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O
ctober is both LGBTQ History Month and Coming Out Month. The coincidental dual celebrations are intricately interconnected. “Coming Out” is the culmination of the process of LGBTQs accepting their identity. It’s something like a personal debutant moment or Quinceañera. For the neophyte accepting and embracing their identity it is moment of great relief and, hopefully for most, continued growth as an individual. Part of that growth may be in learning their history. Exploring local LGBTQ history is easier today than it was during the days of the nascent liberation movement of the 1960s. In fact, it would take nearly three decades after the Stonewall Uprising for any concerted effort to preserve our local history to take place. It was in the mid-1990s when both the Milwaukee LGBT History Project and the LGBTQ+ Archive at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee’s Golda Meier Library were established as resources for the documentation of local LGBTQ history.
Where to Find Wisconsin LGBTQ History in Print, Archives and Online? BY PAUL MASTERSON
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Community activist Don Schwamb created the History Project. It began with a display of biographical posters featuring elder LGBTQ leaders. The posters, along with an interactive printed timeline and other material would be displayed each year at PrideFest and at other venues in the city.
SPECIAL COLLECTIONS Around the same time, the UWM Golda Meier Library LGBTQ+ Archive and Special Collections became a publicly accessible repository for primary source material related to the Milwaukee queer community. It assembled papers, manuscripts files and other documents related to the local liberation and civil rights movements, lesbian feminism, queer culture, community and organizations. These include collections from leading Milwaukee activist Eldon Murray and the Gay People’s Union. The archive continues to collect personal and organizational papers and documents, relying on donations to expand its catalog. The Special Collections section of the archive contains LGBTQ newspapers, newsletters and other print media. In 2003, Schwamb created a History Project website, wisconsingayhistory.org. The ambitious undertaking divides the historical record into major categories: People, Organizations, Businesses, Media and Events. Each category contains further
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