ST. LOUIS, Mo. —The Human Rights Campaign St. Louis will present the Missouri Historical Society (MHS) with the Advocate for Equality Award at their annual St. Louis Dinner & Auction to take place on Saturday, September 14, 2019, at the Marriott Grand St. Louis. The Missouri Historical Society is being honored for the organization’s LGBTQ+ Collecting Initiative.
“We are thrilled to present this award to the Missouri Historical Society to recognize and honor their LGBTQ+ Collecting Initiative, which is truly a landmark initiative for our Midwest state,” said Human Rights Campaign St. Louis Gala Co-Chair, Amy Bornstein.
MHS partnered with the St. Louis LGBTQ History Project on the initiative, which launched in December 2013. The Missouri Historical Society’s LGBTQ+ Collecting Initiative seeks to collect items and stories related to the history of the LGBTQ+ community in the St. Louis region, in order to develop a collection that can be researched for years to come.
“The LGBTQ+ Collecting Initiative is important and historic work,” said Sharon Smith, Curator of Civic and Personal Identity for the Missouri Historical Society. “The Missouri History Museum is preparing for both a small atrium show in 2020 and a major comprehensive exhibit on St. Louis’s LGBTQ+ community to open in 2025, coinciding with the 10th anniversary of the 2015 Supreme Court decision. Having a diverse collection of artifacts, archival documents, oral histories and other digital media to pull from in developing these exhibits is crucial to sharing the LGBTQ+ story.”
If you have items you wish to be considered for the collection, contact Sharon Smith, MHS Curator of Civic and Personal Identity: sharons@mohistory.org or (314)- 746-4535.