year, I am fairly certain it was 1990). Though this was the past, I was very excited for the members of ILGA! But then I continued to turn the pages and found that the conference had been canceled due to many anti-gay protests and death threats. This saddened me, and I immediately recalled that sentence (mentioned above) from my reading. This internship, though amazing, may not always be a happy one. I am going to come across the anti-gay rhetoric of society, and it is going to hurt because I can be considered both the object and the subject of this internship (I am a part of the Central Florida community, and I am gay).

Alas, I can not let the negative aspects of history bring me down. For another section of the introduction to this book also stood out:

     "We are convinced - and our chapters bear this out - that the most serious, committed  excellent historical research comes from choosing a subject to which we are personally drawn, whether through family artifacts, a chance encounter, a local news story, or some other fascination that sets us on a trail of discovery, curiosity, and intrigue."

Who knows? Maybe as a result of this internship I will end up writing something that could be considered an "excellent historical research" pertaining to the Central Florida GLBT community. One can most certainly dream. After all, it is rather serendipitous how I landed this internship. 

Until next week,

-Kyle the intern

PS. Have no fear, I thought I had the flu, but my body actually just was not satisfied with having a sinus infection. It decided it wanted to have an ear infection as well! Alas, I have some good antibiotics and a steroid to help me power through this!

Sunday Board Meeting!

Sunday, January 20, 2013 I was invited to attend the GLBT History Museum of Central Florida's monthly board meeting held at The Center. It was an interesting experience for me, because I have never attended anything like that before. However It was very nice to be able to meet more people from the museum, who have dedicated their free time to collecting and preserving the GLBT history of our area. Each member took turns going over what their acting role is responsible for going over. I even got a chance to explain what all I have done so far. Like how I've organized the storage unit and all that fun stuff. I was even given some feedback from the board on things to keep my eyes out for and things to research.

Overall it was a great experience! It is making me feel much more professional than I am usually comfortable with, but it is a welcomed challenge!

Before I part, I have to mention the highlight of my day today. As we were in the middle of our meeting, a drag queen in a fabulous Lady Gaga looking costume appeared at the back door of the room we were in (Bananas, a 24 hr. diner run by drag queens shares a wall with The Center). Nobody flinched, they just continued on with the meeting as if that were an every day occurrence. It made me giggle quietly to myself. Then it made me think: "This is my world. These are my experiences, and I am blessed to be able to share them openly!"

Until next time,

-Kyle the intern

And now we start the tedious work...

TUESDAY

What a week it has been! It started off when I left my binder (that contains everything pertaining to my internship) at home on Tuesday. Which meant after my 9:15 am History and Historians class I had to drive all the way back to my place in Kissimmee, and then back to UCF for my meeting with Dr. Beiler and John at 1:30! I made it back to UCF with about an hour before the meeting. I worked on some stuff pertaining to our weekly activities. Basically answering questions like:

Q: How is the collection organized?

A: Umm... It was not organized. I organized it in a topical manner. Publications on one shelf, posters/banners on another shelf, special collections on the middle shelf, etc.

Q: What general topics do the collections cover?

A: The general topics the collection covers is Central Florida GLBT history. Covering local people, places, businesses, organizations, etc.

Q: What time period do the bulk of the collections cover?

A: The time period the bulk of the collections covers is that of the early/late 70s to the present.

Q: What types of items make up the majority of the collection?

A: The items that make up the majority of the collection are newspapers, magazines, newsletters, legal documents, correspondence, inventories, and photographs.

I answered these questions and went to the meeting with Dr. Beiler and John. The first topic that came up was our blogs. This is a new thing for all of us, and we are still learning from it. John felt that his blog was too dry (I need to get his blog so I can link to it, and read it!), whereas I felt that my blog may have come off as too humorous and not serious enough. Dr. Beiler on the other hand has assigned her Colonial History class to post a blog entry in response to one of the topics they are covering. Thus, she asked us, "what do you think makes a good blog?" My response is that a blog can be many things. It can be dry, humorous, instructional, formal, or even informal. It is a means for one to express their views and opinions to the world via a online platform. Personally, I want my blog to be reflective of my personality. I want people reading my blog, who have never met me, to be able to know what makes me tick. For instance, I love comedy. I practically live for comedy (that may be a bit dramatic). Because of this, I think what makes a good blog is one that can take the seriousness of life and balance it with humor. (I do not claim to have mastered this technique!) There are plenty of good blogs out there that are just straightforward academic, with no humor or anything. That is that particular author's style, and it works for them. Personally, I prefer a little bit of humor to keep me engaged. 

