Harvey Milk clowning around at the Castro Camera store, 1977; photograph by Daniel Nicoletta, used with permission.
EVENT DESCRIPTION
In the inaugural event of our new program series, “Queeriosity Corner,” GLBT Historical Society museum registrar and curatorial specialist Ramón Silvestre will provide an intimate, in-depth look at items in the archives’ extensive Harvey Milk Collection, in time for Harvey Milk Day on May 22. Among these rare items are Milk’s barber/dentist chair from the Castro Camera store, the props featured in a candid photograph taken by Daniel Nicoletta and other items that provide a glimpse at the man behind Milk’s political persona. Silvestre will be joined by Nicoletta, who will discuss the photograph and share his own experiences with Milk.
“Queeriosity Corner” is a quarterly program series led by Silvestre that showcases treasured physical objects from the archives’ Art and Artifacts collection. Each program in the series explores a few select items in this collection, which includes paintings, sculptures, objects, costumes, drawings, posters, photographs and ephemera, most of which have never been on public display. The series also features conversations with other museum professionals on display and curation best practices, institutional partnerships and related topics, all in delightfully entertaining queer show-and-tell format.
SPEAKERS
Ramón Silvestre (he/him/his) is an expert in material culture studies. He previously was a Visiting Fellow at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and has published in many national and international professional journals, including The Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press. He holds a Ph.D. in anthropology and a master’s degree in curatorial and museum studies from the University of Arizona, School of Anthropology. He has conducted fieldwork and museum collections acquisitions among the Kalinga and Ifugao tribes in northern Philippines, the Iban in Indonesia and the Dayak in Borneo.
Daniel Nicoletta (he/him/his) is a freelance photographer who began his career in 1975 as an intern to Crawford Barton, then the staff photographer for The Advocate. Nicoletta also worked in Harvey Milk’s camera store in the heart of the Castro district was involved in Milk’s victorious election in 1977. His photographic body of work maps his long romance with San Francisco and its people, especially the LGBTQ community. Nicoletta’s work has been featured in books, periodicals, films and collections, including The New York Public Library’s Wallach and Berg Collections and the Bancroft Collection at the University of California, Berkeley. The first solo book of Nicoletta’s work, LGBT San Francisco: The Daniel Nicoletta Photographs, was released by Reel Art Press in 2017. Visit www.dannynicoletta.com for more information.
HOW TO PARTICIPATE
This event will take place online. After you register, you will receive a confirmation email with a link and instructions on how to join.
ADMISSION
Free | $5 suggested donation
Register online here: http://bit.ly/311p4wG
ASL INTERPRETATION
ASL interpretation provided upon request. Please write at least three days in advance of event to leigh@glbthistory.org.
JOIN THE GLBT HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Become a member of the GLBT Historical Society for free museum and program admission, discounts in the museum shop and other perks: www.glbthistory.org/memberships.