Russian River Historical Society gets grant to preserve local LGBTQ+ history
Community members with knowledge of this history or interest in volunteering are invited to join a public Zoom meeting today, Tuesday, June 10, at 4:30 pm
The Russian River Historical Society has been awarded a grant from the California State Library’s “Preservation & Accessibility of California’s LGBTQ+ History” program to document, preserve, and make accessible the unique history of how the Russian River LGBTQ+ community and their allies responded to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 1980s and 1990s.
The $26,600 grant will fund a two-year project focused on digitizing historical records from the West County Health Centers, collecting oral histories from community members and healthcare providers, and making these materials publicly accessible through a collaboration with Sonoma County Library.
“The Russian River became a destination for gay men and lesbians in the 1970s, but it was during the HIV/AIDS epidemic that LGBTQ+ and straight communities began to coalesce into mutually supportive systems, unifying to fight both HIV-phobia and homophobia,” said Jane Barry, president of the Russian River Historical Society and former medical administrative assistant at West County Health Centers. “This project will preserve this important chapter of our local history that demonstrates how our community came together during a crisis.”
The project builds on the previous work of local historians and archivists including Shad Reinstein, Tina Dungan, and Jody Lane, who have been documenting LGBTQ+ history in Sonoma County. The project team also includes archivist Roberto Esteves, who was the founding president of the Names Project (the AIDS Memorial Quilt). Ryan Miller of Wonderland Radio will also be involved in the project.
“Shad Reinstein, who’s a documentary filmmaker based in Sebastopol, and her partner, Jody, they’re like a tag team of filmmaking, but they’ve done a bunch of presentations on the queer history of the river, and they’ve got some great stories,” said Colin Mutchler, the Russian River Historical Society’s project coordinator for the grant. “Tina Dungan, who is part of LGBTQI+ Legacy Sonoma County has a full big timeline. It’s a physical object that they’ve brough to some events. But she’s going to be doing some of the oral history, and then we’ll do a public event at the Guerneville library sometime in the fall.”
The Russian River Historical Society will partner with Sonoma County Library to digitize materials and make them available through their Digital Collections. Community members are also invited to contribute to the library’s Here and Queer Archive, which collects digital submissions of local queer content.
Like Sebastopol, Guerneville and the river communities skew older. Mutchler who’s in his 40s is often the youngest person by far at Russian River Historical Society meetings.
“This community—the people that were alive for the AIDS epidemic—are now in their 70s and so that’s why it’s so important that we’re doing this right now,” he said.
A formal launch event will be held at the Guerneville Library in late summer 2025.
A final presentation of the project—in the form of a live story-telling event with archival photos and video—is planned for fall 2026.
Public participation invited
Community members with knowledge of this history or interest in volunteering are invited to join a public Zoom meeting on Tuesday, June 10, at 4:30 pm to learn more about the project and share their experiences. The meeting will help identify key people, events, and organizations from this period. To join the Zoom meeting, please register at bit.ly/aidsresponse.
“We’re particularly interested in connecting with people who were involved with the HIV/AIDS response at the Russian River, including healthcare workers, volunteers, activists, and community members,” said Mutchler. “We also welcome younger LGBTQ+ community members who would like to help document this important history.”
The project is also seeking volunteers to help with oral history collection, digitization of materials, event coordination, and general project assistance. If you’re interested in in volunteering, email lgbtq@russianriverhistory.org.
