Marin’s LGBTQ+ history explored in Mill Valley exhibit

A new exhibition featuring Marin’s LGBTQ+ history is now on display at the Mill Valley library.

The exhibit, called “Chains of Fire: LGBTQ+ History in Mill Valley,” features photographs, poems, writing and primary source documents from LGBTQ+ pioneers, past and present. It will be on display through July.

The exhibition, which aligns with Pride month in June, weaves an interconnected story that has gone largely untold, said Mill Valley library archivist Benja Thompson.

“The shifting visibility that happens almost generationally, you almost don’t have access to that history,” Thompson said. “This is a small taste of what it has looked like in the Mill Valley and Marin County gay community.”

The exhibit title is derived from “Chains of Fire,” a piece by Mill Valley poet Esla Gidlow. In it, Gidlow writes, “I know myself linked by chains of fires to every woman who has kept a hearth.”

The poem described a winter solstice tradition of saving a burnt piece of charcoal to light the solstice fire the following year. The actual pieces of charcoal from Gidlow’s fire have been distributed  to allow for the dissemination of the tradition, Thompson said.

While researching, Thompson received a piece of that charcoal from Mill Valley author Hallie Iglehurt-Austin.

Thompson said it represented the interconnectedness of the Marin LGBTQ+ community and its desire for preservation despite threats of violence or ostracization.

“I have a link in that chain,” Thompson said.

This is Thompson’s first project with the library. The initial assignment – to celebrate 50 years of pride in Mill Valley – ultimately transformed into a 100-year catalog, Thompson said.

Anji Brenner, Mill Valley librarian, said the exhibit gave representation to the LGBTQ+ community.

“That’s what libraries do,” she said. “We’re one of the few places that welcomes everyone regardless of gender, race, economic status or religious beliefs. When everyone is represented, a community thrives.”

The exhibition was developed through the Lucretia Little History Room, a downstairs office adjoining the hallway exhibition.

The exhibition was framed and mounted on Thursday. Much of the content is sourced from the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society, which has a “gravitational pull” to the larger history of the gay community in the Bay Area, Thompson said.

Natalie Snoyman, the library’s supervising archivist, knew there was a gap in the collection at the outset of the project. Pride month served as a befitting jumping-off point to make the library and its records more inclusive, she said.

“This will benefit future generations,” Snoyman said.

Included in the exhibition are James Broughton, a filmmaker and poet who lived in Mill Valley; Ada Clement and Lillian Hodgehead, a Mill Valley couple from the 1900s who founded the San Francisco Conservatory of Music; the first Marin Gay Parade on June 17, 1990; The Slant, a queer community newspaper; Jane Futcher, author of “Marin: The Place, The People, Profile of California County” and a former reporter with the Independent Journal; and other notable events and personalities.

The exhibitions have previously explored the original Sweetwater Music Hall and features on the Asian American community.

They hope the exhibit, once finished at the end of July, will spur an online catalog as a way to retain the history and documents. Thompson has interviewed at least 10 people for their oral histories and hopes to preserve them.

Residents interested in sharing oral histories can email bthompson@cityofmillvalley.org.