Browse Exhibits (5 total)

Book Dedications: The Hallmarks of LGBTQ+ Ephemera

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Can a book’s front page hold some of the secrets of LGBTQ+ history?

For some, the front page of the book is home to the title page, author, and other basic details of the book. However, for others, the front page can be a space of creation. This exhibit aims to highlight how book dedications have operated as a space for LGBTQ+ expression. 

In this exhibition, book dedications are defined as hand-written notes from one individual to another. It involves exchange, often between two individuals. They are meant to last, as it shows a mark on who the book was and the purpose for the book being given. Someone writing their own name on the cover would not be considered a book dedication as it marks possession by one individual. Book dedications are special because it shows engagement from one individual to another.

Book dedications are considered a type of ephemera, or, as Merriam Webster defines, “something that does not have lasting existence.” However, this issue is complicated when dealing with LGBTQ+ history, which is what we hope you will explore throughout this exhibition.

Due to the nature of ephemera, it's often quite difficult, if not impossible, to locate who exactly the individuals who write these dedications are, as one of the artifacts is in this exhibit. Considering even further, these books were published 15+ years before the legalization of same-sex marriage in the United States. One can only wonder about the history of LGBTQ+ individuals that wrote these dedications. 

Speculation over the individuals in the dedication is inherent, especially since the subject matter of the books is explicit in LGBTQ+ subject matter. As Gillian Russell describes, the “ephemeral both simultaneously resists and encourages inquiry, like queer, in ways that work around, within, and between the disciplines in which it figures.” In other words, the complicated inquiry of finding one’s queer identity matches the complicated inquiry necessary in studying ephemera. While these book dedications are only marked by the lifespan of the relationship between two individuals, it is simultaneously a permanent testament of who has owned the books. The contradictory nature of this history will be explored throughout this exhibition. 

It is with great luck that two of the three dedications explored in this exhibit are identifiable authors of the works in question. Even then, the implications of their book dedications in LGBTQ+ history have a contradictory quality. We are unable to know who the dedications are for, or the histories between the authors and their readers. As a mark of everyday writing, these writings were not meant to be seen by anyone other than the original owners. 

As Gemma Killen argues that “when queer people have not been able to find one another, they have sought refuge in historical materials and have attempted to connect to and politically empower each other through archival intimacy.” The desire to find history in these artifacts of everyday writing show how pervasive the desire is to see oneself. Everyday writing means everyday lives, something that often is in the imagination of LGBTQ+ individuals. After all, as Endenheim argues, “bureaucracy does not much care about ordinary people.” One can realize the importance of ordinary people through the use of everyday writing.

The exhibition is broken into three parts, all formed around some sort of question we encourage you to ask yourself as you read. The first, Who Am I? focuses on an unidentified pair of individuals in a book of radical feminism, which primarily focuses on lesbian feminism. The question aims to ask who this person is as well as why assumptions are made about this individual in terms of the book’s content. The second, Do I Know You? refers to the relationship implied between author and reader. While this book is not explicitly lesbian, the tone of the writing implies a far deeper history of the relationship between the reader and author. The last section, What Do We Do Next?, is simultaneously the most straightforward (in reference to explicitly lesbian subject matter/authorship) and most challenging. The dedication sees the importance of telling stories in print. However, what might they think of their own dedication to the future of the LGBTQ+ community? 

We invite you to explore in detail the nature of these artifacts. These dedications have a multitude of meanings, just as LGBTQ+ identity. As a museum dedicated to the process of everyday writing, we hope that you are able to use the power of imagination in the past existence of everyday LGBTQ+ individuals by asking yourself difficult questions. It might surprise you what answers you might conclude. 

Works Cited: Endenheim, Sara. “Lost and Never Found: The Queer Archive of Feelings and Its Historical Proprietary.” A Journal of Feminist Cultural Studies, vol. 24, no. 5, pp. 36-62.

Killen, Gemma. “Archiving the Other or Reading Online Photography as Queer Ephemera.” Australian Feminist Studies, vol. 32, no. 91, pp. 58-74. 

Merriam Webster. “Ephemera Definition.” Merriam Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ephemera.

Russell, Gillian. “Ephemeraphilia: A Queer History.” Journal of the Theoretical Humanities, vol. 23, no. 1, 2018, pp. 174-185. 

