Personal Histories in Enamel

by Paige Wilcox

A pink triangle. The words “Gay Life” surmounted by a crown. And rainbows, so many rainbows. Enamel pins are scattered across my desktop, their colorful faces glinting under the lighting.

During much of my time as an archives intern, I have organized and inventoried a portion of a large and varied assortment of material all filed under the umbrella of “Art and Artifacts.” One-of-a-kind handmade art pieces mingle with mass-produced items, like these pins, in a collection as eclectic and diverse as the community of individuals that contributed to it.

Thanks to a 2018 grant from the Historic Preservation Fund Committee of the San Francisco Mayor’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development, the GLBT Historical Society has been working on a processing project for its Art and Artifacts Collection for the past two years. It has been remarkable to come face to face with objects in the archives that exude a kind of “star power”: a pair of novelty sunglasses once worn by Harvey Milk, or a stage costume designed by disco diva Sylvester, for instance. But taking a peek into the lives of unknown, everyday people is just as powerful.

The greatest delight of last summer was my work cataloging the collection of enamel pins commemorating the events and organizations of San Francisco’s gay community in the 1970s and 1980s. Their sheer number and temporal scope made me feel as though I was peeking through a window not only into another era, but to the life of the man who carefully curated this collection. 

Mysteries Big & Small

Working with objects from the past is replete with mysteries big and small. The pin collector’s name is unknown, as are many of the people who hand-painted picket signs and protest posters, the activists who proudly wore early rainbow-themed merchandise, and the unknown drag queens whose elaborate costumes are now meticulously conserved in the archives. In the absence of their words, these people’s stories are transmitted to us through their belongings — their collections, their creations, the long-ago decisions of what they chose to keep and what they chose to donate to us.

History, and the tangible traces it has left behind, are especially precious to members of marginalized and frequently forgotten communities. The individuals who created or collected the materials in the Art and Artifacts Collection, be they artist or appreciator, celebrity or anonymous donor, have each helped to paint a vibrant picture of San Francisco’s LGBTQ past.

Paige Wilcox was the society’s registration intern from May 2019 through March 2020. She recently received her M.A. in museum studies from the University of San Francisco.