by Julianna Head
The Stonewall National Museum and Archives (SNMA) is located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Founded by Mark Silber in 1972, the SNMA is dedicated to LGBT+ history, civil rights, arts, and culture. The museum features three gallery spaces with exhibits that change on a monthly and bi-monthly basis and includes a permanent timeline of American LGBT+ history. At nearly fifty years old, the SNMA focuses on promoting, understanding, and sharing the culture of the LGBT+ community and their role in American society. It is one of the largest gay archives and libraries in the United States, and public programs include a variety of events, such as film showings, author presentations, and panel discussions.
Though the museum and archives have no direct link to the New York Stonewall Riots of 1969, Mark Silber chose the name as a way to recognize the fight for LGBT+ rights that began there. Programs within SNMA carry the name as well, such as the Stonewall National Education Project, which is composed of more than 200,000 educators and delegates representing millions of high-school-aged youths. Its annual symposium includes topics such as sex, sexuality, support systems, social justice and curriculum, and accommodations for transgender and gender nonconforming students.
Upon entering the website, the visitor is greeted by little immediate information. The background is dominated by a picture of the front of the museum and archives, cut through with an eye-catching, transparent yellow box with a variety of links, including ‘Current Virtual Exhibitions’ and ‘Public Programming.’ The navigation bar at the top of the page includes a few tabs linking to an ‘About Us’ page, a ‘Programs’ page, and others. Scrolling down, the location and hours of the SNMA are in small print, and immediately following is a list of supporters.
Clicking on the ‘Public Programming’ tab leads to a page of online events covering a variety of LGBT+ issues. Even before the pandemic, the SNMA hosted a variety of online events. Free and open to the public, there are at least two virtual events held every month, often more. The events are conversations and discussions with LGBT+ artists, writers, photographers, illustrators, activists, and others. The events delve into national queer history by highlighting recently published queer authors. The SNMA makes it a point to mention their enewsletter at the top of every page, which will allow visitors to stay informed about these virtual events and other ongoings of the museum and archives.
The SNMA website is eye-catching and easy to navigate. Many of their pages are constantly being updated, which is a great inference to the energy and passion the workers and volunteers bring to their duties. Not only are they active, but the virtual events keep up to date with current sociopolitical issues, dealing with subjects from racism and discrimination to queer history. Their travelling exhibitions are available at all CenterLink LGBT+ Centers and can be accessed throughout the United States. The SNMA also has a webpage dedicated to additional LGBT+ archives around the country, allowing visitors to find archives and resources they may not have been previously aware of.
The ongoing pandemic has turned their attention from physical outreach to virtual, and they have adapted exceptionally well. They are planning on having their yearly Stonewall National Education Project symposium virtually and have a variety of online exhibits that a visitor can click through. The virtual exhibitions highlight the breadth of LGBT+ history in the United States, and the includes materials such as lesbian feminist periodicals, posters from New York’s disco scene, and magazines from the National Black Lesbian and Gay News Magazine. Though there are not many virtual exhibitions yet, with the way the website is run, visitors can expect a new exhibition once every few months.