By Rosalyn DeMattia, Project Assistant

In 2025, the Ohio History Connection (OHC) was awarded a Recordings at Risk grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) to preserve  fragile magnetic media – U-Matic, VHS, audio cassettes and 3/4" audiotape – that were reaching the end of their lifespan. The grant made it possible to work with Scene Savers to digitize material from seven LGBTQ+ collections, documenting 35 years of Ohio’s gay history from 1968-2003. I’m excited to share that our processing is complete, and these amazing materials are now available to view in our online catalog for the very first time.

As Project Assistant, part of my job was to watch or listen to all 195 of the new files. Here are three of my favorite moments from this group of new arrivals.

In 1989, a portion of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt stopped in Ohio on its second nationwide tour. Independent filmmaker Bill Wilson produced this documentary about the quilt while it was on display at the Cincinnati Convention Center. The film shows the quilt sections being ceremonially unfolded while the names of those memorialized are read aloud. Later, onlookers approach to interact with the quilt, and several share their thoughts in brief interviews: “The NAMES Project Quilt is a wonderfully diverse piece of evidence that everyone is different, and everyone is beautiful, and that everyone feels something about their loved ones…. I hope that all gay people, all lesbian people everywhere, will listen to the message of the quilt.”

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With this grant, we were able to digitize more than 80 episodes of the L/G/B Report, a cable access television show produced by Stonewall Union (now Stonewall Columbus). In this episode, the hosts interview workers from the AIDS Service Connection, a Columbus nonprofit that that provided long-term home care to people with AIDS. This episode is unique because of the face-to-face interviews with AIDS patients in the late 1990s, after the disease was out of the national spotlight. Beyond the home care services, the clients are especially thankful for the personal connections they have with their caregivers, and the social events held by the organization. “I can’t say it enough, that ASC is a blessing to me,” says patient Penny Brown.

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I was bowled over by this session from the Shepherd Initiative’s 2003 Amazing Grace conference in Columbus, Ohio. The conference gathered priests and congregation members from all over the country to discuss Christianity’s relationship with homosexuality, and how churches could become more welcoming spaces for LGBTQ+ people. Roberta Showalter Kreider was “against all homosexuality” until, at the age of 58, she felt called by God to turn around and “learn to know” gay people. She became a published author in her 70s, sharing her “Fifteen Reasons” along with personal narratives from gay Christians in the book From Wounded Hearts. In her speech, she describes her transformation and the challenges she faced as she tried to change hearts in her own Mennonite community.

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