Until 1962, all 50 states in the US criminalized same-sex sexual activity. In 2003, less than two decades ago, all remaining laws against same-sex sexual activity were invalidated. But before that, LGBTQ people were forced to live in secret, lest they risk the possibility of losing their education, jobs, healthcare, homes, families, freedom, or lives. As a result much of LGBTQ history has been lost or destroyed by people fearing discovery. Understanding this, activist and historian Richard C. Wandel created the LGBT Community Center National History Archive at The Center in New York City in 1990 to, to collect, preserve, and make available to the public at large the material evidence of LGBTQ New Yorkers and their lives.
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“As a community-based archive, we focus on unpublished records that people create… [connecting] with folks on the ground in big and small ways,” says Director of Archives Caitlin McCarthy. “The Center Archive was created as a space for those impacted by the devastating personal loss during the AIDS crisis. After people died, a family member or landlord might have tossed their belongings because they didn’t see any value in their artwork, journals, or photo albums — but we did.”
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After working at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the New York Historical Society, McCarthy joined The Center when Wandel retired in 2017, after 27 years of service. “I’m the only staff in the department, which happens sometimes in archives,” says McCarthy, who handles donations, reference services, education, and exhibition aspects of the work. “Working with my community here has given me the ability to break the mold when necessary, with the recognition that the traditional ways of running an archive, collecting, serving researchers and even defining them may not serve The Center Archive.”
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Read the Full Story at British Journal of Photography
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