Looking Backward, Looking Forward: Reflecting on the GLBT Historical Society’s Progress in 2019

by Terry Beswick

As we all begin — gulp! — working on our New Year’s resolutions for 2020, I’m also pausing for a moment to reflect on all that we at the GLBT Historical Society accomplished during an eventful 2019, and planning for what promises to be an equally exciting year forging ahead in our efforts to preserve and share LGBTQ history.

With popular exhibitions and engaging monthly programs, the GLBT Historical Society Museum remains an international destination and a local gathering place. The year began with an exhibition celebrating the 20th anniversary of Bay Area American Indian Two Spirits. Two exhibitions in February and May documented the famous nightlife and leather/kink subcultures of the SoMa neighborhood.

Over the summer, our board chair Tina Valentin Aguirre curated “Chosen Familias,” a loving exploration of how LGBTQ Latinx people in the Bay Area have redefined notions of family and kinship. Finally, in November the society opened “ Performance, Protest and Politics,” which considers the less well-known dimensions of rainbow-flag creator Gilbert Baker’s life and draws on a number of our archival collections.

A Global Presence

Throughout the year, we worked to make our extensive archival holdings more easily discoverable and accessible. Our archives staff overhauled our catalog search function and unveiled three new, topical research guides to our holdings related to religion and spirituality; people with disabilities; and transgender, nonbinary, intersex and Two-Spirit people. We uploaded several online collections focusing on the Bay Area’s response to the AIDS crisis, and have made over 4,000 digital images available from four of our most frequently used photographic collections. All told, over 350 researchers used the archives this year, and we accessioned over 50 new collections.

We presented our archival holdings globally, sharing precious artifacts with institutions across the Bay and around the world. In 2019 we lent objects and photographs to the Newseum in Washington, D.C., the Bundeskunsthalle in Bonn, Germany, and closer to home, to the Oakland Museum of California and the SFO Museum to inaugurate Harvey Milk Terminal 1 at San Francisco International Airport.

The society maintained a significant presence at two landmark queer history conferences that took place during Pride month. First, we cohosted Queer History Conference 2019 in San Francisco, along with the American Historical Association’s Committee on LGBT History. We also presented at the Queering Memory international LGBTQ archives, libraries, museums and special collections conference in Berlin.

Historic Preservation Victories

On the home front, our historic and cultural preservation efforts resulted in several significant victories. In June, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors formally created the Castro LGBTQ Cultural District, the city’s seventh officially designated cultural district and the third that is LGBTQ-related. The same month, the board declared the Paper Doll, a former restaurant and historic LGBTQ gathering place in the North Beach neighborhood, as the city’s first landmark recognizing pre-1965 LGBTQ history.

I’d like to especially acknowledge the loads of love and unflagging support of the incomparable Juanita MORE! during 2019. In April the society received a unique piece of artwork depicting Miss MORE! painted by anonymous San Francisco artist BiP. She went on to make the society the beneficiary of her legendary annual Pride party in June, hosted our annual gala in October and helped us develop new sponsorships and partnerships, all with her customary style and grace.

We’re so grateful to you, our supporters, enthusiasts and members, who have made our continuing growth possible. We are evolving into the institution our community deserves and we expect to make significant progress in the coming year towards our goal of establishing a full-scale LGBTQ Museum and Research Center in San Francisco — the first of its kind in the United States, and only the second in the world.

As we look ahead to our 35th year, stay tuned for several exciting upcoming exhibitions and archival projects, as well as wonderful new collaborations. Thank you for joining us as we look forward to the future!

Terry Beswick is executive director of the GLBT Historical Society.