LYNN — United Lynn Pride has won the Albert B. Corey Award for its work titled, “Through a Rainbow Lens: A Reflection on Lynn’s LGBTQ+ History.”
The United Lynn Pride project aims to preserve, share, and highlight Lynn’s LGBTQ+ history, said Jim Moser, Project Director.
Supported by a Mass Humanities grant, the project team conducted 32 video-recorded oral histories with key members of Lynn’s LGBTQ+ community over the last 50 years, documenting joys, successes, challenges, and hardships experienced by Lynn’s gay, lesbian, transgender,
and queer community, Moser said,
A new documentary film, “Finding Refuge, Demanding Equality: A Century of LGBTQ+ Lynn,” based on the project, was shown on Monday.
Moser said he was elated about receiving the award for his and his team’s work.
“If we don’t put it down, if we don’t capture it — somebody else is going to write it for us or erase it. We’ve fought so hard. It really is a film about progress. We’ve come a long way,” Moser said.
Sean Reid, State Representative for West Lynn & Nahant, said it was an amazing documentary.
“I know Jim and everyone else involved put so much time and effort into that, and it clearly showed a great testament to the diverse and rich history we have here in the city,” Reid said. “I know I personally learned so much about that history, and it’s a great way to sort of kick off the Pride month that we have here in Lynn.”
Peter Romagna, senior program manager at RAW Art Works, where the first screening was held, said that while he was in college, in the early 2000s, he heard a lot of buzz about Frans Place, which was a popular gay bar in Lynn, highlighted in the documentary.
“I loved being able to understand what that kind of culture was in the late 70s and 80s, and see how different it is from now,” Romagna said. “I really thought it was a great overview of Lynn and how much progress has been made here.”
Billy Mulcahy Moser, an attendee of the film and Jim Moser’s husband, said he thought the film was wonderful, “My husband did a really wonderful job.”
The Albert B. Corey Award is part of the American Association for State and Local History – Leadership in History Awards, the most prestigious recognition for achievement in the preservation of state and local history, the AASLH press release read. The organization recognizes one primarily volunteer-operated organization that best displays the qualities of vigor, scholarship, and imagination per year. This honor also includes a $500 award for the organization.
Moser said that research for this project included analyzing articles from Gay Community News, InNews Weekly, the Daily Item, and the Boston Globe, dating back to the 1800s. Two hundred news clippings were collected and presented as a chronological and geographically organized timeline.
For the making of the film, 1,400 images, including photos, flyers, advertisements, and other documents, were gathered from 42 contributors and organized into 200 subject-based photo albums.
Research on gay bars identified 19 different business names across 9 locations, while other significant locations were researched and compiled into a map. All collected videos, transcripts, indexes, images, and news clippings were archived at The History Project.
“We had to do this in order to piece it all together,” Moser said.
The TRL project shared its findings through various platforms, including a website, an exhibit at the Lynn Museum, a 360° Virtual Museum, pamphlets, and public talks and tours.
“It is a tremendous honor to be the only group in the country to be awarded with the most prestigious recognition for achievement in the preservation of state and local history. I thank the project team, Cristian Recinos, Professor Drew Darien and retired Professor Pat Gozemba, for their amazing work and that work merits broader recognition,” said Moser.
“We are so proud to see our residents’ amazing work in creating Through a Rainbow Lens receive this well-deserved honor. The project is a powerful example of the tremendous value in looking back at ourselves as a community,” said Mayor Jared C. Nicholson in the press release.