So that was a long rant, and I'm sure you are thinking "Okay, get to the point Kyle! What did you do this week?! Did you get chased down by a rabid raccoon?!" The answer is, Yes... I got chased by a rabid raccoon!... Okay, okay, no I did not get chased by a rabid raccoon, though that would have been much more humorous than forgetting my binder at my house! (Yes, I am still bitter about that! I don't know if I can ever move on from it.) 

Moving on. We finished our meeting with about 10 minutes to spare, so I could get a look at where I will be working when I get to the detailed inventory process. My work space will be in the RICHES office in Colbourn Hall. RICHES is the acronym for "Regional Initiative for Collecting the History, Experiences and Stories of Central Florida" They have a fun little website located here that you can look at if interested. I worked with RICHES last spring when I conducted an oral history interview with a veteran of the war in Afghanistan. I am very grateful that they will be allowing me to utilize their space for my collections processing!

I then headed up to the storage unit to complete the task of organizing everything. I spent about 3 hours moving things around to get it all situated to where I felt it all belonged. I can honestly say that when I open the storage unit now, I am very pleased with the way it looks, and how accessible everything in there is! It is worth mentioning that the entire time I have spent organizing the collection, I have also been taking an initial inventory. This involves me opening boxes (all Nancy Drew like) and going "Ok, 1 box filled with various documents: legal, correspondence, newspapers, newsletters, flyers, etc. This will be the John Smith Collection." That initial inventory ended up being about 7 pages handwritten. Once typed up it became like 3-4 pages long. By doing this I have become quite intimate with the collection. Granted, I couldn't tell you where correspondence between so and so is, I could probably make a general guess. However, I hope that through the process of creating a more detailed inventory I will be able to answer such questions!

THURSDAY

Create a detailed inventory is just what I started on Thursday afternoon! I started inventorying publications, more specifically the 2 plastic bins and one box containing Central Florida's very own Watermark newspaper. This is the beginning of the more tedious work. I started jotting down the volume and issue number, as well as the date and the front page headline. I would have loved to use my lap top, but there is no power source at the storage unit. (I don't start bringing things to the university until I get the clear from Dr. Beiler) This is a long process, but the end result will be worth it. I did this for about 3 hours and then headed over to my acting supervisor, Alan's house. We had a 2 hour meeting over dinner where we went over my syllabus and what all was expected from me and when certain deadlines were to be met. 

FRIDAY

Friday I met with the vice president of the museum, Dawn, at the storage unit to get certain questions about specific boxes answered. (Like, "Is this box considered a special collection?) I also obtained a little more background information of some of the collection. For instance I learned more about the collection containing various things from Out and About Books, which was one of the first gay owned businesses in the ViMi district (the area of Mills and 50). Having these questions answered marks the completion of the organization and the initial inventory. From now on I will be doing the more detailed inventory. 

REFLECTION

While continuing on this massive endeavor this week I have had multiple conversations with different people about the current generation. More specifically the current generation's lack of interest in not only the preservation of their own history, but their overall lack of interest in learning their history. I feel that the majority of the current generation has become complacent in their role in society. They understand that they are more socially accepted, but there are still things they have to keep behind closed doors. They don't fully realize the sacrifice that many people before them had to endure in order to get to where we are now. It truly makes me fearful for the future of our community. In the 70s, 80s, 90s, and 2000s we had people active and fighting. We still do today, but you don't really see much of the younger generation, and that's a shame. What happens when there is no one left to keep the fight going? Will the young generation pick up the pieces of the older generation and keep it going? Or will our history remain locked away in a storage unit and become the thing of myth? (I will admit, this observation is severely limited to my life and my observations. I have been working at Disney for nearly 7 years now, and it has been the bulk of my life observations. I am also fully aware that this is a very broad and generalized statement. I do know that there are younger people who are active, and will keep the fight strong. I hope so at least.)

