Shoulders to Stand On

Empty Closet Digitization, Microfilming Are Finished; Will Be Available to Public

by Evelyn Bailey

On Thursday, June 11, the microfilm copies for the Gay Alliance, and the digitized copies for the University of Rochester, the Gay Alliance and Cornell University were picked up from HOV Services, the vendor who did the conversion.  The entire process began mid-March and was completed by June 1st.

Shoulders To Stand On will now have on one CD the record of all the shoulders that have brought the Rochester LGBT Community into the 21st century.  The University of Rochester and the Gay Alliance will spend the next several months working out an agreement for offering the digitized version to the public, along with ongoing digitization of future issues, and the legalities inherent in such an agreement.

The Gay Alliance and the University of Rochester will celebrate this accomplishment at the Gay Alliance Annual Meeting to be held on June 30, 2010 at 6 pm in the GAGV Youth Center at the Auditorium Theater.  Come and see the early issues and how the Empty Closet has grown and changed.

Shoulders to Stand On is proud to have been a part of this endeavor, and is proud of all of those who contributed to making this happen.  See you at the Annual Meeting to CELEBRATE!!!

Empty Closet Digitization Project Completion Deadline: June 1, 2010

By Evelyn Bailey

Initially a quarterly, then a bimonthly and finally a monthly newspaper, the Empty Closet is the oldest continuously published GLBT newspaper in New York State. With a current monthly circulation of  5000+, the EC has chronicled political, social, and economic events affecting the gay community over a 39 year period of unprecedented change.

Six years ago, June, 2004, the Gay Alliance celebrated its 30th Anniversary.  One of the goals for the Anniversary year was to digitize the Empty Closet Newspaper.  That goal will be a reality by the time this issue of the Empty Closet  is published.  Making the Empty Closet a digitized researchable document will preserve the content of the Empty Closet and preserve the documented history of the Rochester GLBT community.  The digitized researchable format would allow present and future generations friendly access to this historical data for use in education, research, and advocacy work.