Imagining that he would be available for an interview today, the first person I would want to supply an oral-history component to my archive would definitely be Craig Rodwell. Not only was he an extremely influential American gay rights activist in the mid/late 1900’s, as well as the owner of the Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop (the first gay and lesbian bookstore in America), but one of the main leaders in organizing and making Christopher Street Liberation Day happen. There’s no doubt in my mind that he’d add the most interesting and important substance to this archive. I can imagine him telling all kinds of stories — from pre- and post- Stonewall, Stonewall itself, to the preliminary thinking and ideas of planning what would later be known as the first gay pride parade ever. If it were possible to get an interview with Craig Rodwell, the questions and stories would be endless. Additionally, I think some other people that could add great content to the archive include more people that were present during the march and riots, as well as some more of Craig Rodwell’s close colleagues. A different type of person from all of these that I’d really enjoy speaking to, in order to really get a juicy, unique perspective would be a police officer working during Christopher Street Liberation Day. I think it’d be extremely interesting to see what the “opposing” side had to say about this entire event and how they experienced it. Overall, I think that generally, the more varied the first-hand experiences you are able to collect, the better the story is presented, understood and absorbed.
Blog 6
