Up Stairs Lounge Fire Commemoration a Huge Success
The recent Up Stairs Lounge Fire Commemoration was a huge success. Over 1,000 people participated in the three day event and the commemoration garnered extensive media coverage. The event earned 61 media placements, some in national publications, reaching an estimated 173 million readers. The event was also covered by WWL-TV, FOX 8, WDSU, The Times-Picayune, and NPR. Our goal with this program was to not only remember and honor, but also to educate and inspire and we certainly did that. Many thanks again to all who volunteered and sponsored the Commemoration. A complete video of the commemoration conference will be uploaded to the Archives Project website soon. Learn more about the Up Stairs Lounge fire here.
Archives Project Receives $10,000 Grant from the LGBTQ Fund
The Greater New Orleans Foundation’s LGBTQ Fund recently awarded the Archives Project a $10,000 grant to help subsidize the Up Stairs Lounge Fire 50th Anniversary Commemoration weekend. The LGBTQ Fund was established in 2016 to ensure a perennial source of funding for local nonprofits led by and serving the LGBTQ community. The Foundation’s LGBTQ Fund supports organizations that increase the quality of life and access to opportunity for LGBTQ individuals and families, particularly the most marginalized members of the community, including elders, transgender youth and adults of color, low-income LGBTQ people, and LBGTQ persons who are disabled. Learn more about the LGBTQ Fund here.
Roberts Batson Honored at Annual Membership Meeting
Local historian and activist Roberts Batson was recently awarded the inaugural Stewart Butler / Alfred Doolittle Memorial Award at the Archives Project’s annual membership meeting. The award honors a person who has made a significant contribution in the field of local LGBT+ history. Batson’s long history of gay activism includes being the co-founder of LAGPAC (Louisiana Lesbian and Gay Political Action Caucus). He has also written hundreds of articles on New Orleans queer history. The award is named after the late Stewart Butler and his partner, the late Alfred Doolittle. When Doolittle inherited his fortune in 1978, he told Butler to retire and become a full-time activist, which he did.
Loyola to Offer Course on the LGBT+ History of New Orleans
Archives Project Executive Director Frank Perez has developed a new course at Loyola University focusing on the LGBT+ history of New Orleans. The non-credit class is part of the school’s Continuing Studies program and is open to the public. Class topics include: pre-colonial and colonial references, French Quarter Preservation efforts, Arts and Letters, Gay Carnival, Southern Decadence, the UpStairs Lounge fire, bar history, activists and activism, HIV / AIDS, organizational history, queer publications and journalism, trans activism, drag culture, notable characters, and more. The course will contextualize local queer history within a national context and highlights New Orleans’ contributions to national LGBT+ historical narratives. More information and the registration link may be found here.
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