Exhibit Origins

According to the original Michigan's LGBT Heritage website (1999):

"The exhibit, "Artifacts & Disclosures: Michigan's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Heritage" represents the convergence of two dynamics: a desire of the Lavender Information and LIbrary Association to stage an exhibit to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, and the wish of the curators to assemble and share some wondrous artifacts which disclose an aspect of the state's history that has just begun to be revealed.

Drawing fragmentary evidence from repositories both local and national, we attempted to create a sort of giant scrapbook of Michigan LGBT life modeled after the pioneering 1994 New York Public LIbrary exhibit, "Becoming Visible: The Legacy of Stonewall." We hope we succeeded in documenting the diversity, complexity, and longevity of our various communities."