GLBT Historical Society Set to Open New Castro Exhibit
Five-year lease signed for prime location groundwork for first U.S. GLBT museum

By Kellie Ell

As another Pride Celebration rolls around, the Gay Lesbian Bisexual and Transgender Historical Society prepares for this year’s festivities with the opening of a new art installation in the hopes of creating the country’s first GLBT history museum.

In April, with the backing of city officials and local activists, the non-profit signed a five-year lease at 4127 18th St. on the corner of Castro Street, in the heart of the neighborhood. The space, a former laundromat, is currently unoccupied and sits only footsteps away from the 2008 yearlong exhibit.

“We want to open as soon as possible,” said Paul Boneberg, executive director of the GLBT Historical Society. “Our goal is this summer if we can.”

The group is aiming for a June or July date for the preview sampler of their Silver Anniversary Exhibit. The show, titled “25 by 25,” will feature 25 iconic pieces from the non-profit’s permanent archives in their South of Market offices that “reflect key moments in our history,” Boneberg said.
The primary show will open on Sept. 1. Exhibits will include Harvey Milk’s bloodstained suit, erotic photos and magazines dating back to the early 1900s, gay-friendly board games, an Anita Bryant dartboard and other memorabilia.

The Historical Society is partnering with Walgreens to make the museum a reality. The new space, more than 1,600 square feet, will be twice as large as the preceding exhibition. The museum will take up approximately two-thirds of the space.

The corporation has agreed to lower the $10,000 a month retail space to $2,000 a month for the first year, increasing a thousand dollars a year, with a maximum of $6,000, as well as pay all “build-out” and maintenance fees linked to the project, such as electricity and painting. In exchange, Walgreens will use the remaining one-third of the space to expand their already existing pharmacy next door to include infusion rooms for intravenous therapies.

The society is relying heavily on fund-raising and donations to raise the estimated $180,000 needed to open the first year. In 2009, the Historic Society received a $100,000 grant from the City of San Francisco to help fund the endeavor.

The preservation group was forced to move out of their last exhibit, which was donated by Chase Bank, after only a year of residence because “the lease was up,” says Aimee Forster, operations manager of the archive. The group hopes to move the entire collection, presently located on Third and Mission Streets, to a more permanent home within the next year, including moving their other programs into the neighborhood.

“GLBT is making a major contribution to the Castro,” Boneberg says.

The organization was founded in March 1985 as “a home for our history.” The main exhibit galleries at 657 Mission St. #300 are open Tuesday through Saturday, 1 to 5 p.m. The archive of the GLBTHS is one of the world’s largest collections of primary source materials about GLBT history.
Although the archival collection focuses on only GLBT history, it is central to San Francisco and Northern California, their politics, values and communities.

“We had enormous success from our last exhibit,” Boneberg says. “People see the value of a cultural resource and a tourist destination.”

Copyright 2010 Castro Courier