TRAVELING IN OUR FABULOUS GAY WORLD: Stonewall Library Museum & Archive

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The Stonewall Library began in 1973 as the brainchild of Mark Silber who was a student at Florida Atlantic University. He traveled widely and collected as many books as possible, storing them at the family home in Hollywood, Florida. The name “Stonewall” was chosen to honor the significance of the 1969 Stonewall riots in New York City in the early years of the modern gay movement.

Silber moved to New York in 1984 and the collection had grown too large to move so Silber organized his friends into a corporation which would grant borrowing privileges to members and conduct regular meetings.

The collection was first moved to the Metropolitan Community Church, giving the collection a permanent home. From 1987 to 1994 the library grew and eventually filed as a tax-exempt status. Joel Starkey had been collecting periodicals, correspondence, and other materials he called “The Southern Archives”. When he became ill and offered his collection to the library, the corporation reorganized as Stonewall Library and Archives , Inc. and in 1990 , the IRS granted the new combined 401 status, making all contributions tax deductible.

When Dr. John C. Graves began his tenure on the Board of Directors in 1994, he made fund-raising a top priority for the Library. In 1997 Stonewall rented space from the Gay and Lesbian Community in Ft. Lauderdale.

In the following three years, Stonewall grew not only in numbers of books and archives, but in accessibility and diversity of programming. In May of 2000 Stonewall moved to 1717 North Andrews Avenue in Ft. Lauderdale as a tenant of the CLCCSF.

In its new location the entire collection including the archives was first housed under one roof. Patrons could also enjoy a new reading room named after Dr. John C. Graves, where they could peruse national GLBT periodicals and hold meetings and discussion groups. Historians and other scholars could pursue more serious research in the new organized archives.

In 2005 Stonewall began an annual series of history exhibitions shown at the Broward Main Library. These groundbreaking exhibitions were “The Nazi Persecution of Homosexuals - 1933-1945”, “Pride: Party of Protest”, “Days without Sunshine: Anita Bryant’s Anti-Gay Crusade”, “Out of the Shadows: Gay American from Kinsey to Stonewall” and “Stonewall: The Ending of the Beginning of Gay Liberation”.

By the end of 2006 Stonewall’s programming had expanded to include a Distinguished Author Lecture Series, literature discussion groups, an opera appreciation group, two monthly film programs, a writer’s workshop, monthly art exhibitions, and a community space that generated over eight thousand persons visits a year.

Also in 2006 through a generous grant from the John C. Graves Trust of the Community Foundation of Broward, Stonewall hired it’s first full-time professional Executive Director, Jack Rutland, who brought 30 years of non-profit management experience to the position.

The Andrews Avenue building was sold to developers in 2006 and Stonewall immediately began to look for a new home. At the same time, it launched a $1 Million capital building and endowment campaign. It has now reached over $800,000 which is allocated for capital building and endowment campaign.

The Stonewall Library/Archives
and Museum is now located in the Ft. Lauderdale Branch Library/ArtServe building located at 1300 East Sunrise in a 4500 square foot area of collection, exhibition, public program and administration space. It doubled it’s size. It officially opened in January, 2009. They now have over 25,000 volumes regarding gay/lesbian/bisexual and transgender subjects. They have a circulating DVD and VHS collection which includes over 600 titles ranging from classic gay cinema to the most recent releases.

The Stonewall Museum is one of the only permanent spaces in the United States devoted to the display of exhibitions relating to GLBT culture and history. They host 8 permanent exhibitions of local GLBT artists. They have a distinguished
Author’s Lecture Series.

For more information about the Stonewall in Ft. Lauderdale, visit their website at www.stonewall-library.org. 1300 East Sunrise Boulevard in Ft. Lauderdale. Contact Jack Rutland, Executive Director at jack-rutland@stonewall-library.org Feel free to contact them and send them anything you have regarding GLBT history.

Always remember to have fun when traveling, meet new people and talk to everyone! TRAVELING IN OUR FABULOUS GAY WORLD is written by Donald Pile and Ray Williams, Award-winning, Celebrity travel columnists who write for gay publications from coast to coast (And now legally married). Proud members of the IGLTA. You can email them at gaytravelers@aol.com and visit their website at http://gaytravelersataol.blogspot.com/