LYNN — “Lynn LGBTQ+ Memories” is an event to collect LGBTQ+ history: photos, videos, fliers, buttons, hats, T-shirts, matchbooks, mugs, news clips, documents, memorabilia, and other objects.
“This is your last chance to preserve Lynn’s LGBTQ+ history for future generations” according to Jim Moser, the project director for “Through a Rainbow Lens, A Reflection on Lynn’s LGBTQ+ History,” which has been documenting Lynn’s LGBTQ+ History for the past year. “Drag your memories out of your closets, out of your basements and out of your attics and bring them to the Lynn Museum where they will be scanned or photographed on Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024 from 4 to 7 p.m.”
Photographs of the items will appear on the website, www.UnitedLynnPride.com/lgbtqhistory, and be preserved in a digital archive. Admission is free for this event.
“Our project is wrapping up and will stop collecting after this week. Although we’ve had a good response so far with photos and objects from 40 different people, we know there is still a lot of good material that we have not seen,” Moser said.
“Through A Rainbow Lens, A Reflection on Lynn’s LGBTQ+ History,” an exhibit at the Lynn Museum that spans close to a century of city history, covers everything from Lynn’s nearly 20 gay bars, to members of the city’s LGBTQ+ community who went on to national fame. The project features more than 30 filmed interviews with members of the city’s LGBTQ+ community, some dating back 40 years, as well as more than 1000 photos, fliers, posters, and dozens of news articles. The exhibit is open until the end of October.
United Lynn Pride produced the project in collaboration with Salem State University, the Lynn Museum & Arts Center, and The History Project, an LGBTQ+ archive in Boston. United Lynn Pride received a $20,000 grant from the “Expand Mass Stories” initiative of Mass Humanities.
