About the Project
This digital exhibit was created by Jay Kinde '25 with the support of Melissa Mead, the John M. and Barbara Keil University Archivist and Rochester Collections Librarian. The project was inspired by the 2023 Meliora Weekend presentation "LGBTQ+ Legacies: University Archives and Cultural Heritage" given by Melissa Mead and Miranda Mims, former Director of the Department of Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation. The discussion after the lecture revealed that there were many gaps in the history of LGBTQ+ student life on campus. Jay Kinde was inspired to fill in some of these gaps to honor the generations of LGBTQ+ students that may have gone unnoticed or unrecognized.
In the Spring of 2024, Kinde began research in fulfillment of an internship (HIST 394) under Professor Michael Jarvis. The project was continued throughout the 2024 summer in fulfillment of the "Students Experiencing History Directly" internship, made possible by the generosity of Randy and Lisa Whitestone through the Zagorin fund. Katelyn Getchel aided the project throughout the summer as the Graduate Student Advisor for the internship. A presentation about the Project will be given during Meliora Weekend 2024.
Jay Kinde '25 is an undergraduate student double majoring in History and English, with a minor in Digital Media Studies. His research focus is LGBTQ+ history and he is pursuing an honors history thesis on Transgender Men in the United States, 1960s-1980s.
The materials included in this website are housed in the University Archives of the Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation Department.