On May 21, Thom “Panzi” Hansen, President of the Arts Project of Cherry Grove, announced that the Cherry Grove Archives Collection (CGAC) will display some of its treasures in a show entitled “Safe/Haven: Gay Life in 1950s Cherry Grove,” seen in an earlier version last year at the Stonewall National Museum in Wilton Manors, Florida. The forthcoming showing will be at the New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West, at West 77th Street, on display on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays from May 14 to October 11.
Panzi wrote, “Curated by Brian Clark, Susan Kravitz, and Parker Sargent, and coordinated by Rebecca Klassen, New-York Historical’s associate curator of material culture, this exhibition explores the gay and lesbian community that flourished during the 1950s in Cherry Grove through approximately 70 enlarged photographs and additional ephemera from the unique holdings of the CGAC. Visitors will be able to hear excerpts from interviews with Cherry Grove elders, as well as have an opportunity to record their own stories to be preserved by the Archives. New-York Historical’s outdoor rear courtyard is the perfect setting for our exhibition, where it can be viewed safely during these COVID times. Admission is free to the public, although timed tickets will be required. Learn more at nyhistory.org.”
Writing about the show, in connection with its debut in Florida, Archives Collection member Brian Clark wrote, “The exhibit includes images from costumed themed parties, LGBTQ and gender-fluid theater productions, and the developing 'sense of Community' that had the opportunity to flourish in a beach town on Fire Island during the McCathy era years. The black-and-white as well as color images from our collection come from 35 mm and medium size negatives, slides, polaroids, and printed photographs that our committee has been able to digitize over the past 10 years. Included in the exhibit are actual 1950s theatre playbills, themed house party invitations, images of original hand painted theatre posters, police community warning signs, contact proof sheets, and house signs. In this exhibit, viewers can begin to see how gay people from all over the world had the chance to come together and openly socialize, express their gender fluidity, and explore and share their sexuality within this safe space known as Cherry Grove.”
Added since the Florida version of the show, according to archivist Troy Files, have been "new images to the existing categories, a new sexuality category, as well as a category that highlights the changes that came in the decades following the 1950s. This exhibition also has a good amount of written history and added ephemera."
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