I know I'm being a bit dramatic and critical of my generation, but I've never really felt like I belong in my own generation. However, I won't lie, being on the other end of the scope I can see how easy it is to be complacent. Why do something when others will do it for you? I can only hope that the work I'm doing, and the blog I write will keep people in our community active and fighting for equal rights across the board. It is one thing to say you will do something, but it is another thing to do! Tough I may not be out there protesting, I am doing something! There is nothing more rewarding than knowing that you are DOING something. 

Alas, I fear I may have been long winded again, but what do you expect when trying to sum up a week's worth of work? I do hope you all enjoy my blog!

Until next time,

Kyle the intern

**Next week**

This Sunday I will be attending the Museum's board meeting, so look forward to that! (I'm going to try to publish that as a separate blog).

Next Friday I will be going out of town to celebrate my significant other's birthday. I will try to have my blog posted Thursday night for all you beautiful readers! :)

First week: Introduction, meeting, and an adventure!

Hi there! My name is Kyle Messamore, and I am a history major at the University of Central Florida. I am currently doing a Public History internship with the Central Florida GLBT History Museum for the Spring 2013 semester. I have been tasked with going through the GLBT History Museum's collection and taking an initial inventory. I am to then process the collection and create a finding aid. I will also research different methods of storing documents and items and compose a cost analysis report for the Museum. Oh! I will also be running this blog! My posts will be weekly (my goal is to have my entries posted by Friday afternoon/evening), and will encompass a variety of topics. I will give an overview as to what I have done each week, with added humor (I have to keep you readers engaged!) I will reflect on what I am learning from the process of my internship. I will also reflect on how I am doing history for the public, since this is after all, a Public History internship.

First thing is first, a little about the Central Florida GLBT History museum. It was created by a group of activists who realized that there was nothing being done to preserve the Central Florida GLBT history. With no formal training, they banded together with a mutual cause to collect and preserve documents, publications, books, journals, photographs, etc. They have no permanent residence, that is, they do not have a physical brick and mortar structure that houses the museum. The museum is in the form of a virtual museum housed here, and it also takes form in a mobile museum (which is housed in a storage unit just outside of downtown Orlando). The museum board and staff is entirely made up of volunteers from the local community who put together the mobile museum, maintain the online museum, and meet once a month for a board of directors meeting (I will be attending one of these, possibly more, so look forward to a future blog).

Alright! So let's get started! shall we?!

I met with Dr. Rose Beiler, my internship adviser at UCF on Tuesday (January 8, 2013) afternoon, as well as another intern, John (he is interning at the Public History Center up in Sanford). It was a successful meeting, a lot was discussed, including discussion topics such as: "define archive" (archives are not only the physical buildings that house archives, but they are also usually literary items such as publications, letters, photos, books, etc),  "archivist profession" (the archivist profession is the responsibility to preserve materials and to make them accessible to researchers and the public), and "what is an administrative archivist" (an administrative archivist deals with a lot of the paperwork involved in running an archive, such as deeds of gifts, insurance policies, etc. Furthermore, they may be required to do an overview of the collection and provide a cost analysis report which would inform the owners of the collection how much it would cost to care for the collection in the long term). In addition to these discussion topics, we also discussed what was expected of us, and what to expect/anticipate as we take on our respective internships. Needless to say, I left the meeting feeling a little overwhelmed. Okay, I left feeling very overwhelmed! I was anxious to get started, and was also left wondering, "what the heck have I gotten myself into?!" However, I realized that I have an immense amount of resources and services to help guide me though this process. I know most of my nerves will filter away as I get my hands messy in this endeavor.

Then Thursday happened. That was a stressful morning on campus! (Dealing with unrelated course drama, add/swap/drop deadlines and what not.) I was supposed to meet up with the Vice President of the Central Florida GLBT History Museum, Dawn, at 2 pm. The goal was to organize the storage unit into a more categorical manner in order to make things easier to access, and to kind of separate the exhibit supplies and what not from the actual archival material. Well unfortunately Dawn was sick and had to cancel on me. I was slightly disappointed, but I did not become discouraged. Aside from my meeting with Dr. Beiler on Tuesday, I hadn't really put my hours in. So I went to the storage unit by myself.

Side note: Something to keep in mind, the storage unit is indoors and located by the Orlando Executive Airport off of highway 50. So, my overactive imagination is convinced that I am going to end up the product of some episode of CSI. This is conflated with my mother who is constantly convinced that the world is unsafe, and therefore I am constantly in the line of danger (There is a point here, I promise!).

Anyways, I arrived at the storage unit at 2 pm and proceeded to the second floor (it is an indoor, climate controlled, storage unit). I had been to it before, but had misplaced the new number of the unit. I proceeded to walk around the area I thought it was in, as I was pulling up the e-mail that had the new number from the President of the GLBT History Museum, Ken. So I'm walking, no noise is made (other than me cursing myself for not knowing where the unit was), and I've got the general sense that I'm alone. Here. On the second floor. By myself. (Did I mention I have an overactive imagination?) Anyways, I FINALLY found the e-mail with the new unit number, and proceeded to the unit to open it. Here is where I panic.

Almost immediately after opening the storage unit I hear what sounds like someone got out of a chair and started walking around in another unit either behind, or to the corner of, or next to ours! Immediately I think to myself, "Oh my god! Someone is living in the storage unit next to ours!! OH MY GOD! THERE IS GOING TO BE AN EPISODE OF CSI BASED OFF ME!" I almost bolted.... I seriously needed to calm down! (I mentioned I have an overactive imagination right?)

I Cher slapped myself and said "Snap out of it!" This calmed me down, and I made mental notes of alternate routes out of the building and proceeded to stare blankly at the contents of the storage unit (as I reflect upon this moment, I kick myself for not taking before pictures!). I stared blankly at the contents because it seemed so disorganized, boxes and bins everywhere! Some on shelves, and some stacked on the floor. I took a couple of deep breaths and remembered my mother's advice "when you have a pile of something to do, you deal with it like you would eating an elephant; one bite at a time." (What my mother is doing eating elephants I do not know. That is her business, and if she ends up in jail for it I will find a way to bail her out because that is what good sons do.)

So I started this task. One that seemed daunting at first, but as I got going I found I could not stop myself. Every box I picked up had so many different items! However, they were not just any items, not just the items of Joe Schmoe, but rather, they were the items of my community. My community of Central Florida. My home for 23 of my 25 years of life. Furthermore, they are the items of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender community of my home; my people. It is simply fascinating to come across such unique items and exhibits like, "The History of the Parliament House," (which I used to frequently sneak into when I was younger, *cough* 17 *cough* just to catch a drag show. Shh!) to an extensive collection of Central Florida's GLBT newspaper, The Watermark. There are many more publications that I had never even heard about! I came across books, photos, correspondence  flyers, t-shirts, flags, etc. All representing the history of my community and my people.

The whole experience was so exciting, I felt like a real life Indiana Jones.... Okay, bad analogy because he was essentially a grave robber. My point is, it was just so exciting to be able to go through everything with my inquisitive nature and uncover so much of the region's GLBT history! I think it is so easy as a Gay "citizen" of Central Florida to just chop up your history to, "there are people like me here, we have GLBT clubs, and a bunch of GLBT people work at Disney." To be able to realize that it is so much more than that, and that things have not always been as open and accepted as they are today, is truly eye opening. It is so important to know your roots, and know what others have sacrificed and endured in order for you to be open and proud of yourself. I think if one is able to recognize this, they can be a better member of their community and society. The way to get one to realize this is through the preservation of their community's documents, photos, publications, etc. Which is why I am so incredibly grateful for this opportunity at hand. I am helping to preserve the history of our GLBT community here in Central Florida, and it is a truly rewarding experience!

Here are the after photos of the storage unit. This is the result of 5 hours of organizing:

I really should have taken before photos...

Thank you for taking time to read my blog. I apologize for it being lengthy, but I have a lot to say! :)

Until next week,

-Kyle the intern.