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No Matter How Far

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    This exhibit shows the creative methods of everyday writing that out-of-state students and their families use to communicate while away at Florida State University.

     These various images of creative chalkboard messages were sent via a text message group chat between all direct family members. It details the range of emotions felt by the artifact creator, Laura Frank, and her daughter, Rachel, while she attends Florida State. Given that Florida State is 1,174 miles away from home, Laura texts her daughter each morning in the family group chat to make sure she's okay, whatever her response is. The following images of the daily chalkboard message are what she uses to send "Good Morning" texts. 

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If Stalls Could Talk

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This exhibit brings together the different forms of graffiti displayed across bathroom stalls all over town bars. Graffiti is often compared to vandalism as it is usually illegal and involves unauthorized marking on public spaces. But graffiti isn't always offensive, and it doesn't always have to be an antisocial behavior. Graffiti can also be understood as an expressive art form that is used to share different thoughts and opinions. Throughout this exhibit, we may recognize how graffiti can be controversial and purposeful.

As I came across these artifacts, I began to question the motives behind writing on bathroom stalls and what makes bathroom graffiti so popular. Is it the thrill of breaking a taboo in a private space knowing it may never catch up to you? Some may argue that the best inspiration in life comes from sitting on a toilet, as it could be the only place where aspiring artists will find an audience. However, these artists fail to consider that they are creating an unwanted eyesore for others as their graffiti wreaks havoc on another's business. Writing on bathroom stalls is like a war between right or wrong. Is the defacing of these walls decoration and expression, or is it as simple as delinquency?

Public bathrooms are weird places, especially in college towns, so you have to be a particular type of person to have the insatiable desire to find a canvas in these spaces. For some, this art form may just be a way to rebel against authorities and establishments. But graffiti can also be as innocent as creating a demonstration that represents love amongst friends or a group of people. As humans, it is natural to want to express yourself and communicate with others. If you frequently visit the same stalls, you can recognize how your expression and communication efforts have been responded to or received. Writing on bathroom walls is never done for critical acclaim or a financial reward; it may genuinely be the purest form of art that encourages discussion. 

My exhibit focuses on graffiti that expresses controversial statements, comedy, inspiration, and love. 

While it may stink, doesn't it make you think or smile sometimes?

If yes, then mission accomplished.

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Handwritten Texts and Familial Love

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Everyday writing is an almost universal aspect of living in modern American culture. We use everyday writing as a catch-all instrument when we deal with constant themes and topics.  Because of this, it is only natural thatwe use everyday writing when we express the love we hold for our families. It is this deep love for family that inspires countless people to create texts for and save artifacts from their closest loved ones. The writer of smallnotebook.org captures the feelings of the people creating these artifacts very well: "Be sure the things you are saving are about you and your family. You don’t need to save the program from a friend’s wedding ceremony just to prove you care about her. That belongs in her keepsake box, not yours." (smallnotebook.org)


Cited source: http://smallnotebook.org/2012/09/10/what-to-do-with-neutral-or-negative-keepsakes/ (Neutral Keepsakes)

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The Evolution of Love Letters within a Relationship

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     It is hard to dispute that as a romantic relationship continues, over time the feelings shared between the couple changes. Whether it deepens into love or weakens as it gets caught up in the difficulties that emerge after coming out of the honeymoon stage depends upon the individual couple. Either way, these changes are important for people to undergo to reach a deeper level of communication and connection in a healthy and loving relationship.

     But how does the evolution of a relationship affect the way love notes and letters between a couple change over time? Love letters are an important way for couples to communicate their feelings to each other. They can be a way for couples to work through an issue, pass on encouragement, remind them of their passion, and so much more. The communication of love and how it evolves is important to our study of everyday writing because it offers a look into the intimate connections people make. There is a vulnerability in love notes that rivals journal entries, for not only are they a glimpse into how a person thinks and feels as an individual, but how they express that to another in a way that might please them. So how do those late night texts at the beginning of a relationship filled with passion and lust compare to the short but loving sticky notes left on a partner’s lunch box as they hurry to work on time 3 years into a committed marriage?

     This exhibit explores the ways these letters change alongside the relationship by categorizing them into the four psychologically recognized stages of a healthy partnership: infatuation, landing, burying, and resurfacing. Each page will delve further into exactly what that stage means and examples of the types of romantic writing that have been written during that stage between different couples.

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