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.